12 Best Professional Video Hosting Platforms to Use in 2024

Online video content has become a staple in the business world. That’s why a video hosting platform should be part of any content marketing strategy. You need to be able to upload and share high-quality videos with your audience without your website going down or your server lagging. That means choosing the best video hosting service for your business is even more crucial.

One survey found that 80% of marketing professionals worldwide name streaming video as more critical in the business world than ever before.  That same survey also reported video as the type of content with the best ROI. 

In another poll, 80% of participants stated they would rather watch live videos from a brand than read their blog.  Just think about what kind of content you’d rather see in your own search results. These numbers are on track to continue to escalate in the coming years.

As videos take up a larger share of the web traffic market, more businesses see the value in investing in high-quality videos for internal and external use.

Many companies are turning to professional video hosting and live stream platforms to help manage, organize, share, and promote videos. Whether they don’t want to go to the expense and frustration of self-hosting their videos or they don’t have the technical know-how to manage it themselves, third-party platforms are key components of many business video plans.

The world of professional video hosting software can be overwhelming if you’re just getting started.

In this article, we will cover some of the main benefits of choosing a video hosting platform, walk through key features to look for when choosing a platform, and explore some of the top professional video hosting platforms available on the market.

Video hosting platform features and pricing change regularly. This post reflects the most accurate information as of November 2022. 

Table of Contents

• What is a Video Hosting Platform?
• Benefits of Choosing Professional Video Hosting
• The 6 Key Features of Video Hosting Platforms
• A Case Against Self-Hosting
• Choosing The Best Solution for Business
• Comparison of The 12 Best Video Hosting Platforms for Professionals for 2024
• FAQs
• Broadcast Live Like a pro

What is a Video Hosting Platform?

A professional video hosting platform is a software solution designed for video hosting and content management. If you’re imagining YouTube, you’d be exactly correct. YouTube is one of the most popular online video platforms, but it is best suited for B2C businesses or people who are primarily creating content for consumers. 

You might be familiar with how Youtube TV hosts videos, but what is video hosting on a more professional level?  Many businesses use enterprise-grade streaming platforms to broadcast content for their employees or as a service. Broadcasting at a business level requires the assistance of a professional online video hosting platform.

Online video hosting generally comes with a slew of tools—such as monetization, privacy features, custom branding options, and tech support—which contribute to improved user experience on the broadcaster’s end and a pleasant viewing experience on the audience’s end.

Some professional online video hosting platforms include Brightcove, Dacast, Kaltura, IBM Cloud Video, and Wistia.  But choosing the best video hosting platform for you means learning about the important features, security options, and customizations that each video hosting service offers. 

Benefits of Choosing Professional Video Hosting

Who hasn’t been tempted to start broadcasting on a free platform like YouTube or Vimeo? Getting started without paying upfront is attractive, but it’s not a sleek user experience. On the other hand, a paid, professional platform offers a wide range of benefits compared to a free video hosting service.

The main reasons companies choose professional video hosting services include:

• Better website engagement
• More control over potential leads
• Better data on videos
• Improved customization and control of the content
• Enhanced security

Let’s explore each of these reasons a little further.

Better Website Engagement

Using a video hosting platform that provides free streaming services puts your viewers at a greater risk of being shuttled off your website to view a video.

Just think about the last time you watched a video on YouTube. When the video ends, YouTube suggests a couple of videos you might be interested in. The algorithm on the platform wants users to stay engaged, but it doesn’t have allegiance to any one content creator. It doesn’t care what you watch as long as you stay on YouTube. 

Even if you embed a YouTube video onto your website, your viewers are sent to YouTube to view that video — and to be marketed other related, YouTube-hosted content — that can draw them away from your website.

That means you lose those website users, potentially costing you conversions into leads and business down the funnel.

By keeping users on your website to view your videos, you can better manage the path they take through your content, both video, and non-video, giving them the experience you worked hard to create. You’ve spent a lot of time and money working on your live website — be sure your users get the most benefit out of it as you can.

More Control over Potential Leads

Moving users back and forth from your website to a free video platform has a few major drawbacks.

Remember, a free platform will do everything it can to keep that user on its website, engaging with other free content it can use to make money. Even if a user arrives on Vimeo’s site via your videos, the recommended viewing algorithms will seek to keep that person on Vimeo’s website, potentially even recommending the videos of your direct competitors.

This could cost you that potential customer. 

Not only that, but even if the user stays on or comes back to your website, there’s no guarantee they will be routed on the path you want them to go down.

Many websites carefully craft video sales funnels to guide users down a set path toward a purchase. Unfortunately, your entire sales funnel is at risk of failing by putting users on a different path than what’s intended.

Finally, technical issues in routing users from one website to another can cause you to lose potential leads.

If the link from your website to a video or from a video back to your website doesn’t work correctly, it could frustrate the user and cause them to abandon their task altogether. 

Better Analytics Data on Videos

Most free video hosting sites provide data and analytics on your videos, including viewer counts and ratios of likes to dislikes.

Although this data can help you make confident, surface-level decisions, they’re likely to make little to no impact on critical business decisions.

By utilizing professional video hosting software, you can view all the performance metrics important to your business. For instance, seeing how users arrived at specific videos, what other pages they viewed on your site following their watching your video, and whether you could convert that viewer into a customer.

These performance metrics allow you to make better decisions on what videos and live channels you should promote more heavily, what types of content are performing best, and even what videos you should scrap altogether and rework.

Improved Customization and Control of Content

By utilizing a free platform, you are at the mercy of that platform’s branding and terms of service.

