TLDR - Who is the winner?Feature BreakdownGetting details on a podcastGetting details on an episodeSearch for podcasts or episodesTotal Number of Podcasts & Episodes availableEpisode TranscriptsWhite-labelled solutionStore and Cache any data you get back from the APIHosted Audio & Podcast ArtworkWebhooksREST vs GraphQLPriceSummary
TLDR - Who is the winner?
Both Listen Notes Podcast API and Taddy Podcast API share the same goal of making it easy for you to integrate podcast data into your app.
Behind the scenes, both have built the podcast infrastructure needed to provide an up-to-date directory of all podcasts and episodes, providing it to you over an API that allows you to integrate podcast data into your app from months to minutes.
There are 3 key differences between the Listen Notes and Taddy APIs:
- Owning the data you get back from the API - As per the Listen Notes API Terms of Service you are required to purchase an Enterprise license if you would like to save the information you get back from its API on your own servers and requires you to show a "Powered by Listen Notes" banner inside your app. This same restriction does not apply when using Taddy's API - you have full data ownership and can cache responses on your own servers.
- Transcripts - Paid users of Taddy API can access the transcript for any episode. Listen Notes API provides transcripts for less than 1% of all episodes (you only get access to a transcript if it is provided by the podcast creator) and they provide another paid service called Listen411 that allows you to get the transcript for any episode.
- Webhook notifications - Taddy API gives you the ability to send webhook notifications to your server for new or updated podcast data. Listen Notes API does not provide this feature.
Below we go over a feature by feature comparison to help you get a summary of how to get the most out of each API and why we think Taddy's API is better value for what you get and a great alternative to the Listen Notes API.
Feature Breakdown
Feature | Taddy API | Listen Notes API |
Get details on a podcast | ✅ - See getPodcastSeries | ✅ |
Get details on an episode | ✅ - See getPodcastEpisode | ✅ |
Search for podcasts | ✅ - See search | ✅ |
Search for episodes | ✅ - See search | ✅ |
Episode Transcripts | ✅ - See getEpisodeTranscript | ❌ Partial (Less than 1% of episodes in Listen Notes’ directory have a transcript available) |
Save data from API on your server | ✅ Full ownership | ❌ Enterprise only. |
White-label solution | ✅ Your brand | ❌ "Powered by Listen Notes" Logo required unless you are on the Enterprise Plan. |
Webhooks | ✅ - Get a webhook notification whenever a new podcast or episode is released. | ❌ You poll the API to check for new or updated episodes. |
Type of API | GraphQL | REST |
Price | Free - 500 API Requests per month.
Pro - $75/month for 100,000 API Requests per month.
Business - $150/month for 350,000 API Requests per month.
| Free - 300 API Requests per month.
Paid - $200/month for 5,000 API Requests per month.
Paid - $352/month for 100,000 API Requests per month.
Paid - $752/month for 350,000 API Requests per month. |
Getting details on a podcast
Both APIs give you a way to get back details on a podcast.
Taddy API: See getPodcastSeries.
Listen Notes API: See /podcasts/id endpoint.
Getting details on an episode
Both APIs give you a way to get back details on an episode.
Taddy API: See getPodcastEpisode.
Listen Notes API: See /episodes/id endpoint.
Search for podcasts or episodes
Both APIs give you a way to perform a text search on millions of podcasts & episodes.
Taddy API: See search.
Listen Notes API: See /search endpoint.
Total Number of Podcasts & Episodes available
Taddy API: 4+ million podcasts, 180+ million episodes
Listen Notes API: 4+ million podcasts, 180+ million episodes
Episode Transcripts
Paid users of Taddy API can access the transcript for any podcast episode. Business Users get 2000 episodes transcripts / month included in their Business Plan and can purchase more episode transcripts if they need them.
Listen Notes provides transcripts for less than 1% of episodes that are in their directory (these are the transcripts that are provided by the podcast creators themselves). If you want to get the transcript for the other 99% of episodes, they offer a separate paid service, Listen411, which allows you to transcribe any episode.
For apps that need transcripts for accessibility, search, or AI features, Taddy's built-in transcript feature is a key differentiator.
White-labelled solution
Taddy API can be used behind the scenes without your customers knowing what API you are using.
As per the Listen Notes API Terms of Service, you are required to add a “Powered by Listen Notes” badge to your user interface unless you are an Enterprise User.
Store and Cache any data you get back from the API
Taddy API allows you to save any data returned from Taddy’s API. Other than the price and performance benefits for being able to cache data on your own servers, you get the added benefit of not being locked into Taddy API and can switch API providers anytime if you ever choose to do so.
The Listen Notes API Terms of Service do not allow you to cache or store any data returned via the API on your server unless you are an Enterprise User.
Hosted Audio & Podcast Artwork
Listen Notes API provides an internal redirect to the audio file (not the original audio url link) and re-uploads / hosts podcast artwork on their own image servers. For the podcast artwork, the pro of this is that developers get a consistent image server and resizing options for images but using Listen Notes audio links and podcast artwork does lock you into their API as these links stop working once you stop being a paid user.
Taddy API provides you the original audio url link and does not re-upload or host our own podcast artwork. You can choose to either use the artwork provided by the podcast or use iTunes hosted artwork (including their different sizes), you can get a link to these via our API.
Webhooks
Taddy API gives you the ability to set up a webhook endpoint where you will receive notifications whenever there is a new or updated podcast or episode.
This can be a critical feature depending on what app you are trying to build because it means you don't have to constantly check our API to see if a podcast has updated information, Taddy will push these updates immediately to you. A common example why this is useful is if you want to send a push notification to your users about a newly released episode.
REST vs GraphQL
Taddy API uses GraphQL, which lets you request exactly the data you need in a single query. For example, you can fetch a podcast's title, the latest 10 episodes, and only the duration and transcript for each episode, all in one request.
Listen Notes API uses REST, which will be more familiar to most developers. With REST, you typically work with predefined endpoints that return fixed data structures, and you might need multiple API calls to gather related information.
While REST's simplicity and widespread familiarity are advantages, GraphQL eliminates over-fetching and under-fetching of data, reduces the number of network requests, and gives you complete control over the data you get back.
Price
Taddy API:
Free Plan - 500 API Requests / month
Pro Plan - $75/month for 100,000 API Requests. Access to episode transcripts.
Business Plan - $150/month for 350,000 API Requests. Access to more episode transcripts & webhook notifications.
Listen Notes API:
Free Plan - 300 API Requests / month
Pro Plan:
$200/month for 5,000 API Requests.
$352/month for 100,000 API Requests
$752/month for 350,000 API Requests
Summary
Both the Listen Notes API and Taddy API are well documented and well built APIs. The three main drawbacks with the Listen Notes API are the control you get over the data you get back from the API, plus the lack of transcripts and webhook notifications. We believe this makes Taddy API a better value for what you get and a great alternative to the Listen Notes API.
Make sure to check our list of the 🥇Top 5 Podcast APIs if you would like a summary of all the different Podcast API options available.
If you are new to using Taddy’s API, Get Started with our 🤖 Intro to Taddy’s API.
Article by: Daniel Mathews
Updated on September 12, 2025
More Links:
Podcast APIThe 5 Top Podcast APIsiTunes API vs Taddy API - Which is better?PodcastIndex.org API vs Taddy - Which is better?