Riverside Reviews 446

Very disappointing experience
I recorded a podcast today using Riverside, and the session stopped twice in the middle of the recording. As a result, the episode was basically ruined.

The video quality was mediocre, but that’s not the main issue. The core problem is reliability — a recording platform should not fail during an active session.

This was a terrible user experience. I can’t trust the tool for real podcast production and would not recommend it.

Tried out the software. It was too complex for the content I created or needed, and I didn't have time to learn it at the time. Cancelled my subscription, but was offered 2 months free. Accepted thinking I could find value with more time to play with it. I did not have more time. I missed cancelling the auto-renewal by a few days and requested a refund because I hadn't logged in during the entire free trial. My request was ignored.

Very intuitiv to use, a lot of tools. I do not need all of them, but it's everything there, wich i need. I'm a small creator, and Riverside takes a lot of work away from me. I can record, edit and export all with the same software. And if i need help, they also have a great (and suprisingly fast) support-team, with real people ☺️

Easy way to record podcast and coaching calls. The interface is simple and the end quality of the video is great. I love that is does a lot of made for you videos and put a rating on the shorts that are generated.
What is missing is a better directory structure. As you record, everything shows. You can create projects and move other project into that project, but that action does not removed it from the the dashboard. So after a while it feels messy. Also, you cannot go back in to a project and record another session - say you want to rerecord the intro do that episode, you can not record anything in that project after you have closed it.

For a 55 year old technophobe Riverside.fm has been a god send! I spent months debating who to go with, I made the right decision!!

Riverside is great to use, very simple and as someone who didn't know the first thing about podasting its been a life saver.

Using Riverside has been a pleasure – both in terms of how everything works when it works (smoothly, and magic audio is my favourite feature ever – really helps to counteract the bad mic quality of guests) and what happens when it doesn't. I had a chance to interact with their customer support, and it's super helpful and lovely. And fast!

I'll keep it super super short, but despite all the good reviews, my experience has been terrible. I signed up and was excited to use Riverside, but holy moly.

Today is day 11 after I first wrote their support. Every email takes at least two days to get a response. Whenever you do, it's either boilerplate "we're looking into this", or blaming it on your setup.

Specific issue: screen recordings are incredibly low quality, despite 5K display, and camera being 4K and sharp.

I've given them plenty of examples, full access to my account, offered to talk directly to their support to let them debug on my system.

They've done nothing, zero. Clearly not interested in fixing this bug.

Instead, they blamed it on my internet connection. Unfortunately for them, I have a very fast fiber connection at home, with no issues. Not only that, but I've also tested it outside, while traveling (in different WiFi's) and over my mobile hotspot to rule all this out.

Long story short: technical completely incompetent, support is painfully slow, no real solutions offered. Real bummer as the user experience overall seems very nice.

I intended to use them for YouTube, podcasts, and webinars. But now I have to look elsewhere.

Background context: I have a strong technical background, leaving this review only to incentivize them to do better in the future.

Constantly Improving.

I've used the platform for a number of months and within that time, Riverside have added a 'hooks' section and scoring feature for short clips which have been huge for my social media pages.

Excellent, user friendly software (even for luddites) and really, really good customer service - with speedy feedback and helpful videos. Even their AI chatbot is genuinely helpful!

Didn't receive a email warning that a FULL year amount would be charged

Update: They at least refunded me within a day or two.

This product is almost unusable. It looks all shiny on the outside, but nothing but issues. Downloading tracks, especially individual ones, is harder than picking a lock. It's like an 8 step process across folders, options, your computer, the cloud, etc and then still at the end you can't find it. On the recording itself- a podcast - my guest had his wifi go down. It shut us down and we had to start a new recording. Then, that guest left early so that the 2 hosts could chat - still recording- and because he we didn't all leave at the same time, it said I couldn't have his recording unless I sent him an email (!!) asking permission to get it. What is this? No actual person to help, and chat is an AI nothing bot that loads slowly. I went to StreamYard after this and found everything I was looking for. Hell, even Zoom was better.

Great recording and editing platform, specially on the first payment method, which gives you a wider range of options that make your podcast richer. The recording quality both on image and sound are great. Highly recommended either if you are beggining on this world or you are looking for something different to try.

I was using a different platform for recording my podcast and I was told about Riverside so I thought I would try it. I am so happy I did. The AI tools to improve your audio/video and amazing, and the "magic clips" it creates for me, allows me to have social media ready clips ready right after recording. Great job Riverside Team

Although I am not a consistent content creator (plan to get back into it), I still use Riverside FM, and recommend it to others, because of the simplicity.

