13 Best Video Hosting Sites to Try in 2024 (Free vs Paid)

Updated Dec 6, 2022.
Best Video Hosting Sites to Try (Free vs Paid)

You did it!

After countless hours of going back and forth, you finally created videos that met all your imaginations.

So, where should you host them?

If you are thinking about hosting your videos on your website, don’t!

In addition to so many other reasons, you will need to pay more for a better hosting plan and bandwidth so that your videos won’t take a long time to load.

Your best bet is to find a good video hosting solution.

In this article, I have put together 13 best video hosting platforms by comparing their pricing, pros, cons, and video uploading guidelines so that you can easily choose the ideal video hosting platforms for your business.

But first, let’s check out if using a video hosting site is a good idea anyway.

Should I Host My Own Videos or Use a Video Hosting Site?

Short answer: Use a video hosting site.

Long answer: Yes, you should absolutely use a video hosting site. 93% of marketers believe that including videos as part of your marketing strategy is very essential. This is because videos are easily digestible and a great way to show your products in action.

Marketers Statistics
Source: Wyzowl

However, to ensure that these videos generate leads that convert to active subscribers, you'll have to consider using a video hosting site.

Here's why.

1. Reduced Hosting Expenses

The quality and length of your video influence its size. So, creating a high-quality or long video means that your video might be running up a few gigabytes.

Since your website offers you a very limited download allowance, you may have to compromise on the quality and quantity of your videos or pay extra charges whenever you exceed your download limit.

However, using a video hosting site means that your videos are hosted on the site's servers, thus eliminating any bandwidth or storage constraints and costs.

2. Actionable Analytics

Just like the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) helps pilots determine if it’s safe to fly an airplane, using a video hosting site offers you the opportunity to view in-depth reports on your video performance, such as who watched your videos and parts of your videos that your viewers skipped or replayed.

Such reports will help you send targeted messages to your audience and make informed decisions that will improve your brand’s engagements.

3. Higher Video Quality Equates to Higher Leads and Subscribers

Using a video hosting site lets you publish your videos in HD (High Definition), post longer videos in a single shoot, achieve a 5,000 – 8,000 Kbps streaming rate, and benefit from the extensive servers of those video hosting sites.

You'll also never have to worry about video lags that can most likely occur due to the geographical location of your website host's servers.

4. Increased Traffic and Engagements

Once you create a channel on a video hosting platform, you stand to benefit from the innate viewership of that platform. Your Search Engine Result Page (SERP) ranking will improve because of the numerous liking, ratings, and engagements on your video content.

Moreover, since most video hosting sites allow you to include backlinks to your own website or other platforms on your channel, you'll also experience organic traffic, thus exposing your brand to a large audience.

Best Video Hosting Platforms

1. YouTube

Youtube is the Most Popular Video Hosting Platform and Social Network for Entrepreneurs

YouTube is a cloud-based video hosting platform that offers a simple and easy video creating process while also eliminating the hassles of video hosting cost and storage space.

With over 2.29 billion monthly active users visiting the site monthly, this Google-owned website is often a default option for creatives and business owners as it offers anyone an increased chance of their videos spreading across the internet like wildfire.

Most popular social networks worldwide
Source: Statista

YouTube offers powerful video editing tools and features to improve the quality of your video content, such as adding links, captions, annotations, and captions to your videos and creating videos from your previously uploaded videos or using the photos and videos in your Google Photos.

You can upload unlimited videos on the site, but each video must not be more than 15 minutes. However, if you verify your account with YouTube, you can upload videos with up to 12 hours of playback or 128GB file size.

Once you are verified and have accumulated a minimum of 10,000 views for your channel, you can then join the YouTube partner program, signup for Google Adsense, and display ads on your videos to start making money on YouTube.

YouTube allows you to use other monetization options such as adding paid reviews or selling products in your videos, joining affiliate programs, getting sponsors for your videos, asking for donations, and even using platforms like Patreon where subscribers can directly support your channel with donations.

Since anyone can download YouTube videos for free and with other third-party tools, you can use its privacy feature that allows you to make your video accessible to specific users you choose. Similarly, you can choose to hide your videos from YouTube search results altogether and display them to only those with the URL.

However, if you wish to host private videos or run membership registrations for your video content, you might consider choosing a different video hosting platform.

YouTube is available on a wide range of devices and operating systems and has a mobile app compatible with Android and iOS devices.

Pricing

YouTube is free.

That's because they make money by showing advertisements in your videos. They automatically display these ads inside the video player, sidebar, and YouTube app.

However, you will not be able to upload videos longer than 15 minutes, unless you verify your account with YouTube.

Pros

  • Free to use.
  • Intuitive Interface.
  • Unlimited cloud storage for your video files.
  • Easily embed videos on your website using the embed code.
  • High rankings in Google search results.
  • Video creators get a percentage for the ads displayed on their videos.
  • Ad-supported monetization options.
  • Video and live streaming feature.
  • Mobile app is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.
  • Seamlessly categorize your videos using playlists or keywords tags.
  • Improve your business by receiving feedback from the audience in the YouTube comment section.
  • Track your video performance via YouTube analytics.

Cons

  • Strict policies.
  • YouTube owns the right to your content.
  • Ads will play automatically on your videos.
  • Reduced control of your brand due to numerous related videos shown alongside your videos.
  • Copyright infringement issues.
  • Updating your video files is not possible. In cases where you have an update to a previous video, you'll have to create an updated version of the video and upload it normally.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: 240p (426 x 240).
  2. Maximum resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160).
  3. Aspect ratio: 16:9 (automatically adds padding to 4:3 videos).
  4. Maximum file size: 128GB.
  5. Maximum video length: 12 hours.
  6. Total file storage: No storage limit.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .FLV, .AVI, .WebM, .MP4, .WMV, .MPEGPS, and .3GPP.

