Live Streaming Pricing Comparison: How Much Does Video Streaming Cost [2024 Update]

Live streaming is more popular than ever. So much so that the live-streaming industry market size is expected to grow from 38.87 billion to 256.56 billion USD between 2022 and 2032. Whether you’re a content creator, a business, or an entrepreneur, hosting a live-streaming service can help you grow.

We take a close look at the costs of video streaming. Whether you’re thinking of streaming video services online or live sports through live TV streaming services, this guide will help. We look at the factors that determine live-streaming pricing. Then we discuss the equipment you need for live streaming events. Finally, we review the most common pricing formats and how to charge for live streaming.

This post has been updated to reflect the most accurate live-streaming pricing information for the top 20 platforms as of May 2024.

Table of Contents

• How Does Live Streaming Work?
• Benefits of Live Streaming
• What is a Professional Video Streaming Platform?
• How to Charge for Live Streaming
• Live Streaming Pricing for the Top 20 Video Platforms
• 1. Dacast
• 2. Livestream
• 3. Vimeo
• 4. Wistia
• 5. IBM Video Streaming
• 6. Kaltura
• 7. Brightcove
• 8. JW Player
• 9. Vidyard
• 10. Wowza
• 11. StreamShark
• 12. Resi
• 13. Hippo Video
• 14. Cincopa
• 15. StreamYard
• 16. Uscreen
• 17. Muvi
• 18. Panopto
• 19. SproutVideo
• 20. Restream
• Additional Costs Associated with Live Streaming
• Conclusion

How Does Live Streaming Work?

Before we get into the different platforms, let’s briefly go over the technical side of live streaming. 

To start, you’ll need to understand that several technological advances have made live streaming possible. Most notably, the widespread adoption of broadband Internet and powerful mobile devices.

Live streaming requires a lot of bandwidth. For example, a 1080p stream at 30fps requires a minimum of 4Mbps (megabits per second). But you’ll need even more if you want to avoid buffering and deliver a smooth experience to your viewers. We recommend having an internet connection with at least 10Mbps for live streaming.

Now, let’s look at some of the technical processes during a live stream:

• Encoding: The process of converting your video signal into a digital format that can be streamed online. It’s done with the help of special software called an encoder.
• Transcoding: Converting your video signal into multiple formats and bitrates so that viewers with different internet speeds can watch your stream without buffering. Transcoding is done by special servers called media servers.
• CDN Distribution: Once your stream has been encoded and transcoded, it’s sent to a content delivery network (CDN) for distribution. A CDN is a network of servers that deliver content to viewers based on their location. That helps to reduce latency and ensure a smooth viewing experience for your audience.
• CDN Cashing: CDN providers will often cache your live stream on their servers to further reduce latency and improve the viewer experience. Caching can also help to prevent your stream from going offline in the event of a sudden spike in traffic.
• Video Playback: Finally, the viewer’s device will decode the video signal and play it back.

As you can see, a lot goes on behind the scenes of a livestream. But don’t worry. You don’t need to understand all the technical nooks and crannies to start.

Benefits of Live Streaming

Now that we’ve gone over the technical side let’s look at some of the benefits of live streaming. Live streaming can offer several benefits, whether you’re a business owner, influencer, or a serious broadcaster. 

Some of the most notable advantages include:

• Low-cost: Live streaming is a relatively low-cost way to reach a large audience. All you need is a decent internet connection and basic live-streaming equipment. You can find complete live-streaming setups for under $1,000.
• Easy to set up: You don’t need a computer science degree. In most cases, you must connect your live streaming device to your internet connection and hit the “go” button.
• Real-time interaction: Regular live streams allow you to interact with your audience in real-time. That means you can answer questions, provide support, and build rapport with your viewers. 

Increased engagement: Without the ability to pause or rewind a live stream, viewers are more likely to pay attention and engage with the content. That can lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

What is a Professional Video Streaming Platform?

An online video host is streaming software that is designed to host video content. Some platforms host live streams and others host on-demand video content. Many online video platforms host both. So, how much does live streaming cost?

Professional-grade streaming platforms typically have the features you need to embed your video player in your app or website. For example, security, video monetization tools, white-label capabilities, video APIs, and other features are popular streaming tools available on professional-grade streaming platforms.

Paid video hosting tools have a leg up on free ones like YouTube for several reasons.

Free platforms come with distracting ads and heavily monetize all video content for their benefit, not yours. For example, your content can appear next to or alongside ads from competitors. Live streaming on free platforms costs no money, but you have to give up control of your content.

As we mentioned, professional video hosts typically offer monetization options, so you can use advertisements if you want to, but it’s not required. You can also choose to monetize your streams with pay-per-view or subscriptions.

