Alternatives · Webinars
Wowza alternatives
As of Nov 13, 2026, the best Wowza alternative for most people is Restream (2.4 GPA), second in our ranking of webinar and live streaming tools. It's also the best free one.
Wowza compared with 5 alternatives: Dacast, Castr, Restream, BoxCast and vMix.
Wowza is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $195 per month for Streaming Engine, billed monthly. 1 of the 5 alternatives is free or has a free plan. 4 more offer a free trial.
Listings checked up to Nov 12, 2026 · Where the facts come from
Black Friday: is there a Wowza sale?
At a glance
Price against what you get
Wowza starts at $195 a month and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. 4 of the 5 alternatives on this chart score higher and start lower: Dacast, Castr, Restream and BoxCast.
vMix starts lower without scoring higher.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
How each one differs from Wowza
Dacast
Live streaming and video hosting with bandwidth-based plans
- Dacast starts at $39 per month, billed annually.
- Dacast also covers reports, webinars and multistreaming.
Suits: Hosts streaming to large audiences with unlimited viewers
Castr
Multistreaming, video hosting and 24/7 playout in one service
- Castr starts at $16.67 per month, billed annually ($19.99 billed monthly).
- Castr also covers multistreaming.
Suits: Churches and schools streaming services or events to several platforms
Restream
Multistream one live video to YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn and more
- Restream starts at $19 per month, billed monthly ($190 a year billed annually).
- Restream has a free plan, which Wowza lacks.
- Restream also covers transcription, webinars and multistreaming.
Suits: Creators who go live on several platforms at the same time
BoxCast
Live streaming platform with encoders, captions and OTT apps
- BoxCast starts at $109 per month, billed annually ($119 billed monthly).
- BoxCast also covers ticketing, web analytics and multistreaming.
Suits: Churches, schools and sports leagues that stream the same events every week
vMix
Windows live video production and streaming software
- vMix starts at $60 one-time for Basic HD, or $50 per month for vMix MAX.
- vMix also lists a Windows app.
- vMix lists no web app, which Wowza has.
- vMix can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- vMix also covers screen recording, video calls and multistreaming.
Suits: Producers running multi-camera live events and shows from a Windows PC
Limits worth knowing in Wowza
- It is infrastructure, not a webinar tool: there is no registration page, polls or attendee chat out of the box.
- Additional transcoded channels cost $25 each beyond the 10 included per instance.
- Wowza Video, the managed cloud product, is priced separately; this listing records the Streaming Engine plans shown on the pricing page.
- Perpetual and Enterprise licenses are quoted by sales, with no published price.
Common questions
What are the alternatives to Wowza?
The alternatives to Wowza in this directory are Dacast, Castr, Restream, BoxCast and vMix. Each one has a side-by-side comparison with Wowza.
Is there a free alternative to Wowza?
Yes. Restream has a free plan alongside paid ones.
Which Wowza alternatives work on Windows?
The Wowza listing does not include a Windows app. vMix lists one.
When were these prices checked?
Each listing shows its own date. On this page they run from Oct 18, 2026 to Nov 12, 2026. Vendors change prices without notice, so confirm on their site before you buy.