StreamYard vs Restream

Disclosure: Restream and Descript links on this page are affiliate links, and BestCreates may earn a commission if you sign up. StreamYard has no affiliate relationship with us, so its links are plain. Commission never affects the comparison or the picks. How we make money.

The short answer

Choose StreamYard if your show is built around guests and you want the browser studio non-technical people can join without help, or if you want a webinar page with registration on a mid-tier plan.

Choose RestreamAFFILIATE if your priority is reaching several platforms, you want to multistream for free (two channels), or you want to keep producing in OBS, Streamlabs or vMix and just need a relay with combined chat.

What would change this: if you need 1080p from a browser studio, Restream's entry plan falls behind (720p). If you need your recordings to stay in the cloud for months, StreamYard's storage model is friendlier. If you run a business channel with a team, StreamYard's newer usage policy may push you to its $299 Business plan.

How the two products differ at the core

They overlap more each year, but they started in different places and it still shows.

StreamYard is a browser studio first. You open a tab, invite guests by link, arrange them on screen with layouts and branding, and StreamYard sends the mixed output to your destinations. It is owned by Bending Spoons (the pricing page footer reads "Bending Spoons Operations S.p.A."; the 2024 acquisition date comes from press coverage, not an official page).

Restream started as a multistreaming relay. You point any encoder at Restream and it forwards your stream to several platforms, pulling chat back into one window. It added Restream Studio, its own browser studio, later. You can use either half or both.

That origin matters when you pick: StreamYard's free plan does not multistream at all, while Restream's free plan does. Restream's studio caps entry plans at 720p, while StreamYard streams at 1080p on all paid plans.

Side-by-side comparison

USD, list prices, checked October 7, 2026. "Annual" is the per-month cost when billed yearly. Restream's annual figures are its yearly price divided by 12.

Criterion by criterion

1. Price for what you actually need

Restream is cheaper at every comparable tier for multistreaming. Three destinations cost $19 a month on Restream Standard versus $44.99 on StreamYard Core (monthly billing). But the comparison is not like for like: StreamYard Core streams at 1080p from its studio and Restream Standard's studio streams at 720p. To get 1080p from Restream Studio you need Professional at $49 a month, which costs more than StreamYard Core on both billing options: $49 versus $44.99 monthly, and about $39.17 versus $35.99 a month on annual billing. Restream Professional does give you five destinations to Core's three.

Example: three destinations, 1080p from a browser studio, annual billing, list prices on October 7, 2026, no add-ons. StreamYard Core: $35.99 x 12 = $431.88 a year. Restream Professional: $470 a year. If you stream from OBS instead of the browser studio, Restream Standard at $190 a year does the job, because encoder streams are not capped at 720p per Restream's comparison table.

StreamYard's pricing page also says prices "may vary depending on promotional campaigns" and renewal terms, so check the price shown at checkout.

2. Multistreaming

Restream wins for breadth at low cost: two channels free, three on Standard, five on Professional, eight on Business. StreamYard has no free multistreaming, then three, eight and ten. If you are going to five or more platforms, StreamYard Advanced (eight) at $68.99 annual is competitive with Restream Professional (five) at about $39.17 a month annual, so count your destinations before choosing.

3. Guests and studio experience

Both put ten people on screen on paid plans and six on free plans. StreamYard has more depth behind the curtain: up to 15 backstage on Advanced and Business, and a Greenroom for up to 25 guests on important streams, per its business page. Restream's help center describes guests arriving backstage with no separate backstage cap beyond the total. For a talk show with rotating guests or a panel with a producer, StreamYard's studio is the more complete tool. We have not tested either studio hands-on; this is based on each vendor's documentation.

4. Bring your own encoder

This is Restream's home ground. Point OBS, Streamlabs or vMix at Restream and it relays to your destinations and returns combined chat. Higher plans can also take RTMP and SRT feeds as a source inside Restream Studio, so you can bring an OBS scene or a Zoom call into the studio. StreamYard supports custom RTMP as an output on paid plans, but it is built to be the studio, not a relay. If OBS is your production tool, Restream fits better.

5. Recording and who keeps it

This is the criterion most comparisons skip, and the one that matters for a creator who repurposes every stream.

StreamYard auto-records streams on paid plans (up to 10 hours each) and keeps them against a storage quota: 50 hours on Core and Advanced, 700 or more on Business, with add-ons from $4.99 a month for 100 hours. When storage fills up, streams still go out but are not recorded. Local recording gives you separate audio and video per participant (WAV audio), and you must switch it on before the session. Free-plan users cannot download recordings, and free recordings older than 12 months are permanently deleted.

Restream keeps cloud recordings for 15 days on Standard and Professional and 30 days on Business, and its help center says expired recordings cannot be restored. You can download MP4, split-track MKV and M4A audio. Local 4K per-participant recording is in beta on Professional and up, desktop Chrome only. Free users get no cloud recordings.

Our read: StreamYard gives you a longer window. Restream gives you a deadline. Either way, download every show into your own storage and editor, for example DescriptAFFILIATE (review), and follow our repurposing workflow.

6. Webinars and selling

StreamYard includes On-Air, a webinar page you can embed with an optional registration form, on Advanced (100 viewers) and Business (1,000+). Restream sells webinars as an add-on at $99 a month for 100 attendees, with registration CSV export, polls and up to ten guests on stage. For a creator who wants a 100-person sales webinar, StreamYard Advanced at $68.99 a month annual is cheaper than Restream Standard plus the $99 add-on. Export registrants to your email list after every event; that list is the asset.

7. Plan rules and fine print

StreamYard's Plan Usage Policy, in effect since December 2025, moves accounts it considers commercial or multi-user to the Business plan at renewal, and sign-ups with a company email domain must use Business. Solo creators are fine on Core and Advanced. An agency or brand team is not. Restream adds seats at $25 per seat per month and sells workspaces separately.

8. Platforms

Both are browser-based. Restream Studio works in mobile browsers (Chrome on Android, Safari on iOS) without screen sharing, and Restream accepts streams from mobile RTMP apps. StreamYard lists an iOS guest app in its help center. We could not confirm a native desktop host app for either on an official page.

Who should pick which

Pick StreamYard if:

• Your show depends on guests who are not technical.
• You want 1080p from a browser studio on the entry plan.
• You want a webinar page with registration without paying for an add-on.
• You want recordings to stay in the cloud longer than a month while you get around to editing.

Pick Restream if:

• You want to multistream for free, or reach three platforms for $19 a month.
• You produce in OBS, Streamlabs or vMix and want a relay plus unified chat.
• You stream solo or with one or two guests and don't need a large backstage.
• You will download recordings right after every show anyway.

Consider something else if:

• Recording quality matters as much as the live stream: look at Riverside, which records each guest locally up to 4K and streams to unlimited destinations on its Grow plan.
• You're on a Mac and want a desktop app with ten destinations: Ecamm Live.
• You want no subscription at all: OBS Studio plus Restream Free, or vMix bought once on Windows.

All of these are covered in our guide to the best livestreaming software for creators.