On professional-grade video hosting platforms. you control if there is advertising with your video content, and you control the type of advertising, unlike with free platforms. 

Another major setback is that free platforms like YouTube are the most heavily blocked websites in the world. Many businesses, schools, universities, and other institutions completely block access to these sites which cuts you off from a large group of potential viewers.

Embedding streaming video on your website allows you to go around these restrictions.

For these reasons, among others, we recommend using professional-grade streaming solutions.

How to Charge for Live Streaming

Before we get into the specific live streaming costs associated with some of the top professional online video hosts, we’re going to review some of the typical pricing structures that these sites use, including both subscription and pay-as-you-go models. How much it costs to livestream depends upon the pricing structure of the professional online video host you choose to work with.

Subscriptions

One of the benefits of live streaming platforms is the ability to price streams via a recurring subscription model. To access the streaming service, you must pay a flat fee monthly or annually.

This cost varies widely from platform to platform and even from package to package on any given platform. Sometimes, you can save money by paying up-front for the entire year rather than monthly.

All streaming plans include an allotment of video bandwidth and storage. For many streaming platforms, if you need to use additional bandwidth, you can pay a fee to increase your bandwidth. The cost per GB typically decreases as volume increases. With subscription models, how much it costs to stream a video varies based on the package you choose. 

Pay-As-You-Go

The second live-streaming pricing model is pay-as-you-go or pay-per-view. This model is not available on most streaming platforms.

However, this option is ideal for the occasional streamer. A yearly event is a good candidate for this pricing model. For a yearly or one-time event, you can purchase access to live-streaming services without committing to a monthly bill.

Dacast offers broadcasters the ability to buy bulk streaming data at competitive prices. You can access your bandwidth for 12 months after purchase, and per GB pricing decreases as volume increases. The more bandwidth you purchase, the more affordable the streaming price is. 

To learn more about how much bandwidth you might need for a given event, check out the bandwidth calculator on Dacast’s pricing page.

Additional Professional Services

Many streaming services offer professional services to help broadcasters who need extra support. Of course, this comes at an extra charge.

For example, Dacast offers professional services to help you get started with live streaming.

Developing is one specific service that many broadcasters find useful. This can be a valuable resource if you don’t have the in-house resources to build a customized website or build an API-based online platform.

Consider what professional services a video hosting platform can provide when choosing which platform to work with.

Live Streaming Pricing for the Top 20 Video Platforms in 2024

As we mentioned, live-streaming server solutions run at different price points. This has a lot to do with the features and capabilities of the platforms themselves.

Not every broadcaster needs every tool, which is why so many options are available.

This comparison will cover the pricing plans available on some of the top video hosting platforms, including Dacast, Vimeo, Wistia, IBM Cloud Video, and more. Each platform offers around three to four standard and custom plans or trial plans.

Does it cost to livestream? Yes, if you use a professional video hosting service. The cost depends upon the service and the plan you choose with that service.

Let’s look at the prices of these top competitors in the professional video hosting space.

1. Dacast

Dacast is a unified streaming platform built for live streaming and on-demand video hosting. Both of these functions are available with all packages.

The difference between Dacast packages has largely to do with the amount of bandwidth and storage that comes with each.

Starter Plan

The Starter plan costs $39/month and comes with 2.4 TB of bandwidth and 500 GB of storage. This plan is ideal for affordable streaming to small groups.

Dacast’s Starter plan is best suited for businesses and organizations that are just getting into broadcasting.

The Starter plan includes all of Dacast’s basic features: live streaming, on-demand video hosting, 24/7 customer support, unlimited concurrent viewers, full 1080p HD broadcasting,  mobile device support, secure video delivery, content scheduling, player customization, and more.

Recently added features include:

• Multi-user access on Scale and Custom plans
• Zoom live streaming integration for meetings and live events in real-time
• Expo 2.0 galleries video portal for immersive video experiences

Please check out our complete list of plan features to learn more about what the Starter plan offers.

Event Plan

The Event plan goes for $63/month and comes with 6 TB of bandwidth upfront and 250 GB of storage. This plan is best suited for broadcasters who want to host one-time or occasional live events. The cost to livestream an event with our event plan is only $63/month.

The Event plan includes all of the features included in the Starter plan and adds advanced & real-time analytics, M3U8 links, live countdown, a monetization paywall, and live & VOD playlists.

Scale Plan

As its name suggests, the Scale plan is built for businesses and organizations that are ready to take things to the next level. This plan costs $165/month when billed annually and includes 24 TB of bandwidth and 2 TB of storage.

This plan comes with all of the Developer and Event plans’ features, phone support, unlimited live channels, VOD chapter markers, advanced library management, and China video delivery.

