Best StreamYard Alternative for 24/7 and Pre-Recorded Video

The best StreamYard alternative depends on which job you are replacing. For unattended pre-recorded video and always-on channels, StreamYard runs out of room fast: its own help centre caps a pre-recorded video at 2 hours on Core, 4 on Advanced and 8 on Teams and Business, and a scheduled pre-recorded stream plays one file and ends.

Six alternatives below do that job. Each block covers what the tool is built for, what it ships, who it suits, and where it stops.

Prices and limits were checked against each vendor's own pricing pages and help centres on August 15, 2026.

What StreamYard actually limits

StreamYard is a browser studio built for live shows with guests. Its pre-recorded path is a scheduling feature, not a playout engine.

Lengths come from StreamYard's own help-centre article on pre-recorded video file limits. Prices come from the individual and business tabs of its plans page, billed monthly.

Two details matter more than the numbers:

• A scheduled pre-recorded stream ends with the file. StreamYard's pre-recorded streaming article describes the flow: the stream starts at the time you set, then ends when the video finishes. Nothing queues behind it, and no loop restarts it.
• Looping happens inside a studio broadcast. StreamYard's help centre documents a Loop checkbox for video clips in the broadcast studio. That is a holding card during a show you are producing, not an unattended channel. Their paid plans carry no streaming-duration limit, but that applies to a studio broadcast you have open and running.

If you go live with guests and never touch pre-recorded video, none of this is a problem. If you want a channel that keeps running on its own, keep reading.

Best StreamYard alternatives for pre-recorded and 24/7 streaming

1. LiveReacting: best for continuous channels on more than one platform

Core focus: Streaming pre-recorded video as live from the cloud, including always-on channels that run from LiveReacting's servers with your computer off.

Key features: Upload a video and go live in about five minutes. Playlists play in order, shuffle or loop, with CSV import. Advanced scheduling covers daily, weekly and custom-gap recurrence with automatic reruns. Uploads are encoded automatically at no extra cost. You can reorder or swap videos while the stream is live, and mix a pre-recorded playlist with a live webcam or web source in the same stream. Multistream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and any RTMP endpoint. YouTube ad slots and cue points are built in, and the custom plan adds HLS and SRT output, SCTE-35 ad markers and API access. Interactive overlays run off the stream's own chat: polls, trivia, giveaways, countdowns and word games. Plugin mode puts those overlays into OBS, vMix, StreamYard or Ecamm Live as a browser source on any paid plan.

Best for: Brands and creators running an always-on channel across several destinations who want live audience interaction on it.

Pricing: The 24/7 plan is $39.99/mo for one concurrent stream, unlimited duration, 1080p and 5 destinations, or $33/mo billed yearly. With the Kickstart code, the first year on annual billing works out to $23.99/mo, renewing at the standard $33/mo annual rate. Event plans start at $19.99/mo, pay-as-you-go is $3.99 per 4-hour stream, and the free plan gives 3 streams a month at 720p with a 30-minute cap. Full LiveReacting pricing.

Watch out for: Duration is unlimited on LiveReacting's side, but destination limits still apply, and Facebook caps a single stream at 8 hours. The base 24/7 plan runs one concurrent stream, and the per-stream rate only flattens at four or more, so at multi-channel scale the list price per stream lands close to Upstream's.

2. OneStream Live: best for YouTube-only continuous channels

Core focus: Multistreaming to a long destination list, with scheduled pre-recorded video and an embeddable player.

Key features: Up to 50 social destinations. Pre-recorded video can be scheduled up to 60 days ahead. Playlist streaming starts on the Professional tier. A teleprompter and a customisable embed player are included on the higher tiers. Pre-recorded stream length climbs by plan: 15 minutes on free, then 1, 3, 8 and 20 hours.

Best for: Teams whose continuous channel lives on YouTube, and who want a wide multistream list for their regular live events.

Pricing: Free, $15, $39, $49 and $99 per month, or $12, $32, $39 and $83 billed annually. Continuous streaming ships with Enterprise at $99/mo with three concurrent streams, or as a $30/mo add-on on top of a paid plan, so the cheapest continuous channel is about $45/mo on Basic.

