Restream vs StreamYard for Multistreaming Live Shows: Destinations, Guests and Price Math

The direct answer

Pick Restream if the show needs more than three destinations on a modest budget, if OBS, vMix, Zoom or Ecamm stays your main production tool and you only want a fan-out behind it, or if you need analytics that span platforms. Pick StreamYard if the show is guest-led, you want a 1080p studio from the first paid plan, and you depend on per-participant local recordings that the vendor documents in detail.

On price, the two products cross over by destination count. For three destinations, Restream Standard is listed at $19 per month on monthly billing and StreamYard Core at $44.99 (both checked 2026-10-06 on the vendor's page). That gap narrows once you require a 1080p studio, because Restream's studio is 720p until the Professional plan at $49.

The biggest caveat is the evidence. Everything below comes from the vendors' own pricing and help pages, which are claims, not measurements. No latency, stability, guest audio quality or real destination bitrates were tested. Two specific items stay open: Restream's annual prices contradict its own yearly totals, and whether StreamYard accepts RTMP input into its studio is unverified.

What the current documentation establishes

Restream describes itself as a live streaming solution that sends one stream to 30+ social channels, from either its browser studio or any third-party streaming software. StreamYard is a browser-based live studio and recording tool that multistreams to a fixed set of native destinations, plus Custom RTMP on paid plans. Both pricing pages were read on 2026-10-06 and the figures below are monthly-billed list prices, each checked 2026-10-06 on the vendor's page.

Restream plans, from its pricing page:

• Free, $0: 2 channels at once, Restream branding, Studio quality 720p, 6 on-screen participants, 1 seat, no cloud recordings.
• Standard, $19 per month: 3 channels, no Restream branding, Custom RTMP channels, analytics, cloud recording of 6 hours per stream kept 15 days, Studio 720p, 10 on-screen participants.
• Professional, $49 per month: 5 channels, Studio in 1080p, recording of 10 hours per stream kept 15 days, split feed downloads, co-producers, 3 RTMP Pull links, 2 included team seats.
• Business, $239 per month: 8 channels, RTMP as a source, SRT ingest, stream disconnect protection, 30 days of storage, 5 RTMP Pull links, workspaces.
• Enterprise: contact sales.

StreamYard plans and where the pages disagree

Three conflicts matter. First, Restream's annual toggle shows about $16, $40 and $202 per month for Standard, Professional and Business, but the same page says they are billed as $190, $470 and $2,390 per year. Dividing those totals by 12 gives roughly $15.83, $39.17 and $199.17. This article quotes the yearly totals and treats the per-month annual figures as unresolved rather than guessing which is current.

Second, StreamYard's help center lags its pricing page. A help article still references a Teams plan, still says pre-recorded streams run up to 8 hours where the pricing page lists 2 and 4 hours, and gives Free storage as 5 hours where the pricing page says limited. Plan facts here follow the pricing page.

Third, the StreamYard blog says OBS can reach StreamYard through a virtual camera or RTMP ingest where appropriate. A help article about RTMP network cameras exists, but its contents could not be read, so RTMP input into StreamYard's studio, its plan requirement and its limits are unverified. On ownership, Wikipedia and a trade report place StreamYard under Bending Spoons since 2024; the exact completion date could not be confirmed. Restream's site footer names Restream, Inc.

StreamYard plans, from its pricing page, also checked 2026-10-06 on the vendor's page:

• Free: StreamYard logo on streams, 6 on-screen participants, 2 hours of local recording per month, one seat, individuals only.
• Core, $44.99 per month billed monthly or $35.99 billed yearly: 1080p, 3 destinations, Custom RTMP, 10 on-screen participants, unlimited local recording, 50 hours of permanent storage, chat overlay.
• Advanced, $88.99 monthly or $68.99 yearly: 8 destinations, 4K local recordings, 15 backstage participants, On-Air webinars for 100 viewers.
• Business, $299 monthly or $249 yearly: 10 destinations, 2 seats included, 1000+ viewer webinars, 700+ hours of storage, priority support. Core and Advanced are for individual use only; a company or work email needs Business.

Evaluation criteria

Eight criteria frame the comparison. Each is chosen because it changes what happens on air or what a show costs.

