If you are researching Dacast pricing in 2026, the headline numbers are fairly straightforward: Dacast offers Starter, Event, Scale, and Custom plans for businesses that want to host, manage, monetize, and live stream video. But the monthly subscription price is only one part of the equation. Your actual Dacast cost can also depend on
If you are researching Dacast pricing in 2026, the headline numbers are fairly straightforward: Dacast offers Starter, Event, Scale, and Custom plans for businesses that want to host, manage, monetize, and live stream video. But the monthly subscription price is only one part of the equation.
Your actual Dacast cost can also depend on bandwidth usage, storage, paywall transactions, add-ons, and the way you choose to bill your account. In this guide, we break down Dacast pricing 2026, what each plan includes, potential additional charges, how Dacast’s monetization fees work, and how alternatives such as Muvi Live compare.
As of 2026, Dacast offers three main plans, plus custom pricing for higher-volume broadcasting requirements:
Dacast Plan | Price | Billing | Included Bandwidth | Included Storage |
Starter | $39/month | Billed annually | 2.4 TB/year | 500 GB |
Event | $63/month | Billed annually | 6 TB upfront | 250 GB |
Scale | $165/month annually or $250/month monthly | Annual or monthly | 24 TB/year | 2 TB |
Custom | Contact Dacast | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Dacast’s Starter and Event plans are billed upfront for the full annual amount. That means the advertised $39/month Starter price represents $468 billed annually, while the $63/month Event price represents $750 billed annually. The Scale plan is $1,980 annually when billed yearly or $250 per month when billed month-to-month.
The important takeaway is that the advertised monthly figure isn’t always the amount charged each month. For Starter and Event, you need to account for the upfront annual payment.
Dacast primarily structures its pricing around the resources required to deliver video, including bandwidth and storage.
The Starter plan is positioned toward smaller broadcasters and businesses beginning with professional live streaming.
It includes:
Dacast notes that Multi-CDN and China Live & VOD capabilities are not included in Starter.
The Event plan is designed for occasional or one-time live events.
It costs $63/month when billed annually, which means an upfront annual payment of $750.
The plan includes:
Multi-CDN and China streaming capabilities are available as add-ons on this plan.
Dacast Scale is aimed at businesses with higher-volume streaming requirements.
It costs:
The annual option works out to $1,980 per year.
Businesses with requirements beyond the standard plans can work with Dacast on a custom plan.
This is an important distinction when researching Dacast pricing.
Dacast explicitly states that it does not charge signup or startup fees and says there are no hidden charges on top of its regular pricing.
Dacast’s pricing is based partly on bandwidth allowances.
If you exceed your included bandwidth, Dacast says overage protection can charge $0.30 per additional GB. Without overage protection, streams may shut off when the available bandwidth is exhausted.
This means a business should not evaluate Dacast solely on its monthly subscription price.
A better calculation is:
Total streaming cost = subscription + additional bandwidth + additional storage + applicable add-ons + monetization fees
For businesses with unpredictable traffic spikes—such as sports, conferences, product launches, or breaking-news streams—this is especially important.
Storage is another usage-based cost. Dacast states that storage overages for applicable plans are charged at $0.15 per GB per month. Event-plan storage overages need to be pre-purchased rather than billed afterward.
This is one of the most important costs to understand if you plan to monetize your videos.
Dacast charges a 9.9% commission plus $0.40 per viewer purchase for transactions through its paywall for subscription and pay-per-view content.
Some capabilities are available as add-ons rather than being included in every plan.
For example, Dacast lists Multi-CDN and China Live & VOD capabilities as additional options on the Event plan.
The exact cost of some custom/add-on requirements may therefore depend on your use case and sales agreement.
Dacast includes different numbers of team-member seats depending on the plan.
Its current documentation lists:
Additional seats are listed at $10 per user per month.
Unlike platforms that charge based on the number of subscribers you have, Dacast pricing is primarily tied to bandwidth and storage. This means your cost can increase as your viewers watch more content, even if the number of registered subscribers stays the same.
For example, Dacast’s current plans include 2.4 TB of annual bandwidth on Starter, 6 TB on Event, and 24 TB on Scale. Additional bandwidth can be purchased when you exceed your included allowance.