I don't have video editing skills, but Riverside makes it really easy to learn how to do it, especially with their YouTube channel to help you out.

I recommend it to clients, mainly because as the authority of your business, you can record a video, then either you, or your producer/VA can take that recording and do a whole lot with it: edit, add captions, turn into reels etc.

Then from there, it goes out on YT, podcast platforms, social media. That 10 minute video can produce SO much, it's well worth the $29 a month.

I also use it to edit videos that I have created elsewhere.

My only issue with it is that it's really hard to recommend it to someone and get paid for your recommendation - I looked at the affiliate page and didn't get anywhere because it was so confusing and hard to sign up. Not even sure you can sign up to it if you are in the UK. So I'm recommending it for free instead! Would be nice to get some cash off my monthly bill occasionally.

Please be cautious before subscribing to this service. I signed up for a free trial under the impression that the plan, once the trial ended, would cost £14.00 as stated on their website. However, I was charged £29.00 instead. When I contacted their support team to request a refund, they declined.

They also state that they will send an email reminder before the free trial ends so customers can cancel in time. In my case, no reminder email was received. Only after the payment was taken did an email appear, dated earlier, which suggests that the notification may not have actually been delivered when it should have been. Had I received the reminder as promised, I would have cancelled, as I do not require the service.

This experience makes the free trial and pricing process feel misleading. The way the notification was handled does not inspire trust, and I feel that customers should be aware of this before signing up. I would recommend carefully reviewing your subscription settings and taking screenshots of advertised pricing to avoid unexpected charges.
This kind of shoddy business policy is now practised by all tech organisations, and that's how they are making millions from stealing the customer's pockets. Do not buy their services, as you will never make a dime by creating videos and uploading them to the tech platform. Everything is controlled by the tech thieves to make money for themselves, not for the customers. So it's better not to pay all these tech companies, who are all kinds of thieves and dodgy people.

Roni Aaryan

Riverside has allowed me to make my dream come true. Telling the stories of my community, the stories of Africans across the continent, has always been my mission. But without Riverside, I wouldn’t have been able to sit down with someone in Côte d’Ivoire or South Africa and hear them as if we were sitting right next to each other. On top of that, the fact that it makes it so easy to create snapshots for social media means I can focus more on recording and less on worrying about content.

I simply LOVE Riverside. It makes my podcast creation a breeze. It feels like its designed by creators for creators. I save a bunch of time with its features. Its AI implementation feels sound and logic, and I use some features more than others. Some not. But it works!

The UI is great, guests feel right at home when recording. I actually send a podcast suitcase to my guests all around the country (Norway). They connect the received camera, mic and set up the lighting with me over the phone. We hook up in the Studio, and voila! Thebackground upload function works. I had a guest that was on a shitty LTE line. Turned off video visibility to save bandwith. The local recording was uploaded a few hours later and the edit was smashing. Usually the upload is done instantly on regular guests.

The magic edit, promo clips etc are a lifesaver.

A few parts to improve: The auto transcription into Norwegian could be better. The finishing touches requires quite a lot of manual labor. And the UI for fixing the transcription could also be a tad smoother.
The UI for editing is 4+. Sometimes some of the functions stop responding and I have to exit and reenter the project to get it working correctly again.

But over all I LOVE Riverside!

Bernt

At first I was afraid, I was petrified… to use Riverside. It is too fancy for small creators but that is good, because it also helps you and pushes you too to improve your skills and to find new ways to create and take advantage of the resources Riverside offers. It is intimidating but you also have a lot of videos and guides to learn how to use the features. It is overwhelming at times but if you take the time to understand, you will create better every time. I wish the studio had more language options because when you are overwhelmed and overstimulated, tired of recording and correcting, that you don’t explore more and there are things you understand better in your local language. The tech and customer support is amazing and friendly.

I used to use Streamyard, but the price went through the roof and they didn't give notice very conspicuously that this was going to happen.

After doing a lot of research on alternatives I found Riverside. it had at that time all the features I wanted and needed at a better price. But since I joined, they add new features very regularly.

It now does way more than I would ever need, but many people would find it very useful. Including its AI clips from recordings one can use to promote a show or live stream.

I haven't actually used it yet for a live stream, I use it for recording interviews and the quality I get is fantastic. You can hook up a 1st rate camera like a Sony A7 IV and capture in 4K (if you can figure out where those controls are) and your recording is way into the professional quality.

Riverside is one of those things you almost don't want to tell others about in case it gets to popular and becomes less accessible. Hopefully they will continue to offer the excellent capabilities and RAPID tech help I have experienced with them so far.