Riverside Review (2026)Hitting the Cap Stops Delivery
By Daan Haket · Researched and written with an AI assistant · who does what
The meter is not recording time, it is separate-track download time, and separate tracks are the entire reason to use this rather than a video call. Throughout this review we weigh it against Zencastr.
- Best for Podcasters interviewing remote guests on poor connections
From $24 · per month billed yearly ($35 monthly) · read 2026-09-26
Try Riverside →Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our verdict.
Is Riverside right for you?
Your pain“My guests have bad connections and I still need broadcast-quality audio and video.”
Does Riverside solve it?YesBuyer reports (G2, SelectHub and creator reviews, August 2026): each participant records locally, so a guest's bad connection does not ruin the take; 4.8 on G2 across 1,657 reviews.
Your planPro, $24/mo billed yearly ($35 monthly), 1 studio and 15 hours of separate-track downloads
Try Riverside →
Your pain“I publish a lot of interviews and cannot afford to be blocked from downloading each guest's separate track.”
Does Riverside solve it?PartlyPricing FAQ, read 26 September 2026: once you hit the cap, recordings stay viewable, but new separate-track downloads wait for the next cycle or an upgrade.
Your planGrow, $34/mo billed yearly ($45 monthly), 2 studios and 20 hours of separate-track downloads
Try Riverside →
Your pain“I want to run webinars with audience registration, Q&A and polls from the same tool I record in.”
Does Riverside solve it?PartlyPricing FAQ, read 26 September 2026: Grow has live streaming, but registration, Q&A, polls and webinar analytics are only on Webinar, with registration for up to 100 people.
Your planWebinar, $79/mo billed yearly ($99 monthly)
Try Riverside →
- you record alone, or your guests are always in the room with you, because then a local recorder does the same job once; also skip Pro if you download more than about eight hours of separate tracks a month, since that cap is what will stop you.
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Which Riverside plan do you need?
4 plans, 2 questions, no signup.
Answer two quick questions to see your plan.
Your plan
Pro
$24/mo billed yearly ($35 monthly)
1 studio, 15 hours of separate-track downloads
Your plan
Grow
$34/mo billed yearly ($45 monthly)
2 studios, 20 hours, live streaming and hosting for 2 shows
Your plan
Webinar
$79/mo billed yearly ($99 monthly)
3 studios, 25 hours, registration for up to 100
Your plan
Business
contact sales (quote-only)
Unlimited studios and downloads, up to 10,000 registrants
Prices as we read them on 2026-09-26; check the checkout before you pay. The plan button is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Exit test (measured 2026-11-12)
- Export route
- No downloaded file examined and no export or reimport performed
- Formats
- Not tested
- Attachments included
- Not tested
- Re-import tested
- No
- Lost on export
- Not tested
Formats describe this export route; offered formats may not have been inspected. Full exit test and scope ↓
We tried to use Riverside on 12 November 2026. After signing in by email the dashboard showed no studio access: 'Your free access has ended. Book a demo with our team, or start a 14 days free trial on Pro.' The Pro trial asked for a payment method, so we stopped. We never reached the studio or recorded anything. This does not show that Riverside has no free plan.
How we tested
- Signed in by email and read the screen the dashboard showed
- Started the Pro trial and read the payment screen
- Stopped before entering a payment method, as the test protocol requires
- The only options on that screen were a demo or a 14-day Pro trial. Pro was listed at '€24 Per month, Billed €288 annually'.
- Start of the trial opened a payment screen with yearly billing preselected. It read '14 dagen gratis' and 'Vervolgens € 288,00 per jaar vanaf 26 november 2026', with a reminder on 19 November. The payment methods were iDEAL | Wero, card, PayPal and SEPA direct debit.
- We do not know whether this account ever had a free entitlement, or whether an earlier sign-up attempt on 6 November used it up.