Consider a business streaming 1080p video at approximately 5 Mbps. The actual bandwidth consumed will vary depending on bitrate, viewing duration, adaptive streaming, and other delivery factors, but a simple calculation can illustrate how audience growth affects usage.
Monthly viewers | Average viewing time | Approx. monthly bandwidth* | What it means |
1,000 viewers | 10 hours each | ~2.25 TB | Starter’s annual allowance could be consumed relatively quickly |
2,000 viewers | 10 hours each | ~4.5 TB | Event/Scale-level bandwidth becomes more relevant |
5,000 viewers | 10 hours each | ~11.25 TB | A higher-volume plan or additional bandwidth may be required |
Dacast doesn’t become more expensive simply because you have more subscribers. It becomes more expensive when those viewers consume more streaming bandwidth.
This is where businesses should budget carefully.
Dacast offers overage/playback protection that automatically purchases additional bandwidth when your account reaches its limit. Its current documentation lists this at $0.30 per GB, with a minimum purchase of 50 GB for playback protection.
This doesn’t mean every Dacast customer will pay these amounts—the actual cost depends on how much additional bandwidth is consumed or purchased and the applicable pricing arrangement. But it illustrates why bandwidth forecasting is important when calculating the long-term cost of Dacast.
Dacast pricing is usage-driven, not subscriber-driven
Unlike subscriber-based platforms, Dacast doesn’t charge you simply for having more registered users. Your streaming bill is influenced primarily by the bandwidth and storage your audience consumes.
Dacast is a capable professional video platform, particularly for broadcasters looking for video hosting, live streaming, VOD, analytics, and monetization.
But businesses don’t always need just a video delivery platform.
They may need a complete environment for launching, managing, monetizing, branding, and scaling live streaming experiences.
This is where Muvi Live takes a different approach.
Rather than positioning Muvi Live simply as a cheaper Dacast alternative, it is better viewed as an end-to-end live streaming platform designed to give businesses greater control over their live video experience.
Muvi Live currently offers three main plans:
Muvi Live Plan | Subscription | Included Infrastructure |
Standard | $99/month | 100 GB bandwidth + 10 streaming hours/month |
Professional | $299/month | 500 GB bandwidth + 50 streaming hours/month |
Enterprise | $799/month | 1 TB bandwidth + 100 streaming hours/month |
Infrastructure overages apply when usage exceeds the included allowances. Muvi Live has no setup/configuration fees, no per-instance fees, and no contracts—you can cancel anytime.
The important difference is that Muvi Live separates the platform subscription from infrastructure consumption.
That gives businesses a clearer way to understand what they are paying for: the live streaming platform itself and the infrastructure required to deliver their streams. Check out pricing details of Muvi Live here – Muvi Live Pricing.
Muvi Live as a Dacast Alternative gives you much more than you could expect:
Muvi Live is designed as an end-to-end live streaming solution.
Along with live broadcasting, it supports features such as:
This means businesses can use Muvi Live as more than a streaming endpoint—it can serve as the infrastructure for a branded live video experience. Check out all Muvi Live Features here: Muvi Live Features.
For businesses monetizing live events, transaction economics matter.
Dacast currently charges 9.9% + $0.40 per paywall transaction.
Muvi Live also has a commission on PPV transactions, currently listed at 9% across its plans. It provides a built-in payment gateway, supports 135+ currencies, and offers instant payouts.
The difference isn’t simply the percentage.
Muvi Live gives businesses a built-in monetization infrastructure that supports:
For businesses treating live streaming as a revenue-generating product rather than simply a broadcasting tool, these capabilities can make a meaningful difference.
A live stream shouldn’t have to look like it belongs to your streaming vendor.
Muvi Live provides player customization and branding capabilities, including custom player branding on higher-tier plans. It also supports sharing and embedding, allowing businesses to distribute streams across their own digital properties.
That makes Muvi Live particularly relevant for Media companies, Sports organizations, Educational businesses, Churches and religious organizations, Fitness brands, etc.
Content security becomes increasingly important when you are charging viewers for access to live events.
Muvi Live includes DRM protection for live streaming, along with additional security controls designed to protect premium content.
