9 Best Video Hosting Sites of 2023 (Free and Paid Options)
You cannot imagine the world without videos and video hosting. In this article, I will list the best video hosting sites, both free and paid.
When it comes to videos, you need these requirements:
- Creation
- Storage
- Delivery
There are several ways to create a video. You can shoot using your mobile or a digital camera. You can use one of the online tools for screen-casting videos with a webcam.
Once you created a video, it has to live somewhere to deliver them to your users or visitors.
That’s where the video hosting sites comes into the picture.
There are both free and paid options available on video hosting sites.
Let’s get started.
1. YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. It is also a free video-hosting site for individuals and businesses to reach their target audience.
YouTube allows you to embed your videos on your site. However, at the end of each video, it will show related videos to your users, which prevents the user from continuing with your content or call to action. That is the trade-off.
Customizing the player is also an issue with embedded YouTube videos on your site or blog. You need to know CSS and some coding, and it is time-consuming.
It is free to upload videos. If you have a significant amount of views on your videos, you can apply for the YouTube Partners Program and make money with Ads.
It provides basic analytics and social sharing options.
But should you use it?
It depends. If you are light on the budget, YouTube is the one of the best video hosting sites to go for.
If you want ad-free and lengthy video hosting, consider other video hosting platforms in this article.
Who is it for:
- Individuals
- Influencers
- Small Business with a tight budget
- Enterprises that upload unlimited videos
- For anyone who wants to host live streams
Pricing:
- Free
2. Dailymotion
Dailymotion is one of the popular and best video hosting sites in general.
You can use Dailymotion to manage your videos and Live Events, monetize them with a built-in revenue sharing program, and distribute them via fully customizable embedded Video Player on your site or blog.
Just like other video platforms reviewed here, Dailymotion offers advanced real-time analytics, HD Live broadcasting, 360 degrees Live, and many features you expect from a premium video hosting site.
Who is it for:
- Individuals
- Influencers
- Small Businesses
- Medium Enterprises
Pricing:
- Starter Offer – Free
- Advanced Offer – You need to contact Dailymotion sales for the details
3. Facebook
Facebook is the best option if you want a free video-hosting platform on social media. Unlike its competitors, Facebook allows you to upload up to 240 minutes of video.
You can upload your videos and host them on Facebook natively. With the inherent nature of the platform, your visitors share your videos easily.
You can also embed the video on your website or blog for complete data on viewing and sharing. It also helps you to gain social proof.
Finally, you could use Facebook Ads to drive traffic to any of your landing pages based on viewing data.
Who is it for:
- Individuals
- Influencers
- Small Business with a tight budget
- Enterprises that upload unlimited videos
- For anyone who wants to host live streams
Pricing:
- Free
4. Vimeo
Vimeo is one of the professional and best video hosting sites that enhance your visitors’ experience with ad-free videos.
The basic free account allows you to upload videos up to 500 MB per week and 25 GB per year.
Vimeo is like YouTube, but it helps to keep the visitors’ attention on your content. It gives basic privacy settings and statistics.
Vimeo videos are ad-free by default, and there is no bandwidth limit. You can embed Vimeo videos on your blog or website.
Vimeo is not as large as YouTube. But it has a reputation for a high-quality look and user experience.
With paid plans, Vimeo allows you to add a call to action and lead forms.
The integration with your marketing automation platform or CRM is not straightforward. You can achieve this by using Zapier. It costs money and adds more complications to your workflow.
Who is it for:
- Artists
- Small Businesses
- Enterprises
Pricing:
- Vimeo Basic – Free, 500 MB per week, 25 GB per Year limit
- Vimeo Plus – $7 a month, 5 GB per week, and 250 GB per year
- Vimeo Pro – $20 a month, 20 GB per week, and 1TB per year
- Vimeo Business – $50 a month, no weekly limit, 50TB total storage
- Vimeo Premium – $75 a month, unlimited live streaming, unlimited viewers, 7TB total storage
5. Wistia
Wistia is one of the best video hosting sites that is popular among enterprises and marketing agencies.
The best thing about Wistia is that it offers all the advanced features starting from the free plan.
The free plan allows you to host up to 3 videos with a bandwidth limit of 200 GB per month.
The A/B test feature is available starting from the free plan. You can upload multiple thumbnails to see which one works best.
Wistia offers an excellent viewing experience, extensive analytics, a fully customizable video player, and built-in marketing automation integration.
As an additional feature, you can now host Podcasts on the same Channel along with videos.
On a final note, you can collect your subscribers’ emails and email them as and when a video is uploaded.
