Vimeo Pricing & Bandwidth Limits Explained (2026)

Last updated: February 5, 2026

Vimeo has always positioned itself as the "professional" YouTube alternative—no ads, better quality, cleaner player. And for years, that pitch worked well for businesses, course creators, and marketing teams who needed a reliable way to host videos without YouTube's distractions.

But here's the thing: Vimeo's pricing has gotten complicated. Really complicated.

Between the 2025 plan restructuring, the Bending Spoons acquisition, and the infamous bandwidth limits that have caught countless creators off guard, figuring out what Vimeo actually costs requires more than just checking their pricing page.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about Vimeo pricing in 2026—the real costs, the hidden limits, and when it might make sense to look elsewhere.

Vimeo's Current Plan Structure (2026)

First, let's clear up some confusion. If you've been a Vimeo user for a while, you might remember the old tier names: Plus, Pro, Business, Premium. Those are gone.

Vimeo retired that structure and replaced it with a simpler (on the surface) four-tier system, plus Enterprise for larger organizations. You can see their current options on the Vimeo pricing page:

Free Plan

The Basic plan (free) exists, but it's extremely limited. You get:

• 5 GB of total upload storage
• Up to 10 videos per day
• Vimeo branding/watermark on all embeds
• Basic privacy controls

Honestly, the Basic plan is more of a trial than a usable tier. The 5 GB storage cap means you'll hit the ceiling after uploading a handful of videos.

Starter Plan — $12/month (annual) or $20/month (monthly)

Starter is the entry point for paid users:

• 2 TB storage
• 1 user seat
• Custom video player (remove Vimeo branding)
• Privacy controls and password protection
• Auto-closed captioning
• Basic analytics

The single-seat limitation matters. If you need team members to access your account, you'll either need to upgrade to Standard or pay additional per-seat fees (around $12/seat on annual billing).

Standard Plan — $25/month (annual) or $41/month (monthly)

Standard removes several Starter limitations:

• 5 user seats included
• 4 TB of storage
• No Vimeo watermark
• Vimeo AI tools and event features
• Custom branding and calls-to-action
• Video-on-demand sales capabilities

This is where most small businesses land. The 5 seats and 4 TB storage handle typical use cases well.

Advanced Plan — $75/month (annual) or $99/month (monthly)

Advanced adds enterprise-lite features:

• 10 user seats included
• 7 TB lifetime storage
• Vimeo's webinar engine (100 registrants, 2 concurrent streams)
• AI editing and script tools
• Advanced analytics
• Priority support

At roughly $65 per seat on annual billing when you factor in the included seats, Advanced makes sense for teams running regular webinars or live events.

Enterprise Plan — Custom Pricing (typically $6,000+/year)

Enterprise is where things get interesting—and expensive:

• Unlimited seats
• Custom bandwidth allowances
• DRM and advanced security (watermarking, geo-blocking)
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• Custom integrations and API access
• Dedicated support with SLAs

Here's what Vimeo doesn't advertise prominently: many of the security features businesses actually need—DRM, watermarking, domain restrictions, geo-blocking—are only available on Enterprise plans. You can't just add them to Standard or Advanced.

The Vimeo Pricing Table (2026)

Prices shown are annual billing rates. Monthly billing typically costs 40% more.

The Bandwidth Limit Everyone Ignores (Until They Can't)

Here's where Vimeo's pricing gets tricky. You might look at the plans above and think "$25/month for 2TB of storage sounds reasonable." But storage isn't the limit that catches most users—bandwidth is.

What Is Vimeo's Bandwidth Limit?

Vimeo enforces a 2 TB per month bandwidth limit across all self-serve plans (Basic through Advanced). This measures how much data is transferred when people watch your videos, not how much you upload.

To put 2 TB in perspective:

• A 1080p video typically uses about 4-8 GB per hour of viewing
• At 6 GB/hour average, 2 TB allows roughly 333 hours of video watched per month
• If you have 100 students watching 3-4 hours of course content monthly, you're already pushing the limit
• For tips on reducing bandwidth usage, see our guide on how to save site bandwidth

The "Top 1%" Policy History

Before 2022, Vimeo's bandwidth policy was maddeningly vague. Their terms of service stated that if your usage exceeded the "top 1% of users," they could charge fees or require an upgrade.

