What are the best online video platforms?
Here is a list of my favorite online video platforms:
1. Loom: Best global online video platform.
If you're looking for an online video platform that offers a comprehensive set of features, Loom is a great option.
It offers users the option of recording their screen, webcam, or both simultaneously. It also has a built-in video editor that allows you to reduce the size of your videos and add annotations.
For any distributed team, these are very useful features and can be a great way to provide feedback or training without everyone needing to be in the same place at the same time.
Whether it's team alignment, sales, engineering, engineering, design, marketing, or any other type of business, Loom can help you get your message across more effectively.
Features
- Engagement information gives you information about how your videos are performing. That includes the number of people who viewed them.
- You can also embed links in your videos. This is ideal if you want to share a video with someone while directing them to an external link.
- Password-protected videos ensure that only people who have the password can view the video. This is useful for sensitive or confidential information.
- SSO (SAML) and SCIM (Okta) provide secure authentication and single access for business users.
- Advanced content privacy gives you granular control over who can see your videos and for how long.
- Custom branding allows you to add your own logo and colors to the Loom platform. It's a great way to make it yours.
Rates
With a free version that allows recordings of up to five minutes per video, it's a great way for users to see if Loom is right for them.
Then there's the Business Plan, which, at $8 per month, supports unlimited videos, unlimited recording time, unlimited creators, and more.
There's also the Enterprise plan, which offers advanced administration and security for businesses that really want to lock things down. This is a personalized plan so you will need to contact Loom to get a quote.
Start with Loom
2. Setplex: Best for IPTV and OTT
Setplex has always led the IPTV/OTT panel software market thanks to its expertise in the ever-changing streaming sector. To develop a solution that works, they continue to spend a lot on R&D, giving customers a competitive edge.
They aim to be a market leader in terms of software development, with the best user experience and exceptional customer service and support. They can take care of all your needs, from hardware to software. They provide everything you need for a complete IPTV solution, whether on premises or in the cloud.
With a library of optimized and constantly updated features, their solutions allow you to monetize and provide the best possible user experience.
Features
- Backed by decades of expertise, the system is designed to get your platform up and running in just 24 hours.
- It offers a user-friendly management interface that is designed to be simple and straightforward to use.
- The software is highly scalable on demand through the use of a microservices architecture with Docker containers.
- Their middleware allows you to directly modify the user interfaces of your applications.
Rates
You should contact Setplex to get a quote tailored to your business.
Get started with Setplex
3. Uscreen: Best for monetizing videos
Uscreen is an all-in-one online video platform that offers a comprehensive set of features for video monetization. Uscreen's online video platform offers livestream and video on demand (VOD) features. With this video solution, you can completely control all your downloads and monetize them successfully.
The platform makes it easy for marketers to personalize thanks to numerous themes, the ability to add subtitles and captions, and even overlay GIFs. You can also adjust the reading speed, include autoplay options, and process global payments from a single dashboard.
Uscreen differs from YouTube in that it does not rely on video ads for monetization. Instead, it allows you to create your own VOD service that works on a subscription model. You can even sell individual videos on a pay-per-view basis.
Features
Unlike many platforms for creating online courses, Uscreen is not just for teaching courses. You can create videos in any niche and Uscreen will take care of getting the content out to your target audience.
Here are some of the features offered by Uscreen:
- On-demand video streaming
- Monetization model based on subscription and pay-per-session.
- Fully web-based interface
- Available on mobile platforms
- 24/7 customer support
- Dedicated training resources
- Ease of bulk download
- Direct social media sharing
- Detailed analyses and reports
Rates
Uscreen has a simple three-tier pricing plan that adapts to your needs. Additionally, the free trial allows you to get an idea of the platform before investing.
Here is a breakdown of Uscreen's pricing plans:
- Basic plan at $49/month
- Amplify plan at $399/month
- Business plan at customized rates
All prices mentioned above are for the annual billing cycle. If you are still hesitant, you can also opt for the monthly plans.
Try Uscreen
4. Wistia: Best for digital marketing
Wistia is an online video platform that focuses primarily on digital marketing. His expertise lies in offering a quality television video experience that allows your business to increase its audience.
The uniqueness of Wistia is that it helps online marketers use video to increase leads and subscribers. With Wistia, you can create videos for remarketing purposes, target specific audience segments, and more.
