Video platforms fall into two groups. Some only host your videos and take payments. Others also run checkout, marketing, member management, and branded apps. The right choice depends on how you plan to earn and how much you expect to grow.
Choose Uscreen if you want to build a video membership business with live streaming on every plan and branded apps from the App Essentials plan. Choose Vimeo Streaming for a branded video catalog with subscriptions and one-time purchases, Patreon for fan-supported memberships, Thinkific or Kajabi for structured courses, Sellfy for simple one-time sales, Dacast for live events, and Muvi for enterprise OTT builds.
Choose Uscreen if you want to build a video membership business with live streaming on every plan and branded apps from the App Essentials plan. Choose Vimeo Streaming for a branded video catalog with subscriptions and one-time purchases, Patreon for fan-supported memberships, Thinkific or Kajabi for structured courses, Sellfy for simple one-time sales, Dacast for live events, and Muvi for enterprise OTT builds.
Platforms to sell videos online at a glance
| Platform | Starting price | Per-member or transaction fee | Branded apps | Live streaming | Community | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uscreen (opens in new tab) | $49/month | $0 per member on Starter. $0.99 to $1.99 on Growth and App Essentials. 5% to 10% on one-time sales. | Mobile apps on App Essentials and Custom plans. TV apps on Custom plan. | Yes, every plan | Custom plan (channels, DMs, challenges, polls) | Video businesses building a subscription membership with branded apps |
| Vimeo Streaming (opens in new tab) | $1 per subscriber/month | 10% of one-time purchases, plus transaction fees | Enterprise plan | Enterprise plan | Not listed | Video businesses wanting subscriptions, rentals, and one-time sales |
| Patreon (opens in new tab) | Free to start | 10% of earnings, plus processing | No | Yes | Yes | Fan-supported memberships |
| Sellfy (opens in new tab) | $29/month | 0%, plus PayPal or Stripe processing | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Simple one-time video sales |
| Thinkific (opens in new tab) | $54/month | 2.9% with Thinkific Payments. 1% to 5% more with other gateways. | $199/month add-on (included on select Plus contracts). | Zoom sessions on Start plan | Yes, every plan | Structured video courses |
| Kajabi (opens in new tab) | $179/month | 2.9% + 30¢ with Kajabi Payments. 0.5% to 2% more with your own Stripe. | Included on Pro. $199/month add-on on Basic and Growth. | Live cohort courses on the Growth plan | Yes, every plan | Courses with built-in marketing |
| Dacast (opens in new tab) | $39/month (billed annually; paywall is an add-on until the Event plan). | 9.9% + $0.40 per paywall sale. Overages $0.30/GB. | Not listed | Yes, every plan | Not listed | Live events and pay-per-view |
| Muvi (opens in new tab) | $399/month | Variable usage fees | One app (web, mobile, or TV) per plan. Extra apps $299 to $499/month each. | Yes | Not listed | Enterprise streaming apps |
Subscriptions, rentals, or bundles: which model fits your content?
Subscriptions fit content you release on a regular schedule, and rentals fit a single film or special. Bundles fit a set of related videos sold together. The right video selling model depends on how often you publish and how your viewers prefer to pay.
Here is how each model works and the content it suits best:
- Subscriptions (subscription video on demand, or SVOD): Members pay a monthly or yearly fee to access your full library. This model suits ongoing content, such as weekly fitness classes, coaching sessions, or an episodic series. Each new video gives members a reason to stay, and steady monthly payments make your income easier to plan.
- Rentals and purchases (transactional video-on-demand, or TVOD): Viewers pay once to rent a single title for a set period or buy it outright. This model suits documentaries, feature films, or live events. Buyers pay only for what they want to watch, so the price of each title matters more than the size of your library.
- Bundles: Several videos are sold together at a single price. This model suits a course, a workshop series, or a themed collection that viewers watch in order. A bundle increases each sale’s value and gives buyers a complete package, making a higher price easier to justify.
Most platforms in this list support more than one model. Pick the platform that makes your main model the easiest to run, then add the others as your business grows.
Is your video content ready to sell?
