Many marketers are gradually beginning to get a grasp on the true power of videos. That is why most businesses are looking for ways to incorporate them into their marketing strategies. But regardless of whether they wish to use them as potent lead generation tools or just implement videos on their websites to complement their services, they will need to find a premium or free video hosting website to host their content.
Unfortunately, beginner video marketers might be unsure whether video will provide sufficient ROI, so they might be reluctant to invest in an enterprise video hosting platform from the get-go. If that is troubling you, you’re in luck; there are plenty of websites for free video hosting online. By cutting costs on hosting fees, even small businesses with low budgets will be able to give branded video content a shot to boost their conversions, user engagement, and ROI.
But why should you use a video hosting platform in the first place? Why not host your videos on your website directly? There are several perfectly good reasons for that. Let’s begin by addressing them.
Why Should I Use a Video Hosting Service?
It’s only natural to ask this question. After all, isn’t it reasonable to assume you could just upload your videos to your website directly? Well, you undoubtedly can, but you shouldn’t. There are multiple reasons for that:
- Avoiding Issues With File Formats — Different browsers accept only specific video file formats. If you opt for a video hosting platform, they will take care of all the format compatibility issues since they often support all of them. That way, you won’t have to upload the same videos in multiple formats on your website.
- Website Storage Limits — Most website hosting providers offer limited storage space, and video files can quickly overburden it. That is where embedding comes in to save the day — you can embed videos from a video hosting provider to your website directly to avoid unnecessarily burdening your web page.
- Increasing Your Website’s Loading Speed — By embedding videos instead of directly uploading them, you reduce your web page size and improve your site’s loading speed. According to Google research in 2018, over half of mobile users leave a page that needs more than three seconds to load.
- Uploading HQ Videos — Video hosting providers usually support high-quality videos, sometimes even as high as 4K! Don’t forget — better quality videos attract more viewers.
Now that you’ve seen some of the most notable benefits of hosting videos externally over uploading them directly to your site, let’s look at some of the best free video hosting services in 2020.
7 Best Free Video Hosting Sites in 2021
If you are searching for an easy and affordable way to try videos out, the perfect way to do so is to start with a free video hosting service. That will allow you to test the waters and see how video works out for you before committing to it fully. Here are the seven best video hosting websites on the market currently to help you with that:
- Vimeo
- Wistia
- YouTube
- Brid.TV
- Vidyard
- Dailymotion
Without further ado, let’s look at them in more detail!
1. Vimeo
Vimeo is an all-around excellent video hosting site with over 90 million users as of today. Its reputation as a video platform for those serious about video precedes it, making it a fan-favorite among animators and filmmakers.
The same high quality and reliability that true video enthusiasts look for in a platform make Vimeo particularly suitable for businesses. Its entirely ad-free experience and unlimited bandwidth for all payment plans further complement that statement.
What Vimeo also offers is plenty of customization options, extensive analytics, and an active and engaged community. This free private video hosting platform also introduced 4K HD video and live streaming recently, though not all payment plans are eligible for these features.
Even though Vimeo’s real power lies in its paid plans, free users can still enjoy no bandwidth limits and up to 500 MB of uploads weekly, with a storage capacity of 5 GB. The yearly limit for Vimeo Basic users is 25 GB.
Pros:
- No ads and pop-ups
- Particularly suitable for documentaries and short films
- Video analytics
- Built-in social media integration
- Can enable video downloads
Cons:
- Less search exposure than some of its counterparts
- Limited options for video content customization
- Full potential is only unlocked with a paid account
Best Suitable For:
Businesses looking to share their video content and market their products and services with engaged audiences.
2. Wistia
Wistia is a video hosting platform primarily tailored to business owners, with more than 500,000 brands already on it. Full HD videos and a highly customizable video player, alongside in-depth analytics and free tools for video creation, are just some of the reasons this platform is so appealing. Wistia even features easy integration with HubSpot, MailChimp, WordPress, and Marketo, which is a godsend for marketers using these platforms.
Unfortunately, Wistia has strict limits for free users and some significant downsides that might make you look elsewhere. Wistia’s Free Plan only allows three video uploads, and they’ll have Wistia branding on them. Aside from that, bandwidth limits across all plans make this platform unsuitable for businesses expecting large amounts of traffic.
So if you have modest video needs, Wistia is probably a fantastic choice for you. However, if you’re looking for free unlimited video hosting and higher upload limits, you’ll have to keep looking.
