Great videos need an equally great hosting site.

Choosing a video hosting website might seem like an afterthought compared to the hard work of actually making videos. But it is a key consideration if you want your videos to perform well and be seen by as many people as possible.

Why do you need to choose a video hosting site to begin with?

Can’t you just host your videos on your own site?

Technically, yes, but this is a bad idea for a couple of reasons.

Storing a video file usually takes up a lot of space, which is something you won’t have to worry about when using a hosting site. If numerous people try to watch a self-hosted video at once, the requests may also be too much for the site’s bandwidth to handle, resulting in a video that loads slowly or freezes. To ensure that your viewers have a good experience watching your videos, it’s best to leave hosting to the pros.

If too many people try to watch a self-hosted video at once, the requests may be too much for the site’s bandwidth to handle.

You have plenty of options when it comes to hosting, from the biggest and most popular video hosting sites to more specialized and business-friendly options. The best choice for you will depend on what you want to achieve with your videos.

For instance, social videos will likely do best on large hosting sites with a big audience. If you’re making business videos, you may prefer to look for a hosting site that has an analytics dashboard you like.

12 Best Video Hosting Sites

Here are 12 of the most popular video hosting websites you might want to consider using.

Here’s a list of our favorite video hosting websites:

1. Wave.video
2. YouTube
3. Vimeo
4. Wistia
5. Cincopa
6. Vidyard
7. Brightcove
8. Dailymotion
9. TwentyThree
10. SproutVideo
11. JWPlayer
12. Dacast

Now, let’s take a look at these platforms to pick the right one for your video hosting requirements.

1. Wave.video

Well, no surprises there.

Wave.video is one of the most robust free video hosting solutions you can try. Here, you can host videos and embed them on landing pages, blog posts, or share directly via a link. All in a snap.

Why should you host your videos on Wave.video?

From a fully customizable player to ad-free hosting, Wave.video offers many benefits. Let’s take a look them to understand how you can get complete control over video hosting.

• Fully customizable player

Want to change the video player’s color? Check.

Want to choose a custom thumbnail? Well, check that too.

Wave.video offers full control over the video player’s appearance. And you can even choose the way your video starts and ends. We offer you absolute freedom. Enjoy it.

• Security of your video

Wave.video provides the option to set a password for your videos in order to control the access to your video content. This way, you’ll be able to restrict who can watch your videos and limit the views if the video is confidential.

• Video landing pages

Wave.video automatically creates a landing page for every hosted video. You can add a heading, description, and clickable button to a video landing page and share it with your audience. Which makes Wave.video perfect for every video funnel.

• Ad-free hosting

Unlike free video hosting sites like YouTube, Wave.video doesn’t allow random ads and suggested videos to pop up over your content. Keep the annoyance away.

2. YouTube

Everybody knows and watches YouTube, which makes the site a natural place to start if you’re searching for video hosting online. In fact, even if you prefer using other video hosting services, it’s hard to completely avoid using YouTube because the site is just so big.

To give you an idea of its size, one billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every day.

Why should you host your videos on YouTube?

Here is why YouTube might be a good choice for a video hosting platform.

• YouTube is simple, accessible, and free

There are lots of tutorials on the Internet that can teach you how to use the platform, which makes it especially good for beginners.

• YouTube is powerful

YouTube’s straightforward interface doesn’t mean it’s lacking in functionality. The site lets you view reports on three aspects of your channel’s performance: earnings, watch-time stats, and viewer interactions. YouTube also gives you options for targeting your video ads to different audiences.

• YouTube is SEO friendly

YouTube also has a major social aspect that most other video hosting sites don’t, and since Google owns YouTube, uploading your videos to the platform may give your content’s search engine visibility a boost.

What are the drawbacks of hosting videos on YouTube?

There are a couple of drawbacks to hosting your videos on YouTube, especially for businesses.

• First, YouTube doesn’t always present the most professional appearance. Many people associate YouTube with entertainment, so a buttoned-down business video may not quite hit the mark there, either for YouTube’s audience or your own.
• YouTube also doesn’t give you as many options for customizing your videos’ appearance as many of the other hosting sites on this list. For instance, if you embed one of your videos elsewhere on the internet, the YouTube logo will show up in it.

