Wistia vs. Swarmify
Want to offer instant-start, buffer-free, high-quality, and 12x faster videos on your site? If so, Swarmify is the best alternative to Wistia
Do you know how Michael Dubin and his partner turned Dollar Shave Club into a billion-dollar brand?
Nope, they didn’t buy ad slots on TV or paid millions for Google or Bing Ads. They didn’t even touch Facebook advertising, which was in its infancy back then.
What did they do instead?
They used simple but incredibly creative video marketing.
The team behind Dollar Shave Club shot a ridiculously funny video about blades and everything that goes into a smooth shave. After that, they leveraged YouTube to reach millions of customers.
In no time, they grew the start-up into a big-name brand and sold it to Unilever for $1 billion. Yep, a billion dollars amigo 🙂
That goes to say video marketing is going nowhere and if you play your cards right, you, too, can use the power of video to grow your business like a boss.
However, creating fantastic videos is just one part of the equation. The second part of the equation involves finding the right video hosting service.
Enters the likes of Wistia, YouTube, or Vimeo, and the day is saved. Today, we focus 100% on Wistia, and why Swarmify is an excellent alternative.
Wistia is a reputable video marketing service that helps many businesses like yours deliver video content effortlessly. Think of Wistia as a video host offering a few marketing tools.
However, Wistia comes with limitations such as costly plans and limited bandwidth. The Wistia user interface and video loading speeds could also use some improvements.
Here is where Swarmify swoops in, helping you deliver videos at lightning-fast speeds that wow your users. At a fraction of the cost and without any limits!
In the next few sections, we compare Wistia vs. Swarmify. We highlight essential factors such as features, video performance, pricing, and support.
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Brief
Founded back in 2006 by computer engineer Brendan Schalwtz and filmmaker Chris Savage, Wistia is a video software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The privately-owned outfit offers businesses video hosting services with analytics and marketing functionality.
The platform allows you to create and host videos thanks to several nifty features. They offer a free plan that will enable you to host only three videos.
You get limited resources to host three videos, which is only helpful if you’re trying out their service. If you have more videos, you must upgrade to a pro plan that, sadly, still has limits.
After creating your video, you must upload it to Wistia, just like you would on YouTube. After that, you have several tools to customize your videos.
Later, and once you’re satisfied with your customizations, you have several video sharing options, including HTML embed, a direct link, and social media.
That being said…
Unlike Wistia, you don’t upload videos directly to Swarmify. You can continue uploading videos to YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Amazon S3, Google Drive, etc.
We are in the business of accelerating video playback experiences in similar quality to Netflix and Hulu use. Couple that with our in-house EdgeAI, and the quality and speed of your videos go up tremendously.
Once Swarmify SmartVideo is active on your site, we convert your video embeds automatically and serve them from our SmartCDN. Your users enjoy a much faster and clutter-free video experience.
Our service optimizes your videos no matter where you store your original copies online. In the end, your web visitors enjoy videos that are 12x faster, with 8x less buffering than competitors.
Integrating our SmartVideo solution with your website is incredibly easy, whether you’re using ClickFunnels, Shopify, Squarespace, WordPress, or an HTML-only site.
Now that we have the basics out of the way, let us move on to the next section and discover the features found in Wistia and Swarmify.
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Features
Your video host should never make your video marketing harder than it already is. The service provider you ultimately choose should endeavor to streamline your workflow.
Your video hosting provider must have the technological might to offer the perfect set of features without overwhelming you with unrealistic budgets and contracts.
In other words, your video host must be passionate about working with you to realize your business goals. In a way, you should feel like you’re working with a friend, and not a faceless company trying to rip you off.
That said, what features can you expect?
Wistia Features:
Wistia offers you several features including:
- Soapbox – A video creation tool. To get all the features, be prepared to pay more than $300 per year.
- Customizable video player (only in pro plans)
- Multiple embed options include HTML code and social sharing
- Interactive video tools such as CTAs, email gates, captions, and annotation links
- Up-to 250 subscribers
- Channels to organize your videos
- CRM integrations with Mailchimp, HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot
- Video analytics
- A/B testing
- Professional support
Wistia is an above-average video hosting website, but it’s an expensive option for small businesses, especially if you have lots of videos to upload. Bandwidth limits might also pose a problem if you upload a video that becomes immensely popular.
Swarmify SmartVideo Features:
We’re passionate about video acceleration, which is why we’ve invested time, money, and the best skills to create a platform you won’t find elsewhere. Here’s a glimpse of what other customers like you enjoy at Swarmify:
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth (whoa) – now you can serve any number of videos you want without limits.
