Castr vs VDO.Ninja (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Castr and VDO.Ninja share a 2.4 GPA, and only VDO.Ninja has a free plan.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Castr grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. VDO.Ninja grades higher on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Castr
Multistreaming, video hosting and 24/7 playout in one service
Which one is for you
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
Pick VDO.Ninja if
- Fits if you already use OBS and want remote guests on screen
- Works for people comfortable editing link parameters
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want one product that streams out to viewers, as you need OBS or similar
- Not for you if you want registration pages, polls or attendee numbers
- Too light for support: it is run by one developer with sponsorship, and no paid support is listed
- Watch out: setup is mostly URL parameters from the docs
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACastrFair | 2.4GPAVDO.NinjaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BStarter is $16.67 a month billed annually ($199.99 a year, $19.99 by the month) and streams to 6 destinations, enough for three platforms. That's level with Restream and Ecamm, well under StreamYard's Core, and it includes hosting and a paywall. | AFree, with no paid plans listed, for the hosted service at vdo.ninja. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 7-day free trial of Starter with no credit card. The other plans go straight to checkout. | AThe hosted service is free outright, and the site has a sponsor page for voluntary support. |
| Features | CMultistreaming to 30 destinations, hosting, a player, cloud recording, 24/7 playout and a paywall on every plan. The gaps: you bring the encoder, as the browser Cloud Production switcher is enabled by Castr on request, and recordings are kept up to three days. | DGuest links, rooms with a director and OBS browser-source links, but no stream-out, registration, polls or analytics, so it needs another product. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. You set up an encoder such as OBS or a camera, add each destination and embed the player, which takes some know-how. | DNo rating on record, and the docs explain setup through URL parameters. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web service with no desktop or phone app listed. It sends to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and LinkedIn, takes RTMP, SRT, RTSP and HLS input from OBS or cameras, and has an API on Premium. | CWeb only, and it connects to OBS Studio over WebRTC. |
| Best for | multistreaming plus hosting your own video | bringing remote guests into OBS |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Castr and VDO.Ninja. How we grade
Price against what you get
Castr starts at $16.67 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. VDO.Ninja has no paid plan and scores 1.3.
Castr scores higher, and starts $16.67 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other webinar and live streaming tools on the chart, 2 score higher than Castr for less, and none scores higher than VDO.Ninja for less.
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
Where they differ
- VDO.Ninja is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Castr also covers multistreaming.
- VDO.Ninja also covers video calls.
At a glance
| Castr | VDO.Ninja | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free |
| Starts at | $16.67 per month, billed annually ($19.99 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | None | The hosted service is free; the site describes it as 100% free, and the project has a sponsor page for voluntary support. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of the Starter plan, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Castr Live Streaming, Inc. | Steve Seguin |
| Price read from | castr.com | docs.vdo.ninja |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
VDO.Ninja
- It supplies video sources, not a stream-out service, so you need OBS or similar software to produce and send the broadcast.
- It has no registration pages, polls or attendee analytics, so it does not replace a webinar platform.
- The documentation is where setup is explained, and the interface is configured mostly through URL parameters.
- It is run by an individual developer with sponsorship support, so no paid support plan is listed.
Key features
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.
VDO.Ninja
- Guests join from a link
- Remote guests open a link in a browser to share a camera, microphone or screen; the documentation lists smartphones as a source.
- Rooms with a director
- A room has a director control center for managing guests, with optional passwords, approval before joining and sign-in options.
- Output into OBS
- Each feed or scene gets a link to paste into an OBS Studio browser source.
- Peer-to-peer WebRTC
- Video travels directly between browsers where possible, using WebRTC rather than a central media server.
- URL parameters
- Advanced Options in the docs let users tune quality, layout and behavior through parameters in the link.
- Self-hostable
- The code can be customized and self-hosted by teams that want control over deployment and signaling.
Plans
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.
VDO.Ninja
Free$0
The hosted service at vdo.ninja, with rooms, guests and OBS browser-source links. No paid plans are listed.
Ways to pay less
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.
VDO.Ninja
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Castr or VDO.Ninja?
As of Nov 12, 2026, VDO.Ninja is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $16.67 a month for Castr. Castr starts at $16.67 per month, billed annually ($19.99 billed monthly), and VDO.Ninja is free.
Which has a free plan, Castr or VDO.Ninja?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only VDO.Ninja has a free plan. Castr does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.