Castr vs Lightstream
No clear leader: Castr (72.8) and Lightstream (69.6) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for live streaming. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
Castr
Castr provides live streaming delivery with multistreaming to multiple destinations, video hosting, live-to-VOD conversion, and branded OTT platform features. All plans include a paywall, ad insertion support, and multi-CDN delivery backed by a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Lightstream
A suite of tools that enables streamers to enhance their live broadcasts with professional effects, overlays, transitions, and text without requiring advanced video editing expertise.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
Castr
From $19.99/mo or $199.99/year. Starter includes 7-day free trial. All plans month-to-month, optional annual billing saves 2 months.
- Starter$19.99/mo or $199.99/year with 7-day free trial
- Multiple ingest protocols
- SRT support
- Embedded player
- Video analytics
- Cloud recording
- +1 more
- Simulcast$499.99/year
- SRT/RTMP pull links
- Multi-destination support
- Ad support
- Professional$199.99/mo or $1,999.99/year
- Adaptive bitrate
- Custom transcoding
- API access
- Three team members included
- Access controls
- Enterprise$3,499.99/year
- Low-latency playback
- HLS for VOD
- Dedicated support on annual billing
- Failover support
- Advanced playout
- OTT Platform$7,499.99/year
- Branded web app included
- CMS included
- SVOD support
- TVOD support
- 30+ payment gateways
- +1 more
Lightstream
Free tier available. Premium at $12/mo or $9/mo on annual subscription.
- FreeFree
- Cloud capture for Xbox and PlayStation
- Simulcasting with up to 5 destinations including Custom RTMP
- Stream templates and overlays
- XPN alerts and overlays
- 720p streaming
- +2 more
- Premium$12/mo or $9/mo billed annually
- Remove Lightstream Studio logo from streams
- Add up to 10 guests to your stream
- Import URLs from any 3rd party service
- 720p and 1080p streaming
- 48 hour limit per stream
- +2 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- YouTube
- Twitch
Castr
- Wirecast
- Payment Gateways
Lightstream
- Rainmaker
- StreamElements
- Mixer
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Custom RTMP
Castr or Lightstream: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.