Your videos are ready to sell when three things are true. They look good. You have the rights to them. And you know how you want to earn from them. You don’t need a Hollywood setup. You need clear video, a clean library, and a monetization model that fits your content.
Here’s what to check before you launch:
- Video quality: Your videos should be sharp, stable, and watchable on a phone or TV screen. HD (1080p or higher) is the baseline. Shaky footage, poor audio, or bad lighting will push members to cancel faster than any pricing issue. If your existing content passes the “would I pay to watch this” test, you’re ready.
- Content rights: Make sure you own or have clearance for everything in your videos, including music, footage, brand logos, and faces. If you’re filming people, get a release. If you’re using licensed music, confirm it covers commercial use. Publishing without clearances can get your content taken down after launch.
- Enough content to start: A membership needs a library worth subscribing to. One new video a week is a workable minimum for a subscription, and a single course or film can sell on its own. Pick the model that matches how you publish (subscription, rental, or one-time) and add others as you grow.
What should you look for when choosing platforms to sell videos online?
Look for a platform that supports how you want to sell, shows full costs upfront, delivers video smoothly on every device, and pays you quickly. The best video content platform also grows with you, so you do not have to switch again as your audience grows.
Here is what to check before you decide where to sell videos:
- Ways to sell: List the models you need now and the ones you may add later, such as subscriptions, rentals, one-time purchases, or bundles. Then check the paywall. A flexible paywall lets you offer free previews, lock the full library, or sell tiers at different prices. A fitness coach might start with one monthly plan and later add a paid workshop series.
- Branded apps: Some platforms publish apps under your own name. Others place your videos in their shared app, alongside those of other sellers. Branded apps keep members within your brand, but they often require higher plans or cost extra. For example, Thinkific charges $199 a month for a branded app.
- Payments and payouts: Make sure your audience can pay the way they prefer, such as by card, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Global audiences also need local currencies. Also check payout timing, since some platforms pay out daily or right after each sale.
- Full costs: Add up all fees before you commit. A platform with a low monthly price may take a revenue share, such as Patreon’s 10%, or charge a per-member fee. Card processing adds about 2.9% plus 30 cents per sale on most platforms. Bandwidth and storage overages can also raise the bill as viewing grows.
- Video hosting: Good video hosting keeps videos from buffering on phones, computers, and TVs. Adaptive streaming helps by adjusting quality to each viewer’s connection. Check bandwidth limits too. Some plans cap monthly viewing, and a popular launch can quickly push you past that cap.
- Migration help: If you already sell videos elsewhere, ask whether the platform will move your content, members, and payments for you. Hands-on help can save weeks of manual work and lower the risk of losing paying members during the move.
What happens to your content and members if you switch platforms later?
When you switch platforms, your videos and member emails move over, and card details transfer in most cases, so members keep paying without taking any action. Payment history, invoices, and PayPal payment methods do not carry over. Apps published under your own developer account move with you; apps published under the platform’s account do not.
Here is what typically transfers and what does not:
| Videos | Member data | Payment methods | Payment history | Apps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transfers | Yes | Names, emails, and active subscriptions | Card details (most processors) | No | Yes, if under your own developer account |
| Does not transfer | No | Passwords (members set up a new sign-in) | PayPal methods | Invoices and past payments | No, if published under the platform’s account |
1. Uscreen: best for building a video membership business
Uscreen (opens in new tab) is a video membership platform where you sell videos through subscriptions, rentals, and one-time purchases, all under your own brand. Every plan includes live streaming, a video catalog, and built-in marketing tools. Branded mobile apps are available from the App Essentials plan, and TV apps and community tools are available on the Custom plan.
Best for: Video businesses with a growing library, such as a yoga studio’s class archive, a ministry’s teaching series, or a documentary channel, that want steady monthly revenue from their own platform.
G2 rating: 4.7/5 (opens in new tab)
Your videos sit in a browsable catalog where members can search, filter by category or author, and pick up where they left off. Auto-play keeps them watching, and members can build their own playlists. Members watch on the web on every plan and can cast to a TV. Offline downloads work in the branded mobile apps (App Essentials and up), and branded TV apps come with the Custom plan.