Pros:
- Highly detailed analytics, including heatmaps, engagement metrics, and much more
- You can password-protect videos for private viewing
- Allows you to incorporate keywords in your video descriptions for improved SEO
- Integration with HubSpot, WordPress, MailChimp, Marketo, and more
Cons:
- Most of the platform’s features are locked behind a paywall
- Limited bandwidth, even in paid plans
- Strict limits on the number of uploads, channels, and channel subscribers on Free Plan
- Doesn’t have a built-in audience
- No option to monetize your videos
- One of the most expensive video hosts on their premium plans
Best Suitable For:
Businesses focused on data-driven marketing and personalization that rely on long sales processes and don’t require large amounts of traffic.
3. YouTube
YouTube is by far the most popular video-sharing platform on the planet, with over 2 billion monthly active users. What makes this site particularly attractive for businesses and independent publishers alike is its content’s potential SEO value. Google favors YouTube above all other online video platforms when it comes to ranking videos on the SERPs, which gives many brands an incentive to build a presence on the platform.
Another lovely aspect thing about YouTube is that joining the YouTube Partners program offers businesses an opportunity to monetize their content through ads. This video-sharing and hosting platform also allows unlimited uploads and bandwidth and has generous video length limits (12 hours). Last but not least, you’ll also get access to basic analytics, live streaming with YouTubeLive, and various social sharing options at no cost.
Unfortunately, all of these upsides are stained by several flaws that made many professionals look for alternative platforms to YouTube. The platform’s low security and abusable content flagging system are two of the most notable ones. And if you ever happen to be unfortunate enough to become a victim of a false copyright strike, you can expect the appeal process to take a while, especially if you’re a small channel.
Pros:
- Google favors YouTube videos when ranking videos on SERPs
- Easily embeddable
- Allows for content monetization
- A massive community and viewer base
Cons:
- Non-customizable video player
- Lackluster customer support
- Poor on-platform security
- No video download option without a third-party program
- Must take care of potential copyright infringement
- Abusable content flagging system
Best Suitable For:
Businesses aiming to build a stable community on a social platform and drive more traffic to their website with video.
4. Brid.TV
Brid.TV might be a newcomer to the online video platform world, but what it lacks in the legacy department makes up for in functionality. Unlike most other entries on our list, this video platform sports a state-of-the-art HTML5 video player and video content management system on top of secure video hosting. But perhaps the most notable aspect of Brid.TV is that it allows publishers to monetize their content with some of the advertising industry’s latest technology.
The Brid.TV platform fully supports both VAST and VPAID ad tags, pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll video ads, header bidding, ad pods, and more. Publishers can also expect access to extensive real-time analytics, which will allow them to keep detailed track of everything a marketer might need.
Unfortunately, Brid.TV’s biggest downside is the limit on the Free Plan. With 100k video plays and 50k impressions in total and some locked features, publishers looking for a long-term free video hosting solution won’t find one at Brid.TV. However, if you’re looking to try video out and are considering upgrading to a paid subscription plan, Brid.TV’s packages give some of the best bang for your buck on the market.
Overall, businesses looking to monetize their video content won’t find a better solution out there. But if monetization isn’t your primary concern, you might find some of the other entries on our list more suitable.
Pros:
- Undoubtedly the best choice for video monetization
- Real-time analytics
- A white-label platform
- Even premium plans are some of the cheapest on the market
- Has a dedicated WordPress plugin for easier website integration
Cons:
- Videos are branded on the Free Plan
- One-time limits on the Free Plan, meaning you will have to subscribe to a paid plan if you’re looking for long-term hosting
- Lots of features (live streaming, ads marketplace, mobile SDK integration, etc.) are only available to paid users
- Not the best choice for publishers without an existing audience
Best Suitable For:
Businesses and publishers looking to monetize their videos and are ready to upgrade to a paid plan down the line.
5. Facebook
Facebook is currently the largest social media network in the world, with its 2.7 billion users. And with the recent growth of video content on the platform, Facebook has become an excellent online video hosting solution for brands looking to get their content in front of a broad audience.
Aside from offering unlimited hosting, native Facebook videos are easily shareable, and you can embed them seamlessly on your website or blog via an embed link. That kind of exposure can give your content and website a lot of social proof, making Facebook video hosting a decent choice if you’re on a budget.
