On the hunt for the perfect video site?
In this post, I’ll explore the ins and outs of 8 popular video hosting platforms.
I’ll quickly compare the pros, cons and pricing of each to help you find the one that best fits your needs.
Ready to give your videos the stage they deserve?
Let’s dive right in.
1. Hippo Video
Hippo Video is a versatile and feature-rich video hosting platform primarily designed for mid-sized to large businesses.
Users can create, personalize, and share videos on various platforms using a variety of features, making it a comprehensive video solution for different business needs.
What Are the Pros of Hippo Video?
- Easy video recording and screen capture options.
- Direct sharing capabilities to social media platforms
- Personalization features allow for targeted audience engagement at scale
- Extensive integrations with various systems and platforms
- Comprehensive viewership analytics and metrics
- Ability to measure the impact of video strategies by tracking actions like CTA clicks and social sharing
What Are the Cons of Hippo Video?
- Steeper learning curve due to the variety and complexity of features
- Navigation can be challenging due to the large menu of features
- Limitations in video editing capabilities
How Much Does Hippo Video Cost?
Hippo Video has four pricing options: Free, Pro ($20/month/user), Teams ($60/month/user) and Enterprise ($80/month/user)
Who’s Hippo Video Best For?
Hippo Video is a video platform designed for medium-sized and large businesses. It comes with advanced features, customization options and detailed analytics.
It’s particularly useful for marketing, sales and customer service videos, making it a great tool for businesses that want to incorporate video into their strategies.
2. YouTube
YouTube is arguably the most popular online video hosting platform ever created and is used by over 2.6 billion people every month.
For creators, YouTube presents unlimited opportunities for content visibility and audience growth.
But YouTube isn’t just for entrepreneurial content creators working from home. Businesses can also leverage the power of YouTube to reach and engage with their target audience on a massive scale.
What Are the Pros of YouTube?
- YouTube boasts over 120 million daily active users, providing a vast landscape for content creators to reach potential viewers.
- Creators can generate income from ads, memberships, merchandise sales and more.
- YouTube supports various video formats, resolutions up to 4K, live streaming capabilities and unlimited bandwidth.
- YouTube videos typically rank well in search engine results, increasing discoverability.
What Are the Cons of YouTube?
- YouTube’s primary drawback is the intrusive ads that play before and during videos, which can disrupt the user experience.
- Although YouTube offers basic embedding features, users have limited control over the built-in player and lack access to advanced editing capabilities.
- With a vast number of content creators, the platform is highly competitive, making it challenging for newcomers to get noticed.
How Much Does YouTube Cost?
YouTube’s services are entirely free. They generate revenue through advertisements displayed on creators’ videos, but there’s no direct cost to creators for hosting and sharing their videos.
Who’s YouTube Best For?
YouTube is great for content creators and businesses who want to reach a lot of people on a popular social platform. YouTube comes with a massive built-in audience, making it a suitable platform to build an online presence.
3. Vimeo
Vimeo is an ad-free video hosting site known for its superior content quality. The platform caters primarily to creative professionals and businesses, offering enhanced user experiences, quick-loading videos and customizable embeds.
What Are the Pros of Vimeo?
- High-quality content hosting
- Ad-free environment
- Customizable embeds that match your website’s aesthetics
- Video Maker feature for creating unique content
- Live streaming capabilities with interactive options
- Collaboration tools for effective teamwork
- Privacy controls for content
- Integration with automation platforms like Zapier
What Are the Cons of Vimeo?
- Storage limits (depending on plan)
- Longer buffering times compared to other platforms
- Limited support availability
- Can be challenging to build a following unless the content is highly creative or cinematographic
How Much Does Vimeo Cost?
Vimeo has multiple pricing tiers to fit diverse needs.
These include a free basic plan with a 500MB weekly upload limit, a $12/month Starter plan with enhanced capabilities, a $35/month Standard plan, a $55/month Advanced plan, and a customizable Enterprise plan for businesses with specific requirements.
Who’s Vimeo Best For?
Vimeo is ideal for creative professionals and businesses who value quality over virality.
Vimeo’s ad-free environment and customizable embed player attract creative teams and course creators looking for a platform to host and share branded content and course videos.
4. Spotlightr
Spotlightr, formerly vooPlayer, is an advanced video hosting service targeting marketers, educators and businesses.
It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including customization, security, automations, embedding and analytics to enhance video marketing experiences.
What Are the Pros of Spotlightr?
- Excellent customer service and extensive training materials
- User-friendly interface with options to upload directly or via other platforms like YouTube, Vimeo or AWS
- Scalability with four pricing plans: Spark, Aurora, Polaris and Supernova
- Customizable branding and video features like timed buttons and overlays
- Detailed analytics and heatmaps that help in understanding user behaviors, boosting sales or leads
What Are the Cons of Spotlightr?
- Steep learning curve due to the complex functionalities
- Limited customization which might restrict creative freedom
- Complexity and potentially confusing platform-specific vocabulary that may confuse beginners
How Much Does Spotlightr Cost?
Spotlightr has four pricing tiers: Spark ($7/month), Aurora ($16/month), Polaris ($40/month) and Supernova ($125/month).
Each tier offers more robust capabilities and features, with Supernova providing a full suite of video marketing tools.
