Hey everyone! I'm trying to add a live video streaming feature to my Next.js website. After researching options like Agora.io, Amazon IVS, Vimeo, and Mux, I've found that the costs can get pretty steep—around $200 for just one stream with up to 250 viewers for about 5 hours. Plus, I noticed that Vimeo limits me to only 2 concurrent streams. My plan is to have users start streams directly on the website for their own auctions, but I don't need viewer interaction (though I can set up chat with Supabase if necessary). Is my research on the pricing accurate, or are there cheaper alternatives I might have overlooked? I would really appreciate insights from anyone who has tackled something similar!
3 Answers
Have you looked into Whereby? It might be a good alternative worth checking out for your streaming needs!
You should consider your latency needs. If you can manage with high latency, HLS might be a cheap way to distribute streams since they’re essentially files served from any web server or storage like S3. Just keep in mind that HLS typically has a latency of about 10 seconds, which may not work if you need something closer to real-time. For lower latency, WebRTC is your best bet, but it usually comes at a higher cost. You might want to weigh these options based on how crucial time delay is for your streams.
Could you give a bit more detail on your scenario? Understanding your specific requirements can help us figure out the best approach for a WebRTC implementation. How many viewers do you expect, and what’s the stream length like for you?
Sure! It's nothing too fancy on the video side. I want users to start streaming directly from the website, and each stream could attract around 300 to 1000 viewers for about 3 to 5 hours. We're looking at about 10 to 20 streamers per day, often streaming at the same time.
I appreciate the input! A 10-second delay probably won’t work for us. Do you think using WebRTC will still be a better deal compared to the other solutions I mentioned?