Standard live streaming pricing combines three charges: one-time encoding, monthly storage, and per-viewer CDN delivery by resolution. On VideoSDK's Pro plan, encoding costs $0.05 per video minute, storage costs $0.003 per minute monthly, and delivery ranges from $0.0004 to $0.0012 per viewer-minute. Total bill equals encoding plus storage plus minutes times views times your delivery rate.
Live streaming is gradually becoming a great engagement-cum-entertainment source for streamers. Apart from social media streamers, various huge brands and corporates are also keeping up with live streams to showcase their workflow and events to a mass audience. Live streaming has been seen as a lucratively popular deal for communication over the web.
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Videosdk.live also deals with developing live streaming APIs. This blog is dedicated to Standard Live Streaming. It will make a reader understand its price computation and contrast the prices of other providers.
How to Calculate the Cost of Standard Live Streaming?
Considering A video for live streaming is divided into three major steps, from production to final output. These are 1. Encoding 2. Storage 3. Delivery
- The total price of live-streaming a video is the sum of the costs of all three components.
- The total cost of a live streaming= Encoding + Storage + Delivery
Pro Plan
A pro plan is a plan which is devised by VideoSDK to keep up with the costs for the viewers in a trouble-free
Let’s understand the computation
Example 1 :
We can observe how the price is computed for a month.
To make a note;
- The encoding price is only charged once in a lifetime.
- The video will not comply with further encoding costs for the next time
- The lifetime encoding cost does not fall with any other video uploaded by the streamer.
- Storage costs will be computed for each month.
- We calculate costs for 100% of the video
Lifetime video encoding= $0.05 per minute; Per month video storage= $0.003 per minute
As we see, the image explains the cost with a resolution of 1080p. Similarly, the cost can also be calculated for different resolutions as well. Let’s take the same example.
Calculation of cost for Live Streaming
Total Minutes= 30; Total Views= 100
Encoding- 30 x 0.05= $1.5; Storage- 30 x 0.003= $0.09
- Resolution- 240p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0004
Calculation- Delivery= 30 x 100 x 0.0004 = $1.2
Total cost at 240p= 1.5 + 0.09 + 1.2= $ 2.79
2. Resolution- 360p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0006
Calculation- Delivery= 30 x 100 x 0.0006 = $1.8
Total cost at 360p= 1.5 + 0.09 + 1.8= $ 3.39
3. Resolution- 480p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0008
Calculation- Delivery= 30 x 100 x 0.0008 = $2.4
Total cost at 480p= 1.5 + 0.09 + 2.4= $ 3.99
4. Resolution- 720p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0010
Calculation- Delivery= 30 x 100 x 0.0010 = $3
Total cost at 720p= 1.5 + 0.09 + 3= $ 4.59
5. Resolution- 1080p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0012
Calculation- Delivery= 30 x 100 x 0.0012 = $3.6
Total cost at 1080p= 1.5 + 0.09 + 3.6= $ 5.19
Let's take another example and look at the pricing where the streaming minutes are increased. This example will let you understand the calculations with change in different units- Minutes, or Views, or both.
Example 2;
Calculation of cost of Live Streaming
Total Minutes- 150; Total views- 100
Encoding- 150 x 0.05= $7.5; Storage- 150 x 0.003= $0.45
- Resolution- 240p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0004
Calculation- Delivery= 150 x 100 x 0.0004 = $6
Total cost at 240p= 7.5 + 0.45 + 6= $ 13.95
2. Resolution- 360p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0006
Calculation- Delivery= 150 x 100 x 0.0009 = $6
Total cost at 360p= 7.5 + 0.45 + 9= $ 16.95
3. Resolution- 480p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0008
Calculation- Delivery= 150 x 100 x 0.0008 = $12
Total cost at 480p= 7.5 + 0.45 + 12= $ 19.95
4. Resolution- 720p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0010
Calculation- Delivery= 150 x 100 x 0.0010 = $15
Total cost at 720p= 7.5 + 0.45 + 15= $ 22.95
5. Resolution- 1080p; Unit price per Minute- 0.0012
Calculation- Delivery= 150 x 100 x 0.0012 = $18
Total cost at 1080p= 7.5 + 0.45 + 18= $ 25.95
Enterprise plan
An Enterprise Plan is a plan for companies that stream live regularly and demand increasing viewers on their platform. We bring this plan to promote mass engagement at affordable prices.
