Restream vs StreamAlive (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Restream: it is second in our ranking of webinar and live streaming tools, and it grades higher too, 2.4 against 2.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Restream grades higher on value for money and features. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Restream
Multistream one live video to YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn and more
StreamAlive
Chat-based polls and quizzes for Zoom, Teams and live streams
Which one is for you
Pick Restream if
- Fits if you go live on YouTube, Twitch and LinkedIn at the same time and want their comments in one place
- Works for streamers who already use OBS and want one feed sent to several channels
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want 1080p from the browser studio without paying for Professional at $49 a month
- Pricey if you mostly want webinars: $99 a month for 100 attendees on top of the plan, or $299 for 500 on Business
- Tight if you're staying free, with Restream branding, only 2 channels and no cloud recording
- Watch out: recordings are kept 15 days (30 on Business), and extra seats are $25 a month each, sold only on Professional and Business
- Not for you if you want a desktop or phone app, since it's web only
Pick StreamAlive if
- Fits if you already present on Zoom or Teams and want live polls
- Works for trainers who run quizzes inside a session
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to host webinars, as it has no registration or replays
- Tight if you stay free: 5 participants a session
- Watch out: Starter is limited to 4 sessions a month, and Starter, Free and Pro are for one presenter
- Pricey if you have 3 or more presenters: that starts at $5,000 a year
- Watch out: your own branding is Pro only
How we grade them
| 2.4GPARestreamFair | 2.0GPAStreamAliveFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BStreaming to three platforms means Standard: $190 a year billed annually, or $19 by the month. Against the tools doing the same job, that's level with Ecamm and Castr and well under StreamYard's Core, so it sits in the cheapest band. Webinars are an extra $99 a month. | CStarter is $25 a month for 4 sessions on yearly billing and Pro is $75, between the $20.80 and $45 marks. It adds to a meeting rather than replacing a webinar tool. |
| Free plan and trial | CThere's a free plan with no time limit: 2 channels at once and 6 people on screen in Studio. But Restream branding sits on the stream, it's 720p, and there's no cloud recording. | CFree with no time limit, but only 5 participants per session and 7 days of analytics. |
| Features | CIt does the multistreaming job fully: 30 or more platforms, custom RTMP and SRT, one chat for every channel, combined stats, and recorded video streamed as live. The gaps: Studio stays at 720p on Standard, and webinars and clips are paid add-ons. | DOne narrow function: audience interaction. It needs a webinar or meeting tool to be useful at all. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Guests join from a browser, but you connect each channel and build scenes and overlays in Studio, or set up OBS to stream in. | CNo store rating on record. You connect it to a meeting or stream and build your interactions. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web app, with no desktop or phone app listed, but it streams to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, LinkedIn, X and TikTok, takes feeds from OBS, Zoom and game consoles, and can send a webinar into Slack. | BWeb and browser extension, with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, PowerPoint, YouTube Live, Twitch and StreamYard. |
| Best for | streaming to several platforms at once | chat polls and quizzes in Zoom and live streams |
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: Restream and StreamAlive. How we grade
Price against what you get
Restream starts at $19 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. StreamAlive starts at $25 a month and scores 2.0.
Restream scores higher and starts $6 a month lower. Of the other webinar and live streaming tools on the chart, 2 score higher than Restream for less, and 10 score higher than StreamAlive 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
- Restream also covers transcription and multistreaming.
- StreamAlive also covers surveys and reports.
At a glance
| Restream | StreamAlive | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per month, billed monthly ($190 a year billed annually) | $25 per month for 4 sessions a month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Stream to 2 channels at once with Restream branding, 6 on-screen participants in Studio at 720p, and no cloud recording. | Free with no time limit: up to 5 participants per session, unlimited sessions, every interaction type, rehearsals, and analytics kept for 7 days. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Restream, Inc. | StreamAlive |
| Price read from | restream.io | streamalive.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Restream
- Webinars cost extra: $99 a month for 100 attendees on Standard and Professional, and $299 a month for 500 on Business.
- The Free plan carries Restream branding, streams to only 2 channels and has no cloud recording.
- Studio streams at 720p on Free and Standard; 1080p needs Professional, and recordings are kept 15 days (30 on Business).
- Extra team seats cost $25 a seat a month and are sold only on Professional and Business.
StreamAlive
- It adds interaction to a meeting or stream and does not host webinars, registration or replays itself.
- Participants are counted as people who type in the chat; the free plan allows only 5 per session.