Despite these disadvantages, though, YouTube still dwarfs every other site on this list, and many businesses find it a practical option for that reason alone.

3. Vimeo

Vimeo, a popular alternative to YouTube, is known as a hub for creative videos and documentaries.

While it doesn’t offer the same traffic and visibility as its larger competitor, Vimeo isn’t exactly small either, with over 150 million creators and brands being a part of the Vimeo community.

And what Vimeo lacks in traffic, it makes up for in quality, at least according to its users. Filmmakers and other creatives tend to flock to Vimeo because of its clean interface and strong sense of community.

Why should you host your videos on Vimeo?

1. Vimeo offers a cleaner-looking video player than YouTube.
2. It gives you more customization options for the player, such as changing the color of the buttons.
3. It also doesn’t allow ads to play before videos.

What are the drawbacks of using Vimeo as your video hosting site?

However, you’ll have to pay if you want to unlock the full functionality of the platform. While Vimeo does offer a free basic plan for users who just want to test the waters, they also offer four paid plans that increase your storage space and give you access to more advanced analytics and customization options. These plans range in cost from $7 to $75 per month.

4. Wistia

Wistia is a popular and powerful video hosting website for businesses.

Why should you host your videos on Wistia?

1. Along with YouTube and Vimeo, Wistia rounds out the “big three” of video hosting.
2. Unlike the first two, Wistia is specifically designed with business’ needs in mind, so if you need a home for your marketing videos, Wistia might be a good fit.
3. Features include a simple and customizable video player, the ability to choose any thumbnail (or even upload a new image to use as your thumbnail), and the ability to include interactive elements like forms and CTA buttons in your videos.
4. Wistia also gives users access to detailed, business-friendly analytics, such as heatmaps of your videos’ views.

Wistia starts at $99 per month. You can make a free account to try out the service before committing to a plan, though — this lets you upload up to three videos and gives you access to all of Wistia’s regular features.

5. Cincopa

Cincopa is a one-stop solution for all your media needs. Whether you want to increase visibility and engagement, personalize your messaging, or power your branding, Cincopa has got you covered.

Why should you host your videos with Cincopa?

1. Cincopa comes with SEO-friendly embed code standard
2. You can add gated video content to capture more email leads
3. Marketing automation for video. You can nurture your leads based on viewing data and engagement level
4. Embed videos in your emails

The pricing plans start at $9/mo. Bigger plans (up to Agency) are also available.

6. Vidyard

For businesses that rely heavily on video, Vidyard may be the perfect hosting solution.

Why should you choose Vidyard as your video hosting website?

Does Vidyard really have “the most powerful online video player for business,” like their website claims?

Their impressive list of features indicates that they might. Here’s a list of features Vidyard offers:

1. Hands-free SEO support
2. Video personalization
3. 4k and 360 video support. So, if maintaining video quality is a big concern for you, Vidyard won’t disappoint.
4. Detailed analytics, and the freedom to create your own channel, or “video hub,” to keep all your videos in one place.

Vidyard’s plans start from the basic Free plan with unlimited recording, uploads and shares and go to $1250/month with the Business plan featuring fully customizable video CTAs and CRM/MAP integration for 5+ users.

7. Brightcove

Brightcove is another video hosting website that gives you tons of functionality beyond just hosting. If you’re already a video pro and you want to take your strategy to the next level, it might be a good choice for you.

Why host your videos with Brightcove?

A few of the features that make Brightcove stand out include:

1. Fast and flexible HTML5 video player
2. Dynamic ad insertion
3. options to integrate the tool with other tools or content management systems you’re using, such as WordPress, Drupal, and SharePoint.

When it comes to social video, Brightcove has you covered there, too — you can publish videos to social media from within the platform, and all your social video analytics will appear in your Brightcove Social.

Brightcove offers personalized plans and you will have to contact the company’s sales team for a quote.

8. Dailymotion

If you’ve even the slightest of knowledge about videos, chances are you know Dailymotion. Quite similar to YouTube in its function and layout, this video hosting site is one of the most popular ones out there.

Why choose Dailymotion as your video hosting site?

