Introduction
Video hosting platforms are those online platforms that allow you to host or upload your videos on them in order to allow your customers or viewers to watch them online. Hosting your videos on a third party platform is an alternative to hosting or uploading them on your own website.
Many people these days prefer third party video hosting as it allows them to reduce the load on the servers of their own website, thereby giving a smooth and lag free user experience. However, video hosting comes with several other benefits as well as privacy protection, detailed analytics, advertising and marketing tools, technical assistance in case of any problem and so on.
So, in this article we will suggest we will give you the top 5 video hosting sites that we tested, including both free and paid version, depending on your needs and budgets.
Top hosting sites: quick table
Before seeing in-depth review and features of the five best video hosting sites, if you are in a hurry, find below our quick table with the top 3 pick.
| Service | Pricing | Rating | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Free | 9.2/10 | Visit here |
| Vimeo | Free & 6$/month | 8.4/10 | Visit here |
| Vidyard | Free & 15$/month | 8/10 | Visit here |
And now, let’s dig into this article.
Benefits of publishing videos
Creating and publishing should be a must for business, entrepreneurs and online marketers. A good video will keep the visitor longer to your website, which is also an important SEO factor that will help your website rankings go up.
And, it will also lead to higher reach and engagement, since video content tends to spark more emotions than plaint text and more shares and engagement, as proved from a study from Hubspot.
Benefits of hosting video in third party sites
Video files take up a lot of space, but if you transfer them to an external, cloud server, you can free up device memory, and the files will be available at any time.
In addition, popular video hosting sites allow creators to promote their accounts and make money on it. There are two main methods of making money on the platforms:
- Internal monetization. Services independently insert commercials on uploaded videos
- Affiliate advertising. A company buys time in the video from the video author, who, in turn, receives a commission for promoting the company.
If you are hosting your video on a popular website, you could also receive traffic from external sources within the specific platform. That is the case of famous social media websites such as YouTube or Facebook.
Criteria for choosing a video hosting
But, it is important to pick the best video hosting site for your needs, and with a good money value. When choosing a platform, pay attention to,
- The country in which video hosting is most popular;
- The templates of the player
- Availability of functionality for business
- Pricing and plan features
- The number of active users
- The presence of internal monetization or other affiliate programs
- Restrictions on the size and number of uploaded files
- Integration with other social networks
- Access to analytics
Given that there are so many benefits of video hosting, but also a lot of hosting sites to choose from, here we present to you a detailed list of the best platforms for hosting your videos online. Specifically, a top 5 list, from free solutions to premium solutions for business owners.
Top 5 sites for video hosting in-depth
Let’s have a closer look at the 5 best video hosting platforms, their pros and cons, and which one works best according to your needs.
YouTube
YouTube is undoubtedly the most popular platform for hosting and promoting your content. It has two billion worldwide users and is regularly growing.
YouTube’s biggest advantage is that it’s free and offers unlimited cloud storage, which allows you to upload as many videos as you want. You can easily embed videos into websites allowing viewers to watch videos on your website. You can also track the progress of your content and its marketing performance with the help of detailed analytics and statistics.
YouTube’s billions of users around the world will give you a greater chance of reaching a wider audience with your content. YouTube is known for its wide reach and fast playback, which is why many users of video content rely on it for hosting videos.
However, there are some disadvantages of using youtube. It plays ads automatically on your videos which disturbs user experience and you don’t have enough control over it and the player. Other than this, youtube also has a very strict copyright policy in place which can be disturbing for some users.
Last but not least, YouTube might also drive away traffic from your website, since suggested videos of other users will show up on the embedded player.
If you have a business, the best solution is possibly to upload videos on YouTube to reach more people, but than use another hosting platform to embed your videos.
YouTube Users Review
Now let’s see what users who have already had the opportunity to use YouTube for embedding think, their opinions about it, and if they were satisfied with the service.
From the review site Sitejabber, YouTube appears to be one of the average tools by the public; but, we can’t really take these reviews too much into account, since most people use YouTube to watch content, and not to host their videos.
That being said, we liked this review which repeats exactly what we mentioned: “I am been using youtube to host my website videos for a while, and the fact that is free and fast is great. But, recently YouTube started displaying ads on my content and also, whenever the video is paused lots of suggested and unrelated videos pop-up, which does not seem very professional. I had to switch to a paid site. I wish YouTube had a paid business feature, where you can customize your player and do not have any distraction”
Positive and Negative Aspects
PROS
- Free to Use
- You have an opportunity to earn money via your videos easily
- User-friendly
- Easy to share the content
- Baclinks are generated
- Could also get traffic from YouTube
- Fast loading
CONS
- Strong copyright detection and policy
- YouTube has a set of rules for video hosting
- Ads might play
- Suggested videos might show up
- There is a chance for getting banned or Disabled without any reason nor forewarning
- Any advertiser could put add-ons on your video, if it's third party claimed
Vimeo
Vimeo is another popular video hosting service. Vimeo Basic free plan allows you to upload videos of up to 500MB per week. This equates to a total upload size of 25GB per year.
