Hosting live online classes, webinars, and Q&As is among the best ways to provide value to your audience, position yourself as an expert, and generate leads and subscribers for your eLearning business.
You can do that using Facebook or YouTube live streaming features.
But to make your broadcasts more professional, engaging, and high-quality, you’ll need to use specialized live-streaming software.
This is where Restream and StreamYard come in.
Both are excellent multistreaming platforms for delivering highly engaging live content on your website, Facebook, and YouTube (and many other sites) simultaneously.
But which one is better for your business, offers more value for money, and gives you more flexibility in content delivery?
In this detailed post, we’ll compare the key features, pricing, and pros & cons of Restream and StreamYard to help you choose the best live-streaming platform to grow your online course business.
Let’s get started.
Restream vs. StreamYard | What Are The Main Differences
Restream and StreamYard have many similarities, making it hard to choose one of them. So, let me first highlight their main differences.
| Restream | StreamYard |
|---|---|
| A leading live-streaming platform since 2015 | A fast-growing multi-streaming tool since 2018 |
| Supports multistreaming on 30+ platforms, along with RTMP streaming | Directly integrates with only Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, and Twitter. Also, allows RTMP streams |
| Allows streaming to two platforms simultaneously in the Free plan | Allows streaming to one platform in the Free plan |
| No recordings in the free plan | Up to 2 hours of recordings for free users. |
| Offers more third-party integrations | Fewer integrations |
| Offers a wide range of streaming, engagement, and analytics features | Offers excellent features and stands out for its intuitive user interface. |
As you can see, not much separates these tools, and they’re both excellent choices for live streaming to multiple platforms. However, you’ll get a clearer picture as we dive deeper into their features and describe their core differences in more detail.
Quick Verdict | The Best Live Streaming Platform Is….
If you’re looking for more multistreaming options and excellent audience engagement features at an affordable rate, Restream is the better product.
But if you want longer pre-recorded streams and a better user experience, StreamYard is the right choice.
How did we come to this verdict? Read the review for our detailed analysis.
Restream vs. StreamYard | An Overview Of The Top Multistreaming Platforms
Restream and StreamYard are two of the top multi-streaming platforms in the world. Let’s get an overview of what they offer.
What is Restream?
With over 5 million users, Restream is one of the most popular live video streaming platforms, allowing you to broadcast your content from a central dashboard to over 30 different social media websites.
It’s a cloud streaming solution that doesn’t require downloading or installing any software and is accessible from any mainstream web browser.
Why use Restream instead of directly broadcasting content from TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms? Several reasons.
- Restream saves you from the hassle of separately managing streams on different platforms by integrating with multiple sites and allowing you to control your stream content from a central control panel.
- It provides advanced video streaming tools to make your content more engaging and professional.
Restream has many video content production features that help you look apart. For example, you can switch multiple cameras and mics for a stream with one click. Similarly, you can add information cards, slides, and in-stream CTAs to drive more conversions with your content.
Restream lets you stream real-time content or prerecorded streams live on every major social network. It also gives you audience engagement features like live chat, emojis, and stage-sharing to ensure your viewers stay hooked with your content all the time.
Here’s a quick summary of the things you can do with Restream.
- Live stream HD content (real-time and prerecorded)
- Multistream to 30+ platforms
- RTMP streams for OBS, Ecamm, vMix, and other custom platforms.
- Embed streams on your site or landing pages.
- Local stream recording to give you uninterrupted and high-quality content
- Custom branding and themes
- Audience engagement
Overall, Restream offers everything online course creators need to create high-quality live streams and grow their audience.
What is StreamYard?
StreamYard is a modern live-streaming platform explicitly designed for content creators looking for an uncomplicated streaming solution.
Like Restream, it is considered one of the top cloud platforms for multi-streaming, allowing you to broadcast your content to Facebook, YouTube Live, and other sites.
