YouTube recently began rolling out unlimited video streaming for all users. The Google-owned video site has been demonstrating the worth of online video to individuals and brands alike for years, and has stood out as the go-to video sharing site above its competition.
But being the most popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best or only option for your business. Live streaming, chatting, easy sharing and other features are also readily available on other video platforms, and have been for years. Below are ten YouTube alternatives you might not have considered. And a few have made the news quite recently.
YouTube Alternatives for Small Businesses
Vimeo
Vimeo is a community of creatives and like-minded individuals who share their work through online videos. The site includes creative tools like music and visual filters, as well as sharing options and a built-in community of other users. It also recently improved its video player for speed, social sharing and ease of mobile use. According to comScore, Vimeo is one of the top 10 video sites in the United States, as of December 2013.
The platform offers a free account with one HD video upload per week. Users who want to add more videos, or gain more processing or need a professional or business account can upgrade starting at less than $10 per month, on up.
DailyMotion
This French video-sharing website allows users to upload unlimited HD videos for free. Categories include music videos, short movies, TV shows, humor, sports and more. It also includes a community where users can find and follow other accounts, watch live shows and interact with other users.
The site gets about 2.5 billion video views per month and over 112 million unique monthly visitors. It also offers 35 different localized versions of the platform in 18 different languages.
Vine
Users of this app can create 6-second looping videos and easily share them via Twitter and other social media sites. The Twitter-owned site is popular with young people and experienced a 403% growth in 2013 according to a study by Global Web Index.
In addition to sharing videos, users can also follow other users and browse by category or most popular.
This popular photo-sharing app added video functionality in June of last year. It’s similar to Vine in some ways, but allows up to 15 seconds of video and offers visual filter options.
It also has a larger user base and engagement than Vine and many of the other video sharing options, with 150 million monthly active users and 1.2 billion likes per day.
SpreeCast
This social video platform allows users to chat one-on-one with other users without downloading any extra software. The browser-based platform also offers public forum type conversations, as well as a free platform for business meetings.
Founded in 2011, the platform has hosted conferences and chats with big names such as Anderson Cooper, Miley Cyrus, One Direction and more.
Google Hangouts
Another online chatting option, Google Hangouts, is available both on PCs and mobile devices. It allows users to host live video calls with up to ten friends via video or voice. For those who want to reach a larger audience, Hangouts On Air offers a platform for live streaming discussions or other content.
Google has approximately 540 million active users across its platforms each month, and 300 million active just in the Google+ stream.
Flickr
Flickr is best known for images, but the platform also provides video hosting. Users with a free Flickr account can upload 2 videos of up to 90 seconds and 150MB per month. Pro users can get unlimited uploads for $25 per year.
The Yahoo owned service also has a pretty respectable user base of over 87 million. As with many of these platforms, it allows users to browse and search photos and follow other users.
SlideShare
This presentation and infographics service isn’t really known for videos. But users of SlideShare’s silver, gold or platinum paid plans do have the option to upload and share videos.
The platform, which gets about 51.6 million monthly visitors, also allows businesses to collect leads on their content, add branding and access analytics.
Screencast.com
Screencast.com offers a video hosting platform with a heavy focus on privacy and control. Users can choose to share their videos publicly by embedding them on their blog or website, password protect them or share them with only certain people.
A free account includes 2 GB of storage and 2 GB of monthly bandwidth. Users who need more can sign up for a pro account at under $10 per month.
Animoto
Animoto is a video site centered around creation. Users can upload photos or videos and add themes, music and text. Animoto can then put together a full video or presentation that users can share via social media or embed.
The Pro accounts for business range start at around $249 per year, and include unlimited videos and storage, as well as branding options and increased licensed music.
Video Concept Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
Out of this list, I like Instagram the most. But then it records really short videos. I guess that’s okay since it is easier to load. But for videos, I’d prefer Vimeo as a substitute to Youtube.
i agree with you. but i think daily motion will overcome youtube soon especially after he renewed his player
Shawn Hessinger
Aira,
Have you used Vimeo much? Would you consider the cost for a commercial account for business use worth the investment when other services like YouTube are free?
Tamar
Great post!
I have to research more and check dailymotion.com and screencast.com
Thank you
I’m surprised YouTube didn’t roll-out unlimited streaming much much sooner. It’s something they could have done years ago, I feel. Perhaps they’re rolling it out for everyone due to competition.
I actually prefer Vimeo to YouTube. I think it’s slicker.
I’ve heard of the rest, but never looked into them. Think it’s time; it wouldn’t hurt to join a few.
I like online chatting option, Google Hangouts, is available both on PCs and mobile devices. At least I can be occupied while waiting with a smart phone.
Love the article. A couple of sites I don’t know. Thanks. A quick video hosting tip is Google Drive. You can upload a video to drive and view it in the Google Drive Viewer. From the File Menu in Google Drive select Embed Video… It works very well for a quick no thrills solution.
Nina
This is a great round up. I often forget that Instagram has the video feature and to take advantage of it. Another cool option to add to this list would be Vidd.me. It’s free and a lot easier to use than YouTube.
I’ve just realized, I didn’t know about a half of the services in the list. So, thank you for a great and very informative article.
mark
etrendbuzz.com should be top 3. It’s a very new video-sharing website. Allows users to upload HD quality unlimited videos.via URL,Embed or upload by file. It’s my top 3 because the piracy is not that strict since their aren’t any royalties from video ads. for example, If you have a choreography video and you have a song by usher in the background your video will not get removed for copyright like some other sites. Highly recommended if you prefer less strict guidelines. Also free membership accounts with unlimited bandwith.