2. Dailymotion

Budget-Friendly Video Hosting Platform With Exceptional Livestreaming Features for Individuals and Businesses.

Dailymotion is the Exceptional Livestreaming Features for Individuals and Businesses

Dailymotion is a cloud-based video hosting platform that offers robust asset management, unlimited storage, and various content ingestion methods to suit your video hosting needs.

Popularly called the “French YouTube,” Dailymotion focuses on providing quality content for a targeted audience rather than YouTube's “5 minutes of fame” trendy junk.

It has numerous features, including an audience engagement feature that improves your onsite engagements and increases monetization within your own channel. With just one click, you can automatically generate embed codes that will enable you to share your videos on your website and other external platforms.

There's also a content visibility feature that offers maximum privacy for your video content. You can set your videos to private, which will be viewable by only those with the link or block viewers in particular locations from viewing your videos. Similarly, you can password-protect your videos so that only those with the passwords can view the videos.

Dailymotion has a clear and intuitive interface and allows you to customize the interface of your channel to match your brand's identity.

Dailymotion Interface
Source: Billboard

With its live streaming feature, you can broadcast live events to your audience in HD and extend the reach of your live recordings. You can also use its integrated tools to manage and monetize your live events.

Dailymotion allows its users to upload only a 60-minute video content or a 2GB video file size. If you surpass these limits, Dailymotion will suspend your upload privileges for 24hours.

However, you can upload unlimited content, monetize your content and generate income from the ads displayed on your videos when you join the Dailymotion Partner Program and become a partner. You'll also get your content featured by Dailymotion in “Trending,” have unlimited uploading time, stream in HD, and gain access to unique analytics audience insights.

As a Starter Partner, you have to reach 10,000 views on the content uploaded in your channel before you can start monetizing your content.

Pricing

Dailymotion is free to use, and you can join the Partner Program as a Starter Partner or an Advanced Partner to gain more access to this video hosting platform's features.

Pros

  • Free to use.
  • Clear and intuitive website layout.
  • Flexible monetization policy.
  • Dedicated content management system.
  • Robust privacy features including password protection and location blocking.
  • Minimal content restrictions.
  • Exceptional live streaming features including unlimited live streams with DVR support, Livestream Ad breaks, and live to VOD auto-recording.
  • Extensive upload functions.
  • Embed your videos on your website.
  • Bulk video upload.
  • Revamped mobile app that is compatible with Android and iOS devices.

Cons

  • Analytics are restricted even for paid accounts.
  • Ads automatically play in your videos.
  • Lower upload limit.
  • Limited video performance analytics.
  • Less preferred by sponsors.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: 240p (426 x 240).
  2. Maximum resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160).
  3. Aspect ratio: 16:9 (automatically creates black bars on the sides of 4:3 videos).
  4. Maximum file size: 2GB per file for Users and Starter Partners, Unlimited file size for Advanced Partners.
  5. Maximum video length: 60 minutes of content for Users and Starter Partners, Unlimited hours of content for Advanced Partners.
  6. Total file storage: No storage limit.
  7. Content-type: Video content only for Users and Starter Partners, Video and audio content for Advanced Partners.
  8. Confirmed video formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEG-PS, .FLV, .MXV, and .MP4.

3. Vimeo

Top-Rated Video Hosting Platform for Professionals Looking to Create High-Quality Video Content For an Engaged Audience.

Vimeo is the Top Rated Video Hosting Platform for Professionals

Vimeo is a web-based video hosting platform with powerful tools for professional artists and creators to host, share and sell videos, and a video hosting solution to businesses for their internal communications and marketing needs.

With over 90 million registered members, Vimeo is famous for its “No-ads policy” that guarantees no form of advertisements before, during, or after your video.

Vimeo has numerous impressive features, including a collaboration feature that allows you to invite team members, clients, freelancers, and other collaborators to preview private projects. You can also select the level of permission you are willing to give each collaborator.

It has a unique privacy setting that enables password protection on your video content and allows you to restrict video embeds to your own website only. You can also choose to not allow your videos to be viewed on the Vimeo website itself.

Vimeo is explicitly built for creative artistry and professionalism, unlike YouTube, which allows almost everything you can point a camera at.

It offers unique video editing tools that enable you to replace your video with a newer version without changing the video URL or stats.

With its advanced analytics feature, you can track and optimize your videos on social media and anywhere they’re embedded, all from your dashboard.

There’s also a Vimeo video editor that allows you to customize the colors, layouts, and fonts of your videos and create higher-quality videos up to 8K resolution. You can include video title, tag, category, description and use the Vimeo video marketing tools so that your videos get found on search results.

Vimeo offers mobile apps for both Android and iOS devices, so you can safely back up your videos, watch videos offline, and upload videos on the go.

Pricing

Vimeo Pricing Plan

Vimeo basic membership allows members to access its most essential features for free.

However, to get access to more storage space and advanced features such as customizable showcase sites, you’ll have to purchase its pricing plans.

It has four pricing plans: Plus, Pro, Business, and Premium Plans, and offers a 30-day free trial on all the plans except the Premium plan.

Pros

  • Ad-free streaming.
  • Modern, clean, and professional player interface.
  • Offers a basic membership which is free of charge.
  • In-depth analytics and reports.
  • Hassle-free integration with video editing software and other third-party tools, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Mailchimp, Facebook, Shopify, LinkedIn, Final Cut Pro, and YouTube.
  • Excellent video formatting options.
  • Solid mobile apps.
  • A central dashboard manages your content library and audience data.
  • Numerous monetization options.
  • Niche-specific community that provides constructive and reliable feedback.

