Vimeo vs. YouTube-- What's the Right Choice for Business?

The five key differences between Vimeo vs. YouTube for business:

1. Plan Level: YouTube doesn't offer a specific membership plan for business users. Vimeo Business is an enterprise-level online video platform.
2. Cost: YouTube is free. Vimeo Business costs $50 per month (billed annually.)
3. Market Share: Market share: With over 2 billion users, YouTube provides more visibility and market reach than Vimeo.
4. File Size and Storage: The maximum file size/length you can upload on YouTube is 256 GB or 12 hours (whichever is less). Vimeo Business offers 5TB storage and no weekly upload limits.
5. Integrations: You can't integrate YouTube with third-party platforms. Vimeo Business offers various integrations such as MailChimp and Eventbrite.
6. Live streaming: YouTube Live comes with every account. Vimeo doesn't offer live streaming on its Business plan. Users who require this feature will need to upgrade to the Premium plan.

Online video is a powerful sales, marketing, and communication tool for businesses of all types. That's because people remember 95% of what they see in a video — far more than any other medium. Whether you want to raise venture capital, communicate with clients, or sell products and services to customers, online video is the secret weapon in your arsenal.

It's no wonder, then, that there are so many online video platforms that cater to the corporate market, the two most popular of which are undoubtedly Vimeo and YouTube. But which one is better?

Here's a comparison of Vimeo vs. YouTube for business. Or, if you're ready for a professional-grade alternative, start your Viostream trial now and test drive one of the top video hosting solutions for businesses free for 14 days.

Overview

About YouTube

YouTube is the world's second-most popular website, and it generates tens of millions of video views every hour. If you want to expose your content to customers, clients, colleagues, investors, and suppliers, no other online video platform has the reach and market share of YouTube.

YouTube's biggest benefit is its price. Because the Google-owned company makes money from ad revenue on videos, it is completely free for all users. It also offers incredible features like multi-device playback, playlists, comments, live streaming, powerful analytics, and marking videos as unlisted or private for internal communications.

However, you won't find the same level of security or media management features on YouTube compared to a premium business platform. If you require enhanced security and features like live URLs and private video galleries, you will need a different solution.

It's also important to point out that YouTube has no business tier or membership plan, and offers no enterprise-level features or integrations with third-party services. When you choose YouTube, you'll get the same features as every other user, and no dedicated customer support.

Depending on your company's needs, the pros of YouTube might outweigh the cons. As well as its extraordinary reach, YouTube is incredibly easy to use, great for SEO, and provides brilliant analytics at an unbeatable price.

Related Reading: YouTube vs. Viostream

About Vimeo

Despite having a much smaller reach than YouTube, Vimeo has comparable longevity and a very loyal customer base. Launched in 2004 — a few months before YouTube in fact — the platform comes with a bevy of useful video management features such as privacy controls, social publishing, private links, cloud transcoding, video storage, and integrations with third-party services like MailChimp.

Unlike YouTube, Vimeo has an enterprise-level membership plan called Vimeo Business, which boasts a generous 5TB storage. Other features include a customizable video player that you can personalize for different demographics like customers, clients, co-workers, investors, partners, and so on.

Despite these impressive features, Vimeo can't offer the same market penetration as YouTube, so the latter might benefit you more if you want to increase awareness and market your products to potential customers.

Another downside is the lack of live streaming on Vimeo Business. If you want to broadcast live, you'll have to upgrade to the more expensive Vimeo Premium tier. (More on that later.) Still, there are no weekly upload limits like the two cheapest tiers on Vimeo. (Plus has a 5GB/per week limit; Pro has a 20GB per week limit.) You also get customer service options, with 1-hour email response times.

Related Reading: Vimeo vs. Viostream

Take the Next Step

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YouTube vs. Vimeo Features

Trial length

YouTube: N/A (Free Platform)

Vimeo Business: 30 days

Target Audience

YouTube: General

Vimeo Business: Business

Integrations

YouTube: No

Vimeo Business: Yes

Video Embeds

YouTube: Yes

Vimeo Business: Yes

Analytics

YouTube: Yes

Vimeo Business: Yes

Price

YouTube: Free

Vimeo Business: $50 per month

Security

YouTube: Geo-blocking, private videos, 2-step authentication, and more.

Vimeo Business: Viewer permissions, private videos, secure uploads, and more.

Related Reading: Is Vimeo Safe?

Pricing

YouTube

YouTube is free for all individual and professional accounts.

Related Reading: The Dangers of Growing Your YouTube Audience

Vimeo Business

The Business tier of Vimeo costs $50 per month with 5TB of video storage with no weekly upload limits. However, there's no live streaming on this tier, so enterprise users might want to upgrade to Vimeo Premium, which costs $70 per month and comes with 7TB of storage.

Customer Service

YouTube

• Customers can contact YouTube via phone. There is no live chat support.
• Help pages and FAQs.

Vimeo Business

• 1-hour email response times for Business users during business hours. The more cost-efficient Plus and Pro plans offer customer service, but the responses times are longer.
• No phone support.
• Video tutorials (Vimeo Master Class)
• Help pages and FAQs

How Viostream Helps

Viostream offers an alternative to both YouTube and Vimeo. It blends the simplicity of YouTube with enterprise-level features like those on Vimeo Business. For organizations that want to connect with viewers and take communications to the next level, Viostream is the best choice.

Viostream lets you reach viewers privately via email and the intranet, making it valuable for internal communications. But you can also use it for external communications, with features such as live URLs, live streaming, video embeds, video galleries, and social syndication. You'll also benefit from audience management, push-button app publishing, unlimited players, unlimited users, scheduling, real-time analytics, calls-to-action, and accessibility and security features you won't find on free services like YouTube. If all that isn't enough, integrate the platform with a third-party web service or BI tool for improved insights.

When comparing Vimeo vs. YouTube for business, weigh up the pros and cons of each platform. Vimeo Business offers more security and video management features than YouTube, but it comes at a premium, and even then only the top tiers offer live streaming. Even though it doesn't specifically cater to business users, YouTube has a far greater reach--and it's free.

For businesses looking for the ideal combination of the two, Viostream offers incredible live streaming and video-on-demand features, as well as enhanced security and a simple interface, all for a reasonable and predictable per-user price. Contact our customer support team to learn more about how Viostream's professional video hosting platform can help improve your business communications today.