# api.video review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Video hosting, live streaming and analytics API for developers Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. api.video is a developer-focused video platform that handles upload, encoding, storage, delivery and live streaming through an API and dashboard. It includes a customizable player, analytics and optional AI transcription and summaries. Billing is by minutes of video stored and delivered, and encoding is not charged. - **Category:** Screen Recording & Video - **Made by:** api.video - **Website:** https://api.video - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you don't write code, as the product is an API. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, api.video has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Sandbox account with all features: videos limited to 30 seconds, watermarked and deleted after 24 hours. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Pay as you go | $0 | No monthly fee. Hosting from $0.00285 and delivery from $0.0017 per minute of video; encoding is free. | | Enterprise plan | Custom | Higher API rate limits, 99.9% SLA with credits, signed MSA and DPA, security review, annual billing, wire transfer. | Read from https://api.video/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with api.video before buying. ## Key features - **Video on demand API:** Upload by file or URL, with HLS and MP4 output, encoding from 240p to 4K, trimming, watermarks, captions, chapters and thumbnails. - **Live streaming:** Concurrent and 24/7 streams over RTMPS or SRT, DVR, recording, low latency and simulcasting to platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. - **Analytics:** Viewing analytics for videos and live streams with one month of retention free, and longer retention sold by play count. - **AI transcription and summaries:** Transcription in 33 languages is priced at $0.10 per minute of video; summaries and takeaways are billed per minute too. - **Access control:** Private videos and streams, delegated upload tokens, domain referrer restrictions and AES 128-bit encryption. ## Good for - Developers building video upload and playback into an app - Products that need live streaming plus recorded video - Teams that want to pay by minutes stored and delivered ## Worth knowing - The free sandbox caps videos at 30 seconds, watermarks them and deletes them after 24 hours; production needs a paid account. - Custom domains are an add-on from $60 a month per domain (the add-ons list shows 60 euros); domain referrer restrictions are $20 a month. - Analytics retention beyond one month costs from $12 to $299 a month depending on plays; AI transcription is $0.10 per minute. - Pay as you go allows 100 upload, 200 write and 500 read API calls per minute; Enterprise raises these limits. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. api.video handles upload, encoding, delivery and live streaming through an API, billed by minutes stored and watched with no monthly fee. The free sandbox cuts videos to 30 seconds with a watermark and deletes them after a day, and add-ons like custom domains start at $60 a month. - **Value for money: C.** No monthly fee, and hosting from $0.00285 and delivery from $0.0017 per minute of video, so it depends on usage. Custom domains are an add-on from $60 a month. - **Free plan and trial: D.** The sandbox has every feature, but videos are 30 seconds, watermarked and deleted after 24 hours. It is a test area, not something to live on. - **Features: B.** On-demand and live video, SRT and RTMPS, simulcast, analytics, access controls and AI transcription in 33 languages. Longer analytics history and transcription cost extra. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. There is a dashboard, but the work is writing code against the API. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Web dashboard and API only. No desktop or phone apps, and no integrations list. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from api.video's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among screen recording and video tools - api.video's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 14 of the 133 other screen recording and video tools we grade, and level with 27. - It stands best on features (B, above 78 of 133) and worst on free plan and trial (D, above 14). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/video ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace api.video you would be making one live stream sent to several platforms at once. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 92 of the 133 other screen recording and video tools grade higher. - You could not: One live stream sent to several platforms at once. - You could not: Speech turned into text you can trust. - You could not: An API that other software can build on. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** Public API, Transcription, AI features, Multistreaming ## Alternatives - [Mux](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mux): Video API for storing, streaming and analyzing video in apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/api-video-vs-mux) - [Bunny Stream](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bunny-stream): Pay-as-you-go video hosting, encoding and delivery. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/api-video-vs-bunny-stream) - [Vimeo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/vimeo): Ad-free video hosting with a customizable player and review tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/api-video-vs-vimeo) - [JWX (JW Player)](https://toolgpa.com/tools/jw-player): Video streaming, delivery and ad monetization platform. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/api-video-vs-jw-player) - [Brightcove](https://toolgpa.com/tools/brightcove): Enterprise video hosting, player and live streaming platform. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/api-video-vs-brightcove) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://api.video/pricing/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/api-video Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).