On the security side, you can cap concurrent logins, restrict access by region, and add DRM protection, a paid add-on, to your highest-value videos.
Branded mobile apps (opens in new tab) are available on the App Essentials plan. TV apps and Community tools, including direct messages and challenges, are available on the Custom plan.
Leah Maselli moved Pilates by Leah (opens in new tab) from Playbook to Uscreen in July 2024. She launched branded mobile apps and activated upsell offers, abandoned-cart emails, and churn offers. Her revenue grew 90%, and her membership grew 85.4%.
Pricing
- Starter: $49/month (opens in new tab) for up to 100 subscribers (monthly billing only), plus 10% on one-time sales, free trial included.
- Growth: $199/month billed monthly, or $149/month billed annually, plus $1.99 per subscriber and 5% on one-time sales, free trial included.
- App Essentials: $499/month billed monthly, or $449/month billed annually, plus $0.99 per subscriber and 5% on one-time sales
- Custom: Priced by quote after a demo
Start a free trial (opens in new tab) or book a demo (opens in new tab) to see it with your own content.
2. Vimeo Streaming: best for video businesses wanting subscriptions and one-time sales
Vimeo Streaming (opens in new tab) is Vimeo’s platform for building a branded subscription service. You get a white-labeled website and apps, built-in checkout, and tools to sell subscriptions, rentals, and one-time purchases, all without code. It was previously called Vimeo OTT.
Bending Spoons, which also owns Brightcove, completed its purchase of Vimeo in November 2025.
Best for: Video businesses that want to sell subscriptions and one-time purchases through a branded website
G2 rating: 4.3/5 (opens in new tab)
Vimeo Streaming supports subscriptions (SVOD), one-time purchases and rentals (TVOD), and ad-supported video (AVOD). The platform includes a no-code website builder, branded apps across iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV, and a built-in checkout that accepts most currencies.
Live streaming, DRM protection, geo-blocking, and audience analytics are also included. Bandwidth is included at no extra cost, and Vimeo handles email support for your viewers.
One recent change matters for film sellers. Vimeo is closing Vimeo On Demand, its older storefront for film sales and rentals. New purchases stopped on September 21, 2026, and the service will shut down fully on November 20, 2026 (opens in new tab) . Vimeo now directs those sellers to Vimeo Streaming.
Pricing
- Starter: $1 per subscriber/month (opens in new tab) , plus 10% of one-time purchases and upload and transaction fees
- Enterprise: Priced by quote, with monthly or yearly billing
3. Patreon: best for adding video to a fan-supported membership
Patreon (opens in new tab) is a membership platform where you sell videos online to fans through paid tiers on a page hosted at patreon.com. You can post videos, run live streams, and sell one-time items from that same page.
Best for: Video makers with an existing fan base, like a YouTube animator or a history channel, who want a membership with very little setup.
G2 rating: 4.2/5 (opens in new tab)
Patreon is free to start. It takes a share of your earnings instead of a monthly fee, so you pay nothing until members pay you. You can offer monthly or annual subscriptions, several membership tiers, and one-time payments. Native video and live streaming are built in, along with email newsletters. Members can talk with you and with each other through chats, direct messages, and comments.
The payment side requires little work on your part. Patreon handles chargebacks, disputes, and fraud, and it collects and pays most applicable taxes for you. You do not need to connect your own Stripe account. Fans can pay with PayPal, Apple Pay, or Venmo, and Patreon supports multiple currencies for payments and payouts. Free trials, discounts, and automated growth tools help turn visitors into paying members.
Patreon’s pricing page lists no option for branded apps under your own name, so your membership is always subject to Patreon’s brand and platform rules.
Pricing
- Standard plan: 10% of earnings (opens in new tab) , plus payment processing, currency conversion, payout fees, and applicable taxes
4. Sellfy: best for simple one-time video downloads and sales
Sellfy (opens in new tab) is an online store builder. Videos sell as downloads or streams, next to any other digital or physical products you offer. You can share product links on social media or embed your store on your own website.
Best for: First-time sellers, like a photographer selling an editing tutorial or a band selling a concert film, who want no platform fee on sales.