If the platform wants to force all users to watch targeted advertising, the platform can embed those advertisements in every video you upload or provide an ad supported tier.  Maybe targeted advertising isn’t the best choice for your hosted videos. It also means that every user watching the content will have a slightly different experience based on what advertisers they see.

Additionally, the player your visitors use to watch your videos is branded with the platform’s information rather than allowing you to create your own branding.

When you opt to use a professional video hosting platform, on the other hand, you can overwrite the platform’s branding and instead use your own. This provides your viewers with a more sleek, streamlined user experience.

But branding is one of many things you can control with a professional video hosting platform.

Unlike uploading your videos to a platform such as YouTube, which can delete or control access to your content as it sees fit, using a private video hosting platform allows you to maintain control over your own content. Upload, repackage, and share the content as you see fit without worrying about a platform impacting your content.

Enhanced Security

Your video is your intellectual property, and protecting it from being stolen by others is important.

Video hosting services for businesses allow you to put strict controls over who can and can’t see your videos. To decrease the chances of someone illegally downloading your content, it can also protect the code you use to embed them into your website. 

You don’t get this guarantee with free hosting websites, which puts all your hard work at risk.  But it is an attractive feature with the highest-quality video hosting services. 

The 6 Key Features of Professional Video Hosting Platforms

As you research your options for cloud video hosting platforms, you’ll see a lot of discussion of all the different bells and whistles individual cloud-based video platforms offer. 

Especially if you’re still trying to figure out how to choose a professional video hosting platform, it can be challenging to separate the features essential to hosting your video from those just fluff.

When it comes to choosing the right online video hosting platform, there are six key features to look for:

1. Content management system for videos
2. Video transcoding and encoding
3. Live stream recording
4. Video security and information privacy
5. Mobile video hosting
6. Direct S3 upload

The best video platforms will have all of these features and more available.  Let’s take a closer look at each of these features and why they’re essential to video hosting services for business.

Video Content Management System

When hosting videos for business use, you need more than just a place to store your videos.

Your video hosting platform must possess a powerful video content management system (CMS) to allow you to quickly and easily upload, store, organize, group, and share all your videos.

The right professional content management platform offers a wide range of features, including:

• Batch editing or deleting of videos
• Bulk upload capability
• Support to add a custom thumbnail to your videos
• Capability to replace videos without changing the URL or updating the embed codes
• Ability to embed a video anywhere
• Ability to group videos and create custom playlists

These features allow you to manage an extensive library of videos, allowing for quick search and viewing no matter how many videos you upload. 

Dacast offers all of these tools and more. In addition, for advanced users, Dacast offers video API to customize your content management system and player completely.

Video Transcoding and Encoding

Uploading live or pre-recorded video requires more than just the ability to send your video files into your video CMS.

If you upload a pre-recorded video, your platform must possess an automatic video transcoder.

A transcoder converts your video files from one format to another, making your videos playable across various platforms and devices. Without automatic transcoding, you have to convert and upload each individual video file in multiple file formats for your videos to be viewed by most users.

With a video hosting service like Dacast, this happens automatically. Built-in transcoding tools make your content more accessible with less work. 

You need your secure video hosting to have encoding capabilities for live streaming content.

Video encoding takes the RAW images that come directly from your camera during a live stream, and, using encoding software, compresses those files so they’re more easily delivered to users. Otherwise, live streaming video would be too large to play effectively on most devices, leaving your viewers with incessant buffering and laggy video feeds.

Live Stream Recording

While many businesses use pre-recorded, edited content in their video strategies, live video streaming can be an important part of your company’s content plan. 

And, to help increase the impact of simultaneous streams, you can record your streaming content for later VOD releases. This turns that content into something much more powerful for your business, allowing one stream to be viewed for years.

The right cloud hosting platform will support uploading and sharing pre-recorded content and allow you to record live streamed content for later use. 

Video Security and Privacy

You spend a great deal of time and talent creating your videos, and you want to ensure it’s protected from the moment you hit “upload.”

With advanced security and privacy features, your professional video hosting platform protects your video from snags during the uploading process and keeps your content from being stolen by those who shouldn’t have access to it.

An intelligent uploading tool keeps your files safe if you are uploading over an unstable WiFi connection or if you have to shut down your computer during the process. The auto-pause feature protects your videos from corruption during the upload process.

Additionally, you should be able to select varying levels of access to your videos, such as a public view or password-protected.

Limiting access where appropriate keeps your videos from being viewed by those who either don’t need the information the video contains or haven’t paid for access.

Advanced security features also protect items such as your embed codes, preventing video pirates from downloading your content and passing it off as their own.

Mobile Video Hosting

For your videos to have the maximum impact, they need to be accessible on as many devices and video players as possible.

An all-device video player allows your content to be playable on all modern mobile devices and apps, and on a wide variety of web browsers. The process for selecting the right video version to play is also automatic, so your users are presented with a smooth, seamless experience when opening up your mobile streaming video content.

Direct S3 Upload

The standard utilizes file transfer protocol (FTP) servers when uploading large amounts of videos. However, this standard is outdated and has been replaced by Direct S3 uploading.

With S3 uploads, your video is better protected during the transfer process, keeping your streaming content secure. It also includes faster upload speed and more significant amounts of storage, making transferring huge libraries of content or longer videos a snap compared to FTP.

A Case Against Self-Hosting

Often, a new broadcaster or company interested in experimenting with videos will start looking for self-hosting solutions. Self-hosting is coding a video player into your site instead of embedding a video hosted externally. 

Since video hosting and streaming require many moving parts, self-hosting can get complicated. 