Recently added features include:

• Multi-user access on Scale and Custom plans
• Zoom live streaming integration for meetings and live events in real-time
• Expo 2.0 galleries video portal for immersive video experiences

Custom

If your needs exceed the resources available with the other three plans, Dacast is willing and able to provide you with a unique pricing package for high-volume plans of any size. Please contact us for custom pricing.

Dacast offers affordable live streaming and video-on-demand pricing packages for small to large enterprises.

2. Livestream

Vimeo offers several streaming plans for consumer-grade use, but their professional-grade plans with live streaming capabilities are sold through Livestream, a platform that they acquired a few years back 

Under Livestream, Vimeo offers three main pricing plans. Let’s take a look at a breakdown of what each offers.

Vimeo Premium

Their Premium plan includes both live streaming and VOD support. This plan is their best option for professional broadcasting, as it includes privacy and security features, powerful analytics, a white-label video player, and more.

This plan runs at $75/month.

Vimeo Enterprise

The Enterprise plan includes everything that the Premium plan includes, plus a larger storage capacity, live stream recording, eCDN, video API access, multiple simultaneous streams, and Q&A moderation.

Enterprise plans are custom-priced.

Vimeo OTT

The Vimeo OTT-specific pricing package comes with the Vimeo.com relationship. These plans include all the basics for starting your web-based OTT channel and growing your OTT business online.

There are two Vimeo OTT plans:

• Starter Pricing: $1/subscriber per month
• Growth Pricing: starting at $500/month

The monthly cost of streaming services with Vimeo starts at $75/month with their premium plan. 

3. Vimeo

Although Vimeo started as a consumer-grade service, similar to YouTube, it has evolved into a video platform alternative that is capable of fulfilling the needs of professional broadcasters.

Vimeo offers five different pricing plans.

Basic

Vimeo’s basic plan is free to use forever, but, as one would expect, it comes with limitations. This plan is aimed at individuals and organizations who want to use the Vimeo platform as long as they are willing to follow their community guidelines and log in once in a while.

The plan doesn’t come with privacy features, customization capabilities, live streaming, or advanced analytics, which makes it best suited for independent content creators rather than professional broadcasters. For these reasons, it provides the same experience as a social media platform such as YouTube does.

Basic plan users get 500MB per week of upload space, up to 5GB total account storage, basic video embedding features, video analytics, and the ability to download converted video files. Plan holders are limited to uploading up to 10 videos per day, creating 1 channel, 1 group, and 3 showcases, and the ability to publish videos natively to social and eCommerce accounts.

Plus:

Vimeo’s Plus plan costs $7/month and comes with 5 GB of bandwidth per week, 250 GB of storage every year, and allocates for a single user. The only professional functions available at this level are player customization, privacy controls, and social distribution.

Pro

The next tier-up on Vimeo is the Pro plan. This plan costs $20/month and comes with 20 GB of bandwidth per week, 1 TB storage every year, and 3 team member seats.

This plan unlocks tools to create and publish unlimited videos, custom video templates, review and approval, private team collaboration projects for up to 3 team members, customizable showcase sites, and streaming on your site. It also has unlimited stock photos, videos, and licensed music tools.

Premium

For $75/month, the Premium plan and comes with 7 TB total storage and claims unlimited live streaming on Vimeo. However, the plan is limited to 10 team member seats and includes all of the features included in previous plans and some tools specifically used for live event streaming. These include unlimited live viewers, unlimited live events, streaming to multiple destinations, live Q&A, graphics, polls, and audience chat.

Enterprise

Custom-priced, custom-built plans for advanced streaming needs, including dedicated support and security controls, the Enterprise plan allows businesses to communicate with employees and customers with enterprise-level tools and security.

Vimeo offers a range of live streaming pricing based on your storage and bandwidth needs. 

4. Wistia

Wistia is another major player in the video hosting space, offering one free and two paid pricing plans.

Free

Wistia’s Free plan is for beginner broadcasters who are still getting their feet wet. Since it is free, it comes with standard features but also strict limitations.

Users with the Free plan can only host 3 videos or podcasts to embed anywhere, 1 channel to share via public Wistia link, and caps channel subscribers 250. Free users also cannot remove Wistia’s branding from their videos.

Pro

The Pro plan from Wistia costs $79/month and allows users to embed 10 videos or podcasts anywhere they’d like. Pro also comes with 1 channel to share via public Wistia link, and caps channel subscribers 250 (with email notifications), but allows for custom branding on the video player. This plan also allows users to add additional videos or audio files for $.25/month.

Advanced

Wistia’s Advanced plans are all custom-priced and they unlock 100 videos, premium integrations, advanced support, and Facebook and Google integrations.