Contact Support for the best pricing deals.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Pricing
AWS is a popular name among the providers of live-streaming services. To be on point, it provides streaming services in two specific resolutions- 1080p and 4K. We will put an eye focus on the 1080p resolution.
Note that: AWS works with only two resolutions. It does not provide a lower streaming resolution than 1080p. Where other companies make a provision of streaming on different resolutions from 240p to 1080p, AWS will only provide streaming with 1080p resolution.
AWS calculates its pricing based on GB. We have converted the pricing units into minutes to gain a better understanding of the pricing concept. We have put forward the unit conversion in the next part of this blog.
AWS Pricing at 1080p per minute
Encoding= $ 0.062
Storage= $ 0.0024
Delivery= $ 0.003
Calculation of costs in Minutes or GB?
Calculating the cost of live streaming can be done in either of the ways. Some companies compute costs with GB, the reason being they provide multiple services and prefer keeping a unified unit for all.
While other companies prefer calculating costs through the video minutes to make calculations effortless for their clients. A video is always uploaded in minutes, therefore calculation in minutes is easy and not challenging. VideoSDK calculates costs based on video minutes.
How to convert GB into minutes?
This is a simple table that describes the ratio of GB to minute.
Comparison
VideoSDK and AWS both work on an identical aspect and that is providing the best quality live streaming for streamers. We have distinguished these two based on their pricing policies.
Note that we have converted the streaming units of AWS into minutes from GB to make an unbiased comparison of pricing.
VideoSDK comes up to be an affordable approach for live-streaming when we compare it to AWS. It might become a questionable point of quality, but AWS lies on the same page concerning quality. Everything they offer is identical. As AWS deals in a resolution of 1080p and VideoSDK provides playback in multiple resolutions, we observe a huge pricing gap. And even when we compare the 1080p resolution of both companies, there is a huge price difference, we can say, double it!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is standard live streaming pricing?
Standard live streaming pricing is a three-part billing model that charges for video encoding, monthly cloud storage, and per-viewer CDN delivery. Providers like VideoSDK publish per-minute rates for each resolution tier from 240p through 1080p. Total cost grows with content library size, replay availability duration, and audience view counts.
How do you calculate live streaming costs?
Live streaming costs are calculated by adding encoding fees (minutes × encoding rate), storage fees (minutes × storage rate × months stored), and delivery fees (minutes × views × delivery rate for your resolution tier). For a 30-minute video with 100 views at 1080p on VideoSDK's Pro plan, the first-month total is $5.19 [UPDATE: verify date].
Is VideoSDK cheaper than AWS for live streaming?
VideoSDK is cheaper than AWS for standard 1080p delivery on a per-viewer-minute basis, with VideoSDK at $0.0012 and AWS at $0.003 per viewer-minute on converted rates. AWS offers lower per-minute storage and fits teams already committed to AWS infrastructure for 4K broadcast workflows. The cheaper option depends on your resolution requirements and existing cloud stack.
What resolution should I choose to minimize live streaming costs?
Choose the lowest resolution that preserves acceptable viewing quality for your audience's primary device. Mobile-heavy audiences benefit from adaptive bitrate ladders centered on 480p and 720p rather than forcing 1080p delivery to every viewer. A blended delivery rate based on actual rendition distribution produces more accurate cost forecasts than assuming maximum resolution for all views.
Does encoding cost repeat every time someone watches a video?
Encoding cost does not repeat per view on standard plans. VideoSDK charges encoding once per video minute at $0.05 when the asset is first processed. Storage and delivery charges recur based on how long the asset remains available and how many times viewers watch it.
When should I switch from the Pro plan to Enterprise pricing?
Switch to Enterprise pricing when monthly viewer-minutes exceed roughly 100,000, when single-event concurrency requirements surpass 10,000 viewers, or when you need custom SLAs, private VPC deployment, or compliance certifications. Enterprise volume discounts typically reduce delivery costs by 15 to 30% at committed usage levels.
What is the difference between standard and interactive live streaming pricing?
Standard live streaming pricing bills encoding, storage, and CDN delivery for passive one-to-many broadcasts with HLS-level latency. Interactive live streaming pricing bills per speaker-minute and per viewer-minute for real-time WebRTC rooms with sub-second latency. VideoSDK offers both models, with interactive viewer minutes at $0.002 and speakers at $0.004