"If your aggregate bandwidth usage is higher than 99% of Self-Serve users on our platform in any calendar month, we may, in our discretion, charge fees for excessive usage, require you to upgrade to a more suitable plan, or terminate your account(s) upon advance written notice."
— Vimeo's previous Terms of Service

This was frustrating because nobody knew what "top 1%" actually meant. Was it 1 TB? 5 TB? 10 TB? The threshold kept moving as the user base changed.

After significant backlash in March 2022, Vimeo clarified the policy with specific numbers:

• 2 TB per month is the threshold
• Exceed 2 TB twice within 12 months, and Vimeo contacts you about upgrading
• Exceed 10 TB once within 12 months, and same thing happens

Vimeo doesn't immediately cut off your streaming. Instead, you'll receive automated notifications, then direct outreach from their team if high usage continues.

What Happens When You Exceed the Limit?

This is where the real costs emerge. When Vimeo contacts you about exceeding bandwidth, you typically have three options:

1. Reduce your usage below 2 TB/month and stay on your current plan
2. Upgrade to Enterprise with custom bandwidth allowances (often $6,000+/year)
3. Leave Vimeo and migrate your content elsewhere

For many users, option 1 isn't realistic—if your business is growing, your video views are growing too. That leaves a difficult choice between a massive price jump or the hassle of migration.

Real Examples: Vimeo's Surprise Bills

The bandwidth policy has caught countless creators off guard. Here are some documented examples:

The $3,500/Year Email

In March 2022, The Verge reported on a Dutch digital artist who had been paying $200/year for Vimeo Pro. They received an email demanding an additional $3,500 per year—or cancel within a week—because their "transfer volume has reached the top 1% of all users." For more on this topic, see our guide to 15 Vimeo Alternatives for Video Hosting in 2026.

The artist's response was understandably frustrated. They'd been using Vimeo for years with no issues, and suddenly faced an 18x price increase with barely any warning.

The $0.08/GB Overage Rate

Users who violate the terms of service have reported receiving emails stating their account was "deactivated due to a breach of Terms of Service" and would need to pay for bandwidth at approximately $0.08 per gigabyte.

At that rate:

• 3 TB of overage = $245
• 5 TB of overage = $410
• 10 TB of overage = $819

These charges can accumulate quickly if you have a viral video or a course launch that drives unexpected traffic.

Third-Party Player Gotcha

Here's an important nuance from Vimeo's own documentation: the "unlimited bandwidth" promise only applies when using Vimeo's native player. If you're accessing video files through the API or third-party players (like on Roku apps), bandwidth fees may be calculated separately.

"You'll never encounter surprise charges for overages, so long as you're using our gorgeous player."
— Vimeo Pro FAQ

A Vimeo Pro representative clarified that "if bandwidth reaches a certain level outside the player (e.g., Roku), additional bandwidth fees are calculated and charged on a case by case basis."

This matters for membership sites, course platforms, and apps that might not use Vimeo's standard embed.

The Bending Spoons Factor

In late 2025, Vimeo was acquired by Bending Spoons for $1.38 billion in cash. The deal closed in November 2025, and Vimeo was delisted from NASDAQ.

If you're not familiar with Bending Spoons, here's why this matters:

Bending Spoons has a pattern with acquisitions. They purchased WeTransfer in July 2024 and laid off 75% of staff within weeks. A few months later, WeTransfer began limiting free users to 10 transfers per month. They did something similar with Evernote—layoffs followed by cuts to the free offering.

By January 2026, the pattern repeated with Vimeo: mass layoffs affecting most of the workforce, including the entire video team according to former employees. Vimeo's Israeli operations—built through over $200 million in acquisitions—were shut down entirely.

What does this mean for Vimeo users?

• Pricing increases are likely (following the WeTransfer/Evernote playbook)
• Basic and lower-tier plans may see feature restrictions
• Support quality may decline with reduced staff
• Product development may slow without the dedicated video team

This isn't fear-mongering—it's pattern recognition. If you're building a long-term video strategy around Vimeo, factor in the possibility of significant changes over the next 12-24 months.

Vimeo vs. Alternatives: Price Comparison

Let's compare Vimeo's pricing against other popular video hosting options at different usage levels.

