- StreamYard is an awesome live streaming solution
for YouTube Live, Facebook Live, LinkedIn,
and all the other major platforms too.
But how does it stack up against the competition,
things like Ecamm Live, OBS, Be.Live,
and all the other awesome options available as well?
So in this video we're gonna do
a complete StreamYard review
to help you decide if it's the best live streaming software
for you right now.
Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video
where we help you grow an audience
and scale your revenue with online video.
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make sure you click that subscribe button,
and all the links to everything we mention in this video
you can find linked in the description box below.
So let's jump into it.
So the landscape of live streaming software is
super competitive right now
with so many cool features becoming available
in even the free entry-level options.
So in this video we're gonna dive
into the details with StreamYard
and we're gonna look at what it does well
and what it doesn't do so great relative to the competition.
And whether you decide StreamYard is for you or not,
I'll be including a ton of tips
to help you take your livestreams to the next level
including how you can easily get cool stuff
like animated titles and templates for your streams
that you can set up once
and then use across all of your streams from here on in.
So let's start off with the pros
so that you can see why this is
one of our top recommended platforms
before we dive into a few of the critical drawbacks
that you need to consider
before deciding if this is right for you.
So one of the best things I like about StreamYard is
the overall interface and user experience.
It is so intuitive and it's really easy to get up to speed
whether you are an absolute beginner
and you've never used anything like this before
or even if you ask someone who is more experienced,
you can still jump in and get up to speed
creating your livestreams fast.
They make it really easy to jump in and to switch things up
and to configure things even while you're live.
So doing things like switching multiple camera angles
or switching between multiple guests,
you can literally do it with the click of a button
right from the main dashboard interface.
So you don't need to dive into menus
and all of those sorts of things.
Everything is really accessible.
So speaking of guests,
one of the biggest powerful features with StreamYard is
its ability to easily bring in and switch around guests
while you're live.
So if you're looking to create interviews
or bring people into your livestreams,
then StreamYard will actually let you have
up to 10 people live on your livestream as well,
so yourself plus nine other guests which is ridiculous.
And again, you can switch them up,
change the layout just with the click of a button.
There's also no software to install.
StreamYard just runs in your web browser
which means it's also going to work on both Mac, PC, Linux,
or almost any computer out there which is amazing.
And they've also now got support
for smartphones and tablets as well
not just for bringing guests in.
Your guests can join from their computer
or from their iPad or iPhone as well.
And Android, you can have a go as well.
But now you can also run your livestream
from your smart device too which is awesome.
That's actually a really big selling point
when you're considering this
against some of the other options out there
where you will need to have either a Mac or a PC
or you need to download and install
an application onto your computer.
So I do like that it is easy for anyone
no matter what device they've got to get up and running.
Another cool feature with StreamYard is
that you can actually use it just to record videos as well
without the need to go live.
So if you do want to run an interview
and you want to record it and bring in guests
and maybe publish it as a YouTube video later,
then StreamYard will let you create a recording
as if you were live
with all the same tools and features and everything.
You also have the ability
to easily share your computer screen.
Whether it's the entire screen,
whether it's a specific Chrome or browser tab,
you can easily do that in StreamYard as well.
And you can also add in video overlays.
So if you want to have any text or titles on the screen
or you want to bring in your own branding
then you can do this in here as well.
Now adding things like these overlays to your livestreams
you can quickly and easily boost
the professionalism of your livestream,
especially if you create a logo animation
or an intro that you could use on your livestreams
or even different animated titles scenes
that you could use for different sections
within maybe a live show that you're creating.
So if you want to learn how to easily make these graphics
or these animations to use in your livestreams,
then Placeit is an amazing service
that makes it so simple without needing to go off
and have to learn advanced software
like Adobe After Effects.
Now if you want to find out more
about creating animations or video intros
to use in your livestreams with Placeit,
then check out the video linked in the description below.
And one of the other standout features of StreamYard is
how easy they make multistreaming
or broadcasting your livestream
to multiple platforms, multiple providers.
