StreamYard pricing: free, Core and Advanced

Use this StreamYard pricing page to understand cost structure, usage limits, and where pricing conversations need more detail.

StreamYard charges a flat rate for the account, not per guest or per viewer. Our snapshot describes the three tiers as differing on recording hours, guest count and branding, which means your streaming volume and show format decide the plan rather than your audience size.

A stream with 50 viewers and one with 5,000 cost the same.

The free tier is a tier, not a countdown. Our 1 October 2026 check records it as permanent with a watermark attached.

That makes it a genuine option for a hobby show, and it makes the watermark the single clearest upgrade trigger on the card: either your audience tolerates it or it does not.

We do not publish the hour and guest limits for each tier, because our verified snapshot names those as the dimensions without recording the numbers. Read them off StreamYard's own pricing page and check them against your own format.

A weekly panel with five guests and a solo monthly broadcast sit on different sides of that line.

Annual billing is the biggest discount available. Core drops from $44.99/mo to $35.99/mo and Advanced from $88.99/mo to $68.99/mo, which saves $108 and $240 across a year respectively, since the monthly rates total $539.88 and $1,067.88. That is roughly a fifth off either plan.

Annual billing is also where the billing surprise comes from. The discounted rate is quoted per month but charged as one payment of $431.88 on Core or $827.88 on Advanced.

If a charge appears that matches neither monthly figure, an annual renewal is the first thing to check on your invoice.

Cost per episode is the useful way to read a flat rate. Core at the monthly price works out at about $10 an episode for a weekly show and about $45 for a monthly one.

The plan is priced for people who stream regularly, and it is poor value for anyone going live a few times a year, which the permanent free tier covers better.

Against the cheaper paid alternative, Restream Standard is $19/mo and Professional $49/mo, checked 1 October 2026. Restream undercuts StreamYard Core at $44.99/mo and is the better value if simultaneous destinations are what you are buying.

The StreamYard and Restream comparison sets out where the two diverge, and the Restream profile has the full card.

The free alternative is OBS Studio at $0 with no tier above it, checked 6 October 2026. It removes the subscription entirely and removes the browser studio with it: no link-based guest joining, and the production runs on your own machine.

The OBS Studio and StreamYard comparison is the right place to weigh that trade, and the OBS Studio profile covers what free means here.

If recording quality matters more than going live, Riverside publishes a $0 tier with Pro at $29/mo and Grow at $39/mo, checked 1 October 2026, and prices per host seat rather than per account. That is cheaper than Core for a one-host show.

The Riverside and StreamYard comparison covers the recording-first case.

For the wider field, the live streaming software category lists everything we track and our guide to live streaming platforms compared covers how the free tiers differ. Put your streaming cadence through the pricing calculators before you commit to a year.

Stay free if the watermark is acceptable and you stream occasionally. The tier is permanent on our 1 October 2026 check, so there is no deadline forcing a decision, and a hobby show with no sponsor to answer to loses nothing by keeping it.

Move to Core at $44.99/mo when the watermark becomes a problem or when your show runs past the free tier's recording hours.

Pay monthly first: at $539.88 across a year, the annual commitment deserves a few months of actual cadence behind it before you prepay $431.88.

Take Advanced at $88.99/mo only for a specific format requirement, usually more on-screen guests or more simultaneous destinations than Core allows. Read both limits off StreamYard's pricing page and match them to the show you run, because the $44/mo step is $528 a year.

Look elsewhere if you stream a few times a year, where the free tier or OBS Studio at $0 covers it, or if simultaneous destinations are the whole point, where Restream Standard at $19/mo does the same job for less.