Podarium

Your shows.
Your server.

Podarium is a podcast server you run yourself — it subscribes to your shows, downloads the audio, and serves it to your own players. Publishers see one address, and Apple is never in the loop.

Get it on GitHub Explore features
Self-hosted Open source Installable PWA iOS app coming soon
Why Podarium

A media server, not a directory with a player

Most podcast apps make your phone fetch every episode straight from the publisher, and Apple's catalogue decides what exists. Podarium inverts that.

The server does every fetch

Feeds, audio, and artwork are all pulled by your server and served from it. Publishers see one address — no client of yours ever makes a request to a host you didn't choose.

Apple is never in the loop

Discovery runs through the open Podcast Index — search, categories, and trending — never iTunes. Or just paste a feed URL.

Audio worth listening to

Silence removal and loudness leveling happen once, on the server — no client repeats the work. Ad breaks marked by publishers get skipped, and intros and outros trim per show.

Search what was said

Podarium fetches transcripts where publishers offer them, so you can search your library by what was said — not just episode titles — and bookmark the exact timestamp.

Everything inside

A listening setup that respects you

Your queue, your retention rules, your statistics — measured honestly.

Subscribe four ways

Search, browse categories, see what's trending — all via Podcast Index — or paste any feed URL directly.

Downloads ahead of time

Episodes arrive before you want them, with retention rules per show or globally — the server decides what to keep.

Queue, inbox, resume

A play queue, an inbox with filters, starred episodes, and a resume list that knows where you left off.

Playback, tuned per show

Speed per show, chapter skip, publisher-marked ad-break skipping, intro/outro trimming, and a sleep timer.

Honest statistics

Listening time measured from audio that actually played — not from what got marked as done.

Push & offline

Web push for new episodes with a badge on the home-screen icon, and offline playback for episodes you save.

Bookmarks that stick

Bookmark a timestamp inside an episode — the thing that's hardest to ever find again — and jump straight back.

OPML in and out

Bring your subscriptions from any app, and leave with them any time — plus Prometheus metrics and a nightly database dump.

One address, every episode

Your phone never talks to a publisher's CDN, an ad network's tracker, or Apple's catalogue. Your server fetches everything and serves it with range requests — to the installable web app today, and to the native iOS app that's in progress against the same API.

The name follows the Latin habit: an -arium is a place where things are kept — an aquarium for fish, a Podarium for your pods.

Run it yourself

Self-host in three steps

You need Docker with Compose. A NAS is a good home; the Portainer stack ships with a nightly database dump built in.

1

Launch the stack

Paste the Portainer stack (or compose file), set your Postgres password.

2

Subscribe

Search Podcast Index, browse trending, or paste your OPML from another app.

3

Install & listen

Add the web app to your phone's home screen — episodes are already downloaded and waiting.

# launch (deploy/portainer-stack.yml)
docker compose up -d

# open the app
# http://<host>:8044 — subscribe, or import OPML

Serves the web app and API from one address on :8044 — which matters, because playback rides a same-origin httpOnly session cookie.

FastAPIPostgreSQLReactPodcast IndexDockerPWA
FAQ

Questions, answered

How is this different from a normal podcast app?
Most podcast apps are a directory with a player attached — your device fetches each episode straight from the publisher. Podarium is a media server: your server subscribes, downloads, and processes everything, then serves it to your players. Publishers see one address, and no client ever contacts a host you didn't choose.
How do I find shows without Apple's catalogue?
Discovery runs through Podcast Index, the open podcast directory — search, categories, and trending. You can also paste any feed URL, or import your existing subscriptions via OPML.
What does the server do to the audio?
Once per episode, on the server: silence removal and loudness leveling, so no client repeats the work. At playback you also get per-show speed, chapter skip, publisher-marked ad-break skipping, per-show intro/outro trimming, and a sleep timer.
Can I search inside episodes?
Yes. Podarium fetches transcripts where publishers offer them and indexes them, so you can search your library by what was said, not just by title — and bookmark exact timestamps for later.
Is there an iOS app?
The installable web app works on any phone today — home-screen install, push notifications with a badge, and offline playback. A native iOS app is coming soon, built against the same API.