If you were wondering “Is live streaming free?” with Wistia it is free, but the free plan comes with some restrictions. For full professional support, you are going to want to go with a paid plan from Wistia.

5. IBM Video Streaming

IBM Video Streaming software offers three distinct pricing plans in addition to a custom pricing plan. The plans offer access to the same features, but the amount of storage, channels, and viewer limits set each plan apart.

Silver

The Silver plan starts at $137/month. Besides the free trial, this is the most basic plan they have to offer.

This plan includes 100 viewer hours, 5 channels, 1 TB of video storage, HD transcoding (up to 720p), video embed control, channel password protection, channel customization, live polling, CTAs, and phone support.

Gold

The Gold plan is a step up from the Silver plan and includes all the same features. However, it starts at $688/month and bumps viewer hours to 2,000, 10 channels, and 2 TB of video storage.

Platinum

Like the Gold plan, the Platinum plan is the most inclusive and includes all features such as Silver and Gold. It costs $1,380/month and includes 5,000 viewer hours, 20 channels, and 5 TB of video storage.

Custom

If your needs exceed what’s provided with the three standard plans, IBM Video Streaming can create custom plans with the features and tools that fit your needs.

IBM Video Streaming offers a good range of live streaming pricing at different rates to support businesses of various sizes.

6. Kaltura 

Kaltura offers customized learning & development plans, Communication & Collaboration, and Marketing & Sales. These plans are built around each company or organization’s streaming needs. Kaltura does not provide information on pricing for these plans beyond credit allotments.

These custom plans offer a pay-as-you-go streaming structure and set credit allotments to redeem or bandwidth and feature integrations. Pay-as-you-go packages are billed monthly and larger plans are billed annually. Credits can be purchased in $6000 increments and are discounted when you spend a larger amount.

The credit packages are structured as follows:

• 10% discount on $6000 in credits, making the annual payment $5400
• 12% discount on $12,000 in credits, making the annual payment $10,650
• 20% discount on $24,000 in credits, making the annual payment $19,200
• 25% discount on $60,000 in credits, making the annual payment $45,000
• 30% discount on $90,000 in credits, making the annual payment $63,000
• 35% discount on $120,000 in credits, making the annual payment $78,000

For annual credit allotments of more than $120,000, broadcasters can contact the Kaltura sales team for custom plans.

Setup costs are built into each unique pricing plan. Kaltura’s cloud streaming solution also offers a free trial, so you can try the platform before you make the hefty investment. 

7. Brightcove 

No pricing information is listed on the Brightcove pricing page, so broadcasters should contact the Brightcove sales team directly for this information. If you want to know about Brightcove’s live streaming price, you need to make contact with their sales team.

However, they have posted quite a bit of information about how their streaming packages are structured. Let’s take a look.

Enterprise Comms and Marketing

Enterprise Comms and Marketing plans come in the following tiers:

Starter:

• 50 or 200 videos
• Up to 100,000 plays with no overages
• 2 or 5 users
• 1 video portal
• 3 social destinations

Enterprise:

• Unlimited videos
• 100,000+ plays with no overages
• 10+ users
• Unlimited video portal
• 12+ social destinations

Marketing also offers a Professional plan that offers the following:

• Unlimited videos
• 100,000+ plays with no overages
• 10+ users
• Unlimited video portal
• 6+ social destinations

There are some feature limitations on the starter and professional plans.

Monetization

Monetization plans are entirely customized. With Brightcove, to find out how much it costs to stream a video, you need to contact their sales team directly. 

8. JW Player

JW Player has three pricing plans: Trial, Starter, and Enterprise.

Trial

Trial plans have access to all of JW Player’s powerful features for 30 days. Trial broadcasters are allotted 25 GB for hosting and 75 GB for streaming so they can see how the platform works in action.

Starter

Starter plans start at $10/month and come with 150 GB for hosting and 500 GB for streaming.

Starter plans come with very limited feature offerings. This plan is only equipped with basic streaming features and does not include monetization support, video analytics, simulcast streaming to social media, live event streaming support

Enterprise

Enterprise plans are customizable in terms of both pricing and advanced feature access. Contact JW Player for more information.

JW Player is a classic video hosting platform that offers a free trial so you can see if you want to pay for their paid plans. JW Player video streaming server costs are reasonable for both small and large businesses.

9. Vidyard

Vidyard splits its streaming pricing into options for Individuals and Teams.

