Restream review: $19 a month to stream everywhere at once
Restream sells distribution rather than production: one broadcast pushed to many platforms with the chat pulled back into one window. Our check of restream.io on 1 October 2026 recorded a free plan, Standard at $19 a month, Professional at $49 and Business at $239. If you publish to one platform, you are buying something you will not use.
The short answer
Buy Restream Buy Restream Standard if you publish the same live show to several platforms and want the comments in one place. Standard was $19 a month, or $15.20 billed annually, when we checked restream.io/pricing on 1 October 2026, and Professional was $49 a month.
Skip it if you stream to one destination, because distribution is the whole product. Skip it too if you need real production depth: OBS Studio is $0 on our 6 October 2026 check and gives you scene and audio control that the Restream Studio does not, and Ecamm Live was $20 a month on Standard on our 11 June 2026 check if you are on a Mac.
Where Restream fits
Restream fits the creator whose audience is split across platforms and who refuses to choose between them. One encoder feed goes in, many destinations come out, and the chat from all of them arrives in a single window, which is the part regular hosts miss most when they leave. The production tools are adequate rather than the reason to be here.
The free plan is permanent rather than a trial, which is unusual in this category and useful. Our 1 October 2026 check of restream.io/pricing recorded it as $0 with a watermark, 720p output and five channels, and it records no time-limited paid trial, so the free tier is how you evaluate the product.
Standard at $19 a month is the first step up and the tier most solo creators land on. Billed annually it was $15.20 a month, which is $182.40 across a year against $228 at the monthly rate for twelve months, so prepaying saves $45.60. The known catch is that our notes put the 720p cap on Standard as well as on Free.
Professional at $49 a month, or $39.20 billed annually, is where a creator who needs better output and deeper production features goes. Twelve months of monthly billing is $588 and the prepaid year is $470.40, a saving of $117.60. For most working creators this is the real ceiling of the product.
Business at $239 a month, or $191.20 billed annually, is a different buyer entirely. That is $2,868 across a year at the monthly rate or $2,294.40 prepaid, and the step up from Professional is $190 a month, which is the steepest jump on this rate card by a wide margin. Enterprise is quoted rather than listed.
Against the alternatives Restream is the distribution specialist rather than the studio. StreamYard was free on its entry plan with Core at $44.99 a month, verified 1 October 2026, and is the better browser studio. Evmux was $25 a month on Basic, verified 6 October 2026, and sells multistreaming with AI clips. OBS Studio is $0, verified 6 October 2026, and will do the production work while you pay someone else for the relay.
This pricing was verified on 1 October 2026, which makes it a little over two weeks old at the time of review and the most current evidence we hold for this product. It is still a snapshot, so read restream.io/pricing before you pay, particularly for the per-plan channel and recording limits our snapshot does not record as numbers. The live streaming software category holds the alternatives.
Restream pricing
Restream prices by tier, with channels, resolution and production features as the differences between them. The figures below were verified against restream.io/pricing on 1 October 2026, and the Restream pricing breakdown carries the longer version.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | Watermark, 720p, five channels. Permanent rather than a trial |
| Standard | $19/mo | $15.20/mo billed annually, which is $182.40 across the year |
| Professional | $49/mo | $39.20/mo billed annually, which is $470.40 across the year |
| Business | $239/mo | $191.20/mo billed annually, which is $2,294.40 across the year |
| Enterprise | Custom | Quoted rather than listed on the rate card |
The tier is set by how many places you publish and how good the picture has to be. Five things set what you pay:
- How many channels you stream to. Five on the free plan, as verified on 1 October 2026, and the channel count is the main thing the paid tiers raise.
- Output resolution. Our notes put a 720p cap on the Free and Standard plans, so anything that has to look current is a Professional decision at $49 a month.
- Whether a watermark is acceptable, since it sits on the free plan and undoes any claim to a produced broadcast.
- Recording storage, which our snapshot describes as limited and varying by plan without giving the numbers, so read those off the current rate card.
- Billing period. Annual billing saves $45.60 a year on Standard, $117.60 on Professional and $573.60 on Business against the monthly rates.
