A video-sharing site is an online platform where you can upload all your video content, from social media ads to company-wide live streams. It’s the home base where all your video assets live, allowing you to embed them elsewhere or send them directly to viewers with a shareable link.
Whether you’re part of a large business that needs a place to upload videos or a content creator looking to market and share viral content online, selecting the right platform is paramount. This guide will compare seven of the best online video-sharing sites available so you can determine which suits your needs.
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What are video-sharing platforms?
Video-sharing platforms are websites for uploading videos online, with each offering unique benefits and limitations. Some video upload sites are geared toward monetization, while others are best suited for hosting videos that you then embed on your website.
For example, YouTube allows you to monetize engagement from a broad audience, while Wistia secures your videos so you can embed them in company documentation. A comprehensive video hosting service like Vimeo offers versatile editing, recording, and video management features that can handle most use cases.
Tips for choosing the right video-sharing platform
Determining the best online video hosting service depends on which features are the most important for your needs. Content creators likely desire monetization options and video analytics to maximize their audience engagement, while businesses might be interested in a custom video player that reflects their branding.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself when selecting a video-sharing platform:
- Are you monetizing videos? Your chosen platform must support your monetization strategy, whether subscriptions, pay-per-view, or a combination of both.
- Will you embed them elsewhere? Consider an online video platform that supports integrations with a knowledge base or has tools for custom embedding.
- How will you track performance? Determine which metrics you’ll use to track engagement — such as likes, shares, and bookmarks, and ensure your chosen platform offers those video analytics.
- Which types of video content will you upload? Some platforms are better suited for hosting specific content types, like live streams, 4K videos, or online courses.
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7 top online video-sharing platforms
With the answers to those questions in mind, check out the following seven video hosting platforms to find the right one for you.
1. Vimeo
Vimeo is an all-in-one, high-quality video-sharing, editing, and streaming platform that’s completely ad-free and fits the needs of most people posting videos online. If you want to monetize your videos, Vimeo lets you set up a streaming platform, configure the subscriptions, and set pay-per-view prices. And if you need a place to store videos to embed them elsewhere, Vimeo’s video hosting is fast, reliable, and secure, thanks to a global CDN and advanced privacy controls.
With Vimeo, you can access our professional video editing, compression, and marketing tools. Hosting videos has never been easier with SEO-optimized embedding, simple sharing tools, and AI-generated metadata that make video marketing a breeze. It’s a complete suite for all your video-related needs and is compatible with most video formats, making it a clear choice for content creators and enterprise teams.
Upload your videos to Vimeo →
2. Wistia
Wistia is tailor-made for businesses, offering many features that help teams record, edit, and publish videos online. It provides marketing departments with an online platform to host advertisements and webinars, measure engagement, and produce new product demo videos.
With its focus on collaboration and compatibility, Wistia is a solid choice for large-scale businesses, but it has very little to offer content creators or online streaming services. It doesn’t have native monetization options, and its editor is simplistic. It has some basics like transitions and trimming, but it won’t help you add visual effects or compress video files.
See how Wistia compares to Vimeo →
3. Brightcove
Brightcove is primarily a video marketing platform — its features focus on targeting an audience and measuring their engagement. It offers deep video analytics that help you segment your audience and generate leads. You can also get a return on your video content with the ad monetization features.
Brightcove serves three main user bases: communications teams, media studios, and video marketers. It doesn’t offer much flexibility for content creators.
To sign up, you’ll have to meet with a sales rep to get a quote.
See how Brightcove compares to Vimeo →
4. Twitch
Twitch is a popular live-streaming platform owned by Amazon. It leverages Amazon’s global tech stack to deliver fast, high-resolution live streams to a massive audience. It’s free to stream on Twitch, and if you maintain a high follower and subscriber count, you can monetize engagement with the Twitch Affiliate program.
However, Twitch isn’t much of a video platform, as it won’t save your videos long-term, only clips of your streams. It’s best for live-streamers who need an accessible platform with a dedicated audience.
5. SproutVideo
SproutVideo helps businesses share and market their videos online. It integrates privacy features like access and embed codes that control where your videos can appear. It also offers several customization options for fine-tuning your video player, and has tools to create a fast, responsive website for your videos to appear on.
One drawback to SproutVideo is that it doesn’t offer native monetization features. You can’t paywall your content or set up subscriptions without installing a plugin or using third-party apps. If you want to monetize videos, you must set up a separate website with a provider like Webflow or Squarespace and then sell access to your videos from another platform.
6. YouTube
Hosting your videos on YouTube can provide you with a global audience, and many content creators or marketers include YouTube in their monetization strategy. High engagement from a popular site like YouTube could generate more ad revenue.
However, YouTube’s monetization model is strict and could put your brand at risk without an ad-free player. The YouTube video player isn’t customizable, and there aren’t many ways to differentiate your channel. A workaround could be to use YouTube integration software to tap into audiences from other platforms that offer more customization.
See how YouTube compares to Vimeo →
7. Dailymotion
Dailymotion is a hosting alternative for videos about news, sports, and music. If your target audience falls into those categories, it’s a great place to post your videos. It also supports embedding videos you upload onto other platforms to reach a broader demographic.
The main drawback of Dailymotion is that it’s just as limiting as YouTube in that you get access to their audience but can’t differentiate your channel or video player.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the most popular video-sharing site?
Platforms like YouTube are among the popular video-sharing platform. If you want to tap into large audiences, it’s a great place to post your videos, but you don’t necessarily need to host them there. You can host your videos on Vimeo to take advantage of all the customization and editing controls, and post your videos on YouTube to engage new viewers.
Is there a free video uploading website?
Yes! Vimeo is a free video-sharing website where you can upload and share videos without a premium subscription. With a free account, you can also use Vimeo’s professional editing, compression, and video marketing tools.
What is the best free video uploading site?
While there's no one "best" option, you may want to consider options that balance storage, video quality, privacy settings, and ease of use. Some popular free video uploading sites to explore include Vimeo, YouTube, and more.
Get started with Vimeo for free →
How can you send large video files without losing quality?
For sharing large video files while preserving their quality, cloud storage services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox are great choices. Just upload your video file and share the link with the recipient, enabling them to download the original high-quality version. Additionally, video platforms like Vimeo offer options to compress and download your video for easier sharing.
Can you host videos on your own website?
Yes, but you’ll need some extra infrastructure and patience. You’ll have to manually upload videos to share them with your web server, and depending on their dimensions, they can take up a lot of space. Then, every time a viewer accesses them, your website will need the bandwidth to load them quickly. Using a video hosting service optimized to store and serve video files quickly is much better.
How do I share a private video?
There are two ways to keep a video private while sharing it online: Sending the file or hosting it on a secure platform like Vimeo. Attaching a video file to an email often requires compression that can degrade its quality, and there’s no guarantee the recipient’s device can play or download it. On the other hand, a video hosting service maintains video quality and provides a browser-based alternative that works on any machine.
Upgrade your hosting, sharing, and streaming with Vimeo
Selecting the best video-sharing platform need not be complex. While most platforms cater to specific use cases, only Vimeo offers all the features you need for sharing any video file online, with the integrations to match.
Whether you’re live streaming to a massive audience or sharing videos in a secure knowledge base, Vimeo’s ad-free player, built-in accessibility options, and advanced security controls make it the ideal video hosting solution.
Best of all, you can get started with Vimeo for free. You can get started right away and decide later if you want to subscribe for more features and benefits.