G2 rating: 4.0/5 (opens in new tab)
Sellfy charges 0% transaction fees on every plan. You pay a flat monthly price, plus the standard processing fee from PayPal or Stripe. Payments go straight to your PayPal or Stripe account as soon as a sale happens. Each video can be sold as a download or as a stream. Streaming lowers piracy risk, and automatic download limits protect your files.
Setup requires no coding. You upload your videos, pick a store theme, and share a link. Sellfy also adds product cards to YouTube videos and end screens, allowing viewers to buy directly from your channel. Coupon codes, customer reviews, and email marketing are included on every plan.
The Business and Premium plans add product upselling, cart abandonment emails, and an affiliate program. You can also sell subscriptions, which gives you a simple path to recurring income later.
Each plan has a yearly sales cap, starting at $10,000 on Starter. Sellfy’s pricing page lists no live streaming, community tools, or branded apps. A recurring video business that needs those features will need a different platform.
Pricing
- Starter: $29/month (opens in new tab) billed monthly, or $22/month billed annually, for up to $10,000 in sales per year
- Business: $79/month billed monthly, or $59/month billed annually, for up to $50,000 in sales per year
- Premium: $159/month billed monthly, or $119/month billed annually, for up to $200,000 in sales per year
5. Thinkific: best for selling structured video courses
Thinkific (opens in new tab) is a course platform built around structured lessons, courses, and memberships. It hosts your videos and adds quizzes, certificates, and student progress tracking around them.
Best for: Educators and coaches who teach step by step, such as a certification course, a language program, or a software training series.
G2 rating: 4.5/5 (opens in new tab)
Lessons are built in a drag-and-drop course builder and can be released over time with drip schedules. Quizzes and in-course discussions are available on every plan. From the Start plan onward, you can add assignments, completion certificates, and rules to prevent students from skipping lessons. Live cohorts and coaching are available via unlimited Zoom sessions on Start and above.
Every plan also includes at least one community, abandoned cart emails, and a custom domain. The Start plan includes memberships, subscriptions, bundles, and payment plans, allowing you to charge monthly for access to a course library. With Thinkific Payments, the built-in processor, card processing costs 2.9% per sale. Other payment gateways add a per-sale fee.
Course video bandwidth is capped at 100 GB a month on Basic, 200 GB on Start, and 400 GB on Grow. Live sessions run through Zoom. A branded mobile app costs an extra $199 a month and is included on select Plus contracts. For these reasons, the platform fits structured courses better than a large entertainment library.
Pricing
- Basic: $54/month (opens in new tab) billed monthly, or $40/month billed annually
- Start: $109/month billed monthly, or $82/month billed annually
- Grow: $219/month billed monthly, or $164/month billed annually
- Plus: Priced by quote
6. Kajabi: best for coaches bundling video courses with marketing
Kajabi (opens in new tab) is an all-in-one platform for courses, coaching, and memberships, with your website, email, and checkout in one place. It takes no revenue share on sales made through Kajabi Payments. Using your own Stripe account adds 0.5% to 2% per sale, depending on the plan.
Best for: Coaches and consultants who sell a signature program through email and webinar funnels.
G2 rating: 4.1/5 (opens in new tab)
Every plan includes unlimited landing pages, funnels, and marketing emails, with no charge per email sent. A funnel guides a visitor from the first click to a purchase, so your course and the pages that sell it live side by side. The Basic plan also includes a website on your own domain, built-in checkout, and a private community with multiple groups.
Your members can watch on the Kajabi app for iPhone and Android from day one.
The Growth plan adds live cohort courses, automatic video transcripts and translations, advanced automations, and your own affiliate program. It also removes Kajabi branding. With Kajabi Payments, US card processing costs 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic and falls to 2.7% + 30¢ on Pro.
The Basic plan lets you sell only five products, and Growth caps you at 50. Your own branded app, listed in the App Store and Google Play under your name, is included on Pro and costs $199/month as an add-on on Basic and Growth.
Pricing
- Basic: $179/month (opens in new tab) billed monthly, or $143/month billed annually
- Growth: $249/month billed monthly, or $199/month billed annually
- Pro: $499/month billed monthly, or $399/month billed annually
7. Dacast: best for live events and pay-per-view broadcasts
Dacast (opens in new tab) is a live-streaming and video-hosting platform with a paywall for live events and on-demand videos. You embed the video player on your own website rather than building a site within Dacast.