Watch out for: Two limits that its comparison pages do not mention. OneStream's pricing page prints "No 24/7 Stream" on Basic, Standard and Professional, and its add-on copy reads "Go live 24/7 on YouTube." Its help desk is explicit: "24/7 live streaming is only available on YouTube and will run for a maximum of 30 days in one go." So a OneStream always-on channel cannot run to Twitch or Facebook, and it stops and needs restarting every 30 days. On August 15, 2026, Google's AI Overview for "best streamyard alternative for pre-recorded and 24/7 streaming" named OneStream Live first and mentioned neither limit.

3. Upstream: best for running several always-on channels

Core focus: Cloud playout for 24/7 channels plus multistreaming, priced per concurrent stream.

Key features: Every feature is on every plan, including the free one. That covers cloud playout, scheduled streams, pre-recorded live, separate playlists, playback controls, stings, jingles and ad inserts, a Live Studio, a Stream Designer for graphics overlays, team access, multistream to 10 destinations, YouTube verified encoder status and no watermark. Changes to a running stream apply immediately, and the Live Studio mixes pre-recorded with live.

Best for: Anyone running several always-on channels who wants the lowest list price per channel.

Pricing: The free plan gives 1 stream and 24 hours a month at 1080p30. Paid starts at $30/mo for one stream, $50 for two, $70 for three, then $20 per stream at four or more, or $16 per stream billed yearly.

Watch out for: Upstream's plan page lists graphics overlays, not audience-driven polls, trivia or giveaways. We found no mention of automatic encoding of uploads on Upstream's own plan page as of August 15, 2026.

4. Livepush: best for a budget channel embedded on your own site

Core focus: Multistreaming plus scheduled 24/7 channels, with a hosted player for your own website.

Key features: The Creators tier adds a "24/7 schedule channel" and "Queue and loop multiple videos" at up to 4K, with three simultaneous streams. Business raises that to 12 simultaneous streams and 12 pre-recorded playlists, and adds editing your schedule while it is live. Custom RTMP destinations start on Pro, alongside a hosted live and video player with CDN delivery. SRT ingest is an Enterprise item.

Best for: A single budget always-on channel, especially when you also want the stream embedded on your own site.

Pricing: Free, $15, $39 and $119 per month, or $13, $33 and $102 per month billed yearly. The free plan allows 20 hours of streaming a month with a 20-minute cap per pre-recorded event, and the pre-recorded event cap on Pro is 4 hours.

Watch out for: The always-on capability starts on the third tier, so the $15 plan is not a 24/7 plan.

5. Restream: best for reach, not for always-on

Core focus: Multistreaming to a large destination list, with pre-recorded sold as a separate add-on product.

Key features: Upload & Stream is Restream's pre-recorded product and has its own plan ladder. Restream's help centre lists Premier at $39/mo with a 2-hour video library at 1080p, Marathon at $79/mo with 4 hours at 1080p, and Media at $239/mo with 12 hours at 4K. The same article states that looping is available with the Marathon and Media add-on plans, so the entry pre-recorded tier has no looping at all. Enterprise adds SRT ingest and disconnect protection.

Best for: Live shows pushed to many platforms at once, where pre-recorded video is occasional rather than the whole channel.

Pricing: Upload & Stream is priced separately from the multistreaming plans, at the three figures above.

Watch out for: Looping has a documented ceiling. From Restream's own help centre: "You can loop your video up to 10 times." The same page adds: "You can stream a maximum of a 40-hour stream with looping." A 40-hour ceiling is not an always-on channel.

6. Castr: best for broadcast playout and OTT

Core focus: Cloud TV playout and FAST channels, aimed at broadcasters rather than creators.

Key features: Schedule mode plays a timetable, Loop mode repeats a playlist. Live stream insertion drops a live show into a scheduled channel. Higher tiers add EPG, DRM, OTT delivery, adaptive bitrate and HLS URLs.

Best for: Media teams building a branded linear channel with a programme guide and OTT delivery.