Who’s Spotlightr Best For?
Spotlightr is a great choice for teachers, coaches, and digital marketers who want advanced analytics and customizable video options. It provides tools for tracking student engagement and can help boost sales or leads for marketers.
5. Dailymotion
Dailymotion is like YouTube’s younger sibling, boasting similar content but with fewer (250 million) monthly active users.
Known for its news-oriented content, it categorizes videos into News, Sports, Entertainment and Music.
While it doesn’t lend the same potential for growth as YouTube, Dailymotion offers an easier audience-building experience because of reduced competition.
What Are the Pros of Dailymotion?
- A customizable player that allows branding with logo, colors, and picture-in-picture mode
- Monetization features and partnership program for content creators
- Live streaming options with real-time analytics
- Support for videos from 240p to 4K resolution
What Are the Cons of Dailymotion?
- Video length capped at 2 hours for User and Starter accounts
- Limited daily video limit of 15 videos for User and Starter accounts
- Limited daily upload time of 10 hours or User and Start accounts
- Smaller audience reach compared to major competitors
- Ads play before, during, and after videos
How Much Does Dailymotion Cost?
Daily Motion is free.
Who’s Dailymotion Best For?
Dailymotion is a good choice for content creators who want another place to share their videos. It lets you host videos for free with privacy options and there’s less competition. However, it has fewer viewers than YouTube, so it might not help you grow as much.
6. Facebook
Social media behemoth Facebook has upped its focus on video content, offering creators massive viewer potential thanks to its staggering billions of monthly users. Given its cost-free video hosting, various aspect ratio acceptance, unlimited video file storage and live streaming capabilities, Facebook is an enticing option for creators looking to cast their digital net far and wide.
What Are the Pros of Facebook?
- Immense potential audience reach
- Numerous video formats like, MP4, MPEG4, MOV, AVI, among others
- a range of aspect ratios including square (1:1), vertical (4:5, 9:16, and 16:9)
- Live streaming capabilities
- Unlimited file storage (but individual file size limits apply)
- Free to use
What Are the Cons of Facebook?
- Restrictive maximum video length of 4 hours
- Individual file size limits (10 GB)
- Max resolution of 1080p
How Much Does Facebook Cost?
Facebook’s video hosting services are entirely free of cost.
Who’s Facebook Best For?
Facebook’s broad reach and free hosting make it an excellent platform for content creators looking to build an audience from scratch. It is also suitable for marketers aiming to raise brand awareness and seed audiences for lookalike campaigns.
7. Wistia
Wistia is a high-quality video hosting and marketing platform. With Wistia, creators privately upload their videos and embed them on web pages using a sleek, customizable, and ad-free video player.
Wistia offers a range of tools like in-video CTAs and forms, CRM integration, and detailed analytics, that both content creators and markets can rally behind.
What Are the Pros of Wistia?
- Powerful video SEO capabilities
- Professional, customizable, and ad-free video player
- Lead capture capabilities through in-video forms and hyperlinks
- Advanced security features and flexible video dimensions
- Integration with CRM systems and third-party platforms like HubSpot, Marketo, Google Analytics, etc.
- Comprehensive analytics including viewer-based tracking, heatmaps, and engagement graphs
What Are the Cons of Wistia?
- Charges per video on top of a monthly subscription
- Absence of a built-in audience
- Potentially confusing range of options for new users
How Much Does Wistia Cost?
Wistia has a free tier for users to try out, and three paid tiers: Plus ($19/month), Pro ($79/month) and Advanced ($319/month). Each tier comes with its own set of features, with Advanced offering the most comprehensive package.
Who’s Wistia Best For?
Wistia is a perfect fit for data-driven businesses and experienced digital marketers who aim to launch effective video marketing campaigns.
It’s also well-suited for businesses that rely heavily on lead generation and have a longer sales process, given its advanced lead generation tools and analytics.
8. SproutVideo
SproutVideo is a business-focused video hosting platform that provides a myriad of features designed to boost engagement.
It provides ad-free video, embedding capabilities, a customizable player and robust security measures.
SproutVideo integrates with content management platforms such as Shopify, WordPress and Squarespace, making it an attractive option for creators.
What Are the Pros of SproutVideo?
- Robust customer support
- Superior video playback performance
- Top-tier security tools, including login and password protection
- Lead capturing functionality
- Detailed video analytics
- User permissions customization
What Are the Cons of SproutVideo?
- The broad array of features may be challenging for novices
- Potential issues with slow playback caching
- The platform lacks a built-in audience
How Much Does SproutVideo Cost?
SproutVideo has four pricing plans: Seed ($10/month), Sprout ($35/month), Tree ($75/month) and Forest ($295/month).
Each plan has its own set of features, designed to meet the needs of different businesses.
Newcomers can take advantage of a free 30-day trial to test the platform’s capabilities.
Who’s SproutVideo Best For?
SproutVideo is a great fit for companies that have a long sales process and rely heavily on video analytics for lead generation.
The platform is scalable and can accommodate the needs of both SMBs and enterprise companies, making it a versatile option for a wide range of business needs.
Which Video Hosting Site Is Your Favorite?
I’ve unpacked the best video hosting sites for you, but the real magic happens when creators like you share their stories!
Which platform revs up your creative engine?
Let me know in the comments.
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