Review and compare the top Video Hosting Sites with features and video upload specifications to select the suitable paid or free video hosting site:
Online video hosting websites allows you to upload and share video content with your online audiences. Video sharing sites have built-in video players that support adaptive playback and streaming on almost all devices.
In this tutorial, we will review the best video upload sites. We have selected both paid and free video hosting sites for this review so that you can select the best one that meets your requirements.
What You Will Learn:
Video Hosting
The below image shows the growth of the Video Sharing Market 2013-2025:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) What is a video hosting site?
Answer: A video hosting website allows you to upload videos. Some video hosting providers, such as YouTube offer their services for free while others charge an annual fee for hosting videos online.
Q #2) What are the features of a video hosting site?
Answer: Video hosting sites allow you to upload and share videos online. These sites have a built-in video player that allows online users to view your website. Some also have simple video editing features such as crop, rotate, and add captions to videos.
Q #3) Can you make money by uploading videos to video hosting websites?
Answer: Video sharing sites can be used to make money. However, you need to have a large number of subscribers and video views to earn big paychecks from the online platform. For instance, YouTube requires at least 4000 hours of video views and 1000 subscribers in the previous year just to be eligible for the monetization feature.
Q #4) How do I get paid by video upload websites?
Answer: Video upload websites will pay to your bank account or PayPal every month. You will get paid based on customer engagement metrics such as video views and clicks on ads. Some video-sharing sites such as Dailymotion will payout when you have earned at least $100. You can monitor your revenue using the online analytics tool.
Q #5) How can I make my videos searchable online?
Answer: Title the uploaded video and add a description to make it searchable online. The content of the video should be easy to identify through its title.
Q #6) What is an online video channel?
Answer: Most video hosting sites allow you to create a channel where you can upload and organize related videos. You can create a playlist of your own or other videos that you like. The channel will have a unique web address. People can visit and subscribe to your channel.
List Of The Top Video Hosting Sites
Here is the list of popular paid and free video upload sites:
- Vimeo
- YouTube
- Streamable
- Dailymotion
- Swarmify
- Wistia
- SproutVideo
- Vidyard
- Brightcove
Comparison Of Best Video Sharing Websites
| Tool Name | Best For | Price | Ratings ***** |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vimeo | Film artists and animators. | Basic: Free Other plans starting from $7 per month |  |
| YouTube | Sharing personal and professional videos, comedy shows, recipes, how-to guides, travel videos, and more for free. | Free | |
| Streamable | Streaming professional video content online. | Basic: Free Other plans starting from $7.99 per month |  |
| Dailymotion | News, sports, music, and entertainment videos. | Free | |
| Uploading personal and professional videos on the social media platform. | Free | |
Let us review the above-listed video upload sites below.
#1) Vimeo
Vimeo – Best for film artists and animators.
Vimeo is targeted towards a smaller community of media artists. The video hosting platforms allow film artists and entertainers to create stunning professional-quality videos. Professional artists can host videos on Vimeo and share and collaborate with teammates.
Features:
- Privacy controls
- Custom templates
- Live streaming
- Lead generation tools
Cons: Vimeo has limited analytics for uploaded videos. The online platform has over 170 million users with 42 million viewers in the US. It is not suitable for reaching a wide audience similar to YouTube.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 8,192 by 4,320 (8K) |
| Minimum Dimension | No limit. |
| Aspect Ratio | Standard Definition (SD): 4:3 and 16:9 720p, 1080p, 2K HD, and 4K UHD: 16:9 DCI 4K UHD: 17:9 4K Monoscopic and Stereoscopic 360: 2:1 8K UHD: 17:9 |
| Max File Size | 256 GB |
| Max Video Length | No limits |
| Total File Storage | Basic: 5 GB with 500 MB per week or 10 videos per day Plus: 250 GB with 5GB video upload per week Pro: 1 TB with 20 GB video upload per week Pro Unlimited: 3TB Business: 5TB with not weekly video upload quota. Premium: 7TB with not weekly video upload quota |
| Supported Video Formats | All popular video formats including MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, and FLV. |
Verdict: Basic features of Vimeo will be suitable for most individuals’ video upload requirements. But if you want to upload a large number of videos, you should sign up for a paid membership plan.
Price:
- Basic: Free
- Plus: $7 per month
- Pro: $20 per month
- Business: $50 per month
- Premium: $75 per month
- Free Trial: Yes – 30 days
#2) YouTube
Best for sharing personal and professional videos, comedy shows, recipes, how-to guides, travel videos, and more for free.
YouTube is the most popular social media and video hosting platform on the Internet. The video hosting platform owned by Google has over a billion users. Many people have earned millions of dollars through the monetization of their YouTube videos. The videos uploaded on the free video hosting platform appear on Google search, resulting in maximum visibility.