This online video platform is great for providing personalized video experiences to customers across multiple niches. Its only downside is that it doesn't allow for livestreaming. In addition, it is a bit expensive and not necessarily suitable for very small businesses.
Features
All of Wistia's features enable your business to build meaningful (and profitable) connections with the public. As a video hosting platform, it offers complete control for downloading and managing videos.
Here is a brief list of some of the main features of the platform:
- A fast, high-quality reading experience
- Fully customizable video player
- Interactive video marketing tools
- An entirely ad-free experience
- Dedicated channels and autoplay
- Useful integration with platforms like Marketo and HubSpot.
- Unlimited viewers and bandwidth
- Ability to deliver global content
- Automatic referencing
- Audience monitoring and A/B testing
- Fully compatible with mobile phones
- Advanced analysis
Rates
Wistia is one of the few platforms that offer a completely free plan to users. The free plan allows you to test the platform and see if it's right for you. Then, you can easily upgrade to one of the paid plans listed below.
1. Free $0/month plan
- Up to three videos or podcast episodes
- Up to 250 channel subscribers
- A/B test function
2. Pro plan at $99/month
- Up to ten free videos or podcast episodes
- Up to 250 channel subscribers with email notifications
- Video player custom branding
3. Advanced plan at personalized prices
- Up to 100 free videos or podcast episodes
- Multiple video channels and podcasts
- Over 250 subscribers with email notifications
The advanced plan also comes with third-party integration capabilities, priority customer support, and personalized branding. You can add additional files as needed for only 25 cents for paid plans.
5. Vimeo: Best for Professional Content Creators
Vimeo differs from video platforms based on social networks, like YouTube and Dailymotion, because it is more aimed at professionals. This online video platform started its activities in 2004 and currently has more than 90 million professionals using its services.
The advantage of Vimeo over other online video platforms is its flexibility. Vimeo accepts videos of multiple bit rates, resolutions, and encodings. The platform is completely ad-free, making for a much better viewing experience.
Vimeo also allows you to embed videos from the platform on your website. Add unlimited bandwidth, the ability to download videos, and fully customizable settings, and you've got a complete platform for hosting your videos.
Features
As well as being a great tool for professional content creators, Vimeo is also a sufficient platform for anyone looking to reach their audience through livestream. Its collection of simple but powerful tools allows you to manage and share videos in just a few clicks.
Here is a list of the features offered by Vimeo:
- Live streaming and screen recording features
- Predefined video templates
- An ad-free viewing experience
- Completely private video hosting
- Stock video
- Customizable HTML5 video player
- Advanced analysis
- Seamless collaboration tools
The service also offers the possibility of hiring a professional video creator for your project. Even if you are not a video expert, you can easily hire the services of such a professional directly on the platform.
Rates
Since Vimeo is completely ad-free, it's natural for it to have a subscription-based revenue model. However, its pricing plans are spread over five levels, and you can choose the one that best fits your needs.
1. Basic plan at $0/month
- Free lifetime plan
- Limited storage
- Limited support
2. Plus plan at $7/month
- Single user plan
- Up to 250GB of downloads per year
- Unlimited bandwidth
3. Pro plan at $20/month
- Three users
- Up to 1 TB downloads per year
- Unlimited bandwidth
4. $50/month Business Plan
- Ten users
- 5TB total storage
- No weekly limits
5. Premium plan at $75/month
- Unlimited number of live viewers
- Unlimited live streams
- 7TB total storage
All plans are billed annually and each paid plan comes with a 30-day free trial. This trial period ensures that you won't have to pay anything until you're happy with the service.
6. Dacast: Best for small and medium businesses
Dacast is a video streaming platform that offers hosting options for video on demand as well as live video. This online video platform is entirely cloud-based and provides solutions for livestream. It is also planned for OTT streaming on mobile devices.
With Dacast, your business can reach viewers around the world through the best CDNs. This service is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses that want to exploit video and develop their customer base.
Dacast's powerful HTML5 video player works across multiple devices and website technologies. All you need to do is integrate the player into your website and it will work on all devices without the user having to install a plugin.
Features
Dacast allows you to monetize your videos and supports an unlimited number of channels and live viewers. You can add live captions and subtitles, as well as geographic restrictions based on the viewer's location.
