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Both cover live streaming and video editing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| vMix | Wirecast | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $60 | From $495 |
| Pricing model | One-time purchase | One-time purchase |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | One-time purchase | One-time purchase |
| Free trial | 60 days | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Windows | macOS, Windows |
| Covers | Live Streaming, Video Editing | Live Streaming, Video Editing |
| Works with | YouTube, Twitch, Facebook | YouTube, Twitch, Facebook |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Windows live production with a licence you keep
vMix is the production switcher people buy when they want mixing, replay, titles and multiple camera inputs on one Windows machine and do not want to rent it. The lifetime licences go from a starter tier to a 4K one, and the difference between them is input count, resolution and the extras a sports crew needs. There is a monthly subscription for people who work in bursts, and a sixty-day trial that is long enough to run a whole season through.
Our note
The lifetime licence is unusual enough in live production to be the reason to choose it, and the sixty-day trial is unusually generous too. It is Windows only, so for anyone on a Mac the real comparison is OBS Studio, Ecamm Live or Wirecast rather than this.
Desktop live production bought once, not rented
Wirecast has been Telestream's live production software for long enough that the broadcast world treats it as furniture: unlimited inputs, scoreboards, instant replay, and streaming to several destinations at once. It is sold as a licence rather than a subscription, in two tiers where the dearer one adds replay and higher-end output. Against free software like OBS the case is support, stability and the features a paid crew expects to find.
Our note
The honest comparison is OBS Studio, which is free and does most of this. Pay for Wirecast when somebody needs to call support during a live event, or when replay and scoreboards are part of the job.
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.