Two of the most popular hosting platforms today are YouTube and Vimeo and they’re both great options for hosting but there are some big differences when it comes to each one and it’s important to know project goals before you choose a platform because that will guide you to YOUR right answer.

Vimeo: Vimeo has a smaller community than Youtube but is generally more supportive and less offensive.  They don’t advertise so look a lot cleaner than Youtube.  Vimeo offers four membership options: Basic (free), Plus ($59.95/year), Pro ($199/year), and Business ($599/year); and they each have different levels of storage and support. Vimeo does offer a free membership that limits you to 500MB maximum storage per week which is fine for many users. Vimeo allows you to replace a video after it has been uploaded without losing that video’s stats so if you make a little typo that you notice a day later you can replace the video.  Vimeo offers password protected content which can be great if you are reviewing content with clients and want to keep it hidden.

YouTube: YouTube’s larger audience produces more content but that doesn’t always equal quality!  YouTube is completely free with unlimited storage but know that they make their money with advertising, not monthly or yearly payment plans like Vimeo, so you will always see ads.  YouTube cannot be changed without completely deleting the file and re-uploading. This means that you will lose all of your views and stats in the process.

So…. Where Should I Host?

I decided to go with Vimeo on my site (www.larakroekerinteractive.com) for a variety of reasons.  I have a feed of timelapse videos that I consistently add to which is an automatic feed into my front page (using a fantastic plugin).  My main goal was to have it ad free and have my vimeo embed clean.  I am a plus member so I have the ability to customize my player and remove any vimeo branding.  I don’t intend for people to view it on vimeo so I don’t care about my view stats.  The smaller community is fine for me because my content is not meant to be passed around and viewed by many, it’s just for integration into my site.  They just added 360 video (yesterday!) so I am now ALL IN with vimeo.  I like to keep my content organized and all in one place so this is exclusively my platform.

When I teach a workshop I make sure that we figure out your reasons for using various platforms so that you can make informed and smart choices about your media.  

On March 26th we are focusing on a very powerful plugin that has the ability to integrate media feeds into beautiful sliders.  You are welcome to sign up on Eventbrite or read more about the workshop. It’s a pilot so the cost is only $97.00 and there are only 5 spots available.

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