Finally, Facebook also gives publishers the option to promote their videos with Facebook ads, so if your content is underperforming, you can always give it a boost for a small fee!
Pros:
- Unlimited free hosting
- Excellent for building an audience due to Facebook’s massive reach
- Easily shareable videos
- Allows you to give your content additional exposure on the platform through Facebook ads
Cons:
- Basic and branded embedding options
- Lower video quality cap than other free video hosting websites
- Creators have no control over ads that play on their content
Best Suitable For:
Businesses looking to build an audience from scratch and raise brand awareness on a budget.
6. Vidyard
Vidyard is a video hosting site that allows businesses to host ad-free video not linked to a platform. Sales-driven companies find this platform particularly attractive since it’s primarily focused on lead marketing and sales videos. Vidyard gives all of its users unlimited bandwidth and an easily navigable dashboard with a plethora of features.
But the biggest drawback to Vidyard is the limitation on its free plan. Unless you want to subscribe to one of their paid packages, you’ll only be able to embed up to five videos a month. Even their premium plans are quite costly.
Pros:
- Offers detailed video analytics
- Fantastic for lead marketing and sales
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Supports integration with third-party programs like Marketo and Salesforce and various social media platforms
Cons:
- Strict free plan limitations
- Doesn’t allow for video monetization
- Expensive premium plans
Best Suitable For:
Sales-driven businesses focusing on generating leads through the power of video.
7. Dailymotion
Dailymotion was one of the largest YouTube’s competitors for a long time, with its 237 million active monthly users. Overall, this video hosting platform offers many possibilities with a free subscription plan, such as unlimited storage and bandwidth. It shares YouTube’s channel features, which allow you to establish your brand on their platform. You can also monetize your video content, feature a select choice of videos, and even add links to your site and socials.
Dailymotion’s free Partner account allows 96 uploads daily, and you can even upload multiple videos simultaneously. The player’s interface is reminiscent of YouTube’s, making it beginner-friendly and quite straightforward. You can easily add descriptions, enable comments, add titles and tags, or even select your desired privacy settings.
However, Dailymotion limits your file sizes to 2 GB at most and video length to no more than an hour. The basic analytics that this player provides will turn away any marketers looking for in-depth data tracking.
Pros:
- No storage and bandwidth limits
- Detailed and user-friendly interface allows for effortless content management
- Offer many different customizable widgets and personalized branding tools
Cons:
- Superficial analytics
- Limited uploads and video length
- Smaller audience size than YouTube
- Publishers have no control over the ads playing before their videos
Best Suitable For:
Businesses and publishers looking for secondary content distribution channels.
Although Affordable, Free Video Hosting Leaves Much to Be Desired
Free video hosting sites are an excellent place for wannabe video marketers to give video a shot, but most come with significant downsides that most just won’t be able to ignore. That is why our advice would be to treat these free video hosting platforms as a testing ground before settling for a premium one. Why should you consider that? There are several excellent reasons you might want to opt for a premium video hosting package over a free one:
- Privacy and Security — Free video hosting platforms have lackluster security and privacy features. Those that don’t usually hide those features behind a paywall. If you’re a business owner, you should value your data’s security above all else, so you should keep this in mind.
- Higher Limits — As you could see above, most private video hosting platforms have various strict limits for their free users. These limits are rarely high enough to fulfill publishers’ needs, so upgrading to a paid plan is often the best solution.
- More Features — Most premium hosting platforms offer some of their most useful features only to premium users. These features are usually worth the investment if your business is serious about video.
- Better Control Over Your Monetization — Premium online video platforms offer superior monetization options and control over it than free hosting sites. If earning revenue from your videos is your primary goal, opting for a premium platform or subscription package will offer excellent ROI.
- Branding — As you have likely noticed, no free video hosting option allows player customization and branding. If you’re looking to build a presence on the market, this feature is essential.
Finding the Best Premium Hosting Solutions
As you can see, there is plenty to gain if you opt for a premium package on one of these (or other) platforms. Although free video hosting is excellent for newcomers to the industry, if you ever decide to grow your video business, you must find the right online video platform. If it ever comes to that, conducting in-depth market research is crucial. Luckily, we can help with that!
We have conducted in-depth market research on the best online video platforms on the market and have compiled our results in a comprehensive blog post. If you ever need help finding the best online video platform for your business, give our comparative research below a read.