Features:
- Watch videos on any device
- Embed video on blog or e-commerce site
- Share specific part of a video
- Email videos
- Create channels and playlists
Cons: The only con with the hugely popular and free video hosting platform is the related video section. Related videos may be of your competitors that will lure your audience away from your company. There is no control over the related videos shown on YouTube.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 8,192 by 4,320 (8K) |
| Minimum Dimension | 240p (426 x 240) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Max File Size | 128 GB |
| Max Video Length | 15 minutes for unverified accounts. 12 hours for accounts verified through mobile phone. |
| Total File Storage | No limit |
| Daily/Weekly Upload Limit | No limit |
| Supported Video Formats | Video formats: .MOV, .MPEG4, .MP4, .AVI, .WMV, .MPEGPS, .FLV, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm, HEVC (h265) |
Verdict: YouTube is the perfect platform for uploading videos online. The platform is suitable for both individuals and businesses to connect with a large audience.
Price: Free
Website: YouTube
#3) Streamable
Best for streaming professional video content online.
Streamable is an easy-to-use video upload platform. You can upload 4K quality videos at 60 fps. The platform allows one-click video resizing to square, landscape, and vertical platforms. The video hosting site also supports basic video editing features like trim, crop, rotate, and muting videos.
Features:
- Clip from URL
- Trim and crop video
- Rotate video
- Mute video
- Embed video
Cons: Free plan is extremely limited as compared to other free video hosting platforms like Dailymotion and YouTube. Users with a free account can upload only 10 minutes of videos that will get deleted after 90 days.
Recommended Reading => Most Popular Podcast Hosting Platforms
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | Free: 1280 x 720 (720p) Professional: 4096 x 2160 (4K UHD) |
| Minimum Dimension | No limit |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Max File Size | Free: 250 MB Professional: No limit |
| Max Video Length | Free: 10 minutes Professional: No limit |
| Total File Storage | Free: Files get deleted after 90 days Professional: 1 TB |
| Daily/Weekly Upload limit | No limit |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4, MOV, AVI, and more. |
Verdict: Streamable free plans may be limited but the professional plan is where the hosting platform shines. You can upload unlimited videos of 4K UHD quality with no restrictions.
Price:
- Free
- Professional: $7.99 per month
- Business: $199 per month
- Free Trial: Yes – 7 days
Website: Streamable
#4) Dailymotion
Best for news, sports, music, and entertainment videos.
Dailymotion is the second biggest video-sharing platform after YouTube. The free video upload site allows the monetization of videos. You will be paid for in-stream advertisements that play before, during, and at the end of the video. There are also a lot of advertising options for sales and marketing professionals including rich media formats, OpenVOD, and in-stream options.
Features:
- Brand customization
- Adaptive bitrate streaming
- Player API and native SDKs
- Email support
Cons: The video hosting platform is not suitable for long videos as videos are limited to 60 minutes in length.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 3840x2160 (4K) |
| Minimum Dimension | No limit |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 4:3 |
| Max File Size | Basic: 2 GB Advanced Partner: Unlimited |
| Max Video Length | Basic: 60 minutes per video and 10 video uploads per day Advanced Partner: 96 video uploads of unlimited length |
| Total File Storage | Unlimited |
| Upload limit | Basic: 10 video uploads or 160 minutes video per day Advance Partner: 96 video uploads of unlimited length |
| Supported Video Formats | MOV, MPEG4 MP4, AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, H.264 / AVC (recommended), H.265 / HEVC, DivX, WMV9, MPEG-2 |
Verdict: Dailymotion supports high-definition video uploads. A unique part of the video upload platform is the support for OOG videos that is not supported by most alternative video hosting platforms.
Price: Free
Website: Dailymotion
#5) Facebook
Best for uploading personal and professional videos on the social media platform.
Facebook has over 2.8 billion online users as of February 2021. The social media platform’s live streamlining videos are great for promoting personal and professional videos. The platform supports video hosting for free. You can post live videos on an event, Page, group, or social media profile. The site supports free unlimited video hosting with a limit of 90 minutes and 4GB file size upload.
Features:
- Live streaming
- Social sharing
- Post videos on social profile, event, and group pages
Cons: Videos posted on Facebook are not searchable on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Users can only search for videos within Facebook. The social platform does not support monetization, subscriptions, and security restrictions.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 1080p (1920×1080) |
| Minimum Dimension | 720p (1280×720) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9, 9:16, 2:3, 4:5, 1:1 |
| Max File Size | 4 GB |
| Max Video Length | 90 minutes |
| Total File Storage | No storage limit |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4, MOV, MPEG4, AVI, 3GPP, WMV, FLV, MKV |
Verdict: Facebook is a basic video uploading platform. It is suitable for promoting videos on social platforms. But the shortcomings of the video hosting platform make it unsuitable for professional use.