Individuals

Free – $0/month

• Unlimited video uploads, hosting, and creation
• 1 user
• Video recording up to 1 hour
• 5 video embeds
• Minimal feature access

Pro – $19/month

• Unlimited video creation
• 1 user
• Video recording up to 1 hour
• 20 video embeds
• Fair feature access

Plus – $59/month

• Full video analytics
• Customizable branding
• Team performance analytics
• Folder management
• Video captions

Teams

Teams – $300/month

• Unlimited video uploads, hosting, and  creation
• 3+ users
• Video recording up to 1 hour
• 50 video embeds
• Great features access

Business – $1250/month

• Unlimited video uploads, hosting, and  creation
• 5+ users
• Video recording up to 1 hour
• 100 video embeds
• Full access to advanced features

You can livestream for free with Vidyard’s free individual plan, but your video recordings are limited to 1 hour with 5 video embeds. For more robust live streaming, check out Vidyard’s paid options.

10. Wowza

Wowza offers two streaming products: the Wowza Streaming Cloud and Wowza Streaming Engine. Each of these products is broken down into different plans. Let’s check them out.

Wowza Cloud Streaming

Wowza Streaming Cloud is a service that comes in the following plans:

One Month of Streaming – $149

• One month of streaming
• Meant for one-time events
• 15 live streaming hours
• 500 viewing hours (in 720p)

Pay-as-You-Go – $0/month

• Only pay for usage

Basic – $85/month

• 180 live streaming hours
• 6000 viewing hours (in 720p)

Plans built for your needs – custom pricing

• Enterprise plans are built to meet your streaming needs

All of these plans (other than One Time) are billed annually and have full brand control, multi-bitrate streaming, and HD and UHD streaming.

We urge you to check out the bandwidth calculator from Wowza to see which plan suits your streaming needs.

Wowza Streaming Engine 

Wowza Streaming Engine

is a software solution and it comes in the following plans:

• One Month of Streaming: $295/month
  • One month contract
  • Standard Support (48-hour response time)
• Basic:  $195/month billed monthly or $175/month billed annually
  • $195/month for each additional instance and $175/month for each additional prepaid instance
  • 48 hour support response time
• Enterprise: Please contact Wowza directly for access to their custom-tailored high-volume enterprise solutions
  • Features offerings are custom on this plan
  • Includes  24/7 support

Wowza charges based on live streaming hours and viewing hours, so the live streaming pricing depends upon your streaming needs.

11. StreamShark

StreamShark is another powerful platform with live streaming pricing plans for broadcasters with a wide range of budgets. This platform is attractive because it includes some innovative streaming features that most OVPs don’t yet support, including 360 live streaming. 

Standard

• $199/month (when billed monthly)
• $159/month (when billed yearly)
• 1,000 GB of bandwidth
• 1,500 viewer hours
• 4 simultaneous streams
• 500 GB of VOD storage
• 300 GB of VOD encoding
• Additional storage is available @ $0.10/GB

Team

• $499/month (when billed monthly)
• $399/month (when billed yearly)
• 4,000 GB of bandwidth
• 6,500 viewer hours
• 7 simultaneous streams
• 2,000 GB of VOD storage
• 1,000 GB of VOD encoding
• Additional storage is available for $0.09/GB

Business:

• $999/month (when billed monthly)
• $799/month (when billed yearly)
• 9,000 GB of bandwidth
• 13,500 viewer hours
• 12 simultaneous streams
• 5,000 GB of VOD storage
• 3,000 GB of VOD encoding
• Additional storage is available for $0.08/GB

Enterprise: 

Custom enterprise solutions are available for broadcasters with larger streaming needs.

12. Resi

Resi is a multi-faceted streaming solution that offers many tools for broadcasters, including streaming services (live streaming and multisite), hardware for streaming (encoders, decoders, and streaming kits, and software for streaming (ProPresenter Stream and Upload & Automate).

Unfortunately, Resi does not publish specific prices for any of its offerings. Interested broadcasters must submit an inquiry form on the Resi website to get more information.

13. Hippo Video 

Hippo Video has very intricate streaming pricing since they have different pricing for different use cases.

Hippo Video has a three-tired streaming pricing solution.

Here’s how Hippo Video’s plans are broken down.

Sales

• Free: sign up for free; no credit card required
• Starter: $20/month; 500 MB file size limit; 15-minute video length limit; streaming with a watermark and end card; 100GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $60/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth 
• Enterprise: $80/month; contact Hippo Video to learn more

Marketing

• Starter: $23/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $49/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth 
• Growth: $99/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Support

• Starter: $10/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $29/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Growth: $49/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Team Communications

• Starter: $7/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $15/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Growth: $23/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Other Solutions

• Education: Free to $9/month OR $1/user
• Personalization: Starting at $109/month + fees
• Recorder API: Contact Hippo Video for a custom quote

With Hippo Video, you can customize your streaming pricing based on the type of streaming you are doing and the type of features you need access to.