• Destination reach: native integrations versus Custom RTMP, and how many run at once per plan. A show that needs five destinations cannot buy a three-destination plan.
• Studio capability: on-screen guests, backstage room, scenes and the live output ceiling. This decides whether a panel looks the way you want.
• Encoder path: whether OBS, vMix or Zoom can sit in front of the service, and whether the service is a fan-out behind the encoder or a studio the encoder feeds. Operators with an existing rig care most about this.
• Recording: cloud length per stream, retention, and per-participant local tracks. Live delivery is temporary; the recording is what editors and clip makers use.
• Chat and moderation: which platforms you can read and reply to from one place, and what disappears on Custom RTMP. A host who misses comments loses audience interaction.
• Analytics: cross-platform dashboards versus viewer count only. This affects reporting to sponsors or clients.
• Cost at your destination count: monthly and annual price, add-ons, seats and individual-use rules.
• Evidence confidence: how much is an official claim, how much is dated or contradictory, and what is untested. This criterion is why several points below end in a caveat.

Head-to-head against the criteria

Destinations. Restream states over 30 destinations plus custom channels through RTMP, SRT, HLS and WHIP, with WHIP flagged as beta. Its changelog mentions Patreon, Rumble, X and Slack streaming. StreamYard lists Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Twitch, Kick and Vimeo natively, plus Custom RTMP; its table also lists On-Air, Instagram (portrait, professional account required) and TikTok (portrait). StreamYard documents destination quirks: LinkedIn cannot multistream to several LinkedIn profiles or pages, Facebook allows one live broadcast per page or profile at a time, and YouTube has a 24-hour approval wait.

Studio. Restream's studio is 720p on Free and Standard and 1080p from Professional; its help page counts everyone in the room, hosts and co-producers included, which matches the pricing page's 6 on-screen on Free and 10 on paid plans. Guests join by link without an account. StreamYard allows 6, 10, 15 and 15 backstage participants and 6, 10, 10 and 10 on screen across Free, Core, Advanced and Business, and guests wait backstage until the host adds them. StreamYard documents 1080p output at 4500 kbps video (720p at 3000 kbps), a 2-second keyframe interval and 128 kbps audio, and recommends at least 5 Mbps upload on a wired connection. It cannot live stream in 4K; 4K exists only as local recording on Advanced and above.

Encoder path. Restream documents three modes: an encoder sending RTMP to Restream for fan-out with chat and analytics, the browser studio, and an encoder feed brought into the studio as an RTMP Source on Business and Enterprise. That last mode accepts one source at a time, with HD at up to 720p and Full HD at up to 1080p and 30 fps, a 2-second keyframe interval and AAC audio only. For StreamYard, documented behavior is browser studio in, Custom RTMP out; encoder input remains unverified, as noted above.

Recording. StreamYard records live streams automatically on paid plans, up to 10 hours per stream on Core and Advanced and 24 hours on Business, and its local recording captures each participant on their own device as separate video and WAV audio, plus separate tracks for screen shares. Local recording must be enabled before the session starts; files cannot be recovered afterward. Restream lists cloud recording of 6 hours on Standard and 10 hours on Professional and Business, and split feed downloads from Professional. Restream local recording appears only in third-party descriptions, so it is unverified from official pages.

Chat and analytics. StreamYard reads comments on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Twitch, On-Air and Kick, but not on Custom RTMP, Instagram, TikTok or Vimeo, and offers a paid chat overlay and a text export of the last 10,000 comments. It has no analytics on regular streams beyond current viewer count; analytics there cover On-Air webinars. Restream puts chat on every plan, supports overlaying, highlighting and pinning up to 50 messages in the studio, and its analytics cover 7 to 90 day views plus custom ranges up to 365 days, per-stream viewers, stream quality and transcripts, from Standard upward. Neither chat nor analytics works for Restream custom channels.

Scenarios and recommendations

Weekly interview show with one to three guests on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. This needs three destinations. StreamYard Core ($44.99 monthly) gives a 1080p studio and documented per-participant local tracks. Restream Standard ($19 monthly) costs less but caps the studio at 720p; Professional ($49) reaches 1080p with five channels. If editing guest tracks matters, lean StreamYard. If cost matters and 720p is acceptable, lean Restream Standard.

Solo creator running OBS to YouTube, Twitch, Kick, TikTok and Rumble. Restream's fan-out behind an encoder is its documented core use, and its pricing page FAQ claims no additional bandwidth is needed beyond the single stream you send, even for 30 destinations (a vendor claim). StreamYard's native list does not include Rumble. Five destinations point to Restream Professional at $49 monthly; StreamYard would force Advanced at $88.99 for eight.