Best for: Event organizers who sell access to live concerts, sports, or conferences
G2 rating: 4.3/5 (opens in new tab)
Every plan streams in full 1080p HD to unlimited viewers at once, and includes 24/7 support. Live streams are automatically recorded so that you can resell each event as an on-demand video. Simulcasting sends a single live stream to multiple destinations simultaneously. You can limit viewer access by domain or country, which helps with regional broadcast rights.
The Event plan is built for one-time or occasional broadcasts. It includes the paywall, a live countdown, video availability scheduling, and live stream monitoring. You can also run pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, so a free stream can still earn money.
The Event plan’s 6 TB of bandwidth is delivered upfront and stays valid for 12 months. The Scale plan adds unlimited channels, digital rights management (DRM) protection for on-demand video, and phone support. Dacast’s pricing page lists no website builder or community tools, so the player has to sit on a site you build elsewhere. Paywall sales carry a 9.9% + $0.40 commission. Bandwidth overages cost $0.30 per GB. Storage overages cost $0.15 per GB.
Pricing
- Starter: $39/month (opens in new tab) billed annually, with 2.4 TB of bandwidth per year and 500 GB of storage
- Event: $63/month billed annually, with 6 TB of bandwidth upfront and 250 GB of storage
- Scale: $165/month billed annually, with 24 TB of bandwidth per year and 2,000 GB of storage
- Custom: Priced by quote
8. Muvi: best for enterprise OTT businesses building custom apps
Muvi One (opens in new tab) is a streaming platform that lets you run your own white-labeled website and apps. It is built for media businesses that want their streaming service on phones, smart TVs, and desktops under their own brand.
Best for: Media companies that need branded apps across many devices and have the budget for an enterprise build
G2 rating: 4.5/5 (opens in new tab)
Every plan includes one app of your choice (web, mobile, or TV), unlimited content, and an advanced content management system. Each extra app costs $299 to $499 a month.
Videos stream via adaptive bitrate (ABR), which adjusts quality based on each viewer’s connection to reduce buffering. Playlists, categories, and nested content help viewers browse a large library. Muvi builds and publishes your apps in the app stores under your name.
The Professional plan adds 4K encoding and short-form video. It also adds polls and live chat, plus security tools such as watermarking, geo-blocking, and domain restrictions. Muvi’s app coverage includes Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Samsung TV, LG TV, and Xbox.
The Enterprise plan adds a dedicated server, multiple payment gateways, AI recommendations, and support for up to 50,000 concurrent users.
Every plan is priced “plus variable fees.” Bandwidth and storage overages are charged in addition to the plan, and customization requests are quoted and billed separately. The Standard plan caps concurrent viewers at 1,000, so a large live event may require a higher tier.
Pricing
- Standard: $399/month (opens in new tab) billed monthly, or $339/month billed annually
- Professional: $1,499/month billed monthly, or $1,274/month billed annually
- Enterprise: $3,900/month billed monthly, or $3,315/month billed annually
- Ultimate: Priced by quote
Switch to Uscreen with support from our Migration team
If you already sell videos on another platform, our Migration team works with you to move your content, members, and payment methods to Uscreen. On App Essentials and above, our Migration team moves your content, members, and most payment methods to Uscreen for you. Your website can go live quickly; branded apps take longer, so we plan the timeline with you.
Here is what you get on Uscreen:
- A catalog your members actually want to use: Organize your content with filters, search, and auto-play so members always find something to watch.
- Branded apps on mobile and TV: Publish your own iOS and Android apps from the App Essentials plan, and TV apps on the Custom plan, without writing a line of code.
- Live streaming built in: Run live classes and events directly on your platform, on every plan.
- Marketing and member tools in one place: Abandoned cart emails, coupons, and member management all run inside Uscreen.
Start a free trial (opens in new tab) to explore the platform, or (opens in new tab) book a demo (opens in new tab) to see how branded apps and TV apps would work for your business.