Session Length Limits: Why Your Stream Stopped and How the Countdown Works
Free streams auto-stop after 2 hours and the stream page shows a countdown as the limit approaches. Here is exactly how session limits work per plan and how to stream without them.
The Short Version
Free plan: a live session runs for up to 2 hours, then stops automatically. You can start a new session whenever a free slot is open. Free streams share our servers, so at busy times paid accounts start first.
Creator, Channel, Business: channel streams are persistent. There is no session cap; this is what makes true 24/7 streaming possible.
Live Studio: on Free a studio session runs up to 2 hours. On Creator and Channel, Live Studio stays on air up to 24 hours at a time. A Live Studio stream stops there; over a Live Channel the studio goes back to preview and your playlist keeps playing. On Business and Enterprise, Live Studio can stay on air around the clock.
If your stream ended on its own and you're on the Free plan, this is almost certainly why.
How the Countdown Works
While a capped session is live, the stream control header shows how much session time remains. As the limit approaches, the countdown becomes prominent, alongside an option to upgrade before the session ends.
When the timer reaches zero, the stream stops cleanly: your connected platforms see a normal end-of-stream, not a crash. Nothing about the stream's configuration is lost. Press start and the same playlist, overlays, and destinations go live again for another session.
On YouTube, each session's live ends with it, so YouTube saves it, and the next session starts a new live with a new link. Share your channel's Live tab, which always reaches the current live.
What Counts as a Session
A session is continuous live time from start to stop. Stopping and restarting begins a new session with a fresh allowance. The cap is not a daily or monthly quota: you can run several 2-hour sessions in a day on Free, whenever a free slot is open. What Free deliberately does not support is unattended always-on streaming, since every restart is manual.
That distinction is the point. If you're around to restart, Free works. If you want the channel to hold itself live overnight, through the week, through a holiday, that's persistent streaming, and it starts on Creator.
Session Limits per Plan
Plan | Channel stream session | Live Studio on air |
|---|---|---|
Free | 2 hours, auto-stop | 2 hours |
Creator | Persistent (no cap) | Up to 24 hours at a time |
Channel | Persistent (no cap) | Up to 24 hours at a time |
Business | Persistent (no cap) | No limit (24/7) |
Enterprise | Persistent (no cap) | No limit (24/7) |
Live Studio Over a Live Channel
You can put Live Studio on air over your Live Channel, with the playlist as a source and graphics or web overlays on top. On Creator and Channel the studio stays on air up to 24 hours at a time:
In the last two hours, the studio page shows how long is left.
At 24 hours the studio goes back to preview. Your stream doesn't stop: the playlist goes back on air on every destination, and the workspace owner gets an email.
Go live again in the studio to carry on. That starts a new 24 hours.
The 24 hours run from when the studio goes on air until it goes back to preview. A studio source dropping and reconnecting doesn't restart them, and neither does a short interruption on our side.
For a studio that stays on air around the clock (tickers, a clock and a logo over a 24/7 playlist), choose Business: Live Studio has no time limit there.
Auto-Stop Is Not a Failure
A session-limit stop is different from a dropped stream. playout.video streams carry automatic recovery for real failures (network blips, source problems); see Why Your 24/7 Stream Stays Live. The session limit, by contrast, is a planned, clean stop with advance warning on screen.
You can tell them apart at a glance: a session-limit stop happens exactly when the countdown ends, and the stream page says the session reached its plan limit.
Streaming Without Limits
Upgrade to any paid plan and channel streams become persistent:
Open Settings → Billing.
Choose Creator or higher.
Restart your stream. It now runs until you stop it.
There's a separate reason to look at Channel here: if you don't want a stream running around the clock at all, the Calendar's auto start/stop can run your channel only during scheduled windows. See Auto-Start and Auto-Stop: Stream Only When You Need To.