Who is it for:
- Small Businesses
- Enterprises
- Marketing Agencies
Pricing:
- Free Plan – 200 GB Bandwidth and 3 Videos
- Pro Plan – $99 a Month, Up to 10 Videos/Podcasts. Additional videos/podcasts are at 25¢ each per month.
- Advanced Plan – Up to 100 Videos/Podcasts. 3rd party marketing automation integration. Contact Wistia for Pricing.
6. Cincopa
Cincopa is a comprehensive video hosting platform that allows you to host documents, images, videos, audio files, and podcasts under one account.
If you are an instructor with a video course, Cincopa has a tool to store and deliver your content effectively with their Video Course offering.
It offers RecTrace, a Chrome extension to create screen-casting videos with or without a webcam.
It offers sales video creation and distribution, a complete account to manage all media assets, podcast and music players, and third-party integration with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, and more.
Cincopa is not having a free plan. However, it offers a 30-day trial on all its paid plans.
Cincopa is one of the best video hosting sites if you are an instructor and have many media files.
Who is it for:
- Small-Medium Enterprises
- Podcasters
- Instructors
- Sales and Marketing Agencies
Pricing:
- Startup – $9 a month, 5 Videos, 50 audios, 20 documents, 500 images
- Plus – $25 a month, 40 videos, 200 audios, 40 documents, 1500 images
- Corporate – $99 a month, unlimited of audios, videos, documents, images
- Agency/Enterprise – $350 a month, unlimited audios, videos, documents, and images. Check their pricing page for more details on other features.
7. Brightcove
Brightcove is one of the best video hosting sites for enterprises.
With a starting plan of $199 a month, Brightcove offers monetization, advertising, live event streaming, lead generation tools, mobile optimization, unique branding features, robust analytics, and much more.
Brightcove delivers one of the best video watching experience to your users.
There is no wonder that Brightcove has an impressive client list such as Ford, BBC Worldwide, GoDaddy, Oracle, Sony Pictures, and more.
The pricing is not transparent. Contact Brightcove for a plan that suits your needs. You can start with a 30-day free trial to test the platform features.
Who is it for:
- Enterprises
- OTT Platforms
Pricing:
- Not transparent. Contact Brightcove for your customized pricing.
8. Vidyard
Vidyard is one of the best video hosting sites with an easy-to-use dashboard and the best UI/UX experience.
Vidyard offers advanced video analytics of who watched each video and their viewing patterns.
It has built-in integration with Hootsuite, Salesforce, and Marketo on their Business plan.
Vidyard offers publishing features to social media platforms and a screen recording feature to create a video to insert into emails directly.
Who is it for:
- Marketing Agencies
- Enterprises
Pricing:
- Free Plan – Up to 5 Embedded videos
- Pro Plan – $15 a month, up to 20 Embedded Videos
- Teams Plan – $300 a month, up to 50 Embedded videos, 3+ users
- Business Plan – $1250 a month, up to 100 Embedded videos, 5+ users
9. Kaltura
Kaltura is not just a video hosting site. It is a comprehensive platform with many possibilities.
Kaltura has five products, each target for a different use case.
Communication and Collaboration are for hosting meetings, town halls, video messaging, and podcasts.
Virtual Events is for industry events, marketing events, and training.
Video Content Management is for video creation, management, publishing, distribution, and analytics.
Media and Telecom are for OTT and Cloud TV Platforms.
Finally, Education is for Virtual Classroom, Lecture Capture, and LMS Integration.
Kaltura is not a simple video hosting site. It offers various use cases that address all aspects of the video.
Kaltura has an impressive clientele list such as SAP, Bosch, Dupont, AT&T, The World Bank, MetLife, Whirpool, Stanford University, and much more.
Who is it for:
- Enterprises
- OTT Platforms
- Marketing Agencies
- Education Institutions
Pricing:
- You can request a 30-Day free trial to test based on your use case.
- The enterprises can contact their sales department for Annual based pricing for a specific use case.
Summary
So, that is it for an overview review of the Best Video Hosting sites of 2021.
Whatever use case and budget you have, you can find a video hosting site that fulfills your requirement.
If you are an enterprise with a big budget, Brightcove, Vidyard, and Kaltura are good options.
If you are an instructor, Cincopa is the best option.
If you find a platform that matches your use case and budget, explore more on their features, and request a free trial before selecting the right one.
In case if you need to download and save YouTube videos, I have a guide here.
Now it is your turn.
What is your use case, and what is the best video hosting site for your blog or business?