Comparison as of October 19, 2026. Information about StreamYard comes from its own public pages (StreamYard pricing, multistreaming page, free plan limits, streaming and recording hours), which we reviewed on that date. Prices are in US dollars as the page showed them to us; StreamYard says its prices may vary with promotions, renewal terms and custom offers, so confirm everything on its own site before you decide. We are not affiliated with StreamYard, and its name and trademarks belong to its owner. Information about Multistream Platform comes from our own pricing and features pages.
The short version
Both can put one live show on several platforms at once, but they start from different places. StreamYard is a studio that runs in your browser: you, your screen and your guests join a page, and StreamYard mixes the show and sends it out. Multistream Platform is a relay: you build the show in your own encoder, such as OBS Studio, vMix or a hardware encoder, send one RTMP or SRT stream to us, and we deliver it to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Kick, TikTok, LinkedIn and custom endpoints, with multichat, recording, scheduling and an API.
If you want an easy browser studio with guest interviews, StreamYard’s own pages describe one. If you already produce in OBS or another encoder and want more destinations per plan, or multistreaming on a free plan, Multistream Platform may fit better. The tables below show what each side publishes.
Plans and features side by side
| Feature | Multistream Platform | StreamYard (as listed October 19, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A cloud relay: you stream from your own encoder, such as OBS Studio or vMix, and we deliver it to many platforms | A browser-based live streaming and recording studio; its multistreaming page says there is nothing to download and guests join via a link |
| Free plan | Starter: $0, up to 2 channels at once, 20 streaming hours a month at 720p30 | Free: $0, with the StreamYard logo, limited streaming hours, 6 on-screen participants and no multistreaming (1 destination) |
| Multistreaming on paid plans | Creator: up to 5 channels. Professional: up to 10. Business: 40+ | Core: 3 destinations. Advanced: 8 destinations |
| Entry paid plan | Creator: $19 per month billed monthly ($15 per month billed annually) | Core: $44.99 per month billed monthly ($35.99 per month billed yearly) |
| Next plan up | Professional: $49 per month billed monthly ($39 per month billed annually) | Advanced: $88.99 per month billed monthly ($68.99 per month billed yearly) |
| Who the plans are for | Starter and Creator have 1 user seat; Professional up to 3; Business up to 10 | Core and Advanced are for individual use only under its Plan Usage Policy; it lists separate Business plans for organizations |
| How you send video | Your encoder pushes RTMP or SRT to our edge ingest (US East, US West, EU Central, Tokyo, São Paulo) | Camera, screen and guests join the studio in the browser; its help center shows OBS Studio brought in as a virtual camera |
| Destinations | 40+ platforms plus custom RTMP and SRT endpoints | Direct integrations with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, Kick and Brightcove, plus custom RTMP on paid plans |
| Chat | Unified multichat for YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Kick | Comments from every platform in one view, and a chat overlay on paid plans |
| Pre-recorded video | Pre-recorded, scheduled and 24/7 playlists | Pre-recorded streams: 2 hours on Core, 4 hours on Advanced |
| Trial | Free Starter plan, no trial needed | 7-day free trial on Core and Advanced; 7-day money-back guarantee on the first charge |
Is StreamYard free?
StreamYard has a free plan, but on October 19, 2026 its pages said the free plan does not include multistreaming. Its pricing FAQ says its core features are free to use, with more features on paid plans. Its help article on feature limits on the free plan lists no multistreaming, no custom RTMP destinations, the StreamYard logo in all streams, 6 on-screen participants and 2 hours of local recordings, and says live streams are not recorded automatically. Its multistreaming page says the free plan streams to 1 destination and that new users can try the multistreaming features free for 7 days.
Multistream Platform’s free Starter plan streams to up to 2 channels at once, with 20 streaming hours a month at 720p and 30fps. If going live on two platforms at the same time is the main thing you need for free, that is the difference to test.