Pricing (2026)
✓ Pricing re-verified 26 Sep 2026
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $24/mo billed yearly | listed at $35; 1 studio, 15 hrs of separate-track downloads |
| Grow | $34/mo billed yearly | listed at $45; 2 studios, 20 hrs, live streaming and hosting for 2 shows |
| Webinar | $79/mo billed yearly | listed at $99; 3 studios, 25 hrs, up to 100 registrants |
| Business | contact sales | unlimited studios and downloads, up to 10,000 registrants, async recording |
Pro $35 a month or $24 on annual billing; Grow $45 or $34; Webinar $99 or $79; Business quote-only. What separates the tiers is studios and separate-track download hours, 1 studio and 15 hours on Pro, 2 and 20 on Grow, 3 and 25 on Webinar, unlimited on Business, while recording hours are unlimited on all four. Up to 4K desktop capture, 44.1/48 kHz audio and 10 people in a session are on every tier; the mobile apps cap at 1080p below Business, and frame rates are 24 FPS except on Business.
Webinar registration is 100 on the Webinar plan and up to 10,000 on Business. AI credits: Pro starts with 2,000 and Business with 12,000, and Magic Clips, Magic Audio and the AI Co-Creator do not consume them. The page contradicts itself: its FAQ says annual billing saves 'up to 20%' with Pro dropping from $29 to $24 and Grow from $39 to $34, the pre-increase monthly rates, while against the $35/$45/$99 on the cards the annual saving is 31%, 24% and 20%. Plans change, so check the live price on their site before you buy.
Category context: Growth & Revenue. Across the 84 tools in this category that we researched with a public US-dollar price, the median entry price is about $30 a month (lowest paid plan as listed, per seat where the vendor prices per seat). Riverside’s entry price of $24 a month sits below that median. Compare pricing conditions in the Software Cost Atlas →
What the price did
We read Riverside’s own pricing page on a schedule and keep every reading, so this is our record of the page. It is not a forecast, and not someone else’s summary. A change appears here only after we confirmed the new price on the page itself.
Unchanged. Every price on Riverside’s pricing page was identical across our 16 reads from 7 Aug 2026 to 11 Nov 2026 (96 days).
Our 26 August 2026 reading over a US connection found the monthly rates had risen from $29 to $35 on Pro and from $39 to $45 on Grow while the annual rates stayed at $24 and $34, so that increase fell entirely on people paying month to month. The 7 September 2026 re-read returns the same numerals. The FAQ on that same page still quotes the pre-increase $29 and $39 alongside its 'up to 20%' claim, which is the clearest confirmation that the rise is recent: the cards were updated and the copy underneath them was not.
What the pricing page doesn’t say
Recording itself is unlimited. Their own FAQ on hitting the cap: you can still access your content but cannot download new separate tracks until the next billing cycle or you upgrade. So a busy interview month does not cost you more money, it quietly stops you delivering, which is worse. Fifteen hours on Pro is about seven or eight hour-long interviews once you count retakes and the recording that runs while you set up. There is a 14-day trial rather than a published free plan.
Watch the video review
The video version of this review, from our YouTube channel.
⚡ Short on time? Watch the 30-second verdict Short.
What Riverside does
Records podcasts and video locally at each end, so guests on poor connections still come out broadcast-quality.
What buyers report about Riverside
Hands-on: sign-up refused 2026-11-12Reported by buyers: G2, SelectHub and creator reviews, read August 2026
Themes from the buyer-review sites listed at the foot of this page, read in August 2026. We tried to sign up for Riverside on 2026-11-12 and were refused, so we could not use the product; this is other buyers' experience rather than ours. We summarise it here because the complaints are usually the part a vendor page leaves out.
- • Each participant records locally, so a guest's bad connection does not ruin the take. That is the core reason to use it, and it works. 4.8 on G2 across 1,657 reviews.
- • Guests join without friction, and the AI editing that strips filler words and pauses saves real time.
- • Sync problems, missing files and glitches are reported often enough to matter: always check your files are all there before you let a guest go.
- • Support is described as inconsistent and not transparent when something has gone wrong.
- • 4K recording sits on the higher tier, and both are quoted on annual billing; monthly costs up to 35% more.
