Last updated on 2023-11-17, by Cassie

9 Best Live Streaming Platforms [Business & Entertainment]

In recent years, live streaming has become one of the most developing things in the world. Live streaming helps them engage with their audience in real time and tells if their virtual presence aligns with their goals or needs some tweaks. There are so many live streaming platforms out there. What are the best live streaming platforms in 2023? What are the top live streaming apps to stream live on? Here on this page, we would like to introduce 8 best and most popular live streaming platforms to you. Check them below and get the ones you like most.

Part 1: What are Live Streaming Platforms?

So, what are live streaming platforms? A live streaming platform is a connection for broadcasting videos to an audience in real time. Some live streaming platforms are free, while others require payment. On certain platforms, you can restrict who has access to your live stream, while others allow you to broadcast to the general public.

There are several types of live streaming platforms. You can access live streaming platform websites from your browser, live streaming apps for tablets and phones, or downloadable live streaming software to broadcast yourself. Social media platforms are an increasingly popular place for live streams. They have a broad outreach and host live streamers sharing all kinds of content, from motivational speaking to gaming, music or just chatting.

While choosing a live streaming platform, there are quite a few things you need to consider: participant limit, streaming limit, branding, content limit and type, user database, interactive features, monetization options, device compatibility, stream analytics and monitoring, video editing and embedding, video cloud storage, etc. Once you have taken all these elements into consideration, you could then try to choose the one that meets your needs most.

Part 2: 9 Best Live Streaming Platforms in 2023

Here we have collected 9 best live streaming platforms in 2023 for your reference. You could check them before you make your own decision.

1. Dacast

With Dacast, organizations can create interactive, flexible, and high-quality live streams. This all-in-one streaming platform boasts top-tier CDNs, video monetization options, secure video hosting, and more. Then there’s analytic and bulk uploading to help you with all your professional live streaming requirements. So with its pricing starting from $39 per month, it’s no surprise that Dacast gets our vote for one of the best live streaming software available today.

Pros:

• Live streaming and Video on Demand are included in all plans.
• Embeddable HTML5 video player.
• SVOD, AVOD, and TVOD pay-per-view monetization options.
• M3U8 media links to stream to mobile and smart TV apps such as Roku, Apple TV, etc.
• Mobile device support.
• Live stream recording.

Cons:

• Requires a bit of a learning curve.

2. Twitch.tv

Twitch has become the premier destination for video gaming-focused live streams. In addition to this focus, the site has expanded its scope to include traditional games such as chess, casino games such as poker, casual chatting live streams, news-focused live streams, and much more. Twitch’s layout is a showcase of the variety of streams that the site is host to. There are plenty of ways to support content creators, from subscribing to your favorite streamers to cheering them on in their channel’s integrated chat room.

Pros:

• A large and active community of viewers and creators.
• It offers a range of monetization options for creators.
• Twitch supports high-quality video streaming and interactive features.

Cons:

• It focuses mainly on gaming content, limiting the platform’s appeal to non-gaming creators.
• Twitch’s revenue-sharing model can be complex for new creators to understand.
• The platform’s chat moderation tools can be complicated and challenging to manage.

3. TwitCasting

Twitcasting is a popular live broadcast platform in Japan. Unlike other live broadcast platforms, the live broadcast on Twitcasting has no special rules and content targeting. It aims to present the content that the sharer wants to share in real time for the audience. Things like first-person sharing while out and about, makeup sharing videos on a whim, video game livestreams, and even small chats interacting with viewers can all be found on Twitcasting. Members of girl groups such as AKB48, which are popular among young people, often use Twitcasting to share their lives. It is precisely because of this casual, fast, and real-time live broadcast that Twitcasting is sought after by a large number of young people in Japan.

Pros:

• The TwitCasting Live app is secure to use.
• The App is improving with time.
• The Support of TwitCasting Live is good.
• Mobile Apps.

Cons:

• The TwitCasting Live has to add more privacy.
• Missing some features.
• Sometimes slow support.

4. Panopto

Panopto is a video company focusing on businesses and universities. This platform enables you to stream, share, record, and broadcast video content. With a primary focus on internal use for online education, Panopto provides powerful tools for creating “internal YouTubes” and integration with Learning Management Systems. Panopto is a more focused online video organization than the other best live streaming platforms. With Panopto, users have a single mobile-ready solution for recording live videos, live streaming, video search, quizzing, and analytics. Their content management (CMS) system allows for the centralization of video streams, playlists, and playback.