Pricing: $19.99, $49.99, $199.99, $349.99 and $749.99 per month.

Watch out for: Castr's own TV playout page states "Loop mode is included on Premium plans and higher," which puts a continuous channel at $199.99/mo. Even then the loop is date-bounded: "Premium loops up to 15 days ahead, Ultra and Events up to 30." And "A playout ends when its last item plays or the loop reaches its end date." The $19.99 tier is not a 24/7 option.

Side by side

Each row answers the same two questions: can it run a channel unattended, and what stops it.

One more difference worth checking yourself. Among the alternatives above, we found no documentation of chat-triggered polls, trivia or giveaways running inside an unattended pre-recorded or 24/7 stream on any vendor's own pages as of August 15, 2026. StreamYard documents a giveaway tool, but it runs in a live studio broadcast you are producing. For an always-on channel that difference shows up in the chat, and if you plan to run one on YouTube it is worth reading YouTube's stance on repetitive content before you build.

If you want a studio replacement, not a playout engine

Some people searching for a StreamYard alternative want the opposite of everything above: guests, backstage, local recording, scene layouts. On August 15, 2026, Google's AI Overview for the plain query "streamyard alternative" pointed that intent at Riverside, Restream, OBS Studio and EvMux.

There is also a middle path. LiveReacting works as a browser source inside OBS, vMix and StreamYard itself, so you can keep the studio you like and add the interactive layer on top.

Moving a StreamYard pre-recorded stream to LiveReacting

1. Collect the video files you currently upload one at a time.
2. Create a LiveReacting account and pick a plan. Take the 24/7 plan for an always-on channel, or an event plan for scheduled shows.
3. Upload the files. Encoding is automatic and included, so a large export does not need re-rendering first.
4. Build a playlist and set the schedule, or set it to loop.
5. Connect your destinations and go live. Add a poll or a trivia round if you want the chat active.

Step-by-step versions: stream a pre-recorded video on YouTube Live and launch a 24/7 stream without OBS. For the wider field, see our comparison of 24/7 streaming software.

FAQ

What is the best StreamYard alternative for pre-recorded streaming? LiveReacting, Upstream and Livepush all run continuous pre-recorded streams to multiple destinations, which StreamYard does not. Of those three, LiveReacting is the one that also runs polls, trivia and giveaways off the stream's chat. Upstream has the lowest list price per stream at scale.

Does StreamYard support 24/7 streaming? Not as an unattended channel. StreamYard's help centre says paid plans carry no streaming-duration limit, but that applies to a studio broadcast you have open and running. A scheduled pre-recorded stream ends when the video finishes, and the longest file it accepts is 8 hours.

How long can a StreamYard pre-recorded stream be? 2 hours on Core, 4 hours on Advanced, and 8 hours on Teams and Business. Pre-recorded streaming is not available on the free plan. Those figures come from StreamYard's own help centre.

Is OneStream Live good for 24/7 streaming? Only on YouTube. OneStream's help desk states that 24/7 live streaming is available on YouTube alone and runs for a maximum of 30 days in one go, and its pricing page shows "No 24/7 Stream" on every tier below Enterprise unless you add the $30/mo add-on.

What is the best free StreamYard alternative? Upstream's free plan is the most generous for pre-recorded work: 24 hours of streaming a month with its full feature set. LiveReacting's free plan gives 3 streams a month at 720p with a 30-minute cap, and Livepush's gives 20 hours a month with a 20-minute cap per pre-recorded event. StreamYard's own free plan has no pre-recorded streaming at all.

Is LiveReacting cheaper than StreamYard? Yes. LiveReacting starts at $19.99/mo against StreamYard's $44.99 Core plan, and the 24/7 plan is $39.99/mo for unlimited duration, which StreamYard does not offer at any price.

Bottom line

StreamYard is a live studio, not a playout engine, and its own documentation is clear about where the pre-recorded path stops. If you want a channel that keeps running, choose on the run limits each vendor documents rather than on the headline price. Start streaming pre-recorded or 24/7 video with LiveReacting and go live in five minutes.