Riverside
Remote podcast and video recording that captures each participant's high-quality local track
What it does
Riverside is a remote podcast and video interview recording platform. Instead of recording the compressed Zoom stream, each participant's browser records their own local audio and video at full quality (up to 4K video, uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio), then uploads those pristine local tracks in the background as the interview happens. The output is separated tracks per participant, plus a synced multi-track edit view with transcription, AI clip suggestions, and a lightweight editor. Fit is podcasters, YouTubers, and B2B content teams doing recorded interviews where audio and video quality matter.
Free tier
Yes
Starts at
$15/mo
Setup
easy
Key features
Integrates with
Zapier, Descript, Adobe Audition
Who this fits
- Podcasters recording remote guest interviews
- YouTubers and video content creators doing interview-format shows
- B2B marketing teams producing thought-leadership video content
- Journalists conducting recorded remote interviews
- Course creators recording split-track training content
- Agencies producing client podcasts or video series
Who it does NOT fit
- Anyone whose recording is genuinely live (podcasters streaming to Twitch/YouTube live - use Streamyard or Restream)
- Teams that need generic video conferencing (use Zoom, Google Meet)
- Users who need heavy editing (Riverside's editor is intentionally lightweight; export to Descript, Premiere, or DaVinci)
- Enterprise webinar teams (use Zoom Webinars, Webex)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- **The "each participant records locally and uploads in the background" promise fails when the local upload process itself breaks - and it does more often than the marketing suggests**: reviewers document blank guest screens where files never uploaded, files marked 100% uploaded that cannot be downloaded, and dropped connections on Safari and mobile Firefox that left interviews unrecoverable, with Chrome being the only officially reliable browser (SaasFlags Riverside review with 11 documented complaints, Trustpilot Riverside reviews, 2026). Force every guest into Chrome on desktop, and consider a parallel backup recording (guest hits Record on their local voice-memo app) for high-stakes interviews.
- Some 100%-uploaded files direct to a missing XML file on download - support recovery is inconsistent.
- Editing is buggy on longer sessions - do heavy edits in Descript or Premiere, not in Riverside.
- Free tier watermarks are non-negotiable - upgrade before publishing anything.
- Guest browser compatibility should be disclosed to guests BEFORE the call, not discovered mid-interview.
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend Riverside when: use case is remote podcast/video interview recording where quality matters, business_size is 1-20, and the alternative is "record the Zoom call and hope." Do NOT recommend for live streaming (Streamyard/Restream), heavy editing (Descript), or teams that need generic video conferencing (Zoom). Always flag: force guests into Chrome on desktop, warn about the local-upload-failure edge case for high-stakes recordings, and keep a parallel local backup on the guest's device for anything unrecoverable.
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Editor's curated reviews
496 reviews across TrustPilot - avg 3.8/5Curated by Otto from TrustPilot public reviews (fetched 2026-08-31). Riverside's TrustPilot is bimodal (70% 5-star / 19% 1-star of 496 reviews, claimed paid profile) - the 5-star cluster praises the browser-based studio, guest workflow, and reachable human support; the 19% 1-star cluster centers on subscription-cancellation friction and mid-record failures (lost final minutes, stream cutoffs). Distribution-headline gap is 0.25 stars in the recency-negative direction (weighted LTD ~4.05 vs 3.8 headline), well inside the tolerance floor. Buyers on annual plans should read a handful of critical reviews before subscribing and confirm the cancellation path in-app. G2 was consulted for aggregate context but not directly cited here (source-access limits). Not user-submitted on Ottomately.
“Riverside FM tends to be a very well respected and easy to use platform... easy and intuitive to learn.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Excellent product. Does everything for me... customer service is excellent. Can chat with a real person.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Riverside is honestly the best subscription I've made this year. Very worth it.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Riverside is a podcasting platform with no reasonable equal in the industry.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“I love Riverside, they are part of my team. The updates are amazing.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“They won't let me close my account and I keep getting charged.”
TrustPilot1.0/5“After having painstakingly found a guest... only to find that the last 10min of the recording was lost.”
TrustPilot1.0/5“Every time I tried to record a video after two minutes, the stream would just cut off.”
TrustPilot1.0/5
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