Restream vs. StreamYard: Your full guide

Are you deciding between StreamYard and Restream for your live streaming needs? You're not alone—both platforms are popular among creators and businesses. Restream has become a preferred choice, offering powerful features, ease of use, and pricing advantages. If you're still on the fence, here's what you need to know to make the full Restream vs. StreamYard comparison.

Restream vs. StreamYard feature comparison

Restream and StreamYard share many key functions, but how do they compare, and what should you expect your favorite features to look like on Restream?

1. Streaming channels

• StreamYard: Supports streaming to up to 8 destinations simultaneously and integrates with 7 platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. For non-integrated platforms, StreamYard offers a custom channel option.
• Restream: Integrates with over 30 platforms, including custom channels, and supports streaming to up to 8 destinations at once. Restream makes multistreaming easy by helping you manage and update channels with its native API integrations.

2. Multichat

• StreamYard: Offers a unified chat feature that allows you to view comments from its 7 integrated platforms and respond to comments on 3 of those. It also supports displaying individual comments on-screen.
• Restream: Supports viewing comments from 10 different platforms and responding to 6 of them. Aside from highlighting individual comments, you can overlay the entire chat on your screen. Plus, the powerful relay feature allows you to repost messages from one platform's chat to another, keeping all viewers engaged. You can also connect your Discord server to Restream Chat.

3. Recording video and audio

• StreamYard: Has video and audio recording capabilities. While local recordings are unlimited, there are limitations to the total hours of storage available for cloud recordings.
• Restream: Provides similar recording options and automatically records your live streams on paid plans. You can record up to 10 hours per session with no limit to the total number of sessions. Additionally, Restream allows you to download split video and audio tracks.

4. Scheduling pre-recorded videos

• StreamYard: Supports streaming pre-recorded video but limits quality based on the subscription plan and only allows a maximum bitrate of 15,000 Kbps.
• Restream: Allows scheduling pre-recorded videos with no stream quality limitations. You can loop an individual video up to 10 times to live stream your best show on replay or combine multiple videos into a single broadcast and schedule them as a playlist.

5. Playlists

• StreamYard: Only allows scheduling one video per session. If you want to feature multiple files you have to do some editing work, which takes time and can be expensive.
• Restream: Lets you upload and select multiple videos, automatically combining them into one live stream—no editing needed. The videos will play one after another within a single stream URL, making it ideal for best-of series, courses, music albums, or any multi-episode content.

6. Inviting guests

• StreamYard: Allows up to 10 people to join a stream via a link, without requiring an account. The host may also enable guests to broadcast the stream to up to 2 of their own channels, with a total limit of 6 guest destinations.
• Restream: Supports up to 10 on-screen participants via a link invite, with each guest able to stream to 3 of their own channels for free. Restream also has a higher total limit for guest destinations, allowing rebroadcasting to up to 100 guest channels.

7. Graphics and customization

• StreamYard: Provides basic themes, overlays, backgrounds, and logo placement options.
• Restream: Offers a similar range of custom assets but has a wider selection of free graphics that are ready to use. You can also create customizable countdown timers right in the Studio and choose from 15 different fonts for your texts.

8. Music

• StreamYard: Offers 8 royalty-free tracks and the ability to upload audio files of up to 30MB.
• Restream: Provides over 20 genres of AI-generated, royalty-free background music and enables you to upload up to 300 custom tracks of your own without file size limits. You can also add music to your countdown timers for branded live show intros.

9. Playing clips

• StreamYard: Supports uploading clips of up to 10 minutes and 200 MB in size to the cloud. Larger videos can be played locally and higher cloud limits are available on custom Business plans.
• Restream: Supports both local video files and cloud uploads of up to 15 minutes and 300 MB on the free plan. Cloud limits increase with every paid plan, allowing creators to deliver optimal video quality in the Studio with the support of Restream servers.

10. Reusing stream settings

• StreamYard: Allows you to stream or record multiple times from the same studio on paid plans.
• Restream: Provides reusable stream drafts for free. Stream drafts are saved setups with scenes, graphics, channels, and a permanent invite link.

Restream-exclusive features

When comparing Restream vs. StreamYard, Restream stands out with unique features that can level up your video quality, streamline your workflow, and provide a more interactive experience for your audience. Let’s take a look at what you’ll get with Restream that you won’t find on StreamYard.

• Studio Scenes: Restream Studio allows you to pre-build your stream like a presentation. Create Scenes in advance and eliminate the need to change layouts and graphics on the go.
• Images: Add images or GIFs to your stream —select and open a file from your device, drag and drop images in the Studio, or even copy and paste them straight from any website.
• QR Codes: Turn any link into a scannable QR code and display it on-screen to collect donations, promote affiliate links, or just redirect your audience to your website.
• Notes: Write notes for each of your scenes to easily follow your script and key talking points without switching tabs.
• Storage integrations: Import your videos directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, and Descript with just a few clicks.
• Stream analytics: Access a dashboard for detailed stream analytics, including viewership data, chat metrics, follower growth, peak stream moments and more.
• RTMP streaming: For creators who prefer external encoders, Restream supports RTMP streaming and integrates with popular tools, such as OBS, Zoom, vMix, and more. You can use your preferred tool and multistream via Restream or even add your encoder’s feed as a source to Restream Studio.

Support and resources at Restream

Restream is committed to providing exceptional support and valuable resources to enhance your streaming experience. Our dedicated support representatives—real people, not AI bots—are available 24/7 to help you via live chat. Whether you need onboarding or technical help, our team will ensure you get the assistance you need, anytime.

Step-by-step product guides and tutorials are also accessible in the Help Center. Our extensive library of articles is designed to help you quickly find solutions and make the most of Restream’s features - now in 6 different languages.

And don’t forget to join our online communities! Connect with fellow streamers and Restream users by joining our Restream Community Group on Facebook or our Discord Server. Our founders and core team run monthly live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel - never gated and always open to all.

Restream vs. StreamYard pricing comparison

Understanding the pricing and features of each subscription plan is key to ensuring you get the best value for your investment. In this section, we’ll break down the costs of StreamYard and Restream to help you make an informed decision.

Both StreamYard and Restream offer a free tier and 4 paid subscription plans.

StreamYard plans

• Core: $44.99/mo.
• Advanced: $88.99/mo.
• Teams: $298.99 per month.
• Business: Offered upon request with a personalized quote.

Restream plans

• Standard: $19/mo.
• Professional: $49/mo.
• Business: $239/mo.
• Enterprise: A personalized solution with custom billing.

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Wrapping up

Choosing the right streaming platform is key to creating great content and growing your audience. In the StreamYard vs. Restream debate, Restream sets itself apart with powerful features, 24/7 support, and a flexible solution that adapts to your needs. Whether you're experienced or just getting started, Restream gives you the tools to create professional broadcasts. Ready for a platform that covers all your streaming needs? It’s time to try Restream.