Be.Live vs Castr (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Be.Live if

• Fits if you stream the same show to Facebook and YouTube at once
• Works for sellers running live sales streams, including Amazon Live

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want registration pages, polls or attendee follow-up, because it has none
• Watch out: no prices are published where we could read them, so the cost is a surprise until you sign in
• Tight if you plan to stay free, since the free plan's limits are not stated and multistreaming and multiple guests are paid features
• Not for you if you may want a refund: the yearly subscription is non-refundable and cancelling means contacting support

Pick Castr if

• Fits if a church or school streams services or events to several platforms
• Works for selling access to live streams behind a paywall

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want a studio in the browser without asking Castr to switch it on
• Not for you if you've never used an encoder and don't want to learn
• Tight if you stream a lot to your own player, since each plan has a bandwidth allowance
• Watch out: monthly plans get less bandwidth and fewer concurrent streams than annual ones
• Pricey if you need DRM or phone and TV apps, which are Events add-ons on top of $624.99 a month

Be.Live

• The plan prices could not be read: the pricing page loads its figures only inside the web app, and the help center states none, so none are recorded here.
• Its help center names Starter, Growth, Standard+ and Pro plans; features such as multistreaming, custom branding and multiple guests are described as paid features.
• The yearly subscription is non-refundable, per the help center, and cancelling is done by contacting support.
• It is built for social streaming and live sales, not for webinars with registration pages.

Castr

• Streams come in from encoder software, hardware or IP cameras; the browser-based Cloud Production switcher is enabled by Castr on request.
• Each plan has a player-bandwidth allowance, and monthly plans get less upfront bandwidth and fewer concurrent streams than annual ones.
• Only Starter has the 7-day trial; the other plans go straight to checkout.
• DRM and native iOS, Android and TV apps for the Events plan are add-ons arranged with sales.

Be.Live

Multistreaming from the browser

Streams to several social networks directly in a browser, with no software to install.

Branding

Adds a logo, overlays, a background and lower thirds to a stream.

Comment Assistant

Gathers comments from the connected platforms in one place, and an AI assistant can feature comments on screen automatically.

Interactive widgets

Widgets such as the Snake highlight commenters, and the Lottery Jar picks a winner.

Editor and repurposing

After a stream, a viewer-activity report, a trimming editor and audio export for podcasts are available.

Castr

Multistreaming

One RTMP or SRT feed goes out to up to 30 destinations, including YouTube, Facebook pages and groups, Twitch and LinkedIn; TikTok and Instagram connect through custom RTMP.

Video hosting and player

An embeddable player with analytics, video storage from 100 GB, and unlimited viewers within each plan's bandwidth allowance.

Cloud recording and live-to-VOD

Records streams of up to 72 hours, keeps the recordings for up to three days, and turns live streams into on-demand videos.

24/7 playout

Runs pre-recorded videos as an always-on live channel, like a TV station, on every plan.

Paywall and monetization

A paywall comes with every plan, in-stream ads start on Standard, and Events adds subscriptions, pay-per-view and more than 30 payment gateways.

Ingest protocols and API

Takes RTSP, RTMP, HLS, MPEG-TS and SRT input, offers pull links from Standard, and adds API access and HLS URLs on Premium.

Be.Live

Pricing could not be confirmed. See be.live.

Castr

• Starter$16.67

  per month, billed annually ($19.99 billed monthly)

  2 concurrent streams (3 on annual), 6 destinations, 200 GB of player bandwidth a month and 100 GB of video storage.

• Standard$41.67

  per month, billed annually ($49.99 billed monthly)

  10 destinations, 500 GB of bandwidth a month and 200 GB of storage, plus SRT and RTMP pull links and in-stream ads.

• Premium$166.67

  per month, billed annually ($199.99 billed monthly)

  5 streams (10 on annual), 20 destinations, 3 TB of bandwidth, 2 TB of storage, adaptive bitrate, API access and 3 team members.

• Ultra$291.67

  per month, billed annually ($349.99 billed monthly)

  10 streams (15 on annual), 30 destinations, 5 TB of bandwidth, 3 TB of storage, failover ingest and low-latency playback.

• Events$624.99

  per month, billed annually ($749.99 billed monthly)

  A branded OTT web app with a CMS, subscriptions and pay-per-view sales, 15 streams, 30 destinations and 10 TB of bandwidth a month.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom stream, bandwidth and storage allocations, enterprise controls and migration help, arranged with sales.

Be.Live

No public discounts listed.

Castr

• Annual discount

  Two months free with annual billing

  Castr's pricing page says annual billing gives 2 months free plus a larger upfront bandwidth pool: Starter is $199.99 a year against $19.99 a month.