# Riverside vs StreamYard (2026): Streaming Costs, Limits and Recording

> Riverside vs StreamYard compared on 2026 prices, live destinations, people on screen, local recording, webinars for 100, trials and refunds. Who wins?

_Source: https://professionalstoolkit.com/articles/riverside-vs-streamyard — The Professional's Toolkit · updated October 2026_

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**Unlimited vs 8** — Live destinations on Riverside Grow and up versus StreamYard's top Advanced plan.



- **$34/mo** — Riverside Grow billed annually, per account; first plan with streaming
- **$14.99/mo** — StreamYard Essential billed yearly, one person, 2 destinations
- **100** — Webinar cap: Riverside Webinar plan registrants, StreamYard Advanced viewers


## The verdict: StreamYard streams cheaper, Riverside records deeper

If live streaming to two channels is the whole job, StreamYard is the cheaper door: its Essential plan costs $14.99 a month billed yearly, or $18.99 billed monthly, for one person with 2 destinations at 1080p. Riverside has no streaming below its Grow plan, which costs $34 a month billed annually or $45 a month billed monthly, per account [1]. The trade flips with reach and recording. Grow streams to **unlimited destinations** and records every guest on a separate local track. Choose StreamYard for simple streams. Choose Riverside for shows you edit afterward.

We compared Riverside's pricing page, plan data and help center with StreamYard's pricing page as of October 2026. That page is our only StreamYard source, so this comparison covers what it documents: prices, destinations, people on screen, local recording, webinar size, trials and money-back windows. StreamYard's editing, transcription, AI and hosting stay outside it. We did not check them. Riverside's own compare page against StreamYard is marketing, and none of its claims about the rival appear here. Where one side publishes nothing on a point, we say so instead of guessing.

## What a year of live streaming costs

On the Riverside side, the Free plan ($0, no card) and Pro ($35 a month billed monthly, or $24 a month billed annually) include no streaming destinations at all. Streaming starts at Grow, and the Webinar plan costs $99 a month billed monthly or $79 a month billed annually. Business is a custom quote with no trial. Every Riverside price is per account, not per seat, and each extra collaborator on Pro, Grow or Webinar needs an Editor seat add-on at $19 a month or $168 a year. Business adds editors at no extra cost.

StreamYard sells three paid plans above a Free tier that shows its logo. Essential is $14.99 a month billed yearly or $18.99 billed monthly. Core is $35.99 a month billed yearly or $44.99 billed monthly. Advanced is $68.99 a month billed yearly or $88.99 billed monthly. The yearly toggle advertises 22 percent off; by our arithmetic the real saving runs from 20 percent on Core to about 22 percent on Advanced. The page also warns that prices may vary with promotions and renewal terms. All three paid plans are for individual use only. Teams go to StreamYard Business, which is sold through a meeting with its sales staff.

The break-even depends on how many destinations you need. Billed yearly, a year of StreamYard Essential comes to $179.88 against $408 for Riverside Grow, by our arithmetic, so two destinations favor StreamYard by $228.12 a year. At three destinations, StreamYard Core runs $431.88 a year, and Riverside Grow undercuts it by $23.88; billed monthly, the two sit one cent apart at $44.99 and $45 a month. From four to eight destinations, StreamYard needs Advanced at $827.88 a year, which is $419.88 more than Riverside Grow. **Past eight destinations, only Riverside has room.**


> 💡 **Count your destinations first:** Two destinations favor StreamYard Essential; three cost about the same on both; four or more favor Riverside Grow, which has no destination cap.


## Destinations, faces on screen and stream limits

Riverside streams from Grow up to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram and any custom RTMP site, with no stated cap on simultaneous destinations [2]. The fine print is real. Streams default to 720p and top out at 1080p. Each one stops automatically after 8 hours, and viewers see it about 20 to 30 seconds late. LinkedIn takes one account and scheduled events only, and Twitch allows one studio per account. Omnichat merges chat from YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and X, but not TikTok, LinkedIn or RTMP channels.

Branding works differently too. Every Riverside stream carries a small Riverside logo unless you hide it in the stream settings, which only Grow and higher plans can do. StreamYard's Free plan shows the StreamYard logo and Core lists no logo; the page we read says nothing about the logo on Essential. Riverside also cannot take an incoming RTMP signal to restream, and it shows no total viewer count for channels connected through RTMP. If your show runs longer than 8 hours, plan a second stream. Marathon streams need that workaround.

On-screen capacity is close. Riverside's rebuilt studio records up to 100 participants in one session, each on its own track, and shows up to 9 of them on screen; webinars list up to 10 speakers. StreamYard's pricing page lists 6 on-screen participants on Free and 10 on Core, and Advanced adds an extra camera. For a ten-face panel stream, StreamYard Core fits the layout. Riverside also lets internal producers run the stream from Grow up, and producers stay invisible to viewers.

| Plan | Live destinations | On screen | Local recording on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Free | None (audience link only) | 9 | One-off 2 hours of separate tracks, 720p |
| Riverside Pro | None (audience link only) | 9 | 15 hours a month of separate tracks, up to 4K |
| Riverside Grow | Unlimited, up to 1080p | 9 | 20 hours a month of separate tracks |
| StreamYard Free | Not stated | 6 | 2 hours a month |
| StreamYard Essential | 2, at 1080p | Not stated | Not stated |
| StreamYard Core | 3 | 10 | 50 hours of storage |
| StreamYard Advanced | 8 | Not stated | 4K local recordings |


> 💡 **Ten faces on screen:** Riverside's recording studio shows up to 9 participants on screen (its webinars list up to 10 speakers), while StreamYard Core lists 10 on-screen participants. Pick by your panel size.