For most broadcasters, the cons of self-hosting far outweigh the pros. Sometimes it’s a case of not knowing that other options for video hosting exist. In other cases, people are misled to believe that self-hosting is the only way to have complete control over hosted video. 

The limitations of self-hosting include slow speed, limited bandwidth, tedious file conversions, limited privacy features, and over-complication.

Using an online video platform—instead of self-hosting— eliminates so much time and heavy lifting. Embedding a video player on your website becomes as simple as copying and pasting a link.

Why Avoid Free Video Hosting Platforms?

As we’ve discussed, there are two main types of online video players: ones that are designed for business professionals and ones that are consumer-grade. 

Professional video hosting platforms provide a great deal of functionality but can come with a hefty price tag. Streaming services like Youtube Live and Facebook Live are free but aren’t aimed at the same market. 

These services are generally geared toward content creators who want to make money through advertising and brand sponsorships. They rarely support any custom branding. The global enterprise video market is expected to reach $25.6 billion by 2025. When it comes to broadcasting, videos are often the product. With this in mind, professionals should avoid free video hosting platforms and choose a cost-competitive, enterprise-grade host like Dacast and other leading competitors.

Choosing the Best Solution for Business

There are dozens of different video streaming platforms out there on the market. Since there are so many features, to narrow things down a bit, we recommend looking at three areas: features, hosting costs, and support.

Professional users need certain features. White-label video players, monetization tools, state-of-the-art security protocols, and analytics are just a few of the most popular.

As far as pricing, different platforms have drastically different pricing schemes. Some are much more expensive than others.

Finally, technical support is critical. Businesses need to diagnose and solve problems quickly, no matter their broadcasting hours. Therefore, the availability of well-trained, rapid 24/7 customer support is essential in professional video hosting platforms.

Comparison of The 12 Best Video Hosting Platforms for Professionals for 2024

Now that you better understand why choosing a professional video hosting platform is superior to the free choices on the market, let’s look at 12 of the best video hosting services for business in 2024.

1. Dacast

Company Background:

Dacast is a live streaming solution and video hosting platform that has worked with more than 300,000 professional broadcasters. Examples of companies that have worked with Dacast range from professional organizations to enterprise businesses, including Cathay Pacific, the University of California Berkeley, The Weather Channel, Associated Press, Canon, and the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Dacast’s professional video platform features include many staples for pros and our advanced video hosting capabilities. A built-in video paywall allows for simple monetization. Comprehensive documentation and code samples make it easy to use. Analytics allow you to track how you’re doing.

Dacast is also fully white-label, meaning no 3rd party ads or content detracting from your video. Custom branding is available on all plan levels. To top it all off, Dacast content is delivered via some of the largest top-tier video content delivery networks (CDN)s in the world. That ensures rapid, high-quality delivery with minimal buffering issues.

Dacast is also proud to offer an advanced video hosting platform to our broadcasters as well. That includes secure video upload and reliable China video hosting, two exciting features not common with pro many OVPs.

Basic Functionality:

Dacast offers powerful publishing and security tools backed by excellent customer support.

Key Features:

• Secure, global content delivery, including industry-best video hosting
• 24/7 tech support with all plans, including email and live chat
• Video security features, including HLS encryption
• Password-protected video hosting
• Live encoding support for the top video encoders
• Low latency HTML5 channels for video streaming services
• RTMP Encoder for ingesting HLS streaming
• Player API access for 3rd party player integration
• Video API access on premium plans (event and scale)
• Multi-bitrate streaming
• Real-time analytics
• Ad-free streaming

New!

• AES-128 video encryption with all plans
• 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

Pros:

• Live streaming and VOD packages on all pricing plans
• Unlimited viewers and live channels
• White label and branding control
• Embeddable HTML5 video player
• SVOD, AVOD, and TVOD monetization options
• Mobile device support
• Live stream recording
• China Video Hosting
• Plans for every budget

Cons:

• Advanced features can have a hefty learning curve

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimension: none (but 240p is the recommended minimum)
• Maximum dimension: 1080p or 4K (depends on the user’s hardware and internet)
• Video aspect ratio: no restrictions (but 16:9 is the default)
• Max file size: none
• Max video length: none
• Total file storage: 10-1000GB (depends on plan)
• Compatible video formats: MP4 (preferred), MOV, M4V, M2V, AVI, MPG, FLV, WMV, MKV, WEBM, OGV, MXF, ASF, VOB, MT

Pricing:

Dacast’s live streaming pricing is $39 per month for the Starter Plan. Detailed plans include:

1. Starter Plan: $39 per month:
   • 1,000 GB of bandwidth
   • 50 GB of storage
2. Event Plan: $63/month:
   • 6 TB of bandwidth upfront
   • 50 GB of storage
3. Scale Plan: $188/month:
   • 24 TB of bandwidth per year
   • 1 TB of storage

Higher bandwidth options are available with custom plans. Please contact us to learn more.  Dacast also offers a 14-day free trial for all new accounts.

Best Use Cases:

• Enterprise video
• Marketing video hosting
• Live event streaming
• Streaming video for education
• Video-on-demand hosting

2. Wistia

Company Background:

Wistia offers broad customization options, including adding your own branding and logos. It provides a “TV-quality” streaming service and is ideal for broadcasters. 

Wistia was funded over 15 years ago and enables marketing, sales, and even HR teams to use the connective power of video. Their biggest customers include HBO, Starbucks, MOZ, Trello, Casper, and Cirque du Soleil. 

Basic Functionality:

Let’s look at Wistia, another B2B-focused video hosting platform. Note that Wistia does not include live video streaming functionality.

