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Last verified:
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Zencastr costs Free to $80 per month as of September 2026, with 5 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Free (free), Grow at $24/month, Scale at $40/month, and Business at $80/month. Custom pricing is available on request. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

Zencastr offers 5 pricing tiers: Free, Grow, Scale, Business, Enterprise. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Grow at $24/month, Scale at $40/month, Business at $80/month.

Last verified: | Sources: 1 pricing pages and reviews
Know Before You Buy — Try Zencastr Free

Zencastr lists $0-$80/month, but hidden costs like implementation and support add to the total as of September 2026. Key hidden costs: post-production credits, recording storage limits, limited and slow customer support. Verified from 1 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

1

Post-production Credits

medium overage

On the free plan, post-production features consume credits, which can be purchased additionally once monthly credits are exhausted; an older "Hobbyist" account charged $3 per hour for Automatic Postproduction.

industry

An older "Hobbyist" account (likely a precursor to the current free tier) charged $3 per hour for Automatic Postproduction.

2

Recording Storage Limits

medium overage

The free plan includes 90 days of recording masters storage, implying that recordings older than 90 days may be subject to deletion or require an upgrade to a paid plan for continued storage.

industry

Recording Storage: The free plan includes 90 days of recording masters storage.

3

Limited and Slow Customer Support

medium support

Zencastr has no phone support. Chat is available but frequently unstaffed with no posted hours or timezone. Email support takes days to respond, leaving billing and access issues unresolved for extended periods.

trustpilot

They don't have a call support, just a number that says to email them. If you're hoping the email support is quick, it is not--days taken to even ask what the issue is.

trustpilot

it's insane to me that you have chat support, but that it's available even when no one is online or working, so that having real-time conversations about support issues is impossible. They don't actually state what time zone or times they are available in either

4

Discontinuation of Free Recording

high implementation

In late 2023, Zencastr discontinued recording features on its free "Hobbyist" plan, forcing users who relied on it to upgrade to a paid plan or seek alternatives.

industry

This change forced some users who relied on the free recording features to either upgrade to a paid plan or seek alternatives, representing an unexpected cost for those users.

5

Learning Curve for Advanced Features

low training

Advanced features like dynamic ad insertion and AI clipping may require time to master, which can be considered an investment of time.

industry

Learning Curve: Advanced features like dynamic ad insertion and AI clipping may require time to master, which can be considered an investment of time.

6

Forced Auto-Enrollment in Annual Plans

high overage

Multiple users report being automatically switched to yearly plans after free trials end, with the system reverting to annual billing even when users attempt to select monthly plans. Users describe difficulty canceling and no ability to remove stored payment information.

trustpilot

after my 2-week trial, the company immediately started trying to charge me for a yearly plan (which I had not selected). I tried to change it to a monthly plan but it automatically swapped back to a yearly plan and tried to charge me again. I was never even asked if I want to continue with the service, it just demanded I start paying immediately.

trustpilot

Purchased a yearly plan for my company, the payment went through (960 dollars for the year) and then the site blocks me from seeing anything from the setting saying that my payment has "failed."

7

Charging Expired or Stored Payment Methods Without Consent

high overage

Users report Zencastr charging expired credit cards on file for unwanted plan renewals, then refusing refunds by citing Terms of Service.

trustpilot

They charged an expired credit card I had on file for a service I don't want and refuse to refund me the money, hiding behind their 40 page Terms of Service like the scam company they are.

8

Free Plan 2-Hour Monthly Recording Ceiling

medium overage

The free plan caps recording at 2 hours per month. For podcasters recording with multiple guests, this may effectively limit usable content to less than 2 hours depending on how separate tracks count toward the limit.

reddit

One question about Zencastr (and other sites that offer the same pricing model) what does 5h of recording mean? If each individual person is recorded in a different track does it mean I can only record 5h divided by the number of people in the call?

reddit

Just going to the Zencastr site and looking at pricing shows this. Free $0 2 hours of Audio and Video Recording

9

Free Plan Restricted to Compressed MP3 Audio

low addon

The free plan outputs 192k MP3 only. Uncompressed WAV recording — essential for professional audio editing — requires a paid plan. Advanced features like transcriptions and sound effects are also paywalled.

reddit

Can vouch for Zencastr - I use it with my guests. Difference with free plan is MP3 (compressed) vs WAV (uncompressed) recordings, and quite a few other features (e.g. sound effects, transcriptions) aren't included.