Cons

  • Smaller audience equates to fewer views.
  • Lower rankings in Google search results.
  • Requires professional support for some advanced features.
  • Playback is not available in locations like China and Indonesia.
  • Accepting ads to sponsor videos is prohibited.
  • Only Premium plan users can access the livestream feature.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: 240p (426 x 240).
  2. Maximum resolution: 8K (8192 × 4320).
  3. Aspect ratio: 16:9 (Vimeo automatically adds a black frame for 4:3 videos).
  4. Maximum file size: 500MB for free users (up to 256GB for pro users).
  5. Maximum video length: restricted by file size.
  6. Total file storage: 500MB weekly for free users, 5GB weekly for Plus users, 20GB weekly for Pro users, and unlimited weekly limit for Business users.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .MOV, .AVI, .MPEG4, MP4, .FLV, .WMV, .MKV, 3GPP, etc.

4. Facebook

Best Video Hosting Platform for Content Creators and Entrepreneurs Looking to Build Brand Awareness and Expand Their Reach.

Facebook is the Best Video Hosting Platform for Content Creators

Facebook is a social media and messaging platform that offers you the opportunity to share your video content with a large audience while also accessing the professional tools of a video hosting solution.

It's the biggest social network platform globally, with over 1.8 billion daily active users available to receive your video content.

Number of daily active Facebook Users Worldwide
Source: Statista

Facebook offers you several benefits, including a basic analytics feature that shows you the average percentage of people that viewed your videos and parts of your video that your viewers skipped.

You can also monetize your video content easily by inserting ads before and after your video or creating ad breaks between your video.

Facebook Livestream feature allows you to host live events directly on your business page, personal profile, and groups. You can stream directly from high-quality compatible cameras using the Facebook Live API and also integrate your video API with some of your existing workflows.

However, since you cannot index Facebook Live video content, you will not find every of your live and archived videos on search engines, but you can search for the content within Facebook itself.

You can also share your Facebook videos on your website and blog using its embed feature, although you'll require a third-party tool to download your live videos. Also, the embed function does not support autoplay or looping.

Pricing

Facebook is free.

However, over the past few years, organic reach on Facebook has greatly declined, so you will need to invest in Facebook's impressive ad targeting to get your videos in front of your audience.

Pros

  • Free to use.
  • Straightforward user interface.
  • Easily share your videos directly with your existing Facebook audience.
  • Basic analytics to help you monitor your video performance.
  • Easily embed your video content on your website or blog.
  • Impressive Livestreaming functions.

Cons

  • Time Limit exists for live videos.
  • You cannot remove Facebook's branding.
  • Videos won't appear on search engine results.
  • Embed feature offers minimal function.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum dimension: 720p (1280×720).
  2. Maximum dimension: 1080p (1920×1080).
  3. Aspect ratio: Portrait (9:16), Landscape (16:9), Vertical (2:3, 4:5), Square (1:1).
  4. Maximum file size: 10GB.
  5. Maximum video length: 240 minutes.
  6. Total file storage: No storage limit.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .MP4, .MOV, .3GPP, .MPEG4, .AVI, .WMV, .FLV, and .MKV.

5. Vidyard

All-in-One Video Hosting Platform With Lead Generation and Customer Engagement Functionalities.

Vidyard is the All in One Video Hosting Platform With Customer Engagement Functionalities

Vidyard is an online video hosting platform that offers video hosting solutions to businesses, analyzes the effectiveness, and transforms them into powerful lead conversion tools.

Although this video hosting platform is simple to use with numerous built-in marketing tools, it has a range of complex analytics suites available for tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

Vidyard offers remarkable video creation and management features that allow you to create a personalized video message for your audience on demand and group multiple videos into a single playlist to improve your audience's viewing experience. You can also automatically generate an animated GIF preview and embed it in your emails and website.

Similarly, the Video Hubs feature allows you to curate your videos in one place for public view or restricted access, depending on your choice, and your audience can add videos directly to your website when you use the Uploader Widget.

There's also a detailed analytics dashboard that provides metrics on your viewers' engagements and helps you track which of your team members drive the most views. You can get to know who exactly is watching your videos so that you can send personalized follow-up messages, thereby increasing leads.

Vidyard effortlessly integrates with numerous cloud storage and file sharing services, email marketing services, and sales funnels software, including Hubspot, Marketo, Zapier, Salesforce, Shopify, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, and Dropbox to improve your working efficiency.

Pricing

Vidyard Pricing Plan

Vidyard has a free plan that offers essential video hosting solutions.

However, to access more features like password protection and multi-user accessibility, you'll have to purchase any of its pricing plans: Pro Plan, Teams Plan, or Business Plan.

There's also an Enterprise Plan which allows you to customize the features to suit your video hosting needs. You'll have to talk to their sales team to get a custom quote on the Enterprise plan.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use dashboard.
  • Free plan available.
  • Ad-free screen recording and video hosting.
  • Simple, drag-and-drop video editor.
  • High-quality video playback.
  • Batch upload video content.
  • Responsive video player that can be embedded anywhere.
  • Easily add impressive call-to-action strategies that convert viewers into customers.
  • Automatic SEO and transcript functionality to improve your brand's reach.
  • Advanced video security, including IP and location restriction.

Cons

  • No China video delivery.
  • Video player customization and analytics features are only available in more expensive plans.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: 360p (480 x 360).
  2. Maximum resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160).
  3. Aspect ratios: 16:9, 4:3.
  4. Maximum file size: Depends on the plan (Ranges from 5GB to 16GB).
  5. Maximum video length: Up to 1 hour.
  6. Total file storage: Unlimited.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .WEBM, .MP4, .MKV, .MOV.

6. WordPress Video Hosting: Jetpack

Cost-Effective Video Hosting Platform for WordPress Site Owners.