StreamYard pricing (checked October 19, 2026)
StreamYard’s pricing page has an Individuals tab and a Business tab, each with a Billed monthly and a Billed yearly view. These are the individual plans it listed:
| StreamYard plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Multistream destinations | Also listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 (no multistreaming) | StreamYard logo, limited streaming hours, 2 hours of local recordings a month, 6 on-screen participants |
| Core | $44.99 per month | $35.99 per month | 3 | 1080p, no logo, custom RTMP destinations, 10 on-screen participants, 50 hours of storage |
| Advanced | $88.99 per month | $68.99 per month | 8 | 4K local recordings, extra camera, 15 backstage participants, On-Air webinars for 100 viewers |
Its multistreaming page also mentions paid plans “starting at $20/month” for new users in their first year, billed annually, and its pricing page says prices may vary with promotional campaigns and renewal terms. The figures above are what the pricing page itself showed on the day we checked. For a like-for-like look, compare destinations at a similar budget: StreamYard Core lists 3 multistream destinations at $44.99 a month billed monthly, while Multistream Platform Professional lists up to 10 channels at $49 a month billed monthly. See our pricing page for streaming hours, recording and seats on each plan.
Browser studio or relay: which workflow do you use?
This is the bigger difference, and it matters more than price. In a browser studio the production happens on the provider’s page: you pick layouts, bring guests on screen and add overlays there. StreamYard’s help center explains how to bring OBS Studio into its studio as a virtual camera, so OBS becomes one camera source inside StreamYard.
With a relay the production stays in your encoder. You keep your OBS scenes, capture cards, audio mixing and bitrate settings, and the relay only copies the finished stream to each platform. That is why ingest options matter here: Multistream Platform accepts RTMP and SRT, and RTMP vs SRT explains when each makes sense. The three ways to stream to multiple platforms compares a cloud relay with sending separate outputs straight from your computer, including how much upload each needs, and how to multistream with OBS Studio walks through the relay setup step by step.
Destinations and channels
On the pages we reviewed, StreamYard lists 1, 3 and 8 multistream destinations on its Free, Core and Advanced plans, with direct integrations for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, Kick and Brightcove, and TikTok and other platforms through custom RTMP. Multistream Platform lists 2, 5, 10 and 40+ channels at once on Starter, Creator, Professional and Business, and accepts custom RTMP and SRT destinations. Plan names are not the same, so compare the number of platforms you actually stream to at once.
Bandwidth
Both are cloud services, so your connection uploads one stream rather than one per platform. StreamYard’s multistreaming page says a standard connection of 10 Mbps upload or more is enough however many platforms you stream to. With a relay, the upload you need depends on the bitrate you set in your encoder; use the bandwidth calculator and the bitrate recommender to size it.
Check your setup before you choose
Whichever tool you pick, test your camera and microphone first with the free webcam test and microphone test. Remember that each platform has its own limits too: StreamYard’s help center lists 8 hours per stream on Facebook, 4 hours on LinkedIn and 48 hours on Twitch, and those platform rules apply whichever service sends the stream.
Other StreamYard alternatives
- Multistream Platform: a cloud relay for your own encoder, with RTMP and SRT ingest (this page).
- Restream: offers multistreaming and its own browser studio; see our Restream comparison, checked October 19, 2026.
- Castr: a live streaming platform with hosting and a player; see the Castr comparison.
- Dacast: an online video platform rather than a social multistreaming tool; see the Dacast comparison.
- No service at all: OBS Studio can send extra outputs to several platforms, but your connection then uploads one copy per platform. What is multistreaming explains the trade-off.
Which should you choose?
- Consider StreamYard if you want a studio in the browser with guests joining from a link, on-screen layouts and branding, and you are happy to produce the show there.
- Consider Multistream Platform if you already produce in OBS Studio, vMix or a hardware encoder, want to keep that setup, and want more destinations per plan or multistreaming on a free plan.
- Try both. StreamYard lists a free plan and a 7-day trial of its paid plans; Multistream Platform’s Starter plan is free. Test your own show before paying.
Sources
- StreamYard: Plans and pricing (reviewed October 19, 2026, Billed monthly and Billed yearly views)
- StreamYard: Multistreaming (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- StreamYard Help: Feature limits on the free plan (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- StreamYard Help: How many hours can I stream and record (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- StreamYard Help: How to use OBS Virtual Camera with StreamYard (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- StreamYard Help: Can I stream Zoom with StreamYard? (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- StreamYard: Plan Usage Policy (linked from its pricing page)
- Riverside home page and Streamlabs Desktop page (reviewed October 19, 2026)
- Multistream Platform pricing and features
StreamYard comparison FAQ
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