StreamYard is perfect for hosting live or prerecorded webinars, Q&A sessions, online classes, video podcasts, conferences, and other forms of video content.
It has various audience engagement features like effects, themes, emojis, and slides to turn your raw streams into professional videos.
Here’s a quick list of some of its core features.
- Live HD video streaming
- Multi-streaming to 8+ platforms along with RTMP custom streams
- Cloud video storage
- Multiple guests and co-hosts
- Multiple cameras and mics
- Live audience chat
- Live streams from multiple channels on the same platforms (e.g., Facebook Page, Groups)
- Branded streams and customizations
- Dedicated video podcasting features
- Audience analytics
In short, StreamYard is a world-class multi-streaming solution that covers most bases.
However, both Restream and StreamYard have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Let’s find discuss them by comparing their core features.
StreamYard vs. Restream | Comparing The Best Live Streaming Software
You’re probably wondering what’s different between StreamYard and Restream. They’re both great products and certainly quite similar.
But there are still several differences in their core features.
Live Video Streaming
How do you live stream content using these platforms, and what options do they offer? Let’s find out.
Restream
Restream allows you to live stream events, online classes, mastermind sessions, and other forms of live content using its Studio.
When you sign in to your account, go straight to Restream Studio from your dashboard to start your live stream.
Restream Studio is a browser-based tool with all the features to help you create professional live streams.
- You can use it to create live videos from your webcam or connected cameras
- Invite new guests or partner hosts to your stream
- Use different screen layouts to control your stream’s appearance
- Add a virtual background (with or without a green screen)
- Record your stream locally for every participant
Restream allows you to broadcast up to 1080p live streams but adjusts the quality automatically according to your internet connection.
If you’re doing explainer content or want to stay behind the camera during your stream, you can use Restream’s screen-sharing feature, which allows you to share your desktop view, show specific tabs, or focus on your selected screen area.
Similarly, you can upload PowerPoint presentations during your live stream for webinars or formal events.
Apart from real-time broadcasts, you can also live-stream recorded events from your Restream account by uploading video files from your computer. These streams can be scheduled as events or played immediately to your audience.
This feature comes in handy when your audience is in multiple time zones, or you don’t want to host a real-time live broadcast for any reason.
If you run mastermind groups or cohort courses, you can invite up to 20 on-screen participants in Restream’s premium plans.
We personally found Restream Studio pretty easy to use.
As a team familiar with online streaming platforms, we believe Restream’s design team did an excellent job highlighting the most critical live streaming features like screen layout, mic and camera selection, and guest streams on the main dashboard.
As digital product sellers, we also loved its in-stream eCommerce features that make it very easy to promote products and drive conversions.
For example, if you’re running a free webinar and want people to sign up to your premium offer, you can copy/paste your check out page link and Restream will generate its QRCode that appears on your stream. Anyone can access your link by scanning the QRCode with their smartphones and going straight to your landing page.
This is also a great feature for affiliates promoting different products in live sessions.
Overall, Restream Studio is a pretty impressive tool which provides you with everything you need to create a professional live stream.
However, we noticed that Restream Studio considerably slowed down my computer and caused the browser to freeze a couple of times.
After researching the issue, we found similar complaints from many other users on the internet.
StreamYard
StreamYard allows you to live stream 1080p broadcasts from its browser-based studio without downloading or installing any software. It has an uncomplicated user interface which gives you all the necessary options to create and manage an engaging live session.
As a StreamYard user, you can broadcast live or pre-recorded videos from your computer or smartphone.
In live sessions, you can host up to six on-screen participants in StreamYard’s free version. But you’ll need to upgrade to a higher plan for more participants.
StreamYard is designed for non-technical users, allowing them to focus on content creation. You can quickly go live by adding one or more cameras to your stream and switch them on the go.
Similarly, you can add videos to your live sessions, upload presentations or share your desktop for tutorial and online classes.