Jetpack is the Cost Effective Video Hosting Platform for WordPress Site Owners

Jetpack is a plugin for WordPress that offers numerous features, including video hosting solutions, to businesses and entrepreneurs with a WordPress site. All you need to do is to install the plugin on your site for free.

Since this video hosting platform is created specifically for WordPress, you can directly access most of its features from your WordPress dashboard.

You have access to Jetpack’s unbranded video player that fits effortlessly in your website and a powerful Content Delivery Network (CDN) that improves your visitors’ viewing experience.

There’s also a statistics and analysis feature where you can access in-depth information about your video performance, including which video is getting the most play daily, weekly or monthly.

Jetpack offers smooth integration with the new WordPress block editor and the classic editor, and you can easily add videos using tools and a dashboard you are already familiar with.

Your video content hosted on Jetpack is also safe from distracting ads, unrelated videos and brandings, and your viewers can easily share your videos directly from your WordPress site.

Pricing

Jetpack Pricing Plan

Jetpacks offer numerous premium subscriptions to cater to your website needs.

However, beginning from the Security Daily Plan, you can access tools and features to cater to your video hosting needs.

Pros

  • Unlimited video hosting.
  • No ads in your video.
  • Free Content Delivery Network for WordPress.
  • Load videos from your media library or drag and drop videos into the block editor directly from your device.
  • Easily customize your video playback settings.
  • Advanced video settings including autoplay, loop, and mute.
  • Videos are automatically optimized for mobile devices.
  • Numerous support and helpful resources, including a knowledge base, security library, FAQ section, and forums.

Cons

  • No existing audience.
  • Analytics are relatively basic.
  • No lead generation tools.
  • The plugin is jam-packed with a lot of features, thereby making the interface look bloated.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Recommended resolution: 720p (1280 x 720).
  2. Maximum file size: 2GB (recommended size is 1GB or lower).
  3. Maximum video length: Restricted by file size.
  4. Total file storage: Unlimited.
  5. Confirmed video formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .MP4, .AVI, .FLV, .WMV, .3GPP, .MKV.

7. Wistia

Most Functional Video Hosting Platform For Data-Driven Businesses Looking to Generate Qualified Leads With Video.

Wistia is the Most Functional Video Hosting Platform For Data Driven Businesses

Wistia is a web-based video hosting platform that allows you to create professional videos in minutes and enhance your video content to generate qualified leads.

With its fully customizable HTML5 player, you can create a video player that reflects your brand’s tone and identity. You can also create a GIF thumbnail for your videos and offer personalized video experiences to your audience.

In addition to providing video hosting solutions, Wistia prides itself as a video marketing solution and an excellent lead collector.

It has a powerful feature, The Wistia Turnstile Email Collector, which allows you to easily create clickable Calls-To-Action (CTAs) forms and integrate them into your video. You can collect email addresses and names of your viewers at any point in your video’s timeline, choose how you want the forms to be displayed, and customize the submit button to match your brand’s tone.

With Wistia, you can integrate your video workflow with numerous Email marketing tools, task management software, and productivity tools such as Hubspot, AWeber, Marketo, Trello, Ontraport, Zapier, and Pardot to increase your business’ efficiency.

There’s also a built-in analytics tool that allows you to discover the number of views on each video, the location of your viewers, and the duration of time spent watching the video. You can even get to know where people are most interested in your videos and the skipped portions of your videos.

Wistia provides automatic SEO support so that your videos can rank high in Google search results, with links to your own website. These links bring traffic to your website and your own content, unlike YouTube.

However, if you are looking for a video hosting platform that can also meet your live streaming needs, you will have to consider another alternative as Wistia does not have any live streaming feature available.

Pricing

Wistia Pricing Plan

Wistia has a free plan that offers all its standard features and allows up to 250 subscribers with a Wistia branding on the video player.

However, there are two pricing plans: Pro Plan and Advanced Plan that offer more advanced features than the free plan.

Pros

  • No ads.
  • Simple user interface.
  • Fully customizable video player.
  • Batch upload and bulk management settings.
  • Excellent for Search Engine Optimization.
  • Multi-bitrate and adaptive streaming.
  • Robust analytics tools, including heat mapping, to help increase your business reach.
  • Easily integrate CTAs into your video content.
  • Efficient security features, including password protection and domain restrictions.
  • Responsive customer support system and a web of helpful guides, tutorials, and resources.

Cons

  • Wistia doesn’t offer live streaming solutions.
  • Limited integrations with third-party tools and software.
  • No China video delivery.
  • It is not the cheapest option if you expect a great deal of traffic to your videos because the traffic generated by viewers influences the pricing.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Maximum resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160).
  2. Aspect ratio: No restriction (Wistia uses a responsive player).
  3. Maximum file size: 8GB.
  4. Maximum video length: 2 hours.
  5. Total file storage: Up to 10 videos on the Pro Plan (pay $0.25 monthly for every extra video).
  6. Confirmed video formats: .MP4 (recommended format) .MOV, .MPEG4, .FLV, .AVI, .WebM, .WMV, .MPEGPS, and .3GPP.

8. Spotlightr

All-Round Functional Video Hosting Platform With Robust Analytics Tools for Experienced Digital Marketers and Entrepreneurs.

Spotlightr is the All Round Functional Video Hosting Platform With Robust Analytics Tools

Spotlightr, formerly known as vooPlayer, is a cloud-based video hosting platform for educators, content creators, and businesses to drive deeper engagement with their audience.

This video hosting platform offers you a fully customizable video player that is optimized for any screen type and lets you generate embed codes automatically.

