When it comes to selecting a media server solution for your live streaming needs, pricing is an important factor to consider. Finding a balance between functionality, quality, and affordability is crucial.
In this blog post, we aim to extend the coverage of first, second and third blog content by adding Wowza Cloud and Red5 Cloud into our comparison chart separately as they both deserve specific focus. So we’ll compare the pricing of Ant Media Server in AWS , Wowza Cloud and Red5 Cloud helping you make an informed decision according to your budget and requirements.
Cost Comparison Wowza Cloud vs Red5Pro Cloud vs Ant Media Server
Step 1: Define Your Specific Needs
As a first step, we need to determine the features and functionalities required for a streaming project. This may include factors such as streaming quality, resolution, the number of concurrent broadcasters or viewers, recording and transcoding capabilities and many other additional services.
However, for this comparison, we’ve taken a basic use case which is 1 broadcaster to many viewers and we’ve used the following parameters to calculate the overall cost.
- No of Viewers: 200
- Session Duration: 1 hour every day
- Video Quality: HD (2Mbps)
Step 2: Calculate the cost
Wowza Cloud
Using the pricing guidance provided by Wowza provides fixed packages to calculate the cost; live streaming and viewing hours in a month you’ll perform, and in addition, storage usage and extra destinations for restream are counted for charging perspective. There are currently 2 packages offered with the prices exposed, “One Month of Streaming” and “Pay as You Go”.
Based on our use case, the values we will use are 30 times a month for streaming, 200 expected viewers each hour, Video+Audio bitrate at 2Mbps with HD quality and 60 minutes of live streaming happened in each session.
Lets pick Pay as You Go Package first to see how much we should pay if we go with that option. Accordingly , we will pay $2.50 per hour for Live Stream and $0.10 per hour for Live Viewers.
Based on above, if we need to calculate the cost, we will need to use the following equation 🙂
30 x 1 hour x $2.50 + 200 x 30 x $0.10 = $675
Lets pick One Month Streaming Package this time to see how much we should pay if we go with that option. Accordingly , its a fixed price package with $149 per month includes 15 hours Live Stream and 500 hours for Live Viewers as FREE.
Based on above, if we need to calculate the cost, we will need to use the following equation 🙂
(30-15 Free) x 1 hour x $2.50 + (200 x 30 – 500 Free) x $0.10 + $149 (Monthly Subscription Fee)= $736.50
Red5Pro Cloud
Using the pricing guidance provided by Red5Pro provides fixed packages to calculate the cost; live streaming publishers and viewers count in a month you’ll have, and in addition, data consumption and extra usage fee exceeding the given parameters are counted for charging perspective. There are currently 3 packages offered with the prices exposed, “Developer” , “Startup” and “Growth”.
Based on our use case, the values we will use are 30 times a month for streaming, 200 expected viewers each hour, Video+Audio bitrate at 2Mbps with HD quality and 60 minutes of live streaming happened in each session.
Lets pick the Startup Package to see how much we should pay if we go with that option. Accordingly , we will pay $999 monthly fixed fee including 25 publishers, 250 viewers and , 10TB data consumption.
Based on above, if we need to calculate the cost, we will see that we could easily fit into a package of Startup and our data consumption will be stayed inside of the cap (5.4TB) so, we will pay only $999 a month to deliver such services 30 days a month.
Ant Media Server on AWS
If you deploy Ant Media Server on AWS, you will be able to use clustered nodes to scale up and down when its needed and charging is only applied when you keep the systems up and running, whether your streaming or not.
Based on that, we assume that after your session is over, all systems you built will be turned off (no loss of configuration or parameters) until the next live streaming session.
If you use the pricing calculator at Ant Media and use the metrics defined in the example use case, the daily cost of offering the service by using Ant Media Server in AWS is listed below:
- Total Node Count: 2 (c5.xlarge – EC2 with 8 core)
- Total Instance Cost: $0.34
- Data Transfer Cost: $15.3 (180 GB)
- Total Ant Media Server License Cost: $0.98
- Total Cost: $16.62
Ant Media’s price calculator defaults to 3.5Mbps. However, for accurate and fair comparisons, we have set it to 2Mbps, which aligns with the standards used by Dolby and Agora.
Now we can easily calculate the overall cost for the month which will be 30 x $16.62 = $498.6 which equates to almost $499 per month for such a service with the assumption that the servers are kept off when its not used at all.
Summary
In conclusion, after a comprehensive analysis of the costs offered by three of the most popular live streaming services, Wowza Cloud, Red5Pro Cloud and Ant Media Server, we can confidently guide you in choosing the best live streaming service for your budget.
When it comes to finding the perfect balance between affordability and top-notch streaming capabilities, Ant Media Server emerges as a powerful contender. With its scalable infrastructure, low latency, and cost-effective licensing model, Ant Media Server provides an exceptional streaming experience without breaking the bank. It allows you to deliver high-quality content to your viewers while maintaining the flexibility to scale your resources as needed.
In essence, by opting for Ant Media Server, you can harness the power of a reliable and cost-effective live streaming solution that perfectly aligns with your budgetary constraints.
It ensures that you can deliver captivating and immersive live content to your audience without compromising on quality or incurring extreme expenses.
Choose Ant Media Server as your live streaming service and unlock a world of possibilities while staying within your budget. Experience seamless scalability, outstanding performance, and exceptional value for your investment.