- • Integrations with other platforms are thinner than reviewers want.
Grow moves the wall 33% for $10
The meter here is not recording time, it is separate-track download time, and separate tracks are the entire reason to use Riverside rather than a video call. Recording hours are unlimited on all four plans. Prices are per region: our US reading of 26 August 2026 gave dollars, and re-reading the page on 7 September 2026 from a Netherlands connection returns the identical numerals with a euro sign, because the amounts come from Riverside's own pricing API rather than the page.
In dollars, then: Pro is $35 a month or $24 on annual billing, for 15 hours of separate-track downloads and one studio. Grow is $45 or $34 for 20 hours and two studios. Webinar is $99 or $79 for 25 hours, three studios and registration for up to 100. Business is quote-only with unlimited studios and unlimited downloads. Per hour on the annual rate, Pro is the cheapest plan on the ladder at $1.60, Grow is $1.70 and Webinar is $3.16.
The volume discount runs backwards, and if hours were all you were buying nobody would ever leave Pro. The marginal figures say it louder: Grow's five extra hours cost $2 each, Webinar's five cost $9 each, the second studio costs $10 and the third costs $45. Which reframes the decision. What you buy when you leave Pro is not hours, it is distance from the wall, and hitting the wall does not cost money.
Their own FAQ: you can still access your content but cannot download new separate tracks until the next billing cycle or you upgrade. A busy interview month therefore does not produce a bigger invoice, it produces a stop: the recordings exist and you cannot deliver them. Fifteen hours is fewer sessions than it sounds once you count the recording that runs while you set levels, the retakes and the overrun.
What the upgrade does not buy is quality or capacity: up to 4K desktop capture, 44.1/48 kHz audio, 10 people in a session and unlimited transcription sit on Pro already, and every tier below Business charges for an extra editor seat as an add-on. AI credits run on their own meter: Pro starts with 2,000 and Business with 12,000, while Magic Clips, Magic Audio and the AI Co-Creator consume none, so neither the credits nor the resolution should decide your tier. Hours and studios are the only things the ladder sells.
Our monthly capture read this vendor's pricing page every month from July 2026 to October 2026, and the amounts were the same all 4 times, including $34, $39, $79 and $99 from the pricing above. We keep watching, and the registry records what moves.
What happened when we tried to sign up for Riverside
The first findings are at the top of this page. The rest:
- We entered no payment method.
Claim vs. what we measured
We set a claim from Riverside's own pages next to what we saw in our test, on the plan named. The status says whether the two describe the same thing and match; it is not a verdict on the product. Confirmations are listed too.
| What the vendor says | What we measured | Status | What it means if you buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your free access has ended. Book a demo with our team, or start a 14 days free trial on Pro.Source: our test notes, read 12 Nov 2026 | Measured 2026-11-12: This account could not reach the studio; the offered trial required a payment method. The previous entitlement history is unknown.Our test, 12 Nov 2026; Pro v7 trial offered; not activated | ConfirmedRiverside: This account on this date only; no conclusion that a free plan does not exist. | This signup attempt did not provide free studio access without a payment method or demo. |
| Vervolgens € 288,00 per jaar vanaf 26 november 2026Source: our test notes, read 12 Nov 2026 | Measured 2026-11-12: Offered Pro trial showed €288/year after 14 days with Yearly selected; no separate same-scope pricing or cost-rule comparison.Our test, 12 Nov 2026; Pro v7 trial offered; not activated | Not testableRiverside: Pricing/checkout comparison: Offered Pro trial showed €288/year after 14 days with Yearly selected; no separate same-scope pricing or cost-rule comparison. No verified matching cost rule. | Check the billing basis and any taxes before purchase. |
Exit test: can you take your data out?
