This app was mentioned in 3 comments, with an average of 1.67 upvotes
I've tried a ton, and I think my favorite free one is podcast O2. It has a great material design and plenty of features for a free app. Check it out and let me know what you think!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appo2.podcast
AntennaPod is a great free and open source option. I agree.
I asked a similar question here about a month ago, having just started using Podcast O2. The comment thread is pretty good, and covers a lot of the paid app perks, but here's what I wrote about the freebies at the time:
> Podcast O2 (free) packs everything you would expect - speed controls, offline playback (with great download settings and filters), a nice import/browse/subscribe interface for adding shows, and Chromecast support - along with stellar perks like cloud sync & backup, a sleep timer, and more customizations than you can shake a stick at. My favorites are setting custom actions for my headset buttons, and having each podcast's episodes play at a different speed & with a different fast-forward increment. The developer responds to feature suggestions quickly, and seems keen on improving the experience. My only complaint at the moment is a lack of good playlist support; the existing "playlist" feature is really more of a shortcut to a definable subset of episodes, like "stared episodes I've downloaded but not yet listened to." > > * AntennaPod - Open source app with all the usual features, but none of the flair. > * Player FM - Podcast app that's heavy on topic-based discovery. > * Stitcher Radio - Turns podcast browsing into a radio-like experience, complete with breaking news stories and topic-based "stations." > * Podcast Republic - Yet another seemingly generic player that covers the basic feature set.
Plus, there's BeyondPod that's almost always met with universal praise. The free version will get you most of the way, but you have to pay for a couple of features the others give for free.