New Plans: a Real Free Plan, the Channel Tier, and Annual Pricing
playout.video pricing has been rebuilt around what you do, not just how sharp your video looks: a permanent Free plan, a new Channel tier for programmed channels, and annual pricing that saves real money.
What's New
We've rebuilt our plans from the ground up. The short version:
Free is now a real plan. No trial clock, no card required. Build and run a branded stream for as long as you keep the account.
Plans now map to what you do, not just video quality. Creator runs a 24/7 loop. Channel runs a programmed, calendar-driven channel. Business puts the stream on your own website.
Annual pricing is here, and it's the headline price: Creator at $19/mo, Channel at $39/mo, Business at $119/mo when billed annually.
If you're already a paying customer: nothing is taken away. More on that below.
The New Plans
Free ($0): one live stream at 1080p30 with the playout.video watermark, one destination, up to 5 hours per session, 10GB storage. Enough to build your channel and prove the format.
Creator ($19/mo annual, $29 monthly): your persistent 24/7 channel, no watermark, multistream to 5 destinations, Live Studio with 8 guests, recordings, custom RTMP, 100GB storage.
Channel ($39/mo annual, $49 monthly): everything in Creator plus broadcast automation. Program your channel on the Calendar and it goes live on schedule, with auto start/stop and playlist swaps. 8 destinations, 10 guests, 150GB, and the 60fps add-on.
Business ($119/mo annual, $149 monthly): everything in Channel plus embedding your stream on your own website, the 4K add-on, 10 destinations, 20 studio guests, 250GB, and priority support.
Enterprise (custom): negotiated concurrency, quality, storage, and support for media operations running many channels.
Video quality stays an add-on rather than a tier: 60fps is +$10/mo (Channel and up), 4K is +$40/mo (Business and up), and extra storage is $25 per 100GB.
Why We Changed It
The old model had four tiers that differed only in resolution and frame rate. That made sense when the product was "a 24/7 loop at some quality." It stopped making sense once playout.video grew a Live Studio, a broadcast Calendar, website embedding, and multi-workspace teams.
A church running a programmed Sunday schedule and a creator looping a lo-fi playlist need very different things, and neither of them cares primarily about 4K. The new tiers follow those real shapes of usage. We wrote up the full reasoning in Why We Killed the Trial and Launched a Free Plan.
Already Subscribed? You're Grandfathered
If you subscribed on a legacy $29 plan before this change, your workspace is grandfathered onto the Channel tier. You keep everything you had, including calendar automation, at the price you were already paying. You don't need to do anything.
No More Trials
New accounts no longer start a 7-day trial. They start on the Free plan, which never expires. Build your playlists, design your overlays, rehearse your show, and upgrade when your channel is ready to run without limits.
Details on exactly what Free includes: The Free Plan: What's Included and Where the Limits Are.
Where to See It
The new plans are live on the pricing page and inside the app under Settings → Subscription. The full plan comparison is in Understanding Plans and Pricing.