On 12 November 2026 this account opened on a screen saying its free access had ended. We could choose a demo or a 14-day Pro trial. The trial required a payment method, with yearly billing selected and €288/year due from 26 November. We stopped without entering payment details. We did not reach the studio or record anything. This does not establish that Riverside has no free plan. Test date: 12 Nov 2026. We describe the friction rather than score it; this is one run with synthetic records, not a verdict on Riverside.
| What we checked | What we saw |
|---|---|
| Fields offered by the export dialog | |
| Not offered in the field selector | None noted. |
| The exported file | We did not inspect the file, so data retention and loss remain unverified. |
| Awkward but not lost | Studio access blocked; offered trial required a payment method. |
| Export route | No downloaded file examined and no export or reimport performed; all export preservation checks remain not_tested. |
| Export format | No downloaded file bytes examined. |
| Re-importing the export | No reimport executed. |
| Cancelling | No cancellation/downgrade performed. |
What the exit test does not show:
- Support and invitations.
- Export, reimport, cancellation and passive follow-up.
- Roles, API entitlement and downgrade.
How this compares: across our exit tests of 102 tools, 57 gave us an export file. For Riverside no usable export file reached us during the test session. Report 08: can you get your data out?
Mail in the first 14 days
Mail timeline: not measured.
What this test does not show:
- Whether a free plan exists for new accounts
- Everything after sign-up: recording, editing, export and re-import
- Support, invitations, roles, API access, downgrade and cancellation
- Checkout beyond the payment screen, tax and the final price
Most of our reviews are researched rather than run. How we review explains which is which, and why we do not pretend otherwise.
How to actually use Riverside
Record one real session inside the 14-day trial before you commit, and watch the upload rather than the recording. Riverside's value is that each participant is captured locally and uploaded separately, so the failure mode that matters is a guest on a poor connection or a browser that misbehaves: test that with a guest, not with yourself. Then measure your hours the way the meter does. It counts separate-track download time, not recording time, and the hours you download include the minutes that ran while you set levels, every retake and the overrun at the end.
Add those to your interview length and the honest monthly figure is usually half again what the schedule suggests. Pick the tier from that number and from your publishing calendar rather than from the price. Hitting the cap does not cost money, it stops you downloading new separate tracks until the cycle turns over, so what you are buying out of is a missed delivery date. If your estimate lands anywhere near Pro's 15 hours, Grow's five extra hours cost $10 and are worth it purely as headroom.
Check the amount in your own currency before you sign. The page prices per region, so a European visitor sees the same numerals with a euro sign, and the FAQ directly beneath the plan cards still quotes an older set of monthly rates than the cards above it.
Where this section comes from: our research notes (459 words)
riverside.com/pricing read in a browser on 7 September 2026 from a Netherlands exit. Three things about reading this page. (1) riverside.fm/pricing is no longer the address; it redirects to riverside.com, which is where the page now lives. (2) The plan cards carry both amounts at once in the DOM: an element with class 'pricing__plan-price is--monthly' holding €35 and one with 'is--yearly' holding €24, with the monthly figure struck through while the yearly view is active.
Operating the Monthly/Yearly control changes which one is emphasised, not the numbers, so a reading of one state is a reading of both. The container is labelled 'c-price-abtest-price-inner active-yearly' and the price block 'is__v2 version-b', i.e. the page is running a price A/B test and this is variant B, another visitor may be shown a different arrangement. (3) A hidden mobile comparison block ('compare-plans__wrapper-mobile', display:none at both 1280px and 375px) still contains a stale 'Free / Pro / Tab / Standard / Business' tab set with '$0/month' in three of the panes; it is dead markup from an older plan structure and no visitor sees it, so anything scraped from it is wrong.
The plan limits (studios, separate-track download hours, resolution, audio, frame rates, session size, registrant caps) come from the Compare plans table read column by column, and the cap behaviour, the AI-credit allowances, the editor-seat add-on and the annual-saving claim come from the FAQ beneath it. riverside.fm/llms.txt returns 404. riverside.com/register, read the same day, still offers a free sign-up ('Sign up to join Riverside, it's free'), but the pricing page no longer lists a free plan or publishes its limits, so the 2-hour, 720p, single-track figures we carried are no longer sourceable.