Restream pricing against the other streaming tools
Restream is cheap for what it does and not the cheapest studio in the category. StreamYard was free on its entry plan with Core at $44.99 a month and Advanced at $88.99, verified 1 October 2026, and is the stronger browser studio. Evmux was free with Basic at $25 a month and Pro at $49, verified 6 October 2026. Melon was $4 a month on Standard and $12 on Pro, verified 15 June 2026, and is the budget floor. Be.Live was $15.83 a month on Starter, verified 14 June 2026. OBS Studio is $0, verified 6 October 2026, and does the production rather than the distribution. Two of those checks are four months older than Restream's.
Restream billing terms worth knowing
The resolution cap on the cheaper plans is the term that catches people out.
- Free plan
- $0 a month with a watermark, 720p and five channels, verified 1 October 2026. Permanent, not a trial.
- Standard
- $19 per month, or $15.20 billed annually. $228 or $182.40 across a year.
- Professional
- $49 per month, or $39.20 billed annually. $588 or $470.40 across a year.
- Business
- $239 per month, or $191.20 billed annually. $2,868 or $2,294.40 across a year.
- Trial
- No time-limited paid trial recorded. The free plan is the trial.
- Annual saving
- $45.60 a year on Standard, $117.60 on Professional and $573.60 on Business.
- Check date
- 1 October 2026, verified against restream.io/pricing.
Restream plans: Free $0/mo; Standard $19/mo ($15.20/mo billed annually); Professional $49/mo ($39.20/mo billed annually); Business $239/mo ($191.20/mo billed annually); Enterprise Custom.
If a Restream charge is higher than these rates, the tier is the likeliest explanation, because the step from Professional to Business is $190 a month. Our 1 October 2026 snapshot does not record the per-plan channel counts or recording allowances as numbers, so this page states none rather than estimating them. Our creator tool cost calculators will total a streaming stack across a year.
What Restream gives up
You give up production depth. The Restream Studio handles a camera, a guest and a few layouts, and it does not do complex scene switching or detailed audio mixing, so anyone coming from a desktop encoder will feel the walls quickly.
You give up current resolution on the cheap plans. A 720p ceiling on Free and Standard looks dated against everything else being published in 2026, and clearing it means Professional at $49 a month, or $470.40 on the prepaid year.
You give up credibility on the free plan. The watermark sits on your broadcast, which is fine for testing and wrong for anything a sponsor or a client will see.
You give up predictable recording storage. Our 1 October 2026 snapshot describes it as limited and varying by plan without recording the figures, so this page gives no number and you should read yours off the rate card before relying on cloud copies.
You give up a gentle upgrade path at the top. The step from Professional at $49 a month to Business at $239 is $190 a month, which is $2,280 a year, and there is nothing in between, so a creator who outgrows Professional is facing a different kind of decision rather than the next tier.
You give up the reason to be here if you publish to one platform. Paying $19 a month for distribution you do not need is the most common way to waste money on this tool, and OBS Studio at $0, verified 6 October 2026, covers a single destination at no cost.
Finally, you give up 4K out of the Studio. If your work is judged on picture quality, the production tool should be a desktop encoder and Restream should be the relay behind it rather than the thing you broadcast from.
How Restream compares
The three tools below are the ones weighed against Restream, and the axis is distribution against production. Each price is that vendor's own published rate with the date we checked it, and the Ecamm Live date is four months older than the rest. The wider field sits in the live streaming software category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restream | One broadcast pushed to many platforms | Free, $19/mo Standard (October 2026) | 720p on Free and Standard, light production tools |
| StreamYard | Polished browser broadcasts with guests | Free, $44.99/mo Core (October 2026) | More than twice the entry price |
| OBS Studio | Production control at no cost | $0, free and open source (October 2026) | No remote guests and no built-in multistreaming |
| Ecamm Live | Mac production with multistreaming built in | $20/mo Standard, $40/mo Pro (June 2026) | Mac only, and no free plan |
What to test on the Restream free plan
Our 1 October 2026 check recorded a permanent free plan at $0 with a watermark, 720p and five channels, and no time-limited paid trial. The free tier is therefore the evaluation, and it answers the important questions.
- Confirm the current free limits and the Standard price on restream.io/pricing. Ours were five channels and $19 a month on 1 October 2026.