This is particularly relevant for paid sports events, premium conferences, online classes, fitness sessions, and other content where unauthorized redistribution can directly affect revenue.
Read More: DRM for Live Streams: How to Prevent Live Stream Piracy for High Value Events
Muvi Live’s plans support different concurrent-user requirements:
Enterprise also supports unlimited concurrent events and dedicated server infrastructure.
For organizations planning large-scale broadcasts, this provides a path from smaller events to enterprise streaming operations.
Feature | Dacast | Muvi Live |
Live streaming | Yes | Yes |
VOD hosting | Yes | Yes |
1080p streaming | Yes | Yes |
4K live streaming | Available depending on plan/setup | Professional and Enterprise |
Live recording | Yes | Yes |
Pay-per-view | Yes | Yes |
Subscription monetization | Yes | Yes |
Ad monetization | Yes | Yes |
DRM | Available | Built-in DRM |
Live chat | Available | Yes |
Mobile streaming | Yes | Yes |
Player customization | Yes | Yes |
APIs/SDKs | Yes | Yes |
Built-in payment gateway | Yes | Yes |
Global currencies | 135+ | 135+ |
PPV commission | 9.9% + $0.40 | 9% |
Setup fee | No | No |
Dedicated server | Custom/plan dependent | Enterprise |
Concurrent event scaling | Plan dependent | Up to unlimited on Enterprise |
Feature availability can vary by plan and configuration, so businesses should verify their exact requirements before purchasing.
For more details check out our page on Muvi Live vs Dacast
For businesses that simply need to broadcast live video, Dacast can be a reasonable choice.
But if your goal is to build a branded, monetized, scalable live streaming business, the platform requirements go beyond broadcasting.
You need tools for monetization, security, branding, audience engagement, analytics, distribution, and infrastructure.
That is where Muvi Live has a compelling advantage.
Instead of piecing together multiple services around your live stream, Muvi Live brings live broadcasting, video management, monetization, player technology, security, analytics, and developer tools into one platform.
Dacast’s pricing is relatively transparent, but the headline subscription price isn’t the complete picture.
Before choosing a plan, businesses should consider:
Dacast can be a suitable option for businesses with predictable broadcasting requirements.
However, if you are looking for a Dacast alternative that combines live streaming, monetization, content protection, branding, audience engagement, and scalable infrastructure, Muvi Live deserves a closer look.
Its combination of live streaming capabilities, built-in monetization, DRM, customizable player, mobile streaming, APIs, and scalable infrastructure makes it a strong option for businesses that want to build more than a live broadcast.
For organizations building a serious live streaming operation, Muvi Live offers a compelling answer.
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Dacast can be a good fit for businesses that need professional live streaming and VOD hosting. However, the total cost can go beyond the advertised subscription price because bandwidth, storage, paywall transactions, add-ons, and other requirements can affect your final bill. Businesses looking for a more complete branded streaming solution may also want to compare Dacast with alternatives such as Muvi Live.
The right alternative depends on your streaming, monetization, branding, security, and scalability requirements. Muvi Live is worth considering if you want an end-to-end live streaming platform with built-in monetization, DRM, customizable player technology, analytics, APIs, and scalable infrastructure.
Not necessarily. Muvi Live and Dacast structure their pricing differently, so comparing only the monthly subscription price can be misleading. Dacast pricing is heavily influenced by bandwidth and storage consumption, while Muvi Live separates its platform subscription from infrastructure consumption. The better comparison depends on your expected audience, viewing hours, monetization model, and streaming requirements.
Yes. Muvi Live’s plans support up to 10,000 concurrent users on Standard, 50,000 on Professional, and 50,000+ on Enterprise. Enterprise also supports unlimited concurrent events and dedicated server infrastructure.
Yes. Muvi Live supports DRM protection for live content as well as pay-per-view and other monetization capabilities. This can be particularly relevant for businesses selling access to sports, conferences, classes, fitness sessions, and other premium live content.
Written by: Sreejata Basu
Sreejata is the Manager for Muvi’s Content Marketing unit with strong expertise and experience in Video Streaming Technology. By week Sreejata spends her time in the corporate world of Muvi, but on weekends she likes to take short hiking trips, watch movies and read travelogues.
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