I’ll recommend Podcast Republic. I like that I can set priority in my podcasts and it will automatically sort an auto playlist by that priority. It’s very customizable. I can’t even remember if I paid for it in the past, but I know I don’t have a subscription.

Same for me. I notice that if I click the direct link it opens much faster, but still a little lag. Clicking the thumbnail always causes a 5 second or so delay.