14. Cincopa

Cincopa offers three different pricing plans for live streaming and multimedia hosting. These plans range from $25/month to $350/month, making this platform accessible for broadcasters with a variety of budgets.

Let’s break down Cincopa’s pricing plans.

Plus

• $25/month
• Equipped with marketing tools (CTAs, email integrations, etc.)
• 1 live streaming feed
• 120 live streaming minutes per month

Corporate

• $99/month
• Equipped with advanced broadcasting tools
• 3 live streaming feeds
• 300 live streaming minutes per month

Agency/Enterprise

• $350/month
• Equipped with advanced broadcasting tools with more flexibility 
• 5 live streaming feed
• 600 live streaming minutes per month

Regardless of the size of your live-streaming budget, Cincopa has a pricing plan for you.

15. StreamYard

StreamYard is a live streaming solution that offers a free plan for beginners and more advanced plans for business broadcasting.

StreamYard offers four pricing plans ranging from free to large, custom-priced plans. 

Free

StreamYard’s free plan is very limited in terms of functionality, but it is a good option for those who are new to broadcasting.

Basic

• $20/month (billed annually); $25/month (billed monthly)
• Access some advanced streaming features (unlimited streaming, brand customization, graphic overlays, simulcasting, and stream recording)
• 10 on-screen participants
• 4 hours of stream recording
• 3 multistreaming destinations

Professional

• $39/month (billed annually); $49/month (billed monthly)
• The same features as the Basic plan plus full HD streaming and audio recording
• 10 on-screen participants
• 8 hours of stream recording
• 8 multistreaming destinations

Enterprise

StreamYard offers custom-priced Enterprise plans for broadcasters with greater streaming needs. Interested broadcasters can reach out to StreamYard directly for a quote.

If you are new to broadcasting, you can use StreamYard’s free live-streaming plan. If you have more advanced streaming needs, StreamYard has more paid professional live streaming plans.

16. Uscreen

Uscreen is a unified streaming solution that supports both live and on-demand video hosting. This platform offers three different pricing plans for broadcasting. 

Basic:

• $79/month (billed annually); $99/month (billed monthly) + $0.50/subscriber
• Does not support live streaming
• 50 hours of video storage
• Includes 1 admin account 

Growth:

• $159/month (billed annually); $199/month (billed monthly) + $0.50/subscriber
• Does not support live streaming nor auto-recording live to VOD
• 150 hours of video storage
• Includes 10 admin accounts

Enterprise:

• Interested users must request a quote from Uscreen
• 150+ hours of video storage
• Unlimited streaming and bandwidth
• Includes unlimited admin accounts

Uscreen offers various levels of live streaming plans for small to large business enterprises. They offer a low-cost live-streaming package for beginners.

17. Muvi 

Muvi is a unified streaming platform with live and VOD solutions for a multitude of use cases. This platform offers five high-ticket pricing plans for broadcasters with advanced streaming needs.

Standard 

• $399/month (+ $299/month per app + infra fees)
• 2000 concurrent viewers
• 1TB of bandwidth per month
• 1TB of storage per month
• API access included

Professional 

• $1,499 per month (+ $499/month per app + infra fees)
• 10,000 concurrent viewers
• 2TB of bandwidth per month
• 2TB of storage per month
• Adds premium support

Enterprise 

• $3,900 per month (+ $499/month per app + infra fees)
• 50,000 concurrent viewers
• 5TB of bandwidth per month
• 5TB of storage
• Adds a dedicated server with auto-scaling

Ultimate

• Contact sales
• Unlimited concurrent viewers
• 10TB of bandwidth per month
• 10TB of storage per month
• Adds bring your own CDN and unlimited API calls

All plans that pay for a year in advance have a savings of 15% and plans for 6 months in advance have a savings of 10%.

Black 

The Black plan from Muvi is a custom solution for broadcasters with great streaming needs. Contact Muvi directly for a quote.

If you have serious live-streaming needs, Muvi has you covered with plans that allow for lots of storage and bandwidth.

18. Panopto

Panopto is a streaming solution that is focused on education and corporate training. It is best suited for internal streaming, and it offers three streaming pricing plans.

Basic

• Free
• 5 hours of video storage
• 100 hours of video streaming per month
• No one-on-one support

Pro

• $14.99/month
• 50 hours of video storage
• Unlimited hours of video streaming 
• One-on-one support via online chat and email

Enterprise

• Contact Panopto for a free trial and quote
• 25,000 hours of video storage
• Unlimited hours of video streaming 
• One-on-one support via phone, online chat, and email
• Access to many advanced streaming features

Panopto offers a free plan for those looking for a free live streaming solution and also offers robust live-streaming plans. 

19. SproutVideo

SproutVideo is another great video streaming platform for broadcasters with a wide range of budgets. This company offers four pricing plans.