So you could go live on YouTube and Facebook
at the same time all from within StreamYard
without the need to have it another service like Restream
to handle that part of it for you.
So they make the process here so easy,
is literally click of a button where you just choose
where you'd like to broadcast out too.
And it also means that you're only broadcasting once
from your end,
meaning that your Internet speed really isn't going to be
put under that the pump by pushing out multiple streams
to the different providers.
You just need to be able to push one stream consistently
to StreamYard and they handle the rest.
So that's it for the pros.
Let's jump in and have a look at some of the cons.
Now I'd say a lot of these aren't necessarily deal-breakers
but they are things that you'd want to be aware of.
The first one is with video integration.
Yes, you can upload some videos
that you can integrate into your livestream
and playback throughout your livestream
but at the moment they do have
some pretty strict limitations around that.
There is a maximum time limit of five minutes
and there's also a 100 megabyte file size limit.
So I would imagine that's gonna be pretty restricting
for a lot of people.
It would be nice to see
at some point direct YouTube integration
where you can just maybe paste in your YouTube video link
if that's what you're looking to playback
in your livestream.
But if you're looking to do this right now
there is a workaround.
It just means you'll have to use Chrome
as your browser and open up a shared tab.
So you go to share your computer screen,
share that tab with the video open
or the webpage open that you want to play the video through,
and just make sure that when you're sharing that screen
that you're checking the little box
that says share audio as well.
And that way, when you're playing the video,
the video and the audio will come through.
So it still works but it's not as clean
as it probably could be.
And the only other thing that does annoy me a little bit
with StreamYard is the login process.
And I get it, it's totally secure,
but you can't just use a username and password.
You have to enter your email address.
They then send a verification number off to your email
to come back in and enter that into the browser
just to log in.
So I get it, it's probably more secure
than just having a password,
but it is a little frustrating and a little annoying
that you can't just choose yourself
as to which method you'd like to be able to log in with.
Now in regards to pricing, you've really got three options.
There is a free plan which does give you access
to most of the features
but you are limited to have six participants
or six people on screen in your livestream instead of 10.
You are restricted to streaming up to 20 hours per month
on that free plan
and there's also StreamYard branding in your livestream.
So there's a little StreamYard logo that shows up
in the top right-hand corner of your livestream
while you're on that free plan.
But if you want to remove it,
that's where you just need to jump onto the basic
or the professional plan.
So the basic plan then obviously removes that watermark.
It also gives you access to unlimited streaming.
So you're not limited to the 20 hours.
Plus you can have your 10 participants on screen
in your streams as well.
Now the other two main things
that this plan unlocks is the restreaming capabilities
or multistreaming capabilities to let you go live
to multiple places at once
and also the recording functionality as well.
And the third plan, the professional plan for $39 a month,
will really just unlock longer recording times
of up to eight hours
and also multistreaming to eight destinations
instead of two.
So I'd say for most people you're probably gonna be able
to get away with the basic plan,
and that's the one that we're currently on as well.
So overall StreamYard is an amazing service
for someone who is looking for a really simple
but still powerful way to go live, bring in guests,
and to easily be able to restream
and broadcast to multiple platforms.
But if you're someone who's either more
on the intermediate to advanced side
and you're looking for more advanced features and controls,
then that's where something
like Ecamm Live on Mac could be a good fit
or something like vMix if you're on PC.
So for me, as someone who does fit
into that more advanced category,
I'm someone who likes to have access
to all those extra bells and whistles
and features and things.
We do use Ecamm Live primarily for our livestreams
unless I want to bring in multiple guests.
If anything more than two people on a stream
or I want to do any restreaming,
then that's where StreamYard becomes
an absolute no brainer.
But I would say for most people
that StreamYard is going to be the complete package for you
unless you need those extra things.
So now that you've got your live streaming software sorted,
if you are wanting to find out more
about those animated intros and video animations to use
in your livestreams,
then check out the video linked on the screen now
with a complete tutorial of Placeit
which is an amazing service,
and I will see you in the next one.