For Light Usage (Under 100 GB/month bandwidth)

For Medium Usage (500 GB - 2 TB/month bandwidth)

For High Usage (2+ TB/month bandwidth)

The key difference: Vimeo's costs jump dramatically once you exceed bandwidth limits, while pay-as-you-go platforms scale more predictably.

Who Should Actually Use Vimeo?

Despite the complexity, Vimeo isn't a bad choice for everyone. Here's an honest assessment:

Choose Vimeo If...

• You need live streaming + VOD in one platform (Advanced tier)
• Your bandwidth stays under 2 TB/month consistently
• You want native Vimeo integrations with tools like Zoom, Slack, etc.
• You're running webinars and want their event features
• Budget for Enterprise isn't a concern (if you need DRM/security)

Consider Alternatives If...

• You're running a membership site or course platform with unpredictable traffic—one successful launch could push you over bandwidth limits (see how X10 Entrepreneur handled this)
• You need unbranded video hosting without paying for Standard+ (Creaktor's case study on this exact issue)
• You want predictable costs that don't jump 10x when your content goes viral (the true cost of "free" video players is worth reading)
• You need security features (DRM, watermarking) but can't justify Enterprise pricing — see our private video hosting comparison
• You're concerned about platform stability post-acquisition

How to Calculate Your Real Vimeo Costs

Before committing to Vimeo (or any video host), do this math:

Step 1: Estimate Your Monthly Bandwidth

Formula: (Average video bitrate) × (Total hours watched per month)

Example calculation:

• You have a course with 20 hours of 1080p content
• You have 200 active students
• Each student watches an average of 10 hours/month
• 1080p video at 5 Mbps = roughly 2.25 GB/hour

Monthly bandwidth: 200 students × 10 hours × 2.25 GB = 4,500 GB (4.5 TB)

This example would exceed Vimeo's 2 TB limit in the first month, triggering Enterprise conversations.

Step 2: Calculate True Annual Cost

If you're under 2 TB consistently:

• Vimeo Standard: $25/mo × 12 = $300/year

If you exceed 2 TB:

• Vimeo Enterprise: Typically $500-1,000/mo = $6,000-12,000/year

Compare to alternatives:

• Bunny Stream at 4.5 TB/month: ~$45/mo × 12 = $540/year
• SmartVideo flat-rate: Starting at $348/year

The difference between "fits in Vimeo Standard" and "needs Vimeo Enterprise" can be $5,700+ annually.

Migration Tips If You're Leaving Vimeo

If you've decided Vimeo's pricing or bandwidth limits don't work for you, here's how to migrate smoothly. (If you're specifically looking for ad-free video hosting, we've covered what to look for.)

Before You Cancel

1. Download all your videos — Vimeo lets you download original files from Settings > Videos
2. Export your analytics — Historical data won't transfer
3. Document your embed codes — You'll need to update these on your site
4. Check API dependencies — If anything uses Vimeo's API, plan the switchover

During Migration

1. Upload to the new platform first — Don't cancel Vimeo until everything is live elsewhere
2. Update embeds in batches — Start with high-traffic pages
3. Test thoroughly — Check playback on mobile, different browsers, etc.
4. Set up redirects if needed — If you were using Vimeo URLs directly

After Migration

1. Monitor for broken embeds — Some may have been missed
2. Cancel Vimeo after your billing cycle — Don't leave it running
3. Update any documentation that referenced Vimeo processes
4. Verify your new platform works behind enterprise firewalls if you have corporate viewers

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Vimeo is a capable video hosting platform with a lot of features. But its pricing isn't as straightforward as the tier names suggest.

The 2TB bandwidth limit is the hidden variable that determines whether Vimeo costs you $300/year or $6,000+/year. And with the Bending Spoons acquisition adding uncertainty about future pricing and policies, it's worth doing the math carefully before committing—especially to annual plans.

If your usage will stay comfortably under 2TB monthly, Vimeo’s Standard plan is reasonable. If you’re unsure, or if your business is growing, platforms with more predictable pricing may save you from a painful surprise down the road.

The best video hosting choice isn't about finding the "best" platform—it's about finding the one that fits your specific usage patterns, budget, and risk tolerance. If you want to explore all your options, our full video hosting comparison breaks down 10 platforms side by side.