Pros:

• Document Indexing.
• Full-Text Search.
• Audio and Video Content.
• Asset Categorization.
• Customizable Branding.

Cons:

• No customizable templates.
• No image editor.
• No SEO management.
• No version control.

5. Wowza

Wowza is a professional-grade live event streaming platform that offers a range of advanced features and customization options for creators. It is an excellent option for businesses, events, and other professional applications that require high-quality video and customization options.

Pros:

• It includes various advanced features, including multi-bitrate streaming and custom branding options.
• Get high-quality video streaming and excellent customer support.
• Wowza gives monetization options for creators through pay-per-view and subscription models.

Cons:

• More expensive than other live-streaming platforms, with pricing plans starting at $49 per month.
• It can be more complex than other platforms, requiring more technical expertise to set up and manage.

6. TikTok

As a social media platform that’s geared toward viral videos, TikTok presents a great opportunity for live streamers. Although short video clips dominate TikTok, there’s still space for live video creators to find an audience with longer content of up to 60 minutes. If your content is for Gen Zers (under 25 years old), then a presence on TikTok LIVE can be hugely beneficial. You can go live from the app on a mobile device or use TikTok’s new live studio software for streaming on a desktop.

Pros:

• Viral growth possibility.
• Free to use.
• Live streaming can make you stand out.
• Create live videos of up to 60 minutes.

Cons:

• Only accounts with 1,000 or more followers can go live.
• Monetization options (virtual gifts) aren’t available unless you are 18 or older.

7. YouTube Live

YouTube Live is one of the best live-streaming services in the world. It offers a range of interactive features, including live chat, polls, and Q&A sessions, making it an excellent option for creators looking to engage with their audience.

Pros:

• Beginner-friendly.
• Widely popular and well-known platform.
• Free to use.
• Offers live streaming and VOD hosting.

Cons:

• Primary purpose of the platform is on-demand videos.
• Limited monetization options.
• YouTube’s suggested algorithm promotes competitor content.

8. Facebook Live

Any Facebook user can go live from their page, profile, event, or group. This makes the Facebook Live feature very versatile. Brands can use it to promote products, or individuals can set up a casual Q&A session. Features like live polls help you make the most of interacting with your audience, and you can share your live broadcast directly to your Facebook Story to reach more viewers.

Pros:

• The app is free and familiar to viewers.
• Live chat promotes engagement.
• Taps into existing following.

Cons:

• No monetization options.
• Time limits on live videos.
• Cannot remove Facebook Live branding.

9. Twitter Live

You can go live on Twitter via the iOS or Android app by tapping the live option beneath the camera icon. Live streaming on Twitter from a desktop or laptop is a bit trickier: you’ll need access to the Media Studio Producer and a third-party encoder. Twitter is handy for conducting Q&As, interviews, or introducing a new product to your followers.

Pros:

• Option to save your stream on your mobile device after it’s over.
• Add a custom starting point so viewers don’t have to rewatch the entire stream.
• Send a link directly to your stream.
• Past live streams appear on your profile as video tweets.

Cons:

• All streams are public — no streaming to select audience available.
• Limited monetization options.

Bonus: Best Video Downloaders for Live Streaming

Sometimes you might need to download a live streaming so as to watch later, such as a concert, a training course, etc. Some live streaming platforms offer you an instant recording feature that will help you record your live streams and save them into your library as on-demand videos for your future reviewing if you are a content creator like the Twitch.tv and TwitCasting.tv platforms. But if you want to download others’ live streams, you have to turn to 3rd-party live stream video downloaders. CleverGet is an ideal one for you.

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• CleverGet All-In-One

  – Enable users to download online videos, movies, TV shows, live streams, etc. from 1000+ websites.
  – Detect M3U8 links intelligently with an inherent browser to download videos.
  – Download 8K video and audio at 320 kbps without quality loss.
  – Support to download TV series episodes of all/certain seasons in batches.
  – Download online video to MP4/MKV/WEBM or other available popular formats.

  DownloadKnow CleverGet

CleverGet is an all-inclusive online video downloader solution toolkit that provides multiple download solutions for various streaming platforms. It comes with Twitch Downloader and TwitCasting Downloader that could help you download live streams and on-demand videos from Twitch.tv and TwitCasting.tv websites with ease. Meanwhile, its internal Video Downloader could help you download on-demand videos and live streaming videos from 1000+ sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, BiliBili, etc. What’s more, for some big on-demand streaming sites such as Amazon, Netflix, Max, Disney+, etc., CleverGet also provides corresponding modules to help you download movies, TV shows and other videos from these streaming sites with ease.