Price: Free
Website: Facebook
#6) Swarmify
Best for creative developers, small and medium-sized businesses.
Swarmify is a great hosting platform for creative developers that want to build professional videos for their clients. Small and medium-sized businesses who want to avoid YouTube branding and advertising can also use the video upload platform.
Features:
- Automatic YouTube video conversions
- Background video acceleration
- YouTube export
- Video encoding
Cons: The only con with the online video hosting platform is that there is no monetization feature.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 1080p (1920×1080) |
| Minimum Dimension | 720p (1280×720) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9, 9:16, 2:3, 4:5, 1:1 |
| Max File Size | No limit |
| Max Video Length | No limit |
| Total File Storage | Unlimited |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4, HLS, M3U8, WEBM, VP8, VP9, HEVC, AV1 |
Verdict: Swarmify is ideal for developers and small and medium-sized businesses. It is also one of the fastest video hosting platforms that claim to be the “world’s fastest video” platform.
Price:
- Small Business: $29 per month
- Video Pro: $59 per month
- Enterprise: Custom
- Free Trial: Yes | 14 days
Website: Swarmify
#7) Wistia
Best for marketers and podcasters who want to stream high-quality videos.
Wistia is an intuitive video hosting website that is best for uploading promotional videos. The hosting platform supports 4K quality videos. It puts users in control of the video content by offering advanced functionalities.
Features:
- Multi-bitrate and adaptive streaming
- Video API access
- Advanced video analytics
- Security features: email gating, password-protected hosting, and domain restriction
Cons: A shortcoming of the video upload site is that there is no live streaming support. The video streaming site supports only basic integrations.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 3840x2160 (4K) |
| Minimum Dimension | None |
| Aspect Ratio | Any |
| Max File Size | 8 GB |
| Max Video Length | 2 hours |
| Total File Storage | Free: 3 videos Pro: Up to 10 videos and $0.25 per month for each additional video |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, FLV, MKV, 3GPP |
Verdict: Wistia is an ideal video hosting site for small and medium-sized businesses. The video uploading platform is not for individuals who want to monetize their videos.
Price:
- Free
- Pro: $99/month
- Advanced: Custom pricing
Website: Wistia
#8) SproutVideo
Best for creative artists and marketing professionals.
SproutVideo is a professional video hosting platform for businesses and professionals. It is a robust and user-friendly hosting platform. The platform offers extensive security and privacy options. You can also use in-video calls and post-video screens for lead generation.
Features:
- Video analytics
- Lead generation
- Video restrictions
- UltraHD live streaming
- Social media sharing – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Cons: The one thing missing from the platform is the native monetization tools. But you can use third-party tools such as Zapier to accept payments. Another drawback of the tool is that it does not support uploading large volumes of videos.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 8,192 by 4,320 (8K) |
| Minimum Dimension | 480 by 360 (360p) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Max File Size | Standard: 100GB API Upload: 5GB |
| Max Video Length | Not specified |
| Total File Storage | 500GB after which you will have to pay between $0.08 and $0.25 per GB. |
| Supported Video Formats | 3G2, 3GP, 3GP2, 3GPP, ASF, AVI, DIVX, DV, DVX, F4V, FLV, GVI, M1PG, M1V, M21, M2T, M2TS, M2V, M4E, M4U, M4V, MJP, MKV, MOD, MOOV, MOV, MOVIE, MP21, MP3, MP4, MPE, MPEG, MPG, MPV2, MTS, MXF, OGV, QT, QTCH, QTZ, RM, RMVB, RV, SVI, SWI, TIVO, TOD, TP, TS, VFW, VID, VOB, VP6, VP7, WEBM, WM, WMV, XVID, YUV |
Verdict: SproutVideo is the best video hosting platform for marketing professionals. It supports large videos of up to 100GB with a maximum capacity of 500GB. You can also upload large resolution videos of up to 8K. You can also feel good using the services of the company as it donates a portion of proceeds from new accounts to the National Forest Foundation for the rebuilding of forests.
Price:
- Seed
- Sprout
- Tree
- Forest
- Free Trial: Yes | 30 days
Website: SproutVideo
#9) Vidyard
Best for marketing, sales, and corporate communication.
Vidyard is one of the best video hosting platforms for marketing professionals. The video upload site offers different lead generation tools. Marketers can use these tools to increase the reach and engagement of the uploaded videos.