10

Recording Masters Expire After 31 Days on Free Plan

medium overage

Free plan recording masters are stored for only 31 days before deletion. Users who do not download their raw recordings within this window permanently lose them.

reddit

Just going to the Zencastr site and looking at pricing shows this. Free $0 31 days of Recording Masters Storage

11

No-Refund Policy on Unwanted or Expired-Card Charges

high compliance

Users report being charged on expired payment methods or for plans they did not intentionally select, with Zencastr citing its Terms of Service to deny refund requests. There appears to be no straightforward self-serve refund path.

trustpilot

They charged an expired credit card I had on file for a service I don't want and refuse to refund me the money, hiding behind their 40 page Terms of Service like the scam company they are.

12

Effectively No Live Customer Support

medium support

Billing and technical disputes can go unresolved for days or longer. Zencastr has no phone support, email response times are measured in days, and chat support displays as available even when no agents are online. This means payment errors, account lockouts, and production blockers have no rapid escalation path, increasing the hidden cost of downtime.

trustpilot

They don't have a call support, just a number that says to email them. If you're hoping the email support is quick, it is not--days taken to even ask what the issue is.

trustpilot

It is furthermore insane to me that you have chat support, but that it's available even when no one is online or working, so that having real-time conversations about support issues is impossible. They don't actually state what time zone or times they are available in either, so you could know when to contact them.

13

No Way to Remove Saved Payment Information

medium compliance

At least one user reports being unable to delete their banking details from their Zencastr account, leaving the payment method exposed to future auto-renewal charges even after attempting to cancel.

trustpilot

I have found no possible way to remove my banking information from my account, and Zencastr keeps trying to switch me back to a yearly account and automatically charge me.

14

Auto-Renewal Billing Without Clear Consent

high compliance

Multiple users report being automatically enrolled in or reverted to annual plans after trials without explicit selection. Zencastr has charged expired credit cards and refused refunds, citing Terms of Service. Users attempting to switch to monthly billing report the system automatically reverts to annual billing.

trustpilot

They charged an expired credit card I had on file for a service I don't want and refuse to refund me the money, hiding behind their 40 page Terms of Service like the scam company they are.

trustpilot

after my 2-week trial, the company immediately started trying to charge me for a yearly plan (which I had not selected). I tried to change it to a monthly plan but it automatically swapped back to a yearly plan and tried to charge me again. I was never even asked if I want to continue with the service, it just demanded I start paying immediately.

15

Slow Email-Only Support for Billing Disputes

high support

Users facing billing issues report no phone support — only an email channel with multi-day response times. One user paid $960 for an annual Business plan that was confirmed by payment processor but resulted in an account lockout, with no timely resolution from support. This creates significant financial risk when billing errors occur.

trustpilot

Purchased a yearly plan for my company, the payment went through (960 dollars for the year) and then the site blocks me from seeing anything from the setting saying that my payment has "failed." If you want support for what is clearly a Zencastr issue, good luck. They don't have a call support, just a number that says to email them. If you're hoping the email support is quick, it is not--days taken to even ask what the issue is.

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with Zencastr?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: Post-production Credits ($3 per hour); Limited and Slow Customer Support (5-10% of license costs); Forced Auto-Enrollment in Annual Plans ($288-$960); Charging Expired or Stored Payment Methods Without Consent ($288-$960); Free Plan 2-Hour Monthly Recording Ceiling ($24/user/month); Free Plan Restricted to Compressed MP3 Audio ($24/user/month); Recording Masters Expire After 31 Days on Free Plan ($24/user/month); No-Refund Policy on Unwanted or Expired-Card Charges ($288-$960); Effectively No Live Customer Support (5-15% of license costs); No Way to Remove Saved Payment Information ($288-$960); Auto-Renewal Billing Without Clear Consent ($288-$960); Slow Email-Only Support for Billing Disputes ($288-$960). Exact totals depend on your deployment size and negotiated terms.

02 Does Zencastr charge for implementation?

Zencastr implementation is not included in the license cost. In late 2023, Zencastr discontinued recording features on its free "Hobbyist" plan, forcing users who relied on it to upgrade to a paid plan or seek alternatives..

03 How much does Zencastr support cost?

Zencastr has no phone support. Chat is available but frequently unstaffed with no posted hours or timezone. Estimated impact: 5-10% of license costs.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with Zencastr?

On the free plan, post-production features consume credits, which can be purchased additionally once monthly credits are exhausted; an older "Hobbyist" account charged $3 per hour for Automatic Postproduction.. Estimated impact: $3 per hour.

05 What add-ons cost extra with Zencastr?

Add-on pricing for Zencastr varies by feature. The sourced cost breakdown above lists any verified add-on costs we have.

Now You Know the Real Cost — Try Zencastr Free

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