## Recording: separate tracks versus local recordings

Recording is where the two products split most clearly. Riverside records each participant on their own device, uploads during the session, and hands you separate audio and video tracks, up to 4K and 48 kHz from Pro. The catch is the download cap. Separate-track downloads are limited to 15, 20 or 25 hours a month on Pro, Grow and Webinar, with Business unlimited [3]. Hours reset monthly with no rollover, and deleting a recording gives nothing back.

**Live streams count toward those hours.** A weekly two-hour stream on Grow uses about 8 to 10 of its 20 monthly hours before you record anything else. Over the cap, you can still record, edit and export edits, but individual-track downloads stop until the next cycle or an upgrade. Editor exports are always 24 FPS and 44.1 kHz, and cloud backup recordings max out at 720p and are kept 3 months. Download the raw tracks you care about early.

StreamYard's pricing page says far less about recording. It lists 2 hours a month of local recordings on Free, 50 hours of storage on Core and 4K local recordings on Advanced. It gives no local-recording figure for Essential or Core, so we cannot compare hours there. The free tiers differ in kind: StreamYard's 2 hours renew monthly, while Riverside's Free plan gives a one-off 2 hours of separate tracks at 720p with a watermark, and deletes accounts unused for 120 days.


> ⚠ **Streams use your track hours:** On Riverside, live streams count toward the monthly separate-track download hours (20 on Grow), which reset monthly with no rollover.


## Webinars: 100 people on both, counted differently

Riverside's Webinar plan adds registration, Q&A, polls, surveys, reminders, recurring events of up to 50 sessions, five on-demand webinars and HubSpot sync, with **up to 100 registrants** [4]. Registration is not blocked above the limit; the cap bites at join time, when extra people see an event-full screen. Business plans go up to 10,000 registrants, with the exact limit depending on the plan, so confirm it in the quote. Separately, every Riverside plan, Free included, offers an audience link where up to 100 people watch inside Riverside, chat and request a call-in.

StreamYard puts webinars for 100 viewers on its Advanced plan. Billed yearly, Riverside Webinar costs $10.01 a month more than StreamYard Advanced, or $120.12 a year; billed monthly the gap is the same $10.01 a month. That premium buys registration tooling we could document only on the Riverside side. For a deeper look at running events there, see our guide to [Riverside webinars and live streaming](/articles/riverside-webinars). Check which number your audience actually hits.

## Trials, money-back windows and the fine print

Trials differ in length and risk. Riverside offers 14 days on Pro, Grow or Webinar, none on Business, and the trial needs a card and charges automatically on day 15 at full price unless cancelled. StreamYard lists a 7-day free trial on its paid plans; its pricing page does not say whether a card is required. Both charge only the difference when you upgrade mid-cycle. On StreamYard, cancelling keeps paid features until the cycle ends, then drops you to Free.

Money-back windows are tight on both sides. Riverside's published refund policy covers only Pro and Grow: a full refund on request within 24 hours of a monthly purchase or 14 days of a yearly one. It does not name the Webinar plan, and fees are otherwise non-refundable; our [Riverside pricing breakdown](/articles/riverside-pricing) covers cancellation steps. StreamYard's 7-day money-back guarantee applies to the first charge only. One more Riverside caveat: its Privacy Policy and Terms let it train its own AI on your recordings and transcripts, and only Business customers can opt out by written agreement. Read that before uploading client material.


**What users rate it, by platform**

| Platform | Rating | Reviews | As of |
|---|---|---|---|


_Rendered from our current record; these are other platforms' user scores, separate from our own Toolkit Score._


The ratings above are Riverside's platform scores. We did not capture StreamYard's, so treat them as context for Riverside alone, not as a head-to-head. They rate Riverside as a whole product, not its live streaming measured against StreamYard's. That gap matters. A streaming-first buyer should weigh destinations, on-screen limits, recording hours and price more heavily than any star average here.


## FAQ

**Can I stream on Riverside's Free or Pro plan?**

Not to outside platforms. Free and Pro have no streaming destinations, but every plan offers an audience link where up to 100 people watch inside Riverside.

**Can a team share one StreamYard Essential, Core or Advanced plan?**

No. StreamYard says those plans are for individual use only; teams are pointed to StreamYard Business, sold through its sales staff.

**Does Riverside need a card for its trial?**

Yes. The 14-day trial on Pro, Grow or Webinar needs a card and charges automatically on day 15 unless you cancel; Business has no trial.

**Which streams in 4K?**

Neither streams in 4K on the pages we read. Riverside streams top out at 1080p, and StreamYard lists 4K for local recordings on Advanced, not for the stream.


## The bottom line

For a solo creator streaming to one or two channels, StreamYard Essential is the cheaper and simpler pick. At three destinations the two cost about the same, and Riverside Grow adds separate local tracks and unlimited destinations. From four destinations up, Grow is clearly cheaper. Choose Riverside when the recording matters as much as the stream, and budget for the 20-hour separate-track cap, since streams eat into it.



## Sources

[1] Plans & Pricing — https://riverside.com/pricing (2026-10)
[2] Riverside Help: Live stream to multiple destinations — https://support.riverside.com/hc/en-us/articles/5434275254941-Live-stream-to-multiple-destinations (2026-10)
[3] Riverside Help: Download high quality tracks — https://support.riverside.com/hc/en-us/articles/5260432295581-Download-high-quality-tracks (2026-10)
[4] Riverside Help: How many audience members can join and watch a recording session — https://support.riverside.com/hc/en-us/articles/12407397644189-How-many-audience-members-can-join-and-watch-a-recording-session (2026-10)
[5] Riverside Help Center — https://support.riverside.com/hc/en-us
[6] Riverside Terms and Conditions — https://riverside.com/terms-conditions
[7] G2, Riverside reviews — https://www.g2.com/products/riverside/reviews