Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover video hosting. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Mux | SproutVideo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $20 | From $12 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Usage-based | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Video Hosting | Video Hosting, Analytics, Media Storage & Review |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Video hosting and streaming as an API
Mux is the video layer for somebody building their own product: you post a file or a stream to the API and get back encoding, storage, delivery and a player, billed by the minute. There is no dashboard for uploading a marketing video, and that is the point. Its analytics product measures playback quality for people who already have video working and want to know why it buffers.
Our note
Model your delivery minutes before committing, because delivery rather than storage is what moves the bill on a video anyone watches. api.video and Cloudflare Stream are the direct comparisons, and the choice usually comes down to which player and analytics you want.
Video hosting with the bandwidth included
SproutVideo hosts video for businesses that want a player without YouTube's branding, its recommendations or its comment section. Plans include storage and bandwidth rather than metering them, so the bill is predictable until it is not. Analytics go down to heatmaps of who watched what, which is the reason most people move off a free host in the first place.
Our note
Against Wistia the difference is what happens past the allowance: this publishes its overage rates and includes generous bandwidth, where Wistia charges per video. For a large library watched by a small audience, this is usually the cheaper shape.
Only on this side
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.