Free tool, no sign upWhat does a 24/7 live stream cost?
Compare a month of 24/7 live streaming three ways: a home PC running OBS, a rented VPS running FFmpeg, and Loopcast. Every default is editable, so plug in your own numbers.
Loopcast plans go up to 8 streams on one account.
Home PC + OBS
An internet upgrade, a UPS, and so on.
Restarts, updates, checking it is still live.
VPS + FFmpeg
Crashes, updates, swapping videos.
Leave at 0 to compare cash only.
Home PC + OBS
$18.62/mo
$223.38 first year
1 PC, about 110 kWh a month. Cash only. Add an hourly value to count your time. PC purchase not included.
VPS + FFmpeg
$20.00/mo
$240.00 first year
1 server. Cash only. Add an hourly value to count your time.
Loopcast Creator
$11.00/mo
$111.00 first year
Creator covers 1 stream, 25GB storage. First year shown with annual billing; billed monthly it is $132.00.
Estimates for planning. Electricity and VPS prices are your inputs; Loopcast prices are list prices from the pricing page.
How each option is calculated
Home PC: watts multiplied by 730 hours a month (365 days divided by 12), divided by 1,000 to get kWh, multiplied by your electricity price, for each PC you need. Then any extra monthly cost you enter, like an internet upgrade, plus upkeep hours multiplied by your hourly value.
VPS: the monthly server price for each server you need, plus upkeep hours multiplied by your hourly value. The yearly figure also adds the one time setup hours.
Loopcast: the cheapest plan that fits your stream count, read from the same plan data as the pricing page. Extra stream slots bill monthly, even on an annual plan.
Why the defaults are what they are
150 watts is a modest desktop running OBS with hardware encoding. Older or gaming PCs often draw more. $0.17 per kWh is close to the recent US residential average; many places pay more. $20 a month is a typical small VPS with enough CPU to loop video. Your time defaults to $0 so the first comparison is cash only. Change any number to match your setup.
- ·Copy mode FFmpeg (no re encoding) is light enough that one server can often run more than one stream. Raise "streams per server" if yours can.
- ·One 1080p stream at around 6 Mbps sends about 2 TB a month. Check your VPS bandwidth allowance.
- ·A PC that sleeps, updates or loses power ends the stream until someone notices.
Frequently asked questions
How much electricity does a PC use streaming 24/7?
A month is about 730 hours. A PC drawing 150 watts around the clock uses about 110 kWh a month, which is roughly $19 at $0.17 per kWh. A gaming PC encoding with its graphics card can draw two or three times that. Check your own electricity bill for your real rate, since prices vary a lot by country and state.
Is a VPS cheaper than a cloud streaming service?
Often, in cash. A small VPS running FFmpeg can loop a pre encoded video for a few dollars to about $20 a month. The trade is your time: setting it up, handling crashes, updating the server, managing bandwidth, and fixing it when YouTube changes something. If your time is worth something to you, put an hourly value in the calculator and see where the lines cross.
What does Loopcast cost for 24/7 streaming?
Creator is $11 a month for 1 stream with 25GB of storage. Pro is $33 a month for up to 3 streams at once with 100GB. Pro can add up to 5 extra stream slots at $7 a month each. Annual billing is $111 or $333 a year, about 2 months free. Every account gets a free 24 hour live trial with no card required.
What isn't included in these numbers?
The price of the PC itself, hardware wear, any internet upgrade unless you enter one, VPS bandwidth overage fees, and taxes. Loopcast's figures are the list prices on its pricing page, before any promotion.
When is OBS on my own PC the better choice?
When you are streaming something live: a camera, a game you are playing, guests. Loopcast loops videos you have uploaded, so it is built for always on playlist channels, not live shows. For those, OBS or a live studio tool is the right fit.
Run this 24/7 without your PC
Loopcast keeps your playlist live on YouTube from the cloud: no power bill, no server to babysit, and playlist changes go live without stopping the stream. Try Loopcast free.
Free 24 hour live trial included. No card required. See pricing
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