Here is a list of the essential features of Dacast:
- A completely ad-free experience
- Access to the API for the integration of third party readers
- Advanced video encryption features
- Real-time video analysis
- Low Latency Streaming
- Real-time email protocol support
- Compatible with the most popular mobile platforms
- A large number of tools to monetize videos
Rates
Dacast offers flexible pricing plans that suit businesses of all sizes. The prices are spread over four levels and are adapted to your needs.
Below is a breakdown of each plan, along with the pricing. All prices mentioned are for annual billing cycles.
1. Starter plan at $39/month
- Suitable for very small audiences
- 50GB of storage
- 1080p streaming
2. Event plan at $63/month
- Suitable for occasions
- 50GB of storage
- Real-time analysis
3. Plan Scale at $188/month
- Suitable for growing businesses
- 1 TB storage
- Advanced library management
4. Custom plans
- Includes everything in the ladder plan
- Suitable for large-scale events that require large volumes.
- Provides additional support to customers
7. Brightcove: Best for Large Businesses
The online video platform of Brightcove helps large businesses and media companies deliver HD, on-demand, and live video to their audiences. This corporate video platform supports the OTT video (over-the-top), dynamic ads, and even advanced analytics.
One of the benefits of this corporate video solution is that your business maintains full ownership of its video content, unlike YouTube. This ensures that your videos don't suffer from copyright infringement.
Brightcove focuses on large-scale external video distribution. The platform integrates easily with other tools like Marketo and Google Ads Manager. These integrations allow it to handle multiple forms of marketing and provide higher returns.
Features
Like Dacast, Brightcove uses the HTML5 standard for its media player. Using open-source standards ensures that it can work on all proprietary and open-source platforms. It also offers comprehensive video analytics and REST APIs.
Here is a list of the essential characteristics of the platform:
- Cloud transcoding
- Custom video portals
- Dynamic ad insertion
- 24/7 support
- Adaptive bit rates
- Streaming support on all devices
- Easy integration with marketing and social media tools
- No limits on file size and video length
- Compatible with a variety of file formats
Rates
When it comes to pricing, Brightcove does not publish its pricing plans. You should contact them directly to get personalized quotes for each price level. Their pricing plans include the following.
1. Starter plan
- Up to 200 videos
- Up to 100,000 readings
- Maximum of five users
2. Professional plan
- Unlimited videos
- Over 100,000 readings
- Over ten users
3. Enterprise plan
- Unlimited videos
- Over 100,000 readings
- User analysis
8. Vidyard: Best for lead generation
Vidyard focuses on lead generation and helps your business integrate videos into its marketing strategy. It includes all the features and tools that are essential for video marketing solutions that improve audience and audience reach.
The aim of this platform is to help businesses increase their reach. It has all the tools of video hosting and publishing to facilitate the process, from creating to managing videos. It also includes social sharing options.
Another aspect of Vidyard What I like is that the platform is supported by robust video analytics and provides valuable metrics that marketing teams can use. It can even integrate with other business tools like Gmail, Marketo, and Salesforce.
Features
In terms of features, Vidyard can help small, medium, and large businesses increase their audience. You can easily create videos using the platform from the comfort of your iPhone. It even includes a screen recording function that can be useful.
Here is a list of some of the important features of Vidyard:
- Personalized videos
- Video playlists
- Download and quick and efficient video editing
- Animated previews
- Fully ad-free online video hosting
- Easy video download widget
- SSO and password protection
- Easy video sharing and optimization
- Automatic transcripts
- CRM integrations
- Analysis at the individual level
Rates
Vidyard's pricing plans have four levels: Free, Pro, Teams, and Business. The first two plans are for individual creators, while the other two are for larger teams and businesses. Here's a breakdown of each plan and how much it costs.
1. Free $0/month plan
- Unlimited registration and downloads
- Easy sharing via email and social media
- No credit card required
2. Pro plan at $15/month
- Password protection
- Ability to respond to comments on videos
- Capacity to create CTAs
3. Team plan at $300/month
- Three users or more
- Custom marking
- Detailed analyses
4. Business plan at $1250/month
- Five users or more
- Customizable CTAs
- MAP/CRM integration
9. JW Player: Best for Livestream
The strength of JW Player lies in its adaptive streaming capabilities based on open-source technologies.