1. Dailymotion isn’t as flashy as many of the other video hosting websites on this list. However, this France-based site can still be a useful tool for getting your videos out into the world, especially if you’re on a budget.
2. Dailymotion is similar to YouTube, but smaller, with only 300 million total users. Anyone can upload and watch videos on the platform for free.
3. The site’s content skews towards news and entertainment, but you can host any type of video on Dailymotion as long as it complies with the site’s rules.

The downside: If you are planning on using Dailymotion, you’ll probably want to double up with at least one more of the hosting sites on this list to ensure your videos get enough visibility.

To host your videos on Dailymotion, you’ll need to create a partner account.

Once you’re a partner, you will have the option to monetize your videos, and you’ll get access to an analytics dashboard. Users are limited to posting a maximum of two hours of video every day.

9. TwentyThree

A premium video marketing platform, TwentyThree is a good choice if you want to host and embed your videos with a 4K HD Player.

Why choose TwentyThree as your video hosting platform?

1. It’s not a third-party site where you upload your videos — TwentyThree actually allows you to host videos on your own site without worrying about slow load times and other problems that typically go along with self-hosting.
2. The platform can also help you create attractive landing pages for your videos, and it comes with an array of analytics tools and social video distribution options at your fingertips.
3. One of TwentyThree’s most unique features is its webinar tool, which gives you everything you need to run a successful webinar, from registration forms to live video and chat features, in a single place.

However, TwentyThree is not cheap — costs start at $199 per month for the webinar tool alone, while the video marketing platform costs $499 per month.

For the webinar and video package you’ll have to shell out $699 per month.

If video is a big part of your business’ marketing strategy, and especially if you host webinars frequently, you might find this platform well worth the cost.

And, hey, there are custom Enterprise plans too – just in case you need unlimited video marketing to scale up your dedicated requirements.

10. SproutVideo

Want your videos to be secure with extensive privacy controls for sharing? If yes, then SproutVideo is your best bet.

Why host your videos with SproutVideo?

1. SproutVideo is an all-purpose video hosting website for businesses that comes with an impressive toolbox of marketing features and extra functionality.
2. With its clean, simple, and totally customizable video player, you won’t have to worry about any design issues or logos distracting viewers from the content of your videos.
3. SproutVideo also has some of the best security technology of any video hosting site. So, if you need to protect sensitive information or restrict who is able to watch your videos, this platform might be a good choice for you.

SproutVideo offers a 30-day trial period for free, even if you sign up for one of their plans right away. Basic plans start at $24.99 per month, and prices for large teams go up to $499.99 per month.

Also, on a personal note, I really like the colors of their website 💚

11. JWPlayer

JWPlayer is a simple, fast, and effective platform for hosting your videos.

Why trust JWPlayer to host your videos?

1. JWPlayer’s speedy HTML5 video player has a clean, simple, unobtrusive look that keeps your videos themselves at center stage. The rest of the platform is similarly streamlined.
2. If you’re working with a team, JWPlayer’s dashboard allows for easy collaboration. Enterprise plan users can also use JWPlayer to stream events live and see video analytics in real time.

JWPlayer is one of the more budget-friendly paid options on this list, with individual plans available at $25 per month. If you’re interested in an enterprise plan, contact the sales team for a quote.

 

12. Dacast

One of the most promising live streaming & video hosting platforms, Dacast makes uploading your videos is as a breeze.

Why Dacast as your video hosting site?

1. Dacast makes it incredibly easy to upload and manage your videos with its S3 FTP upload feature.
2. You also get the freedom to customize Dacast video player with your logo and colors to meet your branding needs.
3. On the analytics side of things, Dacast delivers real-time reporting too.

Plans start at $21 per month for 100 GB of monthly bandwidth and 20 GB of storage. Upgraded plans are available if you need more storage and functionality.

Wrapping Up

Which video hosting website will make the best home for your videos?

This is an important decision, so even if you’re not ready to upload a video to the internet yet, you may want to start considering your options. Whether you’re going for a professional image or a fun one with your videos, the platform you use will affect the way people think of your content, and it will also affect how you can manage your videos once they’re posted.

Pick a hosting site that fits your goals and needs, and you might find that it makes your videos look and perform even better than before.