Features:
- Specialized marketing tools
- Advanced video analytics
- Interactive viewing and lead capture tools
- Video organization and content management
- Gold-standard security
Cons: User reviews have been inconsistent for the Vidyard hosting site. Reviewers criticize the complicated editing tools. Moreover, the video content site does not support video streaming to certain locations such as China.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 3840 by 2160 (4K) |
| Minimum Dimension | 480 by 360 (360p) |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9, 4:3 |
| Max File Size | 5GB to 16GB |
| Max Video Length | Unlimited |
| Total File Storage | Not specified |
| Supported Video Formats | WEBM, MP4, MKV, MOV |
Verdict: Vidyard is a comprehensive video hosting platform that boasts broadcasting features. The insightful analytics allows you to view the reach of your uploaded videos.
Price:
- Free
- Pro: $15 per month
- Teams: $300 per month
- Business: $1250 per month
- Free Trial: Yes | 14 days
Website: Vidyard
#10) Brightcove
Best for marketing professionals and businesses.
Brightcove is a video hosting platform that simplifies the process of streaming videos. The hosting platform supports fast video streaming. You can sign up for different video categories including OTT Flow, video marketing suite, and others.
Features:
- Adaptive bitrate streaming
- Cloud transcoding
- Video analytics
- Token-based REST APIs
- Live streaming and VOD hosting
Cons: Monetization offer is only offered for professional custom-priced plans. Video streaming is restricted to certain countries, including China.
Video Upload Specifications:
| Maximum Dimension | 1920x1080 (1080p) |
| Minimum Dimension | Not specified |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:4, 4:3 |
| Max File Size | Unlimited video size |
| Max Video Length | Unlimited video length |
| Total File Storage | Not specified |
| Supported Video Formats | MP4, MOV, FLV, AVI, WMV, MKV, 3GPP |
Verdict: Brightcove offers all-device streaming services. It also provides easy-to-use social sharing tools.
Price: Contact for custom pricing.
Website: Brightcove
Other Video Hosting Sites
#11) SpotLightr (formerly vooPlayer)
Best for educators and online content creators.
Spotlightr allows you to upload online lessons, courses, and other types of videos with ease. It is also a great platform for marketing personnel to promote products and services. Formerly known as vooPlayer, the video hosting site boasts advanced analytics and multiple marketing tools. The video hosting platform support auto-optimized resolutions and turbo bandwidth on demand.
Price:
- Free
- Polaris: $24 per month
- Free Trial: Yes | 28 days
Website: Spotlightr
#12) Cincopa
Best for educators, sales, marketing, publishing, and media production professionals.
Cincopa allows you to host videos online and upload them to your website. You can use different tools to manage video, audio, PDFs, and photos. Moreover, you can create online galleries of your digital artwork. You can also use video player templates that can be customized. You can add annotations, closed captions, chapters, and much more to your videos.
Price:
- Plus: $25 per month
- Corporate Unlimited: $99 per month
- Agency/Enterprise: $350 per month
- Free Trial: Yes | 30 days
Website: Cincopa
#13) VdoCipher
Best for e-learning, media, and marketing businesses.
VdoCipher is a great video hosting platform that is particularly suitable for uploading e-learning, marketing, and creative media videos. The video upload site has unique DRM protection that prevents users from downloading your videos.
Price:
- Starter: $16.5 per month
- Value: $41.58 per month
- Express: $66.58 per month
- Pro: $154.08 per month
- Plus: $300 per month
- Premium: $583.33 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
- Free Trial: Yes | 30 days
Website: VdoCipher
#14) Biteable
Best for animators and creative artists.
Biteable allows you to create unique videos by adding stock pictures, animations, and footage. You can create studio-quality videos using online templates. The video hosting site also has features to edit and share your uploaded sites easily using a generated code on your website.
Price:
- Free
- Plus: $19 per month
- Ultimate: $49 per month
- Free Trial: No
Website: Biteable
#15) Twitch
Best for live streaming of video games for free.
Twitch is a free video upload site that lets you stream video games for free. You can create online channels and build a following for gamers. Streamers can engage with viewers live through online chat.
Also read =>> Review and compare top Twitch Video Downloaders
Website: Twitch
Conclusion
The best free video hosting platform that supports monetization includes YouTube and Dailymotion. Creative artists and professionals can use the Vimeo video hosting platform for sharing and collaborating with others.
Suggested Reading =>> Video Marketing Tools
If you want to stream video games, the best video hosting site is Twitch. Animators and creative artists should use Biteable while educators and marketing professionals can use VdoCipher and Cincopa video hosting sites.
Research Process:
- Time taken to research this article: The blog post on the best video hosting site took about 10 hours so that you can have an easier time selecting the best hosting site that meets your requirement.
- Total tools researched: 30
- Top tools shortlisted: 15