It uses an HTML5 media player for streaming VOD content. The online video platform offers a comprehensive livestream service in the form of JW Live.
Initially, the platform started to function as a standalone video player. But its popularity propelled it to video hosting. It supports advanced features like digital rights management (DRM), which means you don't have to worry about copyright infringement on your content.
JW player provides video hosting solutions for businesses and individuals alike. It focuses primarily on advertising, monetizing, and livestreaming the best video content. It also supports OTT services and gives you access to advanced analytics.
Features
In addition to livestream, this platform supports multi-bit transcoding and Facebook livestream.
I especially like its advertising features, which allow you to monetize your video files with ease.
Here is a list of its main characteristics:
- VOD and livestream
- Fully cloud-based operations
- Custom video galleries
- API integration with third party platforms
- Effortless workflow integration
- Monetization through advertising
- Allow users to watch videos in full HD
- Automation-based recommendation engine
- Global video distribution
Rates
The creators of JW Player made the pricing plans as easy as possible. They offer a completely free 30-day trial period during which you can test all the features of the product.
You also get 75GB of streaming and 25GB of hosting.
Once you are confident that you can use the service to your advantage, you can opt for a paid plan:
- $10/month starter plan
- Business plan at a personalized price
What are online video platforms?
Les online video platforms (PVO) are sophisticated web services that are revolutionizing the way we share and consume video content. These powerful tools offer much more than just file hosting.
Main features of PVOs:
- Video download and hosting
- Live content broadcast (streaming)
- Monetization options
- Integrated marketing tools
One of the major advantages of these platforms is their embeddable video player. This feature makes it easy to embed videos on any website, increasing visitor engagement.
Based on Cloud, PVOs offer unparalleled flexibility. You can manage your video content from anywhere, anytime, on any connected device.
These versatile platforms adapt to various sectors:
- Education (online courses, tutorials)
- Entertainment (web series, music videos)
- Marketing (ads, product demonstrations)
- Professional training (webinars, e-learning)
By offering comprehensive solutions for the management, delivery, and monetization of video content, PVOs have become an indispensable tool for any digital communication strategy modern.
Why not just use YouTube?
YouTube, a pioneer and undisputed giant in online video, remains a major player in the sector. However, many Alternatives to YouTube. have emerged, each meeting specific needs that YouTube can't always meet:
- Precise targeting : While YouTube is aimed at a large audience, PVOs make it possible to target specific audiences.
- Varied monetization models : Beyond the ads, PVOs offer options such as subscription or pay-as-you-go.
- Increased privacy and security : Essential for internal corporate videos or sensitive content.
- Rights control : You retain full ownership of your content, contrary to certain YouTube conditions.
PVOs like Kaltura or Sproutvideo offer specialized tools to improve the video creation process, adapted to different sectors and professional needs.
For businesses looking to fully exploit the potential of video, these platforms offer:
- Better control of brand image
- Features adapted to B2B needs
- Extensive customization options
- Detailed analyses of public engagement
In summary, while YouTube remains essential for reaching the general public, PVOs are emerging as essential tools for professional video strategies that require more control, security and personalization.
FAQS
Can online video platforms integrate with social media channels?
Most online video platforms can integrate with popular social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Some services may also interface with other business tools such as Marketo and Salesforce.
Do online video platforms offer video analytics?
They do. Most popular online video platforms provide audience data insights in the form of analytics.
Some platforms even allow for higher levels of granularity and segmentation when it comes to understanding video audiences.
Is it better to go for a paid plan?
Online video platforms generally offer free trials where you can test the service.
Some providers even offer free plans for primary use, but these options will be severely limited in terms of capabilities.
It is best to opt for a paid plan to benefit from all the advantages and results of a platform.
Conclusion
Close to 85% of businesses now prefer to use video as a marketing channel. As a result, the demand for online video platforms is only likely to increase.
If you're considering improving your business by taking advantage of video, choose from the following list:
- Loom: Best global online video platform.
- SetPlex: the best for IPTV And OTT
- Uscreen: The best to monetize videos
Whatever your video needs are, I'm sure you'll be able to meet them among the services mentioned above.
RECOMMENDED READING: Best AI-assisted video editing software