Re-read 26 September 2026 in the browser pane from a Netherlands exit: EUR 35/24, 45/34 and 99/79, 15/20/25 hours of separate-track downloads and 1/2/3 studios, unchanged; the FAQ still quotes $29 and $39 as the pre-annual monthly rates. The FAQ answers on webinars (registration, Q&A, polls, automated reminders, HubSpot and webinar analytics only from the Webinar plan; Business for more than 100 registrants) and on AI credits (Pro 2,000, Business 12,000, more purchasable once used; Magic Clips, Magic Audio and the AI Co-Creator need none) are the source of the buyer questions.
A plain fetch of the same URL now returns a different variant - a Free plan with 2 hours of multi-track recording at 720p and 'Pro + Live Studio' at $29/$24 - next to a notice that the page is being viewed in a staging environment; the browser does not show that variant and it is not used here. The FAQ on https://riverside.com/pricing was re-read 2 November 2026 for the editor-seat question (add-on on Pro, Grow and Webinar; collaborative editing and custom roles only on Business).
The natural comparison is Zencastr or SquadCast: the direct local-recording peers: compare the monthly hour allowance for separate tracks, not the headline price. Weigh it against Zencastr on the job you actually need done.
Frequently asked questions
Can you export your data from Riverside?
Exit check 2026-11-12; route excerpt: No downloaded file examined and no export or reimport performed; came along (excerpts): not tested; lost (excerpts): not tested; re-import: not tested.
Can I run webinars on the Grow plan?
Not properly. Riverside's pricing FAQ (read 26 September 2026) says you need at least the Webinar plan: Grow includes live streaming and multistreaming, but audience registration, Q&A, polls, automated email reminders, the HubSpot integration and webinar analytics are only on Webinar. That plan is $99 a month or $79 on annual billing and takes registration for up to 100 people; past 100 registrants the FAQ points you to the quote-only Business plan.
What happens when my AI credits run out?
You buy more, according to the FAQ (read 26 September 2026): Pro starts with 2,000 credits and Business with 12,000, and once they are used more can be purchased. The page prints no price for extra credits. Credits only power select features - AI Translation, AI B-Roll and Animated Clips are the examples given - while Magic Clips, Magic Audio and the AI Co-Creator do not use them, so a podcast workflow built on those three never touches the meter.
Is annual billing really 20% cheaper?
It is cheaper than that on the lower plans. The FAQ says annual billing saves up to 20% and quotes Pro dropping from $29 to $24, but the plan cards (read 26 September 2026) show Pro at 35 a month billed monthly against 24 on annual billing, Grow 45 against 34 and Webinar 99 against 79 - a saving of 31%, 24% and 20%. The cards are priced by region: from a Netherlands exit they show euros, with the same numerals our US reading showed in dollars.
Do extra editor seats on Pro give me the same collaboration as Business?
No. The pricing FAQ (re-read 2 November 2026) says an additional editor seat is an add-on on Pro, Grow and Webinar, and that 'Business is the only plan with collaborative editing and custom roles built in'; it points teams that need several people editing at the same time to Business. A seat add-on adds a person, not simultaneous editing or roles. The FAQ answer does not state the seat price; not confirmed.
Is this a hands-on review of Riverside?
No. We tried to start a trial of Riverside on 2026-11-12 and the sign-up was refused, so this is a researched assessment; the section above shows what happened. We name what each tool is good and bad at, and we earn a commission only if you sign up, at no cost to you.
- Buyer reviews on G2, SelectHub and creator reviews, read August 2026.
- Read 2026-09-26 on riverside.com/pricing; riverside.fm now redirects to riverside.com. Amounts are region-priced: the page returned euros from a Netherlands exit on this date, with the same numerals our 26 August 2026 US reading returned as dollars, so the dollar figures are given here.
- A dated screenshot of that pricing page, kept on this site as the receipt.
- Our own attempt to sign up for Riverside (2026-11-12), written up in full further down this page.
Bottom line
Best for: podcasters interviewing remote guests on poor connections.
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