Company town hall with ten speakers on a work email and an internal RTMP endpoint. StreamYard Core and Advanced are individual-use only, so the comparison is StreamYard Business at $299 (10 destinations) against Restream Business at $239 (8 channels). Whether Restream applies an equivalent individual-use rule was not verified. On both products, a Custom RTMP destination loses chat and viewer counts.

Video podcast recorded and streamed together. StreamYard documents separate WAV and video tracks per participant and 4K local recording on Advanced. Confirm Restream's split feed downloads yourself before promising editors anything, since its local recording is unverified here.

Coach with eight destinations and a 100-viewer webinar. StreamYard Advanced lists 8 destinations and On-Air webinars for 100 viewers at $88.99 monthly. Restream would need Business at $239 plus the 100-attendee webinar add-on at $99 per month. Individual-use rules apply to Advanced.

Zoom panel inside a branded layout. Restream's RTMP Source on Business can bring an encoder feed, such as Zoom, into the studio under its graphics. The StreamYard path is unverified.

Failure cases and rehearsal checklist

Most problems come from limits discovered late. Custom RTMP removes chat and analytics on Restream and comments on StreamYard. A full Restream room blocks the next guest. StreamYard's local recording cannot be recovered if it was not enabled before the session. Platform caps apply regardless of tool: StreamYard's help lists 8 hours on Facebook and 4 hours on LinkedIn. Neither service removes your own upload and CPU limits. Restream's claimed delay under 2 seconds and lack of bitrate limits are vendor statements and were not tested.

Free plans work as trials, not production tiers: StreamYard Free puts its logo on streams and does not record live streams, and Restream Free adds branding and a 720p studio. Both vendors say prices can change with promotions and renewal terms, so recheck before paying. Rehearse in a free or trial account first:

• Join as a guest from the browser and device your guests will actually use, and confirm the invite link works without an account.
• Check the output resolution on a private stream at the plan you intend to buy.
• Enable local recording before the rehearsal and confirm per-participant files appear.
• Send a private test to each destination and confirm comments appear where the plan promises them.
• Test any Custom RTMP destination separately, expecting no chat or viewer count.
• Confirm your upload speed supports the plan, using the vendor's own recommendation as a minimum.
• For YouTube on StreamYard, allow for the 24-hour approval wait; for LinkedIn, plan a single LinkedIn target.

Cost, ecosystem and alternatives

Using monthly-billed list prices checked 2026-10-06 on the vendor's page: three destinations cost $19 on Restream Standard versus $44.99 on StreamYard Core, a difference of about $26 per month. Five destinations cost $49 on Restream Professional, while StreamYard has no five-destination plan and Advanced costs $88.99 for eight. At eight destinations, Restream Business is $239 against StreamYard Advanced at $88.99 for individuals or StreamYard Business at $299 for companies. At 1080p studio level the prices are close: StreamYard Core $44.99 and Restream Professional $49.

Restream's yearly totals are $190, $470 and $2,390 for Standard, Professional and Business, with the per-month display inconsistent as described earlier. StreamYard's yearly prices are $35.99, $68.99 and $249 per month. Add-ons change the math: Restream sells Clips from $19 per month and webinars from $99 per month, while StreamYard includes AI clips from Core. Restream Professional includes two team seats, with extra seats at $25 per seat per month.

The stronger decision rule is by destination count. One to three destinations with guests: StreamYard Core or Restream Standard. Four to five: Restream Professional. Six to eight as an individual: StreamYard Advanced is cheaper but has fewer native destinations and no cross-platform analytics, while Restream Business adds SRT, disconnect protection and workspaces.

No alternative is rated here because none was evaluated for this comparison. Readers with an existing OBS or vMix rig can pair it with Restream's fan-out rather than adopting a studio, and local-first recorders suit shows where the recording matters more than live delivery. If you stream to a single platform, skip both and use that platform's own tools, since the multistreaming features add nothing there.

Verdict

Restream is the better fit when reach, an encoder-first workflow or cross-platform analytics drive the decision. StreamYard is the better fit when a guest-led studio, 1080p at the lowest paid tier and documented per-participant recordings drive it. Neither is a clear winner across both jobs, because their price ladders step at different destination counts.

This verdict would change if StreamYard's RTMP input is confirmed and documented on a plan you can buy, if Restream confirms local recording on its official pages, or if either pricing page changes. A company on a work email should compare the Business plans only, and verify seats and usage terms before committing. The first paid month on monthly billing is the lower-risk way to retest every limit quoted here.