Best private live streaming platforms for paid streams in 2026
TL;DR
The best private live streaming platforms in 2026 split by job. Dacast is the most complete package for selling a live event: paywall from $63 a month, billed annually. Uscreen fits a membership business that streams to subscribers, from $49 a month at list price, or $39 for customers who start by November 30, 2026. Muvi fits a broadcaster that needs subscriptions, pay-per-view and DRM in one product, from $399 a month. Vimeo is the simplest private stream for internal or invite-only audiences, but its live page does not cover selling tickets. Brightcove sells live by quote. Wowza, Mux and Amazon IVS are engines for a custom app.
- If viewers pay inside an iOS app for a one-to-many stream, Apple requires in-app purchase.
- Low-latency HLS runs in seconds. Real-time streaming on Amazon IVS can be under 300 milliseconds.
Private and paid are two different problems
A private stream keeps the wrong people out. A paid stream lets the right people in, once they have paid, and remembers that they did.
Most platforms solve the first one well. Password protection, unlisted links and domain restrictions are table stakes: Dacast lists password protection on every plan, and Vimeo lists passwords, unlisted links and embed domain privacy on all of its tiers. The second problem is harder. Selling a stream needs a paywall, an account system, a receipt, a refund path and, in a mobile app, a payment method the app store will approve. So the real question is which part of the paid flow the platform should own.
Two platforms in this list now share an owner
Bending Spoons, which had already bought Brightcove, agreed in September 2025 to buy Vimeo for $1.38 billion, as TVBEurope reported. The deal closed on November 24, 2025, according to Vimeo's SEC filing, and Vimeo is now a wholly owned subsidiary.
That is not a reason to avoid either product. It is a reason to read the export terms: if a platform holds your subscriber list, the cost of leaving is whatever you cannot take with you.
How we compared the platforms
- Prices come only from each vendor's own pricing or product page, read on November 9, 2026, and linked in Sources.
- Each platform is scored on four things: access control, built-in monetization, latency, and who holds the viewer relationship.
- Platforms that publish no price are listed as quote only. Brightcove is one: its pricing page did not load, and its live page sends buyers to sales.
Mercury Development builds streaming apps on top of platforms like these, so one section below is our own data.
Eight private live streaming platforms at a glance
| Platform | Best for | Published entry price | Paid access built in | Access control |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dacast | Ticketed live events | $63 a month, Event plan, billed annually | Paywall on Event and Scale | Password on all plans |
| Uscreen | Membership communities | $49 a month, Starter, or $39 until November 30, 2026 | Subscriptions and one-off sales | Members only |
| Muvi | Broadcaster OTT with live | $399 a month, billed annually | SVOD, PPV, TVOD, ads | DRM on all plans |
| Vimeo | Internal and invite-only streams | $75 a month, Advanced, billed annually | Not covered on its live page | Password, unlisted, domain privacy |
| Wowza | Self-hosted streaming servers | $195 a month, Streaming Engine | None, build your own | Your own server |
| Mux | Developer video API | Pay as you go, $20 a month credit | None, build your own | Signed URLs free |
| Amazon IVS | Low-latency and real-time apps | Usage based, from $0.20 an input hour | None, build your own | Playback authorization |
| Brightcove | Enterprise live and linear channels | Quote only | Subscription, transaction and ads | Not described on its live page |
1. Dacast
Dacast bills annually: Starter at $39 a month, Event at $63 and Scale at $165. Password protection is on every plan. The paywall is included from Event up, and AES encryption and DRM for on-demand video arrive on Scale. That makes Event the realistic floor for a paid live show.
Watch out: the pricing page's comparison table shows different monthly figures from its plan cards, so get the number in writing.
2. Uscreen
Uscreen is built for creators who sell memberships. At list price, Starter is $49 a month, capped at 100 subscribers. Growth is $149 a month billed annually plus $1.99 per subscriber, and App Essentials is $449 plus $0.99 per subscriber. New customers who start by November 30, 2026 get 20% off: $39, $119 and $359. The offer ends that day. Every plan includes native live streaming, subscriptions and one-off sales.
Watch out: the per-subscriber fee is the real price. At 200 paying members, Growth's fees add $398 a month to the plan.
3. Muvi
Muvi One starts at $399 a month billed annually for video, rising to $1,499 and $3,900. All video plans include live feed ingestion, SVOD, pay-per-view, TVOD, ads and DRM. Concurrent users are capped at 1,000 on Standard and 5,000 on Professional.
