If you’ve already been looking into live-streaming platforms, you’re likely to have already heard about Restream.
It has already had over 5 million streamers worldwide, performing for over 600 million viewers.
And although it’s best known for video streaming, you can use the platform to turn your live streams into podcasts. See also: How to Live Stream a Podcast.
But before you sign up to any particular platform, it pays to do your homework by reading articles like this one that will walk you through what such a platform has to offer, so you can make a considered decision about whether it may be right for you.
In this article, we’re going to explain how Restream works and what its features are, its pricing and value for money, the alternatives to Restream and how they compare, what other people have to say about the Restream platform.
We will also provide a summary of pros and cons, and by the end of the article when we get to the wrap up, you will be in a position to assess whether it’s the right platform for you.
Here goes!
What Is Restream?
Restream is a live-streaming platform that is best known for its multi streaming capabilities, which allow you to stream to multiple platforms at the same time.
(More on that shortly.)
Restream can be used to record live streams, which can then be downloaded to use as podcasts at a later date.
And this is why we’ve included a review of it on our website.
But it can be used for other purposes as well, which we feel are worth mentioning here. They are as follows:
- Company and industry updates
- Press conferences
- Q&A interviews
- Product launches and demos
- Flash sales and promotional offers
- Webinars, classes and workshops
Restream Features
Now let’s walk you through some of the platform’s main features…
Hosted Platform
You don’t have to worry about sourcing a separate web host for your live-streaming, because Restream can take care of all of that for you.
Multi Channel Streaming
A key feature offered by Restream is its multichannel streaming.
There are over 30 different apps that Restream can work with. Here are some of the more well known ones:
- YouTube
- Twitch
- Zoom
- Microsoft Teams
- Steam
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox 1
Scheduler
Restream’s scheduling function means that subscribers can record their videos, and schedule them to go live on a future date, leaving you free to spend time elsewhere.
Live Chat
Live chat is an excellent way to engage your audience.
Your viewers can ask you questions or make comments, or even build a sense of community as regulars chat to each other.
Better yet, you won’t ever have to switch tabs to view the chat, and you can monitor the comments so that unwanted, disrespectful comments and sayings are filtered out.
Analytics
Restream users also get handy analytics to measure your success, such as the proportion of viewers from each channel.
Other Tools
Other tools allow users to isolate clips as highlights, embed the live stream on their website, and store recordings in a video archive.
There are also handy tools for your audience as well, such as pause, and live rewind.
Pricing And Value For Money
Just to give you a quick heads-up, this article won’t be quoting specific prices, just in case the prices change over time.
There are 3 subscription plans available for Restream, namely Basic, Standard, and Professional. Let’s walk you through each of them in turn.
Basic
You may be pleased to hear that Restream has a basic plan that you can use completely free of charge.
With the basic plan, you can connect open broadcasting software and Zoom etc. or use Restream’s very own studio.
It also allows screen sharing, which is perfect for tutorials, and other handy features such as a green screen and fancy virtual backgrounds.
There’s also integrated chat, which is great for making your live-streaming interactive.
So, you can get some nice features with the free plan, but it’s called “basic” for a reason.
It does have its limitations, namely that you can only use Restream to multi stream on two channels at a time.
What’s more, there is a cap on the number of on-screen participants, at 6 people, and viewers will see only Restream branding.
Standard
We would argue that the standard subscription plan is very reasonably priced – at the time of writing this article, it was available for less than $20 a month.
What’s more, if you opt to pay annually, you can often save up to 20% off the full price.
Unlike on the basic plan, the standard plan allows you to ditch the Restream branding and proceed instead with your own logo and branding.
Furthermore, the number of multi streaming channels goes up to 5, and you can have up to 10 on-screen participants for each stream.
Professional
As you may imagine, the professional subscription plan does cost more money than the standard plan.
More than twice as much in fact, although when this article was written it was still available for less than $50 a month.
And again, you can save up to 20% if you opt to pay annually rather than monthly.
But you do get a lot more for your money on the professional plan.
You can live stream in Full HD (1080 pixels), and you can multi stream on 8 different channels at the same time.
On the professional plan, you can also upload and stream videos of up to 2 gigabytes per file, and do split audio track recording.
Which Plan Offers The Best Value For Money?
If you do decide to go with Restream, which price plan to go for, in my view depends entirely on how many channels you want to live stream to at the same time.
If 5 is not enough, you will have to go with the professional plan, but if you can make do with just two, then hands down you should definitely choose the free option.
Incidentally, both the standard and the professional plan come with a 7-day free trial, which is something really worth taking advantage of if you’re prepared to sign up for a paid plan.
And everything that’s available on the free plan is also available on the paid-for plans.
Alternatives To Restream And How They Compare
There are several alternatives around to Restream, but in the interest of brevity, we’re going to limit this section to just 2 of the alternatives.
Streamlabs
As a general rule, between the two platforms, Restream tends to be favored for video conferences, podcasts and one-off events, while Streamlabs is more popular for gaming streaming.
Castr
While Restream is great for broadcasting to multiple destinations simultaneously, Castr generally has more features, such as enabling streaming on your website, and has more features available on lower priced plans.
What Are People Saying About Restream Elsewhere On The Net?
On the whole, Restream is a well-loved live-streaming platform.
It has a 4.6-star rating on Trustpilot, and a 4.6-star rating on Capterra, a 4.6-star rating on G2, and a 4-star rating on Facebook.
In terms of specifics for feature ratings, on G2 users gave it 8.9 stars out of 10 for ease of use, 9.2 stars for quality of support, and 9.5 stars for ease of set up.
There’s a far greater proportion of reviewers giving the Restream a 5-star rating compared to lower star ratings.
People are generally saying that the platform is very user-friendly and easy to use, and that it’s really stable and solid.
Most of all, people like using it to stream to multiple platforms simultaneously, and in particular to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
There are negative comments of course, some people describe some of the plans as expensive for example, and that they’d like to be able to live stream to even more channels at any one time.
Summary Of Pros And Cons
As promised, here’s your summary of pros and cons.
Pros
- You can access some really great features completely free of charge
- You can multi stream to several channels at once (number depending on plan)
- You can interact with your viewers through live chat
- You can schedule your streams ahead of time
- You can get handy analytics to measure your success
- You can embed the live stream on their website
- You can store your recordings in a video archive
- Excellent customer ratings and reviews
- User-friendly and easy to use
- Really stable and solid
Cons
- If you want to live stream to more than two channels or apps at the same time, you will have to sign up for a paid subscription
- The free plan won’t allow you to use your own branding, and you will instead have to put up with Restream branding on your live streams
- Some users argue that the paid-for plans are quite expensive, particularly the professional plan
Wrap Up
So, in summary, Restream is best known for its multichannel streaming, and it has an excellent free plan you can sign up to.
But it’s probably worth looking into other streaming platforms as well before deciding on which one to go for.