Wistia is designed to create, manage, and stream video for marketing purposes.

Wisita is a video hosting site that offers a fully customizable player that allows video broadcasters to use their logos, thumbnails, and colors to create branded videos. If you’re looking for extensive customization, you can also use its data API to get more technical access to your Wisita account. 

Another feature that makes Wisita stand out is its adaptive streaming, which enables viewers to enjoy uninterrupted playbacks even with poor connection speed. 

You can use Wisita as a means of lead generation by embedding customizable in-video forms in your videos or webinar recordings. You can also use its A/B testing feature to find which placement gets the most results.

Key Features:

• Video CRM
• Interactive video tools
• Integrates with CRM software, making it great for sales and marketing teams
• SEO features and video analytics tools
• Custom video player
• Organization features
• “Up Next” feature
• Marketing tools
• Powerful analytics

Pros:

• Ad-free streaming
• Great customer support
• Some customization with branding 
• Reports and analytics
• Marketing features

Cons:

• Limitations on customization

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimensions: None
• Maximum dimensions: Maximum of 4K (3840 x 2160)
• Supported aspect ratios: Any
• Maximum file size: 8 GB
• Maximum video length: 2 hours
• Total file storage: Up to 10 videos with the pro plan ($99 per month), $0.25 per month for every extra video
• Accepted video formats: MP4 (recommended format), .MOV, .AVI, .WMV, .FLV, .MKV, 3GPP

Pricing:

Wistia has four pricing plan tiers.

• Free: No cost to use; up to 250 subscribers and 3 videos; cannot remove Wistia’s branding from the video player; 15 minutes maximum webcam recording time
• Plus: $19/month; 30 minutes maximum webcam recording time; video SEO; option to remove Wisita branding; $2.00 for extra media costs
• Pro: $79/month; 60 minutes maximum webcam recording time; supports up to five channels; $1.00 for extra media costs; Google analytics integration; white-label video player
• Advanced: $319/month; supports unlimited number of channels; A/B testing features; live chat and priority support; $0.50 for extra media costs; 60 minutes screen and webcam recording time
• Premium: Custom pricing; supports an unlimited number of users; 60 minutes screen and webcam recording time; $0.25 for extra media costs; custom pricing for live event additional costs

Best Use Cases:

• Live Event Streaming Video Services
• Streaming Video for Sales
• Enterprise Video Hosting
• Marketing Video Hosting

3. Vidyard

Company Background:

Vidyard is a video hosting tool built mainly for virtual selling. It’s designed to be a one-stop shop for salespeople that want to record, share, and send videos with a personal touch at all stages of the sales cycle. 

Thousands of sales reps and marketing executives have used Vidyard to generate more leads, close deals, and increase sales with personalized messages.

Vidyard offers a central video hosting platform with customizable thumbnails, 4K playback quality, and automatic SEO and captioning for a better viewing experience. It also provides a detailed analytics dashboard where you can keep track of conversions and get data-driven insights into the performance of your videos.  

One of the new features Vidyard offers is its customizable AI avatars. It allows you to create hyper-realistic AI avatars that can deliver scripts in over 25 languages. This feature is particularly helpful for video marketers and broadcasters who want to automate business communication while still providing personalized interactions with customers. 

Basic Functionality:

Vidyard hopes to provide niche services that help specialized teams convert video viewers into customers.

Key Features:

• Video personalization and creation options
• Built-in SEO and video analytics tools
• Interactive playback features
• Custom security controls
• Custom pages for video sharing

Pros:

• A wide slate of features is available
• Active user support community
• Superior customer service
• In-depth analytics and data reporting capabilities

Cons:

• Complicated backend
• Mixed customer reviews

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimensions: 360p to 4K (480×360 to 3840×2160)
• Supported aspect ratios: 16:9, 4:3
• Maximum file size: 5 GB to 16 GB, depending on the plan
• Maximum video length: 1 hour for live streams
• Total file storage: Unknown (not published)
• Accepted video formats: WEBM, MP4, MKV, MOV

Pricing:

Vidyard’s platform is priced based on whether it will be used for marketing, sales, or corporate communications.

They offer four pricing plan tiers. All plans are billed monthly or annually and they offer paid subscribers a 14-day free trial:

• Free: Video sharing; AI script generator; video editing; video sharing; stock AI avatars
• Pro: $29/month billed monthly or $19/month billed annually; real-time viewer insights, password protection; unlimited video library
• Plus: $89/month billed monthly or $59/month billed annually; team performance analytics, video captions, customizable branding
• Business: Custom pricing; CRM/MAP integration, priority support and onboarding, fully customizable CTAs

Best Use Cases

• Streaming video for sales
• Enterprise video hosting
• Marketing video hosting

4. SproutVideo

Company Background:

SproutVideo provides both live and VOD hosting with plans priced to suit all budgets and needs. It makes tracking, publishing, and customizing videos extremely easy, no matter your experience level.

The advanced suite of features such as video analytics, social sharing, viewer tracking, and geo location restriction make SproutVideo a great video hosting platform. It also supports Zapier integration, allowing you to create automated workflows and connect with third-party CRM and marketing platforms for a more efficient video marketing system. 

SproutVideo’s security features provide an advanced level of protection for both on demand content and live streams. With password protection, login protection, and single sign-on you can authenticate viewers before giving them access to your videos. 

With all the marketing, analytical, and security tools SproutVideo provides, you can take your video strategy to the next level in weeks.

Basic Functionality:

SproutVideo is well-suited to broadcasters who are looking for a comprehensive platform that provides both live streaming and VOD options.