In the free version, you also get access to basic analytics and privacy settings. There are no bandwidth, duration or file size limits but it depends on the plan that you have purchased. There are therefore some limits in the free plan.
One main advantage of Vimeo is that there are no ads on the videos therefore your audience gets a great viewing experience. Vimeo has a reputation for having higher quality and more professional content which is a good thing for both businesses and professionals. However, Vimeo’s audience isn’t as huge as YouTube’s so your reach to the audience may be smaller.
Vimeo User Review
Looking at one of the most authoritative site ever in terms of reviews and opinions for online business, G2, it is immediately clear that its customers highly appreciate Vimeo, since it has obtained an average rating of 4 stars out of 5 in reviews.
Positive and Negative Aspects
PROS
- Ad Free
- Privacy setting
- You have an option to create a video Portfolio in Vimeo
- The brand is best known for its quality and professionalism
CONS
- Low Visibility
- Limited Storage
- Paid users have more benefits
DailyMotion
Dailymotion has been slowly growing in popularity, even though they have a much smaller audience than YouTube.
However, it can also be a benefit if you are trying to expand your audience, as there is smaller competition than YouTube. Dailymotion’s content policy is more flexible than YouTube too, allowing copyrighted content more easily. There are ads but they are much less intrusive than ads on YouTube.
Dailymotion offers both free and paid services with paid services offer additional benefits. However, the free account allows you to do just about anything to promote your video content. Dailymotion offers unlimited storage and bandwidth. However, file sizes are limited to 2GB and videos cannot exceed 60 minutes. It also offers analytics, but they are limited in nature even for paid accounts.
Dailymotion Users Review
Let’s see the user experience of those who have used the service. People usually like the fact that Dailymotion is free, but also, it is not as popular and appreciated as much as YouTube when it comes to free video hosting services.
As you can see in the example below, this girl perfectly pictures the current state of DailyMotion: a platform which was great and popular a few years back, but now lacks on few aspects.
Anyway, if you are looking for a free alternative to YouTube, then DailyMotion is something you should try!
Positive and Negative Aspects
PROS
- It's possible to upload Copyrighted Content
- Unrestricted media sharing
- Free
- Easy to navigate
- Easy to Integrate and embed
CONS
- Slower playback
- Not so User-friendly
- Too many ads while on long videos
Vadoo.tv
Vadootv Player is an ad-free video hosting service that includes a customizable player as well as features to assist you in growing your audience. Furthermore, it is an excellent tool for delivering your company’s message to customers through a valuable ad-free video experience that includes a player that represents your company’s logo. With high-speed, secure video hosting, you can also broaden the reach of your company’s message.
It enables you to host videos without having to worry about advertisements.
What is the procedure? With the central dashboard, you post your films to the super-secure cloud-based servers or import videos from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Publitio, and others.
Unlike other video hosting services, Vadootv Player understands this and allows you to upload your videos on their platform without being interrupted by advertisements. Vadootv Player delivers rapid load times by utilizing fast CDNs that are distributed throughout the world to optimize bandwidth usage.
Finally, by modifying the color and skin of your video player to fit your company’s branding, you’ll be able to optimize the video viewing experience for your target audience.
In addition to the features mentioned above, Vadootv Player provides rapid loading times by utilizing high-speed CDNs known around the world for bandwidth optimization. The following are the primary characteristics of the tool Vadootv Player:
- Record or host your ad-free films in a secure cloud and transmit them using content delivery networks (CDNs) that offer fast delivery.
- Customize the player to match your brand, gather leads, and include call-to-action buttons to increase conversions.
The Vadootv Player that Marketers, Sales Professionals, and Content Creators use to make and share lightning-fast films that are free of advertisements. It’s also a fantastic alternative to Vidyard and Loom, among other things.
You may use this feature to give a more seamless viewing experience for your audience by customizing the color and skin of your video player to fit your branding. You can include strategically positioned call-to-action buttons to urge viewers to do specific activities in response to your video material.
Vadoo.tv User Review
Here are some thoughts about VadooTV. Capterra, a well-known review site, gives this video-hosting platform a score of 4.8 stars out of 5. Users that have tried it and continue to use the service have a quite positive opinion of it.
Positive and Negative Aspects
PROS
- High-speed playback using fast CDN
- AI-powered Recording tool
- Video Management with projects and multiple users
- Video in email, website, social media & more
- Customized Landing Page
- Domain Security & Encryption
- CTA, Lead capture, and Password protected videos White Label & CNAME
- HLS encryption is important
- It can protect my video with encryption.
- Easy to Use
CONS
- The upload speed could be better
- Video organization is lacking.
