What made verified-brand monitoring the part of Podscan you wanted to make free?
Podscan made brand monitoring free for verified brands.
Paid monitoring started at $100 a month Verified brands can monitor themselves for free
podscan.fm
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01 / What changed
Podscan made brand monitoring free for verified brands.
The August page moves from its annual-billing note directly into Premium, Professional and Advanced plans. By October, Podscan inserts a new free offer before those plans: verified brands can use Premium-level monitoring at no charge after DNS verification. The paid plans remain and reserve full Share of Voice, higher API access, the Firehose and add-ons.
BeforePaid monitoring started at $100 a month
AfterVerified brands can monitor themselves for free
The captures bound the visible rollout between August 29 and October 5, 2026. They do not establish the exact release date, who designed the pricing-page presentation or the effect on signups, usage or revenue.
Open the core monitoring workflow without giving away the whole data platform.
Our reading: the free verified-brand offer gives companies a reason to begin monitoring their own mentions, while paid plans retain the capabilities that support broader competitive and data workflows. Audiohook connected the acquisition to wider free access, but neither company has published a result for this specific pricing change.
BeforeStart with a paid plan.
The page moves directly from annual billing into Premium at $100 a month.
AfterVerify your brand and begin free.
Premium-level monitoring becomes a free entry point, with advanced data capabilities still paid.
How Arvid described the Audiohook acquisitionArvid Kahl · Founder, Podscan
Oct 6, 2026
This is closer to a merge, and I'm not going anywhere.
Arvid explains the acquisition and his continued role. He does not attribute the exact pricing-page edit to the transaction or report its impact.
Read the post on LinkedInWhat happened after the change?
THE OPEN QUESTION
Did free monitoring bring more verified brands into Podscan or create more qualified demand for the paid data platform?
We need Arvid’s perspective to connect this change to the results.We don’t have the results yet.
What would you ask Arvid?
Go deeper into this decision. Ask the maker, or share this page with your audience.
About: What changed
Q&A · THE CONVERSATION
Ask Arvid about this change.
The story does not have to end here. What would help you learn from this decision?
Questions for ArvidFounder, Podscan · No replies here yet
Questions
4How did the Audiohook acquisition change what Podscan could offer without charge?
Which behavior would tell you the free entry point is working?
Where do you want the boundary between free monitoring and paid intelligence to sit over time?
How Podscan got to free monitoring
Arvid Kahl’s posts before the Audiohook deal, the free tier it brought, and why the API stays paid.
Before the change
- The problem
On his podcast, Arvid revisits keeping Podscan’s data behind signup. He later points to opening the database to the public as the turning point.
“I chose a different path, hoping that customers would discover this wealth of information after signing up.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
Month as Arvid recalled it on X. The episode page also shows December 20, 2024.
- The problem
Arvid notices funds and financial institutions among paying users.
“Probably nothing.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- The problem
Arvid says enterprise customers are arriving.
“enterprise customers are starting to come knocking”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- Earlier version
Arvid says the $50 plan is gone and most users choose the $200 plan.
“a single new sub makes up for four”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- The problem
Arvid describes selling large data volumes to financial intelligence firms.
“shoveling Terabytes of podcast data”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- Earlier version
Audiohook’s acquisition of Podscan closes (disclosed September 30).
“The transaction closed on August 24, 2026.”
Audiohook Company
- Earlier version
Archived pricing page: paid plans start at $100 a month.
Internet Archive Archive
The change
See the before and after on Podscan’s site- Maker’s why
Arvid on LinkedIn: he stays to lead Podscan.
“This is closer to a merge, and I'm not going anywhere.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- The change
Audiohook announces free Podscan access, including brand monitoring for advertisers.
“Audiohook is making the majority of Podscan’s podcast intelligence available to the industry at no cost”
Audiohook Company
- Maker’s why
Arvid announces the acquisition and connects it to his earlier exit.
“FeedbackPanda taught me a lot about knowing when a partnership makes more sense than staying solo.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
After the change
- Maker follow-up
Arvid explains why the API stays paid.
“The Podscan API is a paid feature, first and foremost to keep a reliable audit trail that prevents API abuse”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- Maker follow-up
Arvid on what he thinks matters now.
“Data is the only moat now.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- Maker follow-up
Arvid on the role of cost in the decision.
“Cost, while high, were actually not that much of an issue in the end.”
Arvid Kahl Maker
- Outcome
Archived pricing page: free Premium-level monitoring for verified brands now sits above the paid plans.
Internet Archive Archive
What happens next
Still open. Ask Arvid and we will add the answer here.
How did paying Premium customers react when the same monitoring became free?
Public replies so far are congratulations, not customer reactions.How many verified brands signed up in the first month, and how many moved to paid?
No outcome is public yet.Was making monitoring free your decision or Audiohook’s?
The press release credits Audiohook.