Key Features:

• Customized privacy and security features
• All plan levels receive live chat support
• API access

Pros:

• Detailed analytics reporting on videos
• All budgets and business needs are covered in plan tiers
• Wide range of customization features

Cons:

• Limited storage options
• A small number of SEO tools
• Frequent buffering due to slow playback caching

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimensions: None
• Supported aspect ratios: Any
• Maximum file size: Up to 100 GB
• Maximum video length: Unlimited
• Total file storage: 500 GB with 500 GB of bandwidth, minimum
• Accepted video formats: MP4, .MOV, .AVI, .WMV, .FLV, .MKV, 3GPP

Pricing:

SproutVideo offers four pricing plans to target different budgets, including:

• Seed: $10/month
• Sprout: $35/month
• Tree: $75/month
• Forest: $295/month

Best Use Cases:

• On-demand video hosting
• Enterprise video streaming
• Live video streaming

5. Hippo Video

Company Background:

Hippo Video is a professional video streaming hosting provider that offers tools for marketing, sales, education, and more. It was founded in 2016 by Lyceum Technologies. Its interactive nature helps businesses engage audiences through personalized videos. 

What makes Hippo Video different from the rest is that it offers plans for broadcasters with a wide variety of budgets. The platform has over 1.5 million active users and has been used by companies like Intrado, Genesys, and Panasonic.

Basic Functionality:

The basic functionality of Hippo Video is video hosting and streaming for sales professionals, marketing professionals, and educators.

Key Features:

• Live Streaming
• VOD Hosting
• Monetization
• Video Security
• White-Label Streaming

Pros:

• Editing and creation tools
• Customization options
• Marketing tools (CTAs, analytics, etc.)
• Screen recording
• Hosting tools (transcoding, closed captioning, organization)
• Collaboration tools

Cons:

• Some complaints about the reliability of tech support
• The platform can be a bit buggy
• Some issues with the built-in editor
• The free trial does not represent the platform well
• No China video delivery

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimension: 480p
• Maximum dimension: 1080p
• Aspect ratio: not available
• Max file size: 3 GB
• Max video length: 5 minutes on Free plans, 2 hours on Premium plans
• Total file storage: n/a
• Compatible video formats: not available

Pricing:

Hippo Video has a complex pricing structure since it offers a variety of solutions for different use cases. Here’s a breakdown of pricing for the most popular categories:

Sales

• Free: 10 minutes of closed captions; teleprompter; basic editing and analytics; 2 video flows, Gmail/Outlook/LinkedIn integrations
• Pro: $30/month/user billed monthly or $20/month/user billed annually; 5 video flows; unlimited HD recording; interactive CTAs; custom branding and URL; 30 minutes of closed captions£
• Teams: $75/month/user billed monthly or $60/month/user billed annually; 15+ video flows; 200 minutes of closed captions; team reports; integration with sales platforms; 
• Enterprise: $80/month/user billed annually; unlimited custom video flows; AI generated chapters; Salesforce integration; role-based access control

Marketing

• Starter: $29/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $59/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth 
• Growth: $109/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Support

• Starter: $14/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $39/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Growth: $59/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Team Communications

• Starter: $6/month; 1 GB file size limit; 30 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Pro: $25/month; 2 GB file size limit; 60 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth
• Growth: $40/month; 3 GB file size limit; 120 minute video length limit; white-label streaming; 200GB of bandwidth

Other Solutions

• Personalization: Starting at $109/month + fees
• Recorder API: Contact Hippo Video for a custom quote

Hippo Video also has special pricing plans for Personalization and Education. Users can contact Hippo Video directly for recorder API pricing.

Best Use Cases:

• Live event streaming
• Live streaming sports
• Streaming video for sales
• Marketing video hosting
• Enterprise video hosting

6. Brightcove

Company Background:

Brightcove is a video hosting platform focused on marketing and business communications.  The company’s live video streaming solution includes many features, including support for both on-demand video hosting and live streaming services.

Brightcove’s live streaming solution allows broadcasters to deliver live TV streaming services using different monetization models such as SVOD, TVOD, AVOD, and hybrid models.  

Basic Functionality:

Essential hosting features include MAP/CRM integrations, analytics tools, security controls, video portal, and advertising monetization support. 

It is important to note that full OTT solutions and video monetization via ads are only available on custom plans.

Key Features:

• Global content delivery
• Multi-bitrate and adaptive streaming
• Basic tech support
• Limited API access
• Limited security features
• OTT streaming
• Cloud transcoding
• Best for clients with large budgets 

Pros:

• Insightful reports and analytics
• Individualized video portals
• Powerful CRM integrations

Cons:

• Reportedly high price points
• Limited monetization features
• Live streaming is a secondary solution
• Limited privacy and security features

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimension: Determined by user
• Maximum dimension: Determined by user 
• Aspect ratio: No restrictions (since Brightcove uses a responsive player)
• Max file size: No limits on files size
• Max video length: No published limits
• Total file storage: Varies by plan
• Compatible video formats: MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, WMV, MKV, 3GPP

Pricing:

Since Brightcove mainly targets enterprise-level clients, they offer several custom-priced streaming plans at high price points.

Brightcove’s pricing includes 3 tiers include:

• Starter: includes 50 to 200 videos, up to 100,000 plays, and 2-5 users
• Professional: unlimited videos, 100,000+ plays, and no overages plays, with +10 users
  • Enterprise: unlimited videos, 100,000+ plays, and no overages plays, with 10+ users, unlimited upload, unlimited streaming and analytics-only users

Interested broadcasters can contact their sales department to receive a quote or sign up for a 30-day free trial.

