The 10 Best Live Streaming Services [Dacast, BeLive and More]

In the digital age, live streaming is one of the best ways to connect with your audience. Consumers are usually drawn to brands that utilize live streaming technology, as it shows that the company is making a concerted effort to reach out to its audience. This audience connection used to be easy to achieve through live, in-person events. However, when people are forced to stay home more, live streaming services are the perfect solution.

If you’re considering which platform to choose for your live streams, consult the list below for the best live streaming services that allow for both the ability to live stream for businesses and individuals.

1. BeLive Technology

BeLive Technology is a fully customizable white-label service that develops live streaming technology for businesses. Businesses can choose to have an entire platform developed, or integrate the technology into their existing platform.

Advantages

• A wide array of features to suit businesses of all types, including live shopping.
• The features are also customizable to suit your needs in UI, UX or data acquisition.
• You will require little to no technology development knowledge as their services are end-to-end. This means that they can cover all development, design and testing stages for you.
• Great customer service to assist clients in all areas (content, marketing, design, etc).
• Offers a software development kit (SDK) option for those who prefer to do the integration themselves.

Disadvantages

• Will small-sized projects are relatively affordable, large projects can be costly due to high server costs.

2. Dacast

Dacast is one of the popular video service providers. Aside from live video streaming, they also offer video hosting and over-the-top (OTT) solutions. The company has offices in Europe and the United States and offers enticing options for live streaming services.

• Benefits
• Multiple pricing options available.
• Imposes no cap on the number of viewers.
• Ability to easily monetize live streams.
• Downsides
  • More difficult technology than some other platform options; requires extra time to learn the software at the front end.

3. Bambuser

Bambuser is a live streaming platform that makes the process of producing live streams easy and straightforward. The live streaming services offered by Bambuser are many and come in the form of an SDK or software development kit. Bambuser boasts that you can start live streaming in minutes through just three simple steps with their service.

• Benefits
  • Ability to stream through Bambuser’s “Broadcast” app.
  • Option to use Bambuser’s SDK to utilize your apps for live streaming.
  • Multiple options for users to view live streams.
  • Demo’s available to learn how to navigate the service.
• Downsides
  • Live streaming SDK is not designed for the “Live Video Shopping” offering from Bambuser.
  • Generally very expensive
  • Little flexibility in features

4. Brightcove

Brightcove is a veteran in the online video platform industry. The company has been in operation since 2004, boasting a significant amount of experience that newer platforms cannot claim. Brightcove prides itself on the analytics capabilities it can provide to clients, allowing in-depth analysis of customer behavior and the ability to target live streams toward the appropriate audience.

• Benefits
  • Excellent analytics options are available.
  • Ability to monetize streams.
  • Multiple pricing options available to accommodate various business needs.
• Downsides
  • Generally, a more expensive option for live streaming than other platforms.
  • Slow response for tech support.

5. JW Player

From its humble beginnings as a portion of a student project, JW player has had quite an impressive run. The service is perfect for those looking for a simple solution to starting a live broadcasting campaign, as it offers a series of only four steps to creating a live stream.

• Benefits
  • Simplistic, uncomplicated process to start and maintain.
  • Effective advertising features.
  • High quality, clear video streams.
• Downsides
  • Only higher-priced plans allow live streaming.
  • Can only monetize streams by use of ads.

6. Vimeo Livestream

Vimeo purchased “Livestream” 4 years ago and now provides service to more than 10 million events each year. Vimeo’s services are wide-ranging and provide clients with a variety of both hardware and software.

• Benefits
  • Intuitive features.
  • No limit on either events or viewers.
  • Ad-free platform.
• Downsides
  • For premium features such as “white-label service” and some security features, the user needs to upgrade to the higher-priced “Enterprise” plan.

7. Muvi

Muvi is an excellent choice when considering starting a live stream for businesses. The platform’s claim to fame is its “all-in-one” functionality. This includes websites, mobile devices, and television apps.

• Benefits
  • Multiple pricing options to accommodate individual business needs.
  • “All-inclusive” features.
  • Ability to customize branding on live streams
• Downsides
  • Challenging for the average user to navigate software due to the complexity of the design.

8. Panopto

Out of CMU in Pittsburgh, PA, Panopto began as a project that blossomed into so much more. Panopto operates in both the education and business space, providing live stream solutions to individuals in these industries.

• Benefits
  • Excellent online learning options for students.
  • Ability to customize branding on live streams.
  • Video search software available.
  • Simple, easy-to-understand pricing options.
• Downsides
  • No ability to manage SEO.
  • Templates cannot be customized.

9. Wowza

Wowza is an appealing option for brands that are seeking out a live stream for businesses. The platform allows the opportunity to “self-host” your company’s live streams. Additionally, Wowza will enable users to access the “Wowza Streaming Cloud”, which is a great way to reach large audiences and contains many enticing features for businesses.

• Benefits
  • Excellent options for monitoring performance.
  • Mobile device compatibility.
  • Superlative security options.
• Downsides
  • No ability to record streams.
  • Unable to monetize streams
  • Few to no analytics features available.

10. Streamshark

Roughly ten years ago, Streamshark was developed by a research team at The University of Melbourne in Australia. Streamshark is geared toward users who are looking for a live streaming solution that users can access all around the world. The platform is up to the task of providing service for large events with many attendees.

• Benefits
  • Vast amounts of storage available.
  • Works well with mobile devices.
  • Ability to reach worldwide audiences.
• Downsides
  • Few options for analytics.

Bottom Line

Whether you are looking for the best live streaming services for yourself, a small company, or a large enterprise, there are many options available to you on the internet. It is vital that you account for your available budget and consider the essential features for you to have in your live streaming platform before deciding. 

If your business is ready to make that next move, contact BeLive Technology for a free consultation.