You can also improve interactions with your audience by including inline and popup embed with CTAs or full-screen embeds in your videos, sharing the codes on your website or social media platform, and even customizing your embed files to portray your brand’s identity.

Spotlightr prides itself in its powerful reporting and analytics feature that offers you relevant real-time insights on your video performance. It has an engagement graph that compiles your audience viewing experience in one place, an A/B test setting that lets you pit two videos against each other and compare their performance, and a heatmap that shows you the exact part of your video that was watched, re-watched, and skipped.

You can use its built-in audience builder to automatically filter your audience based on factors like their device type and percentage of video watched. This way, you can always send targeted messages and emails to your audience.

Spotlightr has a Smart-Date technology that allows you to set up your videos to automatically play at your desired dates and times with pay-per-view controls. You can also offer opt-in gates, include a phone number option and custom messages, and even hold a contest for your viewers to improve engagements and lead generation.

Pricing

Spotlightr Pricing Plan

Spotlightr has a free plan that offers you 5GB storage space and allows you to upload up to 5 videos.

However, if you want to access more storage space up to 100GB, unlimited video upload and its advanced analytics feature, you’ll have to purchase its pricing plan.

Spotlightr offers only one pricing plan, Polaris Plan, with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee no matter your reason.

Pros

  • No ads in your video.
  • Drag and drop video uploading.
  • Automatically generate embed codes.
  • Embed codes completely automate video SEO.
  • Advanced report and analytics feature with a viewer-based heatmap.
  • Videos are compatible with any device.
  • Spotlightr integrates with major email marketing software, marketing automation software, and CRM tools, including Zapier.
  • Advanced HLS encryption, password protection, and domain restriction to help you protect your video content.

Cons

  • Spotlightr can be complex, especially for entrepreneurs without prior tech knowledge.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Recommended resolution: 4K (3840×2160).
  2. Aspect ratios: No restrictions (Spotlightr uses a responsive player).
  3. Maximum file size: Unlimited on the Polaris Plan.
  4. Total file storage: 5GB on the Free Plan and 100GB on the Polaris Plan.
  5. Confirmed video formats: MP4 (recommended), WebM, Ogg, MOV, FLV (not recommended).
  6. Supported sources: Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Amazon S3, Dropbox, etc.

9. Brightcove

Brightcove is the Most Popular Video Hosting Platform for Medium-Scale Businesses

Brightcove is a video hosting platform designed to help businesses create beautiful video experiences and improve the revenue from their video content across numerous platforms.

Popularly used by over 50% of Fortune 500 companies, including McDonald and Ford, this Boston-based video hosting platform boasts of having the best HTML5 player in the industry, about 70% faster than any other video player.

Brightcove offers several features that are geared towards tendering video hosting solutions to medium-scale businesses and large enterprises.

It has an easy video player customization option that allows you to change your video player to reflect your brand's identity. You can add your brand's name, color, and logo to your video player and even create distinct player templates depending on the project.

There's a Media Scheduling function that allows you to schedule a time you want to publish your videos and an Adaptive Bitrate Switching function that helps your video player adapt to the speed of the internet connection and deliver the relevant transcode.

You can access its powerful security tool, which includes geo-restrictions, domain and IP restrictions, and digital rights management (DRM), ensuring that only the right people can view your videos.

Ultimately, Brightcove offers you an impressive engagement and monetization functionality via client-side interactivity – countdown timers, trick play, and companion ads to help you increase your reach as well as your revenue.

You can deliver high-quality live streaming broadcasts without any custom development or complex integration. However, if you have custom needs or require custom integrations, APIs are available for such purposes.

There's also an impressive analytics feature that allows you to assess the number of views, time spent while viewing, and the replay time of your video content. You can also determine problems your viewers encountered while watching the video to increase your viewer's satisfaction.

Brightcove's video marketing suite is capable of seamlessly integrating with various CRM software, marketing tools, and marketing automation systems, including Hubspot, Wirewax, Salesforce, and Oracle Eloqua. It also extends your content reach by integrating with numerous social networks such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.

Pricing

Brightcove offers a 30-day free trial with three pricing plans categorized according to uses rather than prices: Marketing, Enterprise Comms, and Monetization.

You'll have to contact the sales team to find out more about the cost.

Pros

  • HD playback quality.
  • Simple customization functions.
  • Seamless integration with marketing automation systems and CRM software.
  • Reliable content management system.
  • Advanced video analytics provides in-depth information on your video content performance.
  • Robust live streaming and on-demand video streaming functionalities.
  • Powerful server-side ad insertion that easily bypasses ad-blockers to attain smooth ad delivery and improved revenue across platforms.
  • Excellent support service.

Cons

  • Pricing plans are quite steep.
  • Complex to navigate for first-time users.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Recommended resolution: No limitation.
  2. Aspect ratio: No restriction (Brightcove uses a responsive player).
  3. Maximum file size: Up to 100GB.
  4. Video length: No limitation.
  5. Total file storage: Depends on the plan purchased.
  6. Confirmed video formats: .MP4, .MOV, .3GPP, .AVI, .FLV, .WMV, and .MKV.

10. Adilo

Most Preferred Video Hosting Platform for Businesses and Video Creators Looking to Increase Engagement and Protect Their Premium Content.

Adilo is the Most Preferred Video Hosting Platform for Businesses

Adilo is a video hosting platform that equips you with all the necessary tools and features you’ll need to transform your video content into conversion machines while keeping your content safe and secure.

It has a smooth streaming function that gets your videos to your audience faster and a customizable video player that allows you to change the color and add your own logo to reflect your brand’s language. You can even add chapters to your videos and create playlists to improve your viewers’ experience.

There’s also an analytics feature that offers real-time video analytics and an engagement heatmap to help you monitor your video performance and identify areas of improvement.