- Easy analytics dashboard
- Unlimited video encoding
- Ultra-fast server stacks and infrastructure used by the likes of Netflix and Hulu
- Full video player customization with lots of unique options
- EdgeAI to prevent stalling
- Automatic conversion of YouTube, Vimeo, and other videos on your site
- Seamless integration with LearnDash
- Beautiful widgets for WordPress page builders such as Elementor, Divi, Gutenberg, and the Classic Editor
- Import videos from Digital Ocean Spaces, Amazon S3, Wasabi, Dropbox, Vimeo, and other sources
- Enterprise-grade SmartCDN for super-fast video delivery
- Rock-solid support from smart developers and engineers
- Easy to configure on your site – We have a plugin for WordPress sites
- Fast and clutter-free video player unlike what YouTube and other providers offer
Businesses looking to provide fully customizable and powerful video experiences will have a field day with Swarmify SmartVideo. We have taken the time to develop a unique video acceleration service for course providers, video hosting sites, and everything in between.
If you use videos to deliver value at all levels in your organization, Swarmify SmartVideo is a tried and tested partner. We have your back since we are pioneers in the industry, offering you an easy tool to multiply your conversions and revenue tenfold.
Read our case studies to learn how businesses such as yours are killing it with video.
Global video cdn
Whether your customers are across the world or just down the street, your video starts fast. Instant-start, buffer-proof.
Optimized encoding for all devices
Your customers get video optimized for their device to deliver the best experience. Worry free and automatically updated for new devices.
Clean, distraction free player
Make more sales, and reduce bounce rates by keeping visitors focused on your brand. Giant logos and related videos are designed to take away your customers.
Winner is: We beat Wistia easily in terms of feature offering. While we are different companies with varying approaches, we have no limits whatsoever. The sky is NOT the limit at Swarmify.
Wistia offers you tools to create and host videos, but bandwidth limits and limited resources can quickly exhaust your budget, making it unpredictable, more so if you experience traffic spikes to your videos.
At Swarmify, we specialize in accelerating your videos no matter where you host them. You could host videos on YouTube, Wistia, Vimeo, pCloud, Google Drive, or Amazon.
It doesn’t matter one bit; we offer just what you need to provide speedy and buffer-free videos in a custom video player perfect for your business. “No limits” is our second name.
Pro Tip: That means you can take advantage of free video hosting wherever (e.g., YouTube), but leverage SmartVideo to provide professional video experiences on your site. Your users won’t see annoying 3rd-party video players chockful of branding, unrelated videos from your competitors, and links that siphon away your hard-earned traffic.
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Performance
Performance is everything as far as video hosting goes. Keep in mind everything ties back to your video marketing efforts, and if your video hosting provider lets you down, you end up flushing your marketing budget down the drain.
When so much is relying on your video marketing efforts, you cannot afford downtimes or poor video experiences that frustrate your users. If you run an online video course such as ProDigi, you cannot afford to serve slow and low-quality videos to your students.
In terms of performance, Wistia has nothing on Swarmify. When you serve your videos via Swarmify SmartVideo, you will notice 12x faster videos than if you served the same videos directly from Wistia.
If you use Wistia’s free plan, the video player they offer comes with Wistia branding. In other words, your video has 3rd-party Wistia branding that sends your users back to Wistia. When you use SmartVideo, our video player strips out 3rd-party branding even if you host your videos on YouTube or any other free video hosting site.
Our proprietary EdgeAI is a smart machine that monitors videos as your users watch. As such, we successfully eliminate stalling and poor video performance on a per-person basis. Each user is different but with EdgeAI, all your users enjoy optimized video experiences.
We have a complete video encoding solution that’s simply brilliant. No matter your videos’ resolution, they will look great no matter the device your user has. Your videos won’t run off the screen or look blurry (or pixelated) across multiple screens thanks to full mobile support.
You’ll love the effectiveness of our SmartCDN video content delivery network. No matter where your users are in the world, they enjoy instant-start, lag-free, stall-free, buffer-free, super-fast, high-quality video playback.
On matters bandwidth and storage, we’ve outdone ourselves with fast servers with unlimited storage. We charge by video views, and not bandwidth or storage.
Don’t take our word for it, view case studies.
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Pricing
While video marketing is powerful, video hosting shouldn’t drain your coffers, especially as a small business with limited resources at your disposal. Even if you’re a big enterprise, you don’t have to break the bank to offer fabulous video experiences to your users.
If you must pay extra when you exceed storage and bandwidth limits, things can quickly get out of hand. If you don’t predict a spike in traffic and, as a result, don’t have the required budget, you’ll lose revenue while your video host imposes restrictions.
