Over the past 15 years, podcasts have come a long way. What started as a niche hobby for tech-savvy DIYers has turned into a full-blown media format — with production quality and popularity on par with mainstream TV. The topics have evolved too, often feeling more like talk shows than underground audio blogs.

Personally, I still prefer the old-school format — just audio, no video. It feels cozier and, more often than not, way more informative.

Lately, inspired by some posts I read, I’ve been moving more and more of my digital life to self-hosted tools. It’s not paranoia about Big Tech spying on me — it’s more about convenience and having full control over my data. That got me thinking: what if I also hosted my podcast library myself?

That’s when I came across Podgrab — a lightweight podcast manager written in Go. It automatically downloads new episodes and gives you a clean, easy-to-use web interface to listen to them.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to set up Podgrab on a VPS and what makes it worth trying.

First Things First: Get a Reliable VPS

Before you start building your own podcast hub, make sure you have a solid server. UFO.Hosting offers VPS plans with flexible pricing, multiple locations, and a support team that actually has your back when something goes wrong.

Why Podgrab Caught My Eye

Simplicity. That’s what sold me. Podgrab is one of those rare tools that just works. No confusing setup, no bloated UI, no flashy animations that slow everything down. Minimalism here isn’t just a style choice — it’s a philosophy. You open the page, find your podcast, hit download. That’s it. No fuss, no distractions, no features you’ll want to disable five minutes in.

And for me, the killer feature is decent search, especially the fact that it supports Russian-language podcasts. Reading tech articles or documentation in English is one thing — you can pause, reread, look things up. But listening to podcasts in English is a different beast. You need clarity, a natural rhythm, and ideally, your native language.

Some might be bothered that there’s no mobile app, but honestly, I don’t care. I listen to podcasts at home, on my computer, using Bluetooth headphones. When I’m out, I’d rather just put on some music. Podcasts or audiobooks on the go distract me more than they help me focus.

Installing Podgrab on a Server

The fastest way to get Podgrab up and running is with Docker. If you already have Docker installed, you can launch it with just one command:

docker run -d \

--name=podgrab \

-p 8080:8080 \

-v ~/podgrab:/config \

-v ~/podgrab/downloads:/downloads \

--restart unless-stopped \

akhilrex/podgrab

Here’s what each part does:

-p 8080:8080: opens the web interface on port 8080
-v ~/podgrab:/config: saves your config settings
-v ~/podgrab/downloads:/downloads: stores downloaded episodes
--restart unless-stopped: keeps it running even after a reboot

Once it’s running, just open your browser and Podgrab will be waiting for you.

By the way, I deployed it on one of our entry-level Aluminium VPS plans — 1 CPU core, 1 GB RAM. More than enough for the job.

Using Podgrab

To get started, just visit:
http://your-server-ip:8080

No registration, no account setup. Just plug in and go. The interface is minimal — in the best possible way. It’s fast, clean, and gets straight to the point.

The only thing that bugged me at first? The blindingly white theme. Thankfully, dark mode is just a couple clicks away in the settings. While you’re there, you can also tweak how episodes are displayed, set auto-download rules, and check how much storage you have left.

Adding a Podcast

Let’s say I want to subscribe to Radio-T. First, I search online for their RSS feed (usually easy to find) and paste it into the input field in Podgrab.

Boom — new episodes show up under the Episodes tab.

You can even filter them by podcast or title. I don’t use this much — I only follow a few shows — but if your feed is packed, filters are a must. Podgrab makes organizing your library simple and intuitive.

Also, you’re not limited to pasting RSS links manually. You can search directly in Podgrab, thanks to its built-in support for iTunes and PodcastIndex.

Final Thoughts

Podgrab is a fast, no-nonsense self-hosted podcast manager that saves you from manually checking for new episodes. It gives you full control over your media collection, runs like a charm, and skips the usual bloat.

How to Set Up and Use Podgrab: A Fast and Simple Self-Hosted Podcast Manager