Understanding Plans and Pricing

How Pricing Works

playout.video has five plans built around what your channel does, not just how sharp the video is:

• Free ($0): build and rehearse a channel; run it casually with a watermark

• Creator ($19/mo billed annually, $29 monthly): a persistent, unbranded 24/7 channel

• Channel ($39/mo billed annually, $49 monthly): a calendar-programmed channel with broadcast automation, and the plan the website embed add-on attaches to

• Business ($119/mo billed annually, $149 monthly): everything in Channel, plus website embedding at adaptive quality for a much larger audience

• Enterprise (custom): negotiated caps and support for media operations

Video quality is an add-on, not a tier: every plan streams 1080p30 by default, 60fps is +$10/mo (Channel and up), and 4K is +$40/mo (Business and up). Website embedding is an add-on too: +$29/mo on Channel, or included on Business.

Paid plans are priced per seat, and a seat is a concurrent live channel. One channel running around the clock is one seat; add a second seat when you want a second stream live at the same time.

The Plans in Detail

Free: $0

• 1 live stream at 1080p30 with the playout.video watermark

• 2 destinations, 2 Live Studio guests

• Sessions up to 5 hours, then auto-stop (restart anytime)

• 10GB storage, uploads up to 1 hour per video, 10 overlay templates

• Build calendars and schedules (running them needs Channel)

Free is a permanent plan, not a trial. It's made for building: the full editor, playlists, overlays, and calendar design all work. See The Free Plan: What's Included and Where the Limits Are.

Creator: $19/mo (annual) or $29 monthly

Everything you need to run one channel seriously:

• No watermark, and no session cap: true 24/7 streaming

• Multistream to 5 destinations, including custom RTMP endpoints

• Live Studio with 8 guests (sessions up to 24 hours)

• Recording your sessions to the media library

• 100GB storage, uploads up to 4 hours per video

Creator streams at 1080p30; the 60fps and 4K add-ons are not available on this tier.

Channel: $39/mo (annual) or $49 monthly

Everything in Creator, plus broadcast automation, the ability to run your channel from the Calendar:

• Calendar-run streams: your channel goes live on schedule, unattended

• Auto-start and auto-stop around scheduled windows

• Scheduled playlist swaps and automated actions

• Recurring programming (daily, weekly, monthly)

• 8 destinations, 10 studio guests, 150GB storage, 8-hour uploads

• 60fps add-on available (+$10/mo)

• Website embed add-on available (+$29/mo, flat): your channel on your own site at source quality, for up to 100 people watching at once

If you think of your stream as a programmed channel (shows at fixed times, a schedule your audience can rely on), this is your plan. See The Channel Plan: Run Your Channel Like a TV Network.

Business: $119/mo (annual) or $149 monthly

Everything in Channel, plus your channel on your own turf:

• Website embedding included, at full strength: hosted player, adaptive quality (ABR), DVR rewind, viewer counts, domain/signed access control, and up to 1,000 people watching at once. The Channel add-on covers the same iframe at source quality for up to 100 viewers, so Business is the step up when your audience grows or you need adaptive quality and signed links (see How to Embed Your Live Stream on Any Website)

• RTMP & WHIP source input into Live Studio: push a hardware encoder, OBS, or vMix in as a source (see Add RTMP Source)

• 4K add-on available (+$40/mo), alongside the 60fps add-on

• 10 destinations, 20 studio guests, 250GB storage, 12-hour uploads

• Priority support

Enterprise: custom

For media operations running many channels: negotiated concurrency, quality, storage, SLA, and dedicated support. Contact us.

Plan Comparison

Add-Ons

• Website embed (+$29/mo, Channel only): your channel on your own site at source quality, up to 100 concurrent viewers. Flat per workspace, not per seat. Business includes embedding already, with adaptive quality, signed links and 1,000 viewers, so the add-on is not sold there

• 60fps (+$10/mo, Channel and up): for fast-motion content like gaming and sports

• 4K (+$40/mo, Business and up): for cinematic and high-detail content

• Extra storage ($25 per 100GB per month): added in 100GB increments on any paid plan

For choosing quality, see Stream Quality Settings. As a rule of thumb, 1080p video uses roughly 2-4GB of storage per hour.

Annual vs Monthly Billing

Annual billing is the headline price and saves roughly a third compared to paying monthly:

You can switch between billing intervals from Settings → Subscription.

Legacy Plans

If you subscribed before the current plans launched (the $29 quality-tier era), your workspace is grandfathered onto the Channel tier at your existing price. You keep everything you had, including calendar automation. No action needed.

Managing Your Subscription

• Upgrading takes effect immediately, and the new plan replaces the one you are on rather than being added to it. You are charged only the prorated difference for the rest of the current period, and the days you already paid for are credited back automatically.

• Downgrading takes effect at the end of the billing period, and features gated above your new tier stop being available then.

• Canceling keeps the plan active until the end of the period, after which the workspace returns to the Free plan: the watermark returns, sessions are capped at 5 hours, and calendar runs pause. Your content stays in storage (within Free's 10GB; you'll be prompted if you're over).

Each workspace has its own plan and billing: if you run several brands, see Multiple Workspaces: Separate Brands, Separate Billing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free trial? There's something better: the Free plan never expires. Build your channel first, pay when it's ready to run without limits.

Do I need a separate plan for each stream? Each concurrent live channel is a seat on your plan. Running one 24/7 channel is one seat; you only add seats to run several streams at the same time.

Can I build a calendar on Free or Creator? Yes, fully. Only running calendar streams and their automation requires Channel. See Build Your Schedule Free, Hit Run When You're Ready.

I already pay for Creator. If I move to Channel, do I pay both? No. The Channel price replaces the Creator price, it is never charged on top. Moving from Creator ($29 monthly) to Channel ($49 monthly) with the website embed add-on ($29 monthly) makes your ongoing bill $78 a month, not $78 plus the $29 you were already paying. On the day you switch, you are charged only the difference for the days left in the month, because the unused part of what you already paid is credited back. The confirmation screen shows that exact amount before anything is charged.

Can I embed on my website while I'm on Creator? Not directly. The embed add-on attaches to Channel, so the move is Channel plus the add-on. If you want to try it before committing, contact support and we can enable it temporarily.

Why can't I buy 60fps on Creator? Creator is deliberately the lean "one 24/7 loop" plan at 1080p30. Fast-motion and high-detail quality options live on Channel (60fps) and Business (4K).

What's the difference between "Custom RTMP" and "RTMP source input"? They point in opposite directions. Custom RTMP destinations (Creator and up) send your finished stream out to any RTMP endpoint. RTMP/WHIP source input (Business and up) brings a feed in, letting you push a hardware encoder, OBS, or vMix into Live Studio as a source. Browser (WebRTC) cameras and guest invites work on every plan regardless.

Are there per-viewer or bandwidth fees? No. The plan, seats, and any add-ons are the only charges.

Next Steps

• The Free Plan: What's Included and Where the Limits Are

• Managing Your Team and Permissions

• How to Create Your First 24/7 Live Stream