Adilo has a powerful SEO function that helps your videos rank high on search engine results and generate more free traffic. You can embed your videos on any website of your choice or via emails and popover to further increase traffic.

You can also natively integrate your video content with email marketing tools and sales funnel software like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, AWeber, GoToWebinar, and ActiveCampaign and sync your video leads with over 1,000 apps through Zapier.

Adilo is very big on security and has a multi-DRM & AES Encryption technology licensed at the device’s OS level, making it practically impossible for anyone to steal your content. You can also watermark your video content to protect them from piracy and restrict access to your video based on location or domain.

However, Adilo doesn’t offer live streaming. Instead, it has a content scheduler that allows you to upload videos and set an automated schedule of when that video will start streaming and when it will stop.

Pricing

Adilo Pricing Plan

Adilo offers a 7-day free trial on all its pricing plans: Basic Plan, Growth Plan, and Unlimited Plan.

Pros

  • Fully responsive HTML5 player.
  • No ads in video.
  • Slick interface.
  • Multi-video uploads.
  • High-performance video delivery using CDN.
  • Customized branding and watermarking.
  • Multi-user accounts.
  • Easily embed videos on any platform.
  • Next-level lead generation tools.
  • Impressive analytics feature that provides actionable real-time insights about your video performance.
  • Standard privacy tools including domain white-listing and password protection.

Cons

  • No Live Streaming feature.
  • Advanced security such as Multi-DRM and Dynamic Watermark features are only available in the most expensive plan.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Recommended resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160).
  2. Aspect ratio: No limitation.
  3. Max file size: 5GB.
  4. Max video length: 2 hours.
  5. Total file storage: 50GB on the Basic Plan, 200GB on the Growth Plan, and unlimited storage on the Unlimited Plan.
  6. Confirmed video formats: .M4V, FLV, .MP4, .WEBM, .MOV, .MPEG, .WMV, and .AVI.

11. SproutVideo

Most Functional Video Hosting Platform for Experienced Creators and Entrepreneurs That Rely on Leads to Increase Their Brand’s Reach.

SproutVideo is the Most Functional Video Hosting Platform for Experienced Creators

SproutVideo is an advanced video hosting platform that offers you an intuitive theme editor with multiple themes and layouts to help you build your own website so that you can easily showcase your portfolio, share closed-door tutorials with your team, and share your video content with your audience.

This video hosting platform supports HD and Ultra HD video and offers up to 8K video playback. It also automatically detects bandwidth and adjusts the quality of your video content to provide a smooth viewing experience to your audience.

You can customize the color and interface of your video player to match your brand’s identity, choose to show or hide your video player controls, and create video-on-demand playlists.

SproutVideo has an advanced engagement analysis feature that allows you to identify the countries your video is being viewed in. You can also track and analyze each viewer to see exactly how they have interacted with your videos and track your live stream engagements in real-time.

It has a built-in video marketing tool that helps to improve your search rank, direct engaged traffic to your website, and improve your campaign performance.

For a wider reach, you can integrate your video website with various email marketing services and CRM software tools, including Zapier, AWeber, Hubspot, Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp, or easily copy and paste embed codes that work seamlessly with third-party apps and e-commerce website builder like WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace.

There’s also an impressive security tool for your live and on-demand content, including password and login protection features. You can also limit where your videos can be shared by restricting access to your videos based on geographical location and setting an expiration time for your embed codes.

Pricing

SproutVedio Pricing Plan

SproutVideo offers a 30-day free trial, after which you must purchase one of its pricing plans to continue using the platform.

There are four pricing plans on this video hosting platform; Seed Plan, Sprout Plan, Tree Plan, and Forest Plan.

Pros

  • Intuitive interface.
  • Easily create a responsive video website in minutes.
  • Numerous aesthetically pleasing themes and layouts.
  • Supports videos in HD and Ultra HD.
  • Advanced video analytics provides deeper insights into your content performance.
  • Two-factor authentication.
  • No ads on video content.
  • Multi-user accounts.
  • Detailed engagement metrics and analytics report that helps you track your video and website performance.
  • Global content distribution network.
  • Seamless integration with workflow tools like Mailchimp and Zapier.
  • Easily embed videos to an external webpage.
  • Robust security features including IP address restriction and Geo restriction.

Cons

  • Plans with the geo-restriction feature are quite expensive.
  • Complex functionalities.
  • No built-in audience.
  • 24/7 live support is not always available.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: No limitation.
  2. Maximum resolution: No limitation.
  3. Aspect ratios: No restriction (SproutVideo uses a responsive player).
  4. Maximum file size: Up to 100GB.
  5. Maximum video length: Unlimited.
  6. Total file storage: 500GB of storage and 500GB of bandwidth on all plans.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .FLV, .3GPP, .MOV, .WMV, .MP4, .MKV, .AVI.

12. Hippo Video

Most Preferred Video Hosting Platform for Business Owners Looking to Send Bulk Personalized Videos to Their Audience.

HippoVedio is the Most Preferred Video Hosting Platform for Business Owners

Hippo Video is a cloud-based video hosting platform that helps you record, edit, and share large-scale personalized video email campaigns to connect with your prospects, increase your open rates, and close more deals effectively.

Numerous templates are available for you to create your videos with, and your video assets are safely stored within Hippo Video's content management system and can be accessed from anywhere.

You can also integrate your workflow with numerous inventory management software and help desk software, including Mailchimp, Zoho Desk, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Hubspot, Freshsales, Active Campaign, Zapier, and Zendesk.

Hippo Video's biggest benefit is its hyper video personalization feature that enables you to personalize elements of your sales page, CTAs, and thumbnail, run video email campaigns, and customize your lead generation forms and CTAs to increase your click-through rates.