Here’s how Wistia and Swarmify handle pricing differently.
Wistia Pricing Plans
Wistia offers three pricing plans:
- A free package that costs zilch to host only three (3) videos, one (1) channel without embedding, 250 channel subscribers, 250 GB bandwidth per month, A/B testing and Wistia branding on the video player
- Pro plan at $99 per month to host ten (10) videos, one (1) channel without embedding, 250 channel subscribers with email notifications, A/B testing and custom branding on the video player, and 25 cents for each video thereafter
- Advanced plan – host 100 videos, multiple channels with embedding, 250+ channel subscribers with email notifications, A/B testing, custom branding on the video player, one premium integration with HubSpot, Marketo or Pardot, Reach & Retarget with Facebook and Google integrations, and priority support. You must contact Wistia for a custom quote.
Notes:
- They don’t offer information about bandwidth for the Pro and Advanced plans.
- If you exceed your limit, you’ll pay $0.33 per GB of bandwidth on top of the monthly fee.
Swarmify Pricing Plans
Swarmify offers you three pricing plans (You can try all annual packages risk-free for 14-days, i.e., we offer a 100% no-risk, 14-day money-back guarantee):
- Small Business plan for $29/month (normally $59/month) for unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, background video acceleration, and 50k instant-start video views
- Video Pro plan that costs $59/month (usually $119 per month) for unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, background video acceleration, real-time analytics, 100k instant-start video views and so much more
- Custom plan for clients with more significant demands. Contact us for a custom quote.
Notes:
- If you exhaust your monthly video views (e.g., 50k for the Small Business plan), we charge just $1 for every 1,000 views. So, if you have 60k views in a certain month, you’ll pay $29 + ((10,000 extra views/1,000 views) x $1) = $39 for that month. If you miss our discounted price, you will pay $59 + $10 = $69 for that month 🙂
- Take advantage of our 14-day money-back guarantee.
Winner is: Swarmify lifts the trophy once more. Billing by bandwidth is costly, more so when you exceed your limits. 50k instant-start video views per month in our cheapest plan is quite a steal. If you exceed your limit, we charge per 1000 video views, meaning you can stay on top of your billing without hiccups. It’s hard to predict the bandwidth your users will consume, which is why we offer straightforward billing. We don’t have hidden fees and bandwidth limits whatsoever.
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Support
We pride ourselves in offering professional, no-blame, and high-skilled support powered by our tech-savvy and passionate developers. You can easily submit your support request via email, ticketing system, or browse our knowledgebase, which is beaming with detailed resources. We also run the regularly updated Swarmify Buzz blog that’s full of helpful tips and tricks.
Wistia offers support via a contact page, ticketing system, and a help center full of helpful articles. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find information about bandwidth on their website. All the same, they have a Bandwidth predictor tool. On top of that, they run a beautiful blog full of articles in various categories.
Winner is: It’s a tie here, guys. Both Wistia and Swarmify offer professional and helpful support 🙂
Wistia vs. Swarmify: Summary
Both Wistia and Swarmify are great video hosting platforms. However, we solve two different problems for video hosting users like you.
Wistia helps you to create and host videos easily. At Swarmify, we help you accelerate the videos you create and host, no matter where you host them.
Since top performance is a priority when it comes to delivering video content, you cannot afford to ignore the value Swarmify SmartVideo brings to the table.
We help you to offer instant-start, buffer-free, and fast-loading videos to your audience. Our SmartVideo solution improves video views, user retention, user experience, conversions, and – ultimately – sales.
We hate complicated contracts that lock in your content; we offer simple billing based on video views. Additionally, we offer you stellar performance at pocket-friendly prices.
Other than that, we don’t have bandwidth or storage limits, which means you have the freedom to provide fantastic video experiences to as many web visitors as possible.
Get started with Swarmify and ensure your video content is watched
If you’re ready to use a video player that will ensure your videos get watched, we have you covered. To get started with Swarmify, the first step is to sign up for a SmartVideo account.
We offer a handful of pricing plans to suit every budget and size. All of our plans come with unlimited bandwidth, storage, and encoding, as well as priority support.
Once you create an account, you’ll have access to your SmartVideo dashboard. This is where you’ll find your Swarm CDN key, which you can use to activate the SmartVideo plugin on your WordPress site:
Unlike other third-party platforms, Swarmify offers a simple way for you to keep your on-site videos free from third-party branding.
Sign up for a SmartVideo account today and see for yourself how easy it can be to deliver a clean, distraction-free video experience for your visitors!