StreamYard also has a waiting room where you can add your guests before inviting them to your live stream. This is a useful feature for hosting large events where multiple guests come for a limited time and leave your event after playing their part.
As the host, you also have the option to enable localized recording, which means every participant’s video is recorded on their computers.
This ensures that the recording is free of any interruptions and can be later combined with the rest of the event to create an HD version of your show.
So, overall, there isn’t much difference between Restream and StreamYard studios.
However, StreamYard lacks the eCommerce features of Restream. You can share URLs with your viewers during a live stream, but they won’t be able to click them on screen. Instead, you must copy/paste the links in the chat box to make them accessible.
Multistreaming
Multistreaming is a feature that allows you to live stream your video content to multiple sites from a single platform.
Both Restream and StreamYard offer this feature. Let’s see how they’re different.
Restream
Restream allows you to broadcast your live and pre-recorded streams to more than 30 different websites and social media platforms. This includes mainstream social networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, plus many other popular streaming sites like Twitch and Dailymotion.
In addition, it also allows you to configure custom RTMP streams by integrating your account with OBS and other third-party streaming tools.
With multistreaming features, you can control your content on multiple platforms from your Restream account and use the Cross-Platform Chat option to respond to all user comments from Restream Studio.
However, you’re only allowed 2 concurrent platform streams in the free plan and up to 8 in the top-tier subscription. So, although you have several platform options to stream your content, you can’t use all of them together.
Apart from these platforms, you can also embed your Restream video player on a landing page or your website (for premium accounts only).
However, embedded players come with viewership limits in different plans. If you plan to embed Restream to your site, check your subscription plan for the number of allowed viewers.
StreamYard
StreamYard also offers multistreaming features, but its supported platform list is much smaller. With StreamYard, you can integrate your account with only 9 different platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch, along with custom RTMP streams using OBS.
If you look at StreamYard’s supported platform list, it covers most of the top platforms that 90% of online course creators use. However, it doesn’t support Instagram either, which might be an issue if you have a sizable following on that platform.
Apart from that we don’t think the additional platforms Restream offers makes a huge difference because very few course creators use them. And in case you want to integrate with an unsupported site, you can use the custom RTMP option.
Audience Engagement
Audience engagement features keep your viewers hooked to your content and make your video more professional. Let’s find out what features Restream and StreamYard offer.
Restream
Restream comes with several features to make your content more engaging and interesting. For example, you can use different virtual backgrounds for your streams according to your audience’s mood or content theme.
Similarly, you can add background music tracks and videos from Restream’s default track list or upload one from your computer.
You also get a public chat window where you can use emojis, GIFs, and icons to interact with your audience. Or a private chat for one-on-one discussions with your viewers.
If you want to highlight a comment on your screen or show the complete comment stream to your viewers, just enable it from the chat window options.
One of my favorite engagement features are tickers and captions. You can use them for announcements, sales offers, or any other useful information in the news channel-style tickers.
When taking a break during your stream or adding sponsored messages, you can use animations and transitions like countdown or fade-in and fade-out effects.
Overall, Restream gives you a solid range of features to keep your audience hooked to your content.
StreamYard
StreamYard also offers some pretty impressive engagement features to make your content more attractive. For example, you can run audience contests across social media platforms and offer giveaways to the winners using StreamYard’s giveaway tool.
Similarly, you can enable live chat where your viewers can interact with you and each other. In addition, you have the option to display audience comments on the screen.
To encourage your viewers to remain active, you can invite them as guests or give them the stage for a short act.
StreamYard also gives you screen overlays, background music tracks, emojis, and stickers to make your broadcasts more colorful and engaging.
However, compared to Restream, StreamYard offers fewer video transitions and effects. Plus, its tickers and captions aren’t as visually attractive as Restream’s
Branding
Can you tailor the look and feel of your Restream and StreamYard players according to your brand? Let’s find out.
Restream
Restream allows you to create multiple brand identities from the same account. If you run live streams for different brands, you can simply choose a brand identity from the brand list in your Restream Studio.