Best Use Cases:

• Live event streaming services
• Live streaming sports
• Streaming video for sales
• Marketing video hosting
• Enterprise video hosting

7. JW Player

Company Background:

JW Player’s video hosting is designed for video monetization and marketing, and the platform has thousands of users in more than 70 countries. They offer exceptional video technology and broad integrations, allowing users to customize their favorite marketing, communications, or advertising software.

This platform is designed for businesses requiring high-volume storage and streaming. It supports live streaming services, and on demand video content.

Basic Functionality:

JW Player integrates with many marketing and advertising campaigns, offering video cloud and player capabilities.

Key Features:

• Live event and 24/7 streaming: JW Player supports more than just live events. They also have an infrastructure that allows for 24/7 streaming, with the support you need to stay live all the time. 
• App integrations: Your business needs a lot of tools, and JW Player understands that and supports various app integrations, making it easy to integrate your video hosting service with marketing apps, customer support apps, and others. 
• Over-the-top (OTT) streaming services: JW Player is designed for businesses that want to do more than throw a video up on their website; they offer a full OTT streaming experience, 
• Advanced advertising targeting: JWPlayer offers insight pulled from the vast use of its video player to provide you with advanced advertising targeting information, allowing you to know when and where to run the most effective advertisements.
• Full API and SDK access with a non-commercial license, as well as 25 GB hosting bandwidth and 75 GB streaming.
• HTML5 video player and video gallery, plus 150 GB hosting bandwidth and 50 GB streaming (50,000 plays). 

Pros:

There are a few pros of the JWPlayer that make it stand out from other tools: 

• Editing tools: Need to refine your videos? JWPlayer offers a full suite of editing tools. 
• Multiple users: Creating videos content isn’t a solo job, and JWPlayer understands that by offering easily configurable permissions for multiple users, allowing your team to collaborate and work together.

Cons:

There are a few drawbacks to working with JW Player you need to consider: 

• Using all features can be difficult to learn
• 24/7 support costs extra
• Limited options for reporting

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimensions: 360p to 1080p (480×360 to 1920×1080)
• Supported aspect ratios: 16:9, 4:3, 2.39:1
• Maximum file size: 25 GB
• Maximum video length: Unknown
• Total file storage: 25 GB to 500 GB, depending on the plan
• Accepted video formats: MP4, WMV, AVI, MOV, 3GP, FLV

Pricing:

JW offers a free trial, but you will have to contact its sales team for more information on pricing plans or get customized pricing.

Best Use Cases:

• Streaming video for sales
• Marketing video hosting
• Enterprise video hosting

8. Livestream (Vimeo)

Company Profile:

Livestream, purchased by Vimeo in 2017, is designed for professional broadcasters looking for an all-in-one platform for their streaming service needs.

Basic Functionality:

Livestream provides streaming, management, and monitoring of videos, with marketing, video analytics, and live streaming capabilities included. It provides industry-specific streaming services for major broadcast networks, brands and agencies, corporate organizations, educational institutes, regional sports networks, and government bodies. 

It is designed to support monetization through OTT subscription streaming services, mid-roll advertising, and pay-per-view. Additionally, it is equipped with live stream analytics which provide information about the number of your live stream viewers, location, and devices.

Key Features:

• Audience interaction tools
• Extra marketing capabilities
• Multiple security features

Pros:

• Detailed video analytics
• Easy for both viewers and users to operate
• Works with YouTube for wider distribution
• Superior security features

Cons:

• Limited CDN capability
• Frequent streaming pauses due to software updates
• No China delivery

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimension: 720p (1280 x 720)
• Aspect ratio: 16:9, 4:3
• Max file size: 3GB
• Max video length: Information not available 
• Total file storage: Information not available
• Compatible video formats: MP4 (recommended)

Pricing:

Vimeo Livestream offers three main pricing plans, including:

Vimeo advanced:

• Premium pricing: $65/month
• Their Premium plan includes both VOD and live streaming services. This plan is the way to go for professional broadcasting.

Vimeo Enterprise:

• Enterprise Pricing: Please contact Vimeo for custom pricing information
• The Enterprise plan includes white-label service, monetization, and video APIs. It also includes branding control and added security features.

Vimeo OTT:

• Starter Pricing: $1/subscriber per month
• Growth Pricing: starting at $500/month
• The OTT-specific pricing packages come with the Vimeo.com relationship. These plans include all the basics for starting your web-based OTT channel, as well as growing your OTT business online.

For more details, check out our comprehensive guide to Vimeo Livestream pricing.

Best Use Cases:

• Live event streaming services
• Marketing video hosting

9. Kaltura

Company Profile:

Based in Israel, Kaltura offers specialized live video and VOD streaming services that are marketed toward educational institutions. It’s a streaming app often used by professors that want to add educational videos to their courses.

Kaltura enables professional teams and educators to enhance their online, traditional, or hybrid work models. The platform integrates with Canvas, but if you want to use it directly, you must download the Kaltura MediaSpace app.

Basic Functionality:

Kaltura is aimed at online and in-person training videos, such as webinars. It also offers enterprise-grade video solutions for virtual events like town hall meetings, with a cloud TV platform for telcos and other services.

You’ll love Kaltura for its advanced marketing features designed to optimize lead scoring, maximize user engagement with real-time interaction, and integrate with third-party marketing automation platforms. 