Watch out: live chat, private pay-per-view and geo-blocking start at Professional, so a paid live event with chat is a $1,499 decision.
4. Vimeo
Vimeo puts live streaming on Advanced and Enterprise only. Its live streaming page lists Advanced at $75 a month billed annually, with live chat, polls, Q&A and unlisted streams. Enterprise adds SSO and backup streams.
Watch out: the live page does not cover selling tickets to a live event. Vimeo is a strong private stream, not a box office.
5. Wowza
Wowza Streaming Engine is software you run: $195 a month per instance, or $295 for one month of streaming, with 10 transcoded channels per instance.
Watch out: there is no paywall and no viewer accounts. You build both, and you own the uptime.
6. Mux
Mux is a video API priced by the minute. The first 100,000 delivery minutes each month are free, then 720p delivery starts at $0.0008 a minute. Signed URLs and domain restrictions cost nothing. DRM is $100 a month plus $0.003 per play.
Watch out: Mux delivers and protects video. Accounts and payments are yours to build.
7. Amazon IVS
Amazon IVS charges for input and output by the hour. Input runs from $0.20 to $2.00 an hour, and Full HD output is $0.144 a viewer hour in North America. Its feature page puts low-latency viewing at three to five seconds and real-time stages under 300 milliseconds, and supports playback authorization by channel and viewer.
Watch out: per-viewer-hour billing makes free public streams expensive at scale.
8. Brightcove
Brightcove Live publishes no prices and sends buyers to sales. Its live page covers 4K streams, 24/7 linear channels, polls and Q&A, and subscription, transaction and ad models, alone or combined.
Watch out: its live page does not describe access controls, so get the security terms in writing.
Which platform fits your stream
| Your stream | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One ticketed concert, conference or match | Dacast | Paywall and player in one plan |
| Recurring classes for paying members | Uscreen | Subscriptions and live under one login |
| A channel with live and catalog, several revenue models | Muvi | SVOD, PPV and ads in one product |
| An all-hands or investor call for invited viewers | Vimeo | Privacy controls on every tier |
| A branded app where live is one feature | Mux or Amazon IVS plus your own app | You keep the viewer data |
| Interactive or two-way video, like auctions or call-ins | Amazon IVS real-time | Latency under 300 milliseconds |
The app store rule that decides paid streams in apps
If your viewers pay inside an iPhone app, the platform choice is only half the decision. Apple's App Review Guidelines say that access to premium content in an app requires in-app purchase. The one exception that touches live video is narrow: real-time services between two individuals, such as tutoring or fitness training, may use other payment methods. One-to-few and one-to-many real-time services must use in-app purchase.
A paid live stream to an audience is one-to-many. Plan the in-app purchase flow and its fee before you pick a paywall. In the United States storefront, apps may also link out to purchase on the web.
What streaming buyers bring us
These figures come from our own presales records for OTT and social video products, counted by hand. They describe what buyers asked for, not the market.
Around 50% of these buyers needed paid access: a subscription tier, a premium view, or per-minute billing. Every one of the paid builds planned to sit on a third-party video engine, such as Zype, Brightcove or Amazon IVS, rather than a pipeline of its own. None of them asked us to build video delivery. They asked for the app, the account system, the payments and the admin panel around it.
Two patterns came up repeatedly. Founders worried that free public streams would arrive as a cloud bill at the end of the month. And payment plans that ignored the app store rules had to be redesigned before launch.
Own the viewer list, rent the pipe
Video delivery is a commodity priced by the minute. The viewer relationship is not: who paid, for what, when they renew, and how you reach them. A platform that holds both makes it cheap to start and expensive to leave.
So rent the pipe and keep the list. Start on Dacast, Uscreen or Muvi if you need to sell this quarter. When live becomes a feature inside your own product, move the pipe to Mux or Amazon IVS and keep accounts and payments in your own system.
That second step is the work we do. We built an Apple TV ad streaming platform for BrandSource that delivers auto-curated video to hundreds of retail locations in the US, in a half-year build. Our Apple TV and Google TV practice covers subscription models, paywalls and user access control on the big screen.
Written by Rob Devereaux, Chief Operating Officer at Mercury Development. Rob has run the firm's operations from Hudson, Ohio since 2019 and has over 20 years of operational and financial experience. The presales records behind this article's streaming buyer section sit in the operations he oversees.
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