- Connect every platform you publish to and run one real broadcast to all of them at once. Reliability across destinations is the product.
- Sit in the unified chat for a full show with the comments moving at full speed. This is the feature regular hosts stay for.
- Watch the 720p output back on a large screen and decide honestly whether it is good enough. If it is not, your price is Professional at $49 a month rather than Standard at $19.
- Check the recording that comes back, and read the storage allowance on your intended tier, because our snapshot records it as varying by plan without giving numbers.
- Try the Studio for the production your show needs, then try the same show from a desktop encoder feeding Restream instead. Most serious setups end up that way.
- Before prepaying, compare the year: Standard at $228 paid monthly against $182.40 prepaid, or Professional at $588 against $470.40. Then set that beside StreamYard at $44.99 a month on Core, verified 1 October 2026, with the cost calculators.
Restream questions buyers ask
How much does Restream cost per month?
Our check of restream.io/pricing on 1 October 2026 recorded a permanent free plan at $0 with a watermark, 720p output and 5 channels, Standard at $19/month ($15.20/month billed annually), Professional at $49/month ($39.20/month billed annually), Business at $239/month ($191.20/month billed annually) and Enterprise quoted rather than listed. Twelve months of Standard at the monthly rate is $228 against $182.40 prepaid.
Does Restream have a free plan?
Yes, and our 1 October 2026 check records it as permanent rather than a time-limited trial. It carried a watermark, 720p output and 5 channels on that check. The watermark is the reason most creators move up, and clearing it starts at Standard, which was $19/month, or $15.20/month billed annually, on the same check.
Who is Restream best for?
Restream is built for creators, podcasters, and teams who stream regularly to three or more platforms. If you go live on YouTube, Twitch, and LinkedIn simultaneously, Restream handles all the distribution from one place. It is less useful for single-platform streamers or creators who need advanced video production tools. Think of it as a distribution-first platform with a decent built-in studio.
Restream vs StreamYard: which is better?
Restream is better for multistreaming reach (more channels at lower cost) and cross-platform chat management. StreamYard is better for guest-heavy shows, production polish, and ease of use for non-technical hosts. If distribution across many platforms is your priority, choose Restream. If producing a polished show with multiple guests is the priority, StreamYard is the stronger pick.
What platforms does Restream support?
Restream supports 30+ platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Kick, Twitter/X, Instagram Live and Amazon Live, and you can add custom RTMP destinations for anything not integrated directly. The number of simultaneous channels rises with the tier: our 1 October 2026 check records 5 channels on the free plan and does not record the counts on the paid tiers, so read those off the current rate card rather than from this page.
Is Restream good for podcast live streaming?
Yes, especially if you simulcast your podcast to multiple platforms. Restream Studio supports up to 10 on-screen guests, which covers most interview and panel formats. The unified chat lets you pull in listener questions from all platforms during the show. The main limitation is audio quality. OBS and dedicated podcast tools offer better audio control than Restream Studio's browser-based mixer.
Can Restream record my live streams?
Yes, Restream records your streams, but storage duration depends on your plan. Free plan recordings have limited retention, and recordings are not stored indefinitely on any tier. You should download recordings promptly after each stream if you plan to repurpose or archive them. For critical recordings, running a local backup through OBS alongside Restream is a smart safety net.
Can I use Restream with OBS Studio?
Yes. You can use OBS as your production tool and Restream as your distribution layer. Set OBS to stream to Restream's RTMP ingest, and Restream distributes to all your connected platforms. This gives you OBS's full production power (scenes, audio mixing, plugins) with Restream's multistreaming. Many power users prefer this combo over using Restream Studio alone.
Is Restream worth the money?
Setting up separate streams for each platform manually is tedious and error-prone. If you only stream to one platform, Restream is not worth it because you are paying for multistreaming you will not use. The value scales directly with how many platforms you actually broadcast to.
Can I cancel Restream anytime?
Yes, you can cancel your Restream subscription at any time. If you are on a monthly plan, your access continues until the end of the billing period. If you are on an annual plan, you keep access until the annual term ends, but you will not receive a prorated refund for unused months. Test on the free plan or monthly billing before committing to annual.