Dacast vs Gumlet Comparison 2026
Dacast is built for broadcasters: live channels, a paywall on the stream itself and white-label playback, with bandwidth sold in terabytes per year starting at $39 a month billed annually for 2.4TB. Gumlet is built for embedding video into your own product, with DRM available as a priced add-on rather than an enterprise negotiation, and a genuine free tier of 100GB a month. Neither replaces the other: one sells access to a broadcast, the other protects a video already inside something you built.
Live streaming and hosting sold by the terabyte
Video hosting priced by bandwidth, with DRM on top
At a glance
- Gumlet starts cheaper, at $6.
- Only Gumlet has a free tier.
Side by side
Dacast | Gumlet | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $39 | From $6 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API |
Dacast
Live streaming and hosting sold by the terabyte
Dacast is a broadcaster's video platform: live channels, a paywall, white-label playback and a bandwidth allowance measured in terabytes a year. Unused bandwidth rolls forward, which suits anybody whose schedule is a season rather than a week. It sells to events and businesses rather than to social creators, and the interface has never pretended otherwise.
Our note
The three-month minimum on monthly billing is the term to notice, because it makes a single event cost three payments. Buy this when you are selling access to the stream itself; for hosting recordings, SproutVideo or Vimeo is simpler and cheaper.
Only on this side
- Covers live streaming
- Works with YouTube
- Works with Facebook
- Works with Twitch
- Works with Kick
Gumlet
Video hosting priced by bandwidth, with DRM on top
Gumlet is video infrastructure for somebody who wants their own player on their own site rather than a channel on somebody else's. It transcodes, delivers, and will lock a video down with DRM if the content is worth stealing, which is the feature that usually forces a jump to enterprise pricing elsewhere. Image optimisation runs on the same account. The dashboard assumes you know what a bitrate ladder is, and does not apologise for it.
Why people weigh these two
- Gumlet instead of Dacast
- Gumlet prices hosting by bandwidth actually used, with DRM included, and keeps a free tier before $6, a lighter fit for on-demand video than Dacast's live-broadcaster terabyte plans.
- Dacast instead of Gumlet
- Dacast sells hosting and live streaming by the terabyte from $39 a month, another bandwidth-metered option, on a free trial instead of a free tier.
Which one should you pick
Pick Dacast if you are selling access to a live broadcast itself: pay-per-view, subscriptions on the stream, white-label playback for events or sports. Starter works out to roughly 200GB of bandwidth a month for $39, and unused allowance rolls forward, which suits a season rather than a weekly upload schedule. There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, and monthly billing carries a three-month minimum.
Pick Gumlet if the video lives inside a product or a paid course and needs to look like yours rather than a channel on somebody else's site. The free plan alone gives 100GB and an hour of live streaming a month, and paid tiers start at $6 a month for 3,000GB, far more bandwidth per dollar than Dacast's broadcaster pricing. DRM is a $99-a-month add-on if the content is worth locking down, instead of the enterprise conversation it is elsewhere.
Common questions
- Which one has a free plan?
- Gumlet does: 100GB of bandwidth and 60 minutes of live streaming a month with an ad-free player. Dacast has no free tier at all, only a 14-day trial before Starter's $39 a month begins.
- Which is cheaper for bandwidth?
- Gumlet, by a wide margin. Its paid entry tier is $6 a month for 3,000GB. Dacast's Starter plan works out to roughly 200GB a month for $39, once its 2.4TB yearly allowance is spread across twelve months.
- Can Dacast put a paywall on a live stream the way a broadcaster needs?
- Yes, pay-per-view and subscriptions on the live broadcast itself, not just the archive, which is why event producers and sports leagues use it. Gumlet is not built around that use case; it is video infrastructure for a product or a course rather than a ticketed broadcast.
- Does Gumlet protect video with DRM?
- Yes, as a $99-a-month add-on on top of any plan, which most competitors treat as an enterprise negotiation instead of a priced option. Dacast does not list DRM as a feature; its protection is a paywall on the stream rather than encryption on the file itself.
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