A brand identity consists of a logo, video player theme, background colors, and the general color theme for your tickers, comments, and other text elements.
All of this is fully customizable from your Restream Studio.
StreamYard
StreamYard offers almost identical branding features with the standard options to change your logo, create multiple brands, and modify color themes.
However, it doesn’t offer as many overlays or theme backgrounds as Restream.
Analytics
How much do Restream and StreamYard tell you about your audience behavior? Let’s find out.
Restream
Restream provides you with detailed audience analytics such as your stream’s most watched part, audience size, viewer distribution by platform, total content consumption time, and other useful metrics to help you understand your audience’s behavior.
StreamYard
StreamYard currently provides basic viewership analytics for its On-Air webinar feature only. For regular live streams, you don’t get any audience insights except for the number of viewers on your stream.
Restream vs. StreamYard Pricing & Free Trial | Which Tool Offers Better Value For Money?
So, how much do Restream and StreamYard cost, and do they offer value for money? Let’s break down their pricing plans.
Restream Pricing & Free Plan
Restream offers three pricing plans, including a free subscription.
- Basic Pan – Free
- Standard – $16/month
- Professional – $41/month
As a free user, you can use all the core live streaming features and multistream 720p broadcasts to 2 destinations at a time. But there’s no recording or cloud storage for free users.
Standard users can broadcast simultaneously to 5 more destinations, invite up to 9 guests, get custom branding and graphics, and stream pre-recorded videos of up to 30 minutes.
Premium users get 8 streaming destinations, 10 hours of recording, separate tracks for audio and video, and up to 2GB of videos for pre-recorded streams.
For most online course creators, the Standard plan offers sufficient features unless you want more concurrent streaming channels. But for power users, the Professional plan offers the highest value.
StreamYard Pricing & Free Plan
StreamYard also offers three subscription plans, including a free option.
- Free – $0
- Basic – $20/month
- Professional – $39/month
The Free plan doesn’t offer multistreaming features and has a 20-hour streaming limit per month.
The Basic plan allows unlimited streaming and unlimited recordings for up to 3 platforms along with custom RTMP streaming.
The Professional plan allows full HD 1080p streams to up to 8 platforms. It also allows you to use multiple cameras and run pre-recorded streams of up to 2 hours.
StreamYard’s free plan is only good for part-time streamers not looking for multistreaming. But if you’re a serious content creator looking to grow your brand with regular live streaming, consider its Professional plan.
StreamYard vs. Restream Pros And Cons
Before reaching our verdict, let’s quickly recap the strengths and weaknesses of both Restream and StreamYard
Restream
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ideal platform for multistreaming with lots of options | Considerably slows down the browser |
| Cheaper pricing plans compared to StreamYard | Very short content limits for pre-recorded streams |
| Supports a wide range of software integrations | Offers a limited number of virtual backgrounds |
| Excellent user interface | |
| Extensive branding and user engagement options |
StreamYard
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Has an excellent user interface with easy-to-use options | Doesn’t provide user insights |
| Light on your web browser | No multistreaming features in the free plan and limited channels in the premium plans |
| Offers longer pre-recorded streams | Limited videos and transition effects |
| Wide range of virtual backgrounds | Slightly more expensive than Restream |
Verdict | Which Live Streaming Tool Is Right For Your Business?
So, what’s our verdict – Restream or StreamYard? Which multistreaming platform is right for your business?
Overall, we found Restream to be the superior product in most aspects. It offers more multistreaming channels, better branding and customization, and cheaper rates.
So, if you’re a professional looking to scale your online course business with live streaming, Restream is an excellent choice.
However, StreamYard is a more user-friendly product with sufficient features for beginners and mid-tier streamers. So, if you don’t need the additional channels Restream offers, StreamYard is a pretty solid product.
In short, you can’t go wrong choosing any of these platforms. But we’d go for Restream.
Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution
Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.
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