Compact WP Audio Player vs Seriously Simple Podcasting
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Compact WP Audio Player v1.9.15 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.1/5 Visit Details | Seriously Simple Podcasting v3.17.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 20,000+ | 20,000+ |
| Last updated | August 17, 2026 | October 19, 2026 |
| Editions | Compact Audio Player | Seriously Simple Podcasting |
| Pros | Compact player for MP3 and OGG files; Shortcodes for inline players in posts; Works on desktop and mobile browsers | Podcast feed, players, blocks and widgets in one plugin; Podping notifications for feed updates; RSS import for moving an existing show |
| Cons | No built-in podcast feed or playlist management; Plays only the audio files you link to; Shows a banner promoting a separate checkout plugin | Hosted sync and statistics need a paid Castos account; Several features depend on Castos settings |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Inline audio player shortcode, Second player template shortcode, Settings page under the Settings menu, Footer player script output | Podcast episode post type, Podcast RSS feed, Import episodes from an RSS feed, Podping feed update notifications, Gutenberg blocks and audio players, Elementor settings extender, Podcast schema output, REST API for episodes and podcast settings, Hosted sync with Castos ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | — | Elementor, Polylang |
| Other | — | Castos ($), Podping |
| Requires WordPress | 5.0 | 5.3 |
| Requires PHP | — | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | — | app.castos.com, episodes.castos.com, podping.cloud |
| Blocks | — | 6 |
| Shortcodes | 2 | 7 |