Key Features:

• Developer platform: Kaltura offers a developer platform with video APIs and SDKs for on-demand usage and where their community can come together and collaborate, bridging unique features you can’t find anywhere else. 
• Cloud TV platform: Create a live and on-demand tv experience on any device with their CLoud TV platform with seamless viewing. 
• Video looping: When running a 24-7 live stream, sometimes you have content you want to play repeatedly, and with Kaltura’s video looping feature, you can easily achieve this. 
• Closed captioning: Videos should be accessible to everyone. With closed captioning, it is. 
• Customized monetization: Educational content and training are valuable, and with Kaltura’s built-in monetization options, you can tap into that value.

Pros:

There are a few features that make Kaltura stand out over other platforms, including: 

• Bulk uploading tool: When you create a lot of content, you don’t want to slowly load one piece at a time. Bulk uploading makes the upload process fast and quick. 
• Collaboration tools: Learning isn’t a one-way stream, which is why Kaltura offers a range of collaborative tools for virtual classrooms and webinars, such as: 
  • Breakout rooms
  • Interactive live quizzing
  • HD video sharing
  • Screen share
  • Playlists

Cons:

There are a few cons of working with Kaltura you need to consider: 

• Slow upload and video processing
• Users must provide their own CDN, increasing cost and complexity for individuals
• No China delivery

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimensions: 180p (320×180) to 1080p (1920×1080)
• Supported aspect ratios: 16:9, 4:3
• Maximum file size: 2 GB
• Maximum video length: Unknown (No limits are published)
• Total file storage: 10 GB to unlimited, depending on the plan
• Accepted video formats: MOV, MP4

Pricing:

Pricing for Kaltura’s platform is based on the individual use of bandwidth and features. Both annual plans and pay-as-you-go pricing is available, with annual pricing plans beginning at $5,400.

Best Use Cases:

• Live event streaming
• Streaming services video for education
• Enterprise video hosting
• Marketing video hosting
• Streaming video for sales

10. IBM Cloud Video

Company Background:

Previously known as UStream, IBM Cloud Video is one of the most highly recognizable names in video streaming. It provides reliable streaming but at a higher price point than other similar platforms.

Basic Functionality:

IBM Cloud Video offers both live and VOD streaming services. With its enterprise content delivery network (CDN), broadcasters can provide live event streaming services and host videos for entertainment , corporate marketing, and many other purposes. 

Key Features

• Superior customer service: IBM Cloud Video is well-known for offering superior customer service, giving you the help you need when needed. 
• Reliable streaming: IBM Cloud Video offers reliable streaming, largely supported by its global content delivery network. 
• Internal VOD server: IBM Cloud Video has its own internal VOD server, helping to get your content quickly to your viewers.

Pros:

There are many reasons to work with IBM Cloud Video

• Suited for larger businesses: They have a range of packages and support designed specifically for large organizations: 
• Reliable streaming capabilities: Their internal CDN network, combined with advanced technology such as adaptive bitrate streaming, creates a reliable streaming experience. 
• Monetization:  IBM offers pay-per-view, subscription, and advertising integrations, allowing you to make money with your content.

Cons:

There are a few drawbacks to working with IBM Cloud Video: 

• API access is only available with pricey custom options
• Doesn’t use a n external CDN

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Recommended dimensions: 4K (3840×2160)
• Supported aspect ratios: Unknown (Not published)
• Maximum file size: 4 GB
• Maximum video length: Unknown (No limits are published)
• Total file storage: 1 TB – 5 TB, depending on the plan
• Accepted video formats: MKV, MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, WMV, MPEG2, H264, H263, MPEG4, VP6, VP8, THEORA, WMV, MP3, AAC-LC, NELLYMOSER, PCM, SPEEX, VORBIS, WMA

Pricing:

IBM Cloud Video’s pricing plans range from $137 to $1380 monthly and include the following:

• Silver: $137/month
• Gold: $688/month
• Platinum: $1380/month
• Custom: Contact IBM Cloud Video for custom pricing

Best Use Cases

• Streaming video for sales
• Marketing video hosting
• Enterprise video hosting

11. Cincopa

Company Background:

Cincopa is a unique multimedia hosting solution that provides tools for storing and managing video, photo, and audio content. It’s widely used by WordPress enthusiasts thanks to its versatile WP plugin that solves all of their media needs. 

You can post and distribute the image, audio, and video files using Cinopa, allowing your viewers to slow down or speed up your content and achieve the most comfortable user experience

Basic Functionality:

This platform supports live streaming services in high definition formats like 4K and 1080p. It also allows you to provide ad free viewing or use selective advertisement placements in your videos for more engagement. 

Some other functionalities include automatic video SEO, AI-powered auto transcript, IP & domain lock, video heat map, and seamless Hubspot and Zendesk integration capabilities. 

Key Features

• Multimedia hosting: Cincopa goes beyond video hosting and offers audio and image hosting, making it a multimedia hosting solution. 
• Easy video upload: Uploading videos should be easy, and it is with Cincopa. They make it simple to upload content. 
• Live video streaming: Cincopa offers the ability to live stream video, allowing you to connect directly with your audience in real-time. 
• Screen recording: You can record your screen with RecTrace, allowing you to share content from your screen with your viewers. 
• Stream to TV: Want to stream your content to TV apps? You can do that with Cincopa. 
• Site embedding: The best way to share your content is to put it directly on your website, which you can do with site embedding.

Pros:

There are some distinct pros of working with Cincopa that make it stand out from other platforms: 

• Video analytics: Get the feedback you need on your content with video analytics with access to watch time, views, unique views, and impressions. 
• Video monetization tools: Make money with advertisements and subscriptions. 
• Solutions for various enterprises: They support various applications, such as sales, marketing, education, production, publishing, and more.