Vidyard
Vidyard is an online video platform that has been designed specifically for businesses. Thousand of firms throughout the world — from startups to Fortune 500 corporations — rely on this platform for video creation, hosting, management, and sharing. It is utilized by thousands of companies across the globe, from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.
Vidyard also generates high-quality leads, closes more transactions, and establishes the value of video with comprehensive video analytics, security features, and connectors with other business-related software. For complete review, check here!
Their free plan includes unlimited video uploads and social media sharing. Their free plan can help you get all set up for your video content marketing efforts.
The Pro plan costs $15/month and is billed annually. It allows you to communicate more effectively with your audience and team. This plan includes advanced features like password protection, replying to videos and adding CTA to videos. There are more expensive plans as well that offer more advanced features.
Vidyard Users Review
Let’s see the user experience of those who have used the service. On G2, a popular review site, Vidyard has a overall rating of 4.4 out of 5, with as much as 472 reviews.
What users like the most is the integration with other softwares, the analytics and the fast support.
One client for instance, says “With Vidyard we’re able to track everything and because you can connect it to Hubspot, we get all the analytics we need! The customer support is extremely responsive and very helpful. Lastly, we can add CTAs to all of our videos, which helps us greatly”.
Positive and negative aspects
PROS
- Customization for Videos is available
- Real Time Data
- Advanced Analytics option
- Simple embedding and video sharing
CONS
- Paid plan has more features
- Need to set filters
This is our list of video hosting sites that content creators and entrepreneurs can use outside of YouTube.
If you’re looking for an alternative to YouTube, one of these platforms should do exactly what you need.
Each of these services has different pricing structures, but is you to ultimately decide and which one to use should depend on the number of videos you create, the file sizes and resolutions you use, and your public.
TOP 3 sites to Host your videos (OUR PICK)
- Free To Use
- You have an opportunity to earn money via your videos
- User-friendly
- Backlink are generated
- Refund Available
- No upload limit
- Fast video playback
- Responsive videos
- Create your own template
- Integrate with many third party apps
- Customization for Videos is available
- Real Time Datas
- It has Analytics option
- Embedding and Sharing video is possible
- Live Support
FAQs
What is Video Hosting?
Video hosting is the process of storing and serving videos on the internet. With video hosting, you can upload, store and distribute your videos on many different sites.
Video hosting sites allow anyone to upload videos for free. However, some charges come with it if you want to store your video for a longer time or upload it in HD format.
What are Video Hosting Sites?
Video hosting sites are a great way to share videos online. These sites allow you to upload any type of video and make it publicly available for viewing. Video hosting sites are websites that will enable users to upload, share, and view videos. These video hosting sites are often accessed through apps or software.
Video hosting sites also allow you to search through videos, add annotations, embed them on other websites, and create playlists. The biggest video hosting site in the world is YouTube. It has over 1 billion users, 300 hours of videos uploaded every minute and more than 30 billion hours of video watched every month.
Why do you need a video hosting site?
The demand for video content is growing by the day. It has become a necessity to have a video hosting site.
Video hosting sites are an economical way to meet the demand for fast-loading high-quality videos, especially when it comes to monetizing your content. The popularity of these sites is growing exponentially because it is no longer challenging to upload videos and increase traffic with the help of social media marketing.
What’s the difference between paid and free video hosting?
Free video hosting should usually suffice. Free services may not cover the needs of influencers, marketers, business owners, and marketing firms. After that, they charge.
In some cases, ad removal is included in paid hosting. Paid hosting options are also available and are significantly more reliable. They may use advanced analytics. Others have A/B testing tools.
What characteristics should you look for in a video hosting platform?
Like the industry standard, most entries on this list will have similar essential features. Videos will be embeddable. Some will let you customise. They will also have analytics.
But most importantly, seek for reliability. You want users to be able to watch your videos whenever they want. That’s crucial when it comes to video hosting.
Customizing videos is possible on some platforms, but it is best done outside of them.
How much does it cost to host a video?
For each platform, the fee of the video hosting website varies. There are subscription options ranging from $6 a month up to $99 per month on these video-hosting services that include additional features. Some video hosting platforms, on the other hand, provide free starter plans with limited functionality for new customers.
Conclusion
That’s the wrap up, guys. I hope these hosting services picks will fulfill your needs.
Additionally, we’ve got some of our Video Hosting service relevant blog posts to aid you. If it’s your goal to find out the best way to get more organic traffic to your visual content, these blog entries can help you in doing this in a way that is easy. Have a look through these blog posts.
- Bunny Stream Hosting Service Review
- Teyuto Review
- Vidpowr Review
- Hippo Video Review
- Vidyard Review
- AsuraHosting Review
- VidTags Review
- Viloud Review
- KillerPlayer Review
The end of the day, see you all in the next exciting blog review!
