Research: AfterAir 0.1.0 beta
Checked 2026-10-03 unless noted. These are hypotheses, not proof. Only claims we could read on the cited page are used; anything we could not verify is listed under "Not verified".
Market notes
Show notes for podcasters is a crowded category with free tools, AI tools, host add-ons, marketplace writers and done-for-you services. AfterAir is therefore positioned as an honest service-business starter, not as a better generator. See BUSINESS-PLAN.md for the comparison and ECONOMICS.md for what the competition's prices do to a small service's margin.
Alternatives we checked
| Alternative | What we read on the page | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zinn Hub: "write your podcast show notes in 24h" | A marketplace listing priced $36.00. Basic tier: audio up to 30 minutes, delivery in 1 day, 1 revision; includes an episode summary, segment timestamps and relevant links; no transcription. Boost and Premium upgrade tiers cover 60 and 90 minutes (their prices were not shown). 4.9 stars from 11 reviews; the seller says they have written show notes for 3,000+ episodes. | https://zinnhub.com/zinns/write-your-podcast-show-notes-in-24h/ |
| episodepack.com (done-for-you service) | A direct fetch of the page returned HTTP 500 on 2026-10-03; the text below is the page content as captured by a web-search tool the same day, not a browser read. The page says: "Turn every episode into show notes, an SEO blog post, and 5 ready-to-post social content pieces — delivered in 24 hours", "First episode always free", no credit card; plans Starter $297/mo for 2 episodes, Growth $497/mo for 4, Pro $797/mo, listed as "8+ episodes per month" with a bullet "Unlimited episodes"; its FAQ says "The Pro plan covers unlimited episodes" and the sign-up dropdown says "Pro — $797/mo (unlimited)". So the page itself uses both "8+" and "unlimited"; this kit says "8+" because that is the plan's headline line. A ContentFries article also names it. | https://episodepack.com/ ; https://www.contentfries.com/blog/podcast-repurposing-service |
| Descript | "With the free Descript plan, you can transcribe up to 60 minutes of content each month." Transcripts have time codes and speaker labels; its AI actions can turn a transcript into show notes, chapters, captions and blog posts (the page does not say which plan includes how many AI actions). | https://www.descript.com/tools/podcast-transcript-generator |
| Swell AI (Shownotes AI) | "Sign up for free"; the first pricing tier lists 1 upload a month; pay as you go is $8.99 an hour. Generates show notes, summaries, social posts and more from uploaded media. | https://www.swellai.com/shownotes-ai |
| EpisodeOps | Free tools page: no signup, AI generation, 45-minute and 3-runs-per-tool-per-day caps. Pricing page (read 2026-10-03; the plan contents showed but the dollar amounts did not, so the prices below are as stated on EpisodeOps's own blog and comparison pages, found in search results on 2026-10-03): 14-day Pro trial then 1 free episode; Starter $19/mo or $15/mo billed annually for 10 episodes/month (transcript, show notes, chapters, social posts, blog); Pro $49/mo ($39/mo annual) unlimited; Studio $199/mo ($159/mo annual) with white-label review/public pages, client review links, 5 seats. | https://episodeops.com/tools/free ; https://episodeops.com/pricing ; https://episodeops.com/blog/best-podcast-tools-for-agencies-2026 |
| Let's Make a Podcast — show notes generator | Free, "no sign-up, no AI, nothing stored", runs in the browser. Checks the first line, guest link, YouTube chapter rules (first at 0:00, at least 3, in order, 10 s apart) and length limits (Apple 4,000 bytes, YouTube 5,000 characters). Plain text, HTML or YouTube description. | https://letsmakeapodcast.com/tools/podcast-show-notes-generator |
| The Toolbox — AI podcast show notes | Free, no account, "processes everything client-side". Description, timestamped outline, key insights, 10 SEO keywords, three social posts, newsletter blurb. The page says its timestamps are "evenly spaced placeholders" to adjust. | https://getthetoolbox.com/ai-tools/ai-podcast-notes |
| Buzzsprout Cohost AI | Add-on for paid Buzzsprout plans: titles, description, chapters, blog draft, three social posts, transcript, from uploaded audio. Add-on price by plan: $19/mo plan +$5/mo, $39/mo plan +$10/mo, $79/mo plan +$20/mo. Requires hosting with Buzzsprout. | https://www.buzzsprout.com/help/189-cohost-ai |
| Castmagic | Hobby $19/month billed annually ($239/yr); transcription with timestamps and AI outputs from audio. | https://www.castmagic.io/pricing |
| Freelancers | Rate guide (Aug 2026): "$50–$150 per episode for show notes", basic package about 1 hour of work. | https://whatshouldicharge.io/podcast-editor/podcast-show-notes |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
Not verified (not used)
- Podsqueeze: its own pages disagree. The show-notes generator page (read 2026-10-03) says paid plans start at $12/month for 160 minutes; its pricing page (read the same day) lists Starter / Pro / Agency Lite at 120 / 320 / 600 minutes without dollar amounts; third-party review sites report Starter at $8.99/mo (120 minutes), Pro $49 and Agency Lite $89, and a free plan of 50 minutes. Treat dollar figures as vendor-page claims to re-check before quoting in a pitch; the important point for operators is that cheap paid AI plans exist in the about $9–$19/month band.
- Fiverr gig prices. Fiverr's pages could not be read when checked. A vendor blog's "$10 to $60 per podcast" claim is not used; the verified $36 figure above is used instead.
- We Edit Podcasts (https://weeditpodcasts.com/services/shownotes/): offers show notes services, but the page we read showed no prices. A figure seen only in a search snippet is not used.
- episodepack.com details above are page text captured by a search tool on 2026-10-03, not a browser read (direct fetch returned HTTP 500).
- Any claim that hosts prefer a human operator. There is no evidence either way.
Constraints
- $0 spend: no paid transcription, hosting, ads or LLM subscription is assumed by the kit.
- Privacy: no subscriber lists, payment data, government IDs or human medical information.
- Content that reaches a third-party LLM (the optional operator prompts) leaves your machine; see
AI-OPERATOR.mdon consent.