Seed

• $10/month
• Best suited for broadcasters who don’t need many tools or functions
• No viewer accounts
• 1 encoding slot
• 500 GB of bandwidth
• 500 GB of storage
• 60 live inputs
• 3000 minutes of delivery

Sprout

• $35/month
• Comes with additional privacy tools
• 125 viewer accounts
• 3 encoding slots
• 500 GB of bandwidth
• 500 GB of storage
• 60 live inputs
• 3000 minutes of delivery
• Reduced rates for additional bandwidth

Tree

• $75/month
• Great for secure embedding
• 500 viewer accounts
• 6 encoding slots
• 500 GB of bandwidth
• 500 GB of storage
• 60 live inputs
• 3000 minutes of delivery
• Reduced rates for additional bandwidth

Forest

• $295/month
• Fully loaded with the features an advanced broadcaster would need
• Unlimited viewer accounts
• 9 encoding slots
• 500 GB of bandwidth
• 500 GB of storage
• 60 live inputs
• 3000 minutes of delivery
• Reduced rates for additional bandwidth

No matter your budget or streaming needs, SproutVideo has a solution for you!

20. Restream

Restream is a multistreaming platform with built-in simulcasting tools and secondary support for in-browser live streaming. The in-browser nature of this platform makes it less powerful than the other streaming options we’ve covered. However, it is suitable for streamers that need simulcasting support.

Restream offers several pricing plans for both individuals and businesses.

Plans for individuals: 

Free

• Free to use
• Platforms for multistreaming: 2
• Stream to Custom RTMP: No
• Does not support pre-recorded video upload
• Does not support stream recording
• No white-label streaming

Standard

• $16/month, or $190/ year when billed yearly
• Platforms for multistreaming: 5
• Stream to Custom RTMP: Yes
• Does not support pre-recorded video upload
• No white-label streaming
• Stream recording: 6 hours per stream recording

Professional

• $41/month, or $490/ year when billed yearly
• Platforms for multistreaming: 7
• Stream to Custom RTMP: Yes
• Suitable for individuals
• Video uploads limited to 1 hour or 2 GB
• Stores up to 10 videos
• Stream recording: 10 hours per stream recording

Plans for companies: 

Premium

• $83/month, or $990/ year when billed yearly
• Platforms for multistreaming: 10
• Stream to Custom RTMP: Yes
• Video uploads are limited to 2 hours or 5 GB
• Stores up to 25 videos
• Stream recording: 20 hours per stream recording

Business 

• $249/month, or $2,990/ year when billed yearly
• Platforms for multistreaming: 15
• Stream to Custom RTMP: Yes
• Video uploads are limited to 4 hours or 10 GB
• Stores up to 50 videos
• Stream recording: 20 hours per stream recording

Live streaming isn’t Restream’s main focus, simulcasting is. They offer affordable plans for basic streaming needs.

Additional Costs Associated with Live Streaming

Engaging in live streaming requires more than a video streaming solution to host your videos. You are also going to need some live-streaming equipment. 

Some of the most essential equipment you will need includes: 

• Camera
• Microphone
• Capture Card
• Lighting
• Encoder
• Switcher

Let’s look at this additional equipment, so you have a more comprehensive understanding of what it costs to livestream.

1. Cameras

Your camera can make or break the quality of your broadcast. Smartphone video cameras are quite capable these days, but businesses and pro broadcasters will likely opt to invest in a dedicated professional-grade camera.

To determine which camera you’ll need, several factors come into play. These include:

• Resolution and bitrate
• Outputs (HDMI, SDI, pro-audio)
• Compatibility with encoding software or hardware
• Budget/Price

If you plan to livestream a one-time event, you may want to consider hiring a video production company. This type of company can provide all the necessary cameras and audio equipment. This means that you can avoid investing in expensive equipment you don’t need long-term.

However, if you plan to broadcast regularly, your best bet is to invest in a trusty camera. Live streaming cameras can cost up to $5,000+ for a TV broadcast-quality camera, but you can purchase a solid mid-range camera with excellent video quality for roughly $2,000.

To decide on cameras, you may want to consult professional video technicians at a shop like B&H Photo Video, which can match you with the best equipment for your needs.

2. Audio Equipment

For a basic live stream, a video camera with a built-in mic is all you need to get started. However, if you want to create a professional broadcast, you are going to want to invest in more professional audio equipment.