- Starter is limited to 4 sessions a month, and Starter, Free and Pro are for one presenter; 3 or more presenters starts at $5,000 a year.
- Your own branding is only on Pro; Session Pack and Starter show a small StreamAlive mark.
Key features
Restream
- Multistreaming
- Sends one stream to 30 or more platforms, from 2 at once on Free to 8 on Business, plus custom RTMP and SRT destinations and paired channels added by guests.
- Restream Studio
- A browser studio with up to 10 people on screen, scenes, overlays, logos, a scrolling ticker, QR codes and background music. Professional and up stream in 1080p and record in 4K.
- Encoder support
- Instead of Studio, you can stream from OBS, Zoom, mobile encoders or game consoles into Restream and let it fan the stream out to every channel.
- Cross-platform chat and analytics
- Comments from every channel arrive in one feed, and viewer and engagement stats from all channels are shown together, with a live health monitor during the stream.
- Webinars add-on
- One link handles registration, the live webinar and the replay. Attendees watch in a browser without an account, and the webinar can also be streamed into a Slack channel.
- Upload & Stream and clips
- Pre-recorded videos can be broadcast as live streams, and the Clips add-on cuts streams into short vertical clips for TikTok, Shorts and Reels.
StreamAlive
- Chat-based interactions
- Live polls, quizzes with a leaderboard, word clouds, maps, rating polls, a spinner wheel and quick questions, all answered by typing in the chat.
- Works inside other tools
- Listed to work with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, PowerPoint, YouTube Live and Twitch, plus a Chrome extension for StreamYard, Restream and LinkedIn Live.
- Chat tracking
- A link library, ranked list of most active commenters, and a film-style credits crawl of everyone who commented.
- AI help
- StreamAlive AI writes questions and summarizes answers; summaries are limited on the free plan.
- Presentation builder
- Build slides and interactions together, with 50+ themes on paid plans.
- Reports
- A report after every session, kept for 7 to 180 days depending on the plan.
Plans
Restream
Free$0
Stream to 2 channels at once with Restream branding; Studio at 720p with 6 people on screen.
Standard$19
per month, billed monthly ($190 a year billed annually)
3 channels, no Restream branding, guest channels, 10 people on screen, cloud recording of 6 hours per stream kept for 15 days, and transcription.
Professional$49
per month, billed monthly ($470 a year billed annually)
5 channels, 1080p from Studio, 4K recording, horizontal and vertical streams at once, 10 hours recorded per stream and 2 team seats.
Business$239
per month, billed monthly ($2,390 a year billed annually)
8 channels, a website player for 1,000 viewers, 2 seats, co-producer mode, team workspaces and 30 days of recording storage.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom channels and seats, SSO, multiple workspaces, SRT ingest, stream backup and an account manager.
StreamAlive
Free$0
Up to 5 participants per session, unlimited sessions, every interaction, limited AI summaries and 7 days of analytics.
Session Pack$100
for 4 sessions, used within 12 months, one-time
Up to 250 participants per session, 50+ themes, AI summaries and 60 days of analytics. Sessions with 5 or fewer participants are free.
Starter$25
per month for 4 sessions a month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly)
Up to 1,000 participants per session under fair use, 50+ themes, a small StreamAlive mark and 180 days of analytics. One presenter.
Pro$75
per month, unlimited sessions, billed annually ($150 monthly)
Everything in Starter with unlimited sessions, your own logo, colors and backgrounds, and analysis in Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, listed as coming soon.
Teams and enterprise$5,000
per year, for 3 or more presenters
Single sign-on, invoicing, onboarding and premium support. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Restream
- Annual discount
Annual billing labelled Save 20%
Restream's pricing page offers annual billing marked "Save 20%". Its price data gives $190 a year for Standard, $470 for Professional and $2,390 for Business, against $19, $49 and $239 a month.
StreamAlive
- Annual discount
Annual billing at half the monthly price
Starter is $25 a month billed $300 a year against $50 monthly, and Pro is $75 a month billed $900 a year against $150 monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Restream or StreamAlive?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Restream is cheaper to start with: $19 a month, against $25 a month for StreamAlive. Restream starts at $19 per month, billed monthly ($190 a year billed annually), and StreamAlive starts at $25 per month for 4 sessions a month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Restream or StreamAlive?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Restream and StreamAlive have a free plan.
Which platforms do Restream and StreamAlive run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only StreamAlive lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.