It has a Video teleprompter that helps you read your video script directly from the screen so that you don't have to memorize long scripts.

There's also a Video analytics feature that provides you with insights and metrics on your video performance so that you can categorize leads according to their video behavior and make informed decisions to improve your workflow.

Pricing

HippoVedio Pricing Plan

Hippo Video offers a 7-day free trial with four pricing plans categorized according to uses rather than prices: Sales, Marketing, Support, and Team Communication.

Pros

  • Free version available.
  • Robust personalization feature to help you send targeted email campaigns and messages.
  • Real-time analytics and report function.
  • Easily change your video background.
  • Easily include relevant CTAs and lead generation forms to improve engagements.
  • Seamless integration with email marketing software and other third-party tools.
  • Helpful resources including blogs, knowledge base, webinars, research reports, ebooks, case studies, podcasts, and a video playbook by Gitomer.

Cons

  • Limited integration capabilities.
  • No mobile app.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Minimum resolution: 480p.
  2. Maximum resolution: 1080p (1920 x 1080).
  3. Aspect ratios: No limitation.
  4. Maximum file size: 500MB for the Free plan, 1GB for the Starter plan, 2GB for the Pro plan, and 3GB for the Growth plan.
  5. Maximum video length: Up to 120 minutes on the Growth Plan.
  6. Total file storage: Unlimited.
  7. Confirmed video formats: .MP4.

13. Uscreen

Best Video Hosting Platform for Selling Videos Online.

Uscreen is the Best Video Hosting Platform for Selling Videos Online

Uscreen is a video hosting platform that offers you the opportunity to create your own customized VOD, organize, market, and sell your videos, all within a secure environment.

You can efficiently perform basic video editing tasks with Uscreen, such as adding captions and subtitles to your videos, adjusting video speed, categorizing your videos into episodes and chapters, creating animated GIFs, and setting up trailers about your videos.

In addition to providing video hosting solutions to your business, Uscreen helps you create an engaging website where you can showcase your video content. There are about ten responsive pre-built templates to help you launch your site in minutes, or you can decide to create your own unique site from scratch.

Ultimately, Uscreen allows you to monetize your video content without subjecting your viewers to ads and also offers you secure payment processes via Uscreen payment gateway, credit cards, Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.Net. You can request payment on a subscription basis or as a one-time fee and even offer your video content for free for a limited time.

It has a Livestream feature that allows you to deliver real-time video content or live events to any country and any device. Your audience can pre-register for your live event and get notified about the event via email.

There's also a community feature where you can build a community around your video content and keep them engaged. You can respond to comments and manage conversations all from one dashboard.

Pricing

Uscreen Pricing Plan

Uscreen offers three pricing plans: Basic Plan, Amplify Plan and Enterprise Plan, and you can start a free trial on the Basic Plan for $1 only.

Pros

  • Built-in HTML5 video player.
  • Attractive, responsive, and mobile-optimized themes and templates.
  • Easily overlay animated GIFs on videos.
  • Full HD Livestream functionality.
  • SEO features for your videos.
  • In-depth analytics and report on your video performance.
  • Effortless integration with email newsletter software and other third-party apps such as Mailchimp, GetResponse, Zapier, and Google Analytics.
  • Impressive marketing features, including coupons and upsells to increase your business' reach.
  • Built-in content management system.
  • Numerous helpful resources, including FAQ section, blog, podcast, video business school, and a library to provide answers to your questions.

Cons

  • Lower video resolution than most video hosting platforms.
  • The Basic plan offers only three customizable website themes leaving you with minimal options.

Video Uploading Guidelines

  1. Maximum resolution: 2K (1920 x 1080).
  2. Confirmed video formats: .MP4.

How to Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform?

Before you make any decisions, you must clarify what your business needs are.

Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform

Every video hosting platform has its strong suit, so deciding what your business needs most will help you choose your right video hosting platform.

You’ll also want to consider your budget. Free video hosting platforms are great tools if you are on a tight budget; however, as you grow and create more videos, you’ll most likely switch to a paid video hosting platform.

You can always request a virtual demo of their premium services to ensure that you are not just wasting money and that all the features provided by the video hosting platform check all the boxes on your list.

Here are more questions that you can ask yourself to help you choose the right video hosting platform.

1. Are There Bandwidth Limitations?

Creating videos that are aesthetically pleasing and can influence your viewers to take measurable actions always equates to a high-quality video running into several gigabytes.

In order to create a healthy web experience for your viewers, you should check if there’s any limit attached to your bandwidth usage and what happens after you have exceeded the limit. Does the video hosting platform offer an extra charge for additional bandwidth consumption, or do they slow your video traffic when you exceed your bandwidth limit?

2. What Extent of Customization and Lead Generation Is Available?

As an entrepreneur, you’ll want your video to act not just as a video but as a content marketing tool. That can be made possible when your video hosting platform allows you to white-label your video player, making it reflect your brand tone.

You can check out video hosting platforms that let you:

  • Edit the color and design of your video player and even add your brand’s logo.
  • Insert CTAs into your video that will motivate your audience to take action.
  • Add links to your video directing your viewers to your website or other platforms.
  • Control which video is auto-suggested or auto-played once your video is finished.

You’ll also want to ensure that your video hosting platform offers tools that increase lead generation, such as a video landing page and various clickable CTAs.

3. Are There Video Embedding and Sharing Capabilities?

A video hosting platform that lets you embed your video content easily on your website or emails and share your video content on your social media platforms should be at the top of your list because it is an important way to improve your ranking on search engines and create awareness about your brand.

4. What Level of Viewer Metrics and Analytics Is Offered?

If your business uses videos to showcase its products and services, you’ll definitely want to see how effective your videos are in terms of user engagement.