• Lavalier microphone: A lav or lapel microphone is a microphone that is clipped directly onto someone’s clothing. That allows the microphone to be close to a person’s mouth without someone having to hold onto the microphone. It is great when you want to broadcast audio without a visible microphone. It is often used for audio and stage production. 
• Directional “shotgun” microphone: A directional microphone is usually mounted on a boom pole and is pointed at the sound source so that the sound is accurately picked up. 
• Omnidirectional microphone: When you want to pick up all the sounds from every direction, you use an omnidirectional microphone. That is great for larger live events, like where you are trying to capture the music and not just a single person talking.

You’ll also need cabling. If you have many different audio sources, mixing requires specialized equipment. Consult an audio engineer for complex situations. Otherwise, online tutorials are generally sufficient for getting started.

Audio equipment costs range from free (integrated into the camera) to $5,000+ for a complex setup. For under $500, you can buy a small setup with high-quality microphones.

3. Capture Card

Another piece of equipment you need is a capture card. It is an intermediary device that transfers your video from its source, be it your camera or computer. A capture card allows you to see on your computer what your camera is seeing. 

It would be best if you have a camera with an HDMI import and outport to attach an HDMI cable to the camera and your capture card. This is the best way to transfer high-quality video to your computer. 

When You Need a Capture Card

You need a capture card when you are using a software encoder.

When You Don’t Need a Capture Card

You don’t need a capture card if you are using a hardware encoder, as they usually come with their own internal capture card. You also don’t need a capture card if you are using a USB camera and microphone set-up that you can plug directly into the USB port on your computer. 

A few popular capture cards to use include:

• Elgato CamLink 4K
• Razer Ripsaw HD
• AV.io HD

Make sure any capture card you choose works with your computer and your video hosting service.

4. Lighting

When it comes to a live stream, you need to consider the picture quality of the video. The right lighting will give your video a more professional quality. Overhead, lights can be harsh, leaving shadows on everyone. 

Natural sunlight and ring lights are the best for beginning streamers who want a professional look. 

A ring light produces a soft light that is focused directly on the subject. You can put the camera in the center of the ring, helping to ensure the light is as even as possible. 

A few of the top ring lights include: 

• Razer Ring Light
• Lume Cube Wireless Light
• Rotolight Ultimate Vlogging Kit

Look for a ring light that will work well with your camera setup. When working with natural light, here are a few tips you can utilize to get the most out of your natural light. 

• Have the subjects face toward the natural light source
• Avoid having a window directly behind a speaker; that can wash them out
• Use a bounce filter to fill in any dark shadows. 

Look for a three-point light kit if you have more money to spend on lighting. A three-point light kit includes three different lights: 

• Main key light
• Fill light
• Backlight

When using a three-point light kit, put the main light directly across from the subject. Then, put the fill light on the room’s other side to balance the light. The third light should be used as a backlight. 

5. Encoder

A video encoder is a piece of hardware or software that transcodes a video into a format suitable for streaming. The encoder then sends this video to the live streaming service to stream it to viewers. No matter which encoding option you choose, you want to ensure secure video upload for your streaming content.

Live streaming encoding software ranges in price from free to around $1200. We recommend looking at our comparison of streaming software encoders for more details. 

A software encoder also requires a computer to run. If you’re streaming a complex, demanding multi-camera stream with animations and other extras, you’ll likely need a powerful computer with top-of-the-line hardware.

Hardware encoders are dedicated pieces of live-streaming equipment. They’re most often used in two scenarios. The first is for mobile live streaming when a battery-powered hardware encoder is perfect. The second is in studio settings to power mission-critical streaming.

There are free software encoders such as OBS Studio that can run on mid-range computers, but high-end hardware encoders range from around $200 to $2500+.

6. Switcher

If you want to use multiple video and audio sources and you want to control production elements and graphics, you will need a switcher. 

A switcher will allow you to create a multi-camera live stream. Here are a few switchers you can use: 

• Blackmagic Design Video Switcher, which has 8 imports
• Roland Professional Video Switcher, which has 4 inputs 
• Feelworld Video Switcher, which has 4 inputs

When trying to figure out the cost of live streaming an event or content, remember to include the cost of the equipment you will need for your set-up.

Conclusion

As you can see, calculating how much it costs to stream video isn’t an easy job. Live streaming pricing varies based on which software and tools you incorporate into your streaming setup. Many different streaming solutions are available for broadcasters with all sorts of budgets, from beginner to enterprise video hosting.

Since different broadcasters have different goals, it is great to have all of these options available.

Have you narrowed down your list of potential live-streaming services but are still unsure what to do next?

We recommend taking advantage of available free trials to test out the platforms for yourself.

Why not start today with Dacast’s 14-day free trial (no credit card required)? Just click the link below to start streaming today!

Get Started For Free

Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns about live-streaming pricing? Let us know in the comments section below! For exclusive offers and regular live-streaming tips, feel free to join our LinkedIn group.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your live broadcasts!