Running Multiple Shows

Benecaster can run more than one podcast under a single license. Each show keeps its own feeds, subscribers, tiers, and settings — they share an installation, not an audience.

Two separate limits apply, and it’s worth understanding both before you plan a setup: how many shows your plan allows, and how many WordPress installations your license can be activated on.

Show Limits by Plan

The limit counts active shows, not shows you’ve ever created. Deleting or archiving a show frees its slot — if you retire one podcast you can start another without upgrading.

Site Activation Limits

Separately from the show count, your license can only be activated on a limited number of WordPress installations:

Each activation is a separate WordPress installation at its own URL. A staging copy doesn’t count against this limit when benecaster.com recognises its address as a staging address, or support marks it as staging — so you can usually develop against one without spending a slot. A site in staging mode at an address benecaster.com doesn’t recognise does use one; see Staging Site Counted Against Your Show Limit.

Choosing a Site Strategy

Because both limits apply, a Multi-Show license gives you flexibility in how you arrange three shows:

• All on one installation — three shows in one WordPress site, using one site activation. The simplest option to maintain: one plugin to update, one set of credentials, one place to log in. This works well for related shows or a network, but it also means the shows share site access, branding, and design — anyone with admin access to the site can reach every show, and separating the look or feel of one show from another takes theme-level work rather than being automatic.
• One show per installation — three separate WordPress sites at three domains, using all three site activations. Right when the shows are genuinely separate brands, or when different people administer them.
• Any combination — two shows on one site and a third on its own domain, for example.

You cannot connect two separate Benecaster licenses to the same WordPress site — each installation connects to one license, and every show you add there draws on that same plan (see What’s Shared Across Shows below). If you need shows to run under genuinely separate licenses, put them on separate installations.

When you connect a second show on a site whose other shows are already connected, benecaster.com picks that site’s subscription for you and says so: “Other shows on this site are already connected under…”. It does not ask which subscription to use. If the site is connected under a subscription on a different benecaster.com account, for example a previous owner’s, you see This site is on another subscription instead, with a Contact support button. Support can free the site once it is clear who owns it.

Moving a whole site to a different subscription. Disconnect every show on that site from the old subscription first: log in to benecaster.com, open My Account, select that subscription, and on the Shows & add-ons tab use Disconnect on each of the site’s shows under Connected shows. Then connect the shows again from the plugin and choose the new subscription.

You will not accidentally exceed the site limit — you are stopped at the point of connecting. On a Multi-Show license, connecting a fourth installation is refused before it starts, with a message reading “Your Multi-Show subscription is at its site limit. Disconnect a site you no longer use, or upgrade your plan to connect this one.” Disconnecting a site frees its slot immediately, and reconnecting a site you already have connected does not consume a second one.

What’s Separate Per Show

Each show is independent in every way that affects your subscribers:

• RSS feeds — its own public feed and its own private subscriber feeds
• Subscribers and tokens — a token is show-specific. Someone subscribed to Show A gets no access to Show B; if they want both, they subscribe to both and receive two feed URLs.
• Tiers — each show has its own tier configuration and its own availability rules
• Show identity — name, artwork, description, and feed slug
• Email sender name — subscribers see the show’s name in their inbox, not your site name

What’s Shared Across Shows

On a single installation, some things are set once and apply everywhere:

• Your plan — one Benecaster plan covers every show on the installation, up to your plan’s show limit. Each show connects separately, but they all draw on the same plan
• SMTP configuration — all shows send through the same connection, configured once with a plugin like WP Mail SMTP or Fluent SMTP. The sending address is site-wide even though the sender name is per show. See SMTP Setup.
• Site-level settings — anything under Benecaster → Settings that isn’t scoped to a show

Switching Between Shows

The show switcher sits in the Benecaster top bar and is always visible. Selecting a show scopes the whole admin context — episodes, subscribers, analytics, and settings all update to that show. An “All Shows” option is available for cross-show analytics.

Most screens work on one show at a time, so it’s worth glancing at the switcher before you start editing.

Placing Shortcodes on a Multi-Show Site

A shortcode that belongs to one show — a subscribe button, a pricing table, an episode list — works out which show it is for in this order:

1. The show_id you give it, if any.
2. The page it sits on: a show’s page is that show, and an episode’s page is the show the episode belongs to.
3. The site’s only show, if you run just one.

On a multi-show site, a shortcode on an ordinary page (your homepage, a landing page, a sidebar) reaches step 3 with no single answer, so give it a show_id there. Without one it shows nothing, just as before. On show and episode pages you can leave show_id out.

A few shortcodes read a missing show_id differently, on purpose:

• [benecaster_account] and [benecaster_user_badge] cover all of a member’s shows.
• [benecaster_member_since] measures membership across the whole site.
• [benecaster_listener_support] uses your site-wide donation settings on any page that is not a show or episode page. See Setting Up Listener Support.

Every shortcode’s own show_id behaviour is in the Shortcodes Reference.

Adding a Show

Go to Benecaster → Shows → Add New. See Creating a Show for the full walkthrough.

If your plan’s show slots are already full, Add New is disabled and the create flow is blocked, with a prompt to upgrade. To continue, either upgrade your plan or free a slot by deleting or archiving a show you no longer publish.