Cons:

There are a few drawbacks of working with Cincopa: 

• Not a dedicated video streaming hosting provider
• A large number of features makes the platform a bit complicated

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimension: 144p
• Maximum dimension: 4K
• Aspect ratio: 4:3, 16:9
• Max file size: 1, 2, 20GB (depending on the plan)
• Max video length: not available
• Total file storage: 5 videos, 40 videos, unlimited videos (depending on the plan)
• Compatible video formats: AVI, MOV, WMV, MP4, M4A, F4A,  F4B, F4V, F4P, M2TS, MTS, VOB, MKV, RMVB, M1V, QT, DIV, DIVX, DV, 3GP, 3GPP, 3G2, MPG, MPEG, MPE, FLV

Pricing:

Cincopa offers four distinct pricing plans:

• Plus: $25/month billed annually and $30 per month billed monthly ; includes marketing tools (CTAs, email integrations, etc.)
• Corporate: $99/month billed annually and $119 per month billed monthly; advanced broadcasting tools
• Agency/Enterprise: $350/month billed annually and $420 per month billed monthly; advanced broadcasting tools with more flexibility

Please check out Cincopa’s pricing page for a further breakdown of storage and capabilities that come with each plan.

Best Use Cases:

• Multimedia hosting
• Video hosting
• Photo gallery hosting
• Music and podcast hosting

12. Panopto

Company Background:

Panopto was designed mainly to serve universities and other large institutions. It is considered one of the most comprehensive options at all price points.

Basic Functionality:

Panopto is a leading educational content streaming platform and is designed for universities and large institutions. It is often considered as one of the best streaming platforms because it provides industry-specific learning and training services for aviation, healthcare, and telecommunication organizations.  

You can use Panopto to provide on demand content and deliver accessible training videos with real time ASR captioning in over 20 global languages. It also offers customized viewing experiences, video translation, variable playback, and other services. 

Key Features:

• API access: Need a custom video hosting platform for your educational institution? Use Panopto API access to achieve the results you need. 
• White-label options: When it comes to educational content, you want to make sure someone else’s brand is present. Panopto allows you to eliminate everyone else’s branding and add your own.
• Advanced security options: Educational content is valuable; keep it private with advanced security options, including private video labeling. 
• Lecture capture features: Don’t want to give the same lecture repeatedly? Turn on the lecture capture feature, and start reusing that content.

Pros:

There are a few reasons why Panopto stands out from other video hosting platforms. Here are a few additional pros of working with them: 

• Document indexing and full-text search: You can create many videos and documentation as an educational institution. Panopto supports full-text search, making it easy to find the educational content you need. 
• Video analytics access: Who is watching your content? When are people dropping off? Learn about how people engage with your educational content with video analytic access. 
• Video search software: Need to find a precise moment in your videos? Achieve that with video search software that searches inside your videos for what you need.

Cons:

There are a few cons of working with Panopto, which are important to consider: 

• No SEO tools
• No version control options
• No customizable templates
• No image editors
• Cannot customize monetization options

Upload Guidelines and Specs:

• Minimum dimension: 240p (426 x 240)
• Maximum dimension: 4K (3840 x 2160)
• Aspect ratio: 16:9, 4:3
• Max video length: Information not available
• Total file storage: Information not available
• Compatible video formats: AVI, MP4, MPG, WMV, MOV, QT, ASF, 3GP, WMA, MP3, M4V, and more.

Pricing:

Panopto has three levels of pricing, including:

• Basic: Free
• Pro: $14.99/month
• Enterprise: Contact Panopto for custom prices

Best Use Cases:

• University and education video hosting
• Enterprise video hosting

FAQs

1. Where can I host my own videos?

Here’s a list of some of the best professional video hosting platforms you can use to host your own videos.

• Dacast
• Wistia
• Vidyard
• SproutVideo
• Hippo Video

2. What is the largest video hosting site?

With over 2.49 billion monthly active users, YouTube TV is one of the largest video hosting sites in the world. It is equipped with a broad range of features for video hosting, including live streaming, video editing, unlimited 4K video hosting, video analytics, and more. 

3. Is Vimeo better than YouTube?

When it comes to the technical aspect of video hosting, Vimeo offers a better privacy system compared to YouTube TV. It also offers unlimited video recording, while YouTube limits video recording lengths to 12 hours for verified users. On the other hand, YouTube provides unlimited video storage for all its users, while Vimeo only provides that option to users on its Enterprise plan. 

4. What are the four types of hosting?

Website owners have access to different types of web hosting, including:

• VPS hosting
• Shared hosting
• Dedicated server hosting 
• Cloud hosting 

5.What does a video host do?

Simply put, a video host is a server or online video platform that supports uploading, storing, sharing, and managing videos online. Some video hosts are also capable of supporting live streams and monetization. 

Broadcast Live Like a Pro

Online video hosting platforms are essential for professional live broadcasting. Most business-grade OVPs have the features you need to create a pleasant broadcasting experience. 

Using video in your business plan is a big step, and it’s necessary to back up all your high-quality videos with the right professional video hosting platform. 

With a platform such as Dacast, you get all the video content hosting controls and features you need at a price that isn’t going to completely wreck your annual streaming budget.

Are you ready to start broadcasting like a professional? Try Dacast risk-free for 14 days.

Get Started For Free

We love to hear from our readers, so sound off in the comment section if you have any questions or comments. For regular tips on live streaming, join our LinkedIn group.

As always, thanks for reading, and good luck with your decision-making!