Look out for video hosting platforms that provide deeper and more actionable insights about your video content, including what video is reaching who and where, how long your viewers engage with your video content and at what point they are disengaged.

Most video hosting platforms provide their own metrics for your video content (most ideal), while others integrate with other analytics software.

5. Will Your Video Content Be Safe?

A large number of video hosting platforms provide rigorous security for all your video content including IP and domain restriction, geographical blocking, and password-protection.

However, if you want your video content safe from piracy and illegal distribution, you’ll have to ensure that your video hosting platform offers extra high-level security.

For example, suppose you are an online tutor or wish to share confidential information with your audience, besides password protection. In that case, you’ll have to ensure that the embedded codes offered by your video hosting platform carry the source code link in an obscured manner, making it difficult for anyone to decipher.

This will prevent anyone from screen recording or downloading your copyrighted video content and passing it off as theirs.

Video Hosting Services FAQ

What Is Video Hosting Software?

When you create video content for your business, you create only superb video content, which is usually large.

An alternative to large video files could be smaller video files, but they are usually low in quality and will only do more harm than good to your business.

You’ll also need a place to display these videos after creating them.  A video hosting software is that place.

Video hosting software is designed to help you host, publish, and share your video content easily so that you can utilize the full power of video for your marketing purposes.

You could either access its features for free or pay a subscription fee.

Why Use Video Hosting Solutions?

You could already have a website that you believe may be the best place to host your videos. However, high-quality video files are always large, so hosting them on your website will devour your bandwidth and storage space, resulting in quality reduction and playback errors.

Using video hosting solutions offers you the opportunity to give your viewers a dynamic and unforgettable viewing experience. Once you create an account with a video hosting platform, you can easily upload your videos on the video host’s servers and get embed codes which you can easily paste on your website and other platforms.

You’ll also access powerful features like Call-to-actions (CTAs) and on-video forms that increase leads and convert them to bonafide subscribers while also reaping the full benefits of SEO.

What Are the Best Free Video Hosting Options?

Facebook is a popular video hosting option offering you the opportunity to reach a vast audience for free. You can also pay a little token to increase your video reach.

YouTube is also free to use, and your video content has a great tendency of going viral.

There’s also Dailymotion which is free to use, and your video content is targeted to an audience that is genuinely interested in your video content and will provide reliable feedback.

Which Is the Best Premium Video Hosting Service?

Deciding on the best premium video hosting service will depend on what your business needs.

Vidyard, Wistia, and SproutVideo are powerful video hosting services for businesses looking to generate qualified leads with their videos.

Hippo Video is the best video hosting service for sending bulk personalized videos, while Uscreen is your perfect choice for selling your videos.

There’s also Spotlightr, Brightcove, and Adilo that provides insight into your video performance, conversion rate and helps increase your audience engagements.

For WordPress site owners, Jetpack is your go-to video hosting service.

How Much Do Video Hosting Solutions Cost?

The cost of hosting your videos varies. Some platforms will allow you to select your features to make your own custom plan, while others will increase your cost when you demand more features.

However, the cost of any video hosting solution greatly depends on your video hosting needs and the platform you choose to host with.

No doubt, some video hosting platforms are free. However, those platforms do not always contain advanced features like most premium platforms. And even if the premium platforms offer free plans, you won’t be allowed to access the advanced settings and features the platform provides.

What Is Unlimited Video Hosting?

Simply put, the term unlimited video hosting means that you can upload as many videos as you like on the video hosting platform.

Numerous video hosting platforms offer you unlimited video hosting, allowing you to store all of your videos on the video hosting platform.

However, as much as these platforms promote unlimited video hosting as part of their features, most of the terms and conditions of their plans indicate that video hosting will only remain unlimited as long as you only use resources that are ‘reasonable’ and within their capacity.

For instance, although Jetpack advertises unlimited video hosting as part of its benefits, it also offers a 2TB soft limit on storage to ensure legitimate use and can extend the storage once you have reached that limit.

Which Video Hosting Site Does Not Censor Video Content?

YouTube is likely the first video hosting platform that comes to your mind when you hear the word “video censor.”

The platform is quick to remove any video that violates their terms of service and replace it with a message stating, ”This video is no longer available because its content violated YouTube’s Terms of Service.”

Nonetheless, other video hosting sites like Bitchute, Lbry.Tv, StoryFire, and Odysee have more lenient content policies and will not censor your video content, no matter the type of content.

Which Video Hosting Solution Should I Pick?

As you have seen, there are numerous video hosting solutions available, and you don't need to spend a fortune to host your videos and improve your business.

Here are the best video hosting solutions available for you.

  • YouTube and Facebook: Free and very popular video hosting solutions with an existing audience to increase brand awareness.
  • Jetpack: Offers video hosting solutions to WordPress site owners.
  • Uscreen: Best video hosting solution for businesses looking to sell their videos online.
  • Hippo Video: Perfect video hosting solution for sending bulk personalized videos.
  • Vidyard, Wistia, Adilo, and SproutVideo: Offers lead generation and customer engagement tools and features to all business levels.

So how do you make up your mind to pick the right video hosting solution?

The first and most important thing to do is to find out what your business needs.

Are you looking to monetize your content? Do you need analytics and report tools? What kind of viewing experience are you looking to give your audience? What level of customization do you need? How often do you intend to upload your videos?

Additionally, consider your budget and technical know-how. Then make a comprehensive list of those needs and compare them with every video hosting solution we have explained in this article.

Surely, you'll find one that checks all your boxes.

Furthermore, don't worry if combining some of these video hosting solutions looks like the best fit for your business. All you should ensure is that their features and functionalities perfectly meet your business's needs while you make the most out of the video hosting industry.

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Anastasia Belyh

Editor at FounderJar

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.