I'm creating a small website for a client using Astro and hosting it on Cloudflare Pages. My client has quite a few short videos, generally around one minute long, that we want to embed on the site. The budget is tight, and since Cloudflare Pages doesn't support direct video hosting, I've been exploring options. I looked at YouTube, but I noticed that ads will pop up on embedded videos unless the content seems inappropriate, and my client is really against having ads. I'm curious about which platforms might let my client easily upload videos without ads. I've heard of options like Cloudflare Stream, R2, and Vimeo, but I'd love to get your thoughts before I decide!
4 Answers
I’ve had a great experience using Bunny Stream for my videos. It's straightforward to set up, and I haven't had any ad issues.
I can confirm that unlisted YouTube videos usually don’t get ads, but I started hearing mixed feedback about that. Some users suggest that unlisted videos can still show ads in certain cases, so it might be worth researching a bit more to make sure you’re clear on that before you rely on it.
I think Mux might be a good fit for you. Their documentation seems solid and you can check their price calculator to see if it works with your budget. I've looked into it, and it seems pretty free for the amount of videos you'll be hosting.
It's often best to host videos externally rather than on your hosting package. I typically use unlisted YouTube videos to avoid ads, and it works well without any loading delays. If you choose shared hosting, services like Nixihost offer lots of features at a low cost, around $60 per year for a small site. You can always scale later if you need more resources!
That’s interesting! I did some digging too and found some claims that unlisted videos can still have ads, so I’m not entirely sure what to believe. Have you tested it yourselves?