Restream’s pricing page looks simple until you start mapping actual channel counts and resolution needs against your live shopping calendar. I run Ecommerce Paradise and help clients pick the right streaming stack for their high-ticket niche, so this breaks down exactly what each Restream tier costs and what you actually get for it.
Getting this right matters because the wrong tier either leaves you short on channels during a real launch or has you paying for team seats and resolution you do not need yet.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Channels | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | 720p, Restream watermark |
| Standard | ~$16/mo | 3 | No watermark, custom graphics |
| Professional | ~$39/mo | 5 | 1080p, team access, split recordings |
| Business | ~$199/mo | 8 | SRT ingest, web player, priority support |
Want the full feature breakdown before you commit to a plan? Read our complete Restream review. Try Restream Free →
The Free Plan
Restream’s free plan gives you 2 simultaneous channels at 720p with a Restream watermark on the stream. It genuinely works for testing whether multistreaming fits your workflow, but the watermark and resolution cap make it a poor fit for a real revenue-driving live shopping event where your brand’s polish actually matters to buyers.
The Standard Plan
At roughly $16 per month, Standard bumps you to 3 channels, removes the watermark, and unlocks custom graphics for branded overlays. This is the realistic entry point for a seller who wants to run an occasional branded live event without committing to a higher tier before they know how often they will actually use it.
The Professional Plan
Professional runs around $39 per month and adds 1080p resolution, 5 channels, team member access, and split recordings that save each guest’s feed separately. For a business running regular live shopping events with a co-host or guest, this is usually the tier that actually makes sense once testing is done.
The Business Plan
At roughly $199 per month, Business jumps to 8 channels, SRT ingest for professional broadcast equipment, an embeddable web player, and priority support. This tier fits a business running high-production live events regularly, where downtime or a slow support response during a live event carries real financial risk.
Hidden Costs to Watch For
Additional team seats cost roughly $25 per seat per month on top of your base plan across every paid tier, which adds up quickly if you regularly bring in guest hosts or moderators. The AI Clips add-on, which auto-generates short clips from your recordings, runs an extra $78 per month for 100 clips on the Professional tier, a cost worth factoring in if repurposing live content into short-form clips is part of your actual marketing plan.
Per-Seat Pricing in Practice
Unlike some SaaS tools that charge per user by default, Restream’s core plans are priced around channel count and features rather than seats, with team access being an add-on rather than baked into the base price. This makes Restream comparatively predictable for a solo seller, though a business bringing on multiple team members for stream management should budget the seat add-on into their real monthly cost.
Annual vs Monthly Billing
Annual billing saves between roughly 15.8% and 20.4% depending on the tier, with Professional offering the largest discount. If you already know live shopping events are a permanent part of your marketing calendar, annual billing on Professional is the more cost-effective long-term choice, but a seller still testing the format should stick with monthly until the format proves itself.
Calculating Your Real Monthly Cost
Add your base plan, any extra team seats you actually need, and any add-ons like AI Clips before comparing Restream’s sticker price to a competitor. A seller running events solo on Professional pays roughly $39 per month, but adding two team seats brings that to nearly $90 per month, a meaningful difference from the advertised base price.
Upgrade Triggers to Watch For
The clearest signal you have outgrown your current tier is hitting the channel cap during an actual live event and having to choose which platform to drop. A second clear signal is needing 1080p for a launch where video quality genuinely affects how the product looks on camera, which pushes you from Standard to Professional.
Competitor Pricing Model Comparison
StreamYard’s pricing follows a broadly similar structure to Restream’s, tiered around channel count and features rather than pure seat count, which makes the two tools genuinely comparable on a like-for-like basis. See our full Restream vs StreamYard comparison for exactly how the tiers stack up against each other feature by feature.
Refund and Cancellation Policy
Restream operates on a standard month-to-month cancellation model for monthly plans, with no long-term contract lock-in required. Annual plans typically do not offer a prorated refund mid-term, so confirm your commitment level honestly before choosing annual billing over monthly.
Budgeting for Your Full Live Streaming Stack
Restream is one piece of a broader live shopping setup that may also include a camera, microphone, lighting, and potentially a separate supplier relationship for product samples used on camera. Budget Restream’s monthly cost alongside these other real expenses rather than evaluating the software cost in isolation.
Cost Per Live Event
If you run four live shopping events a month on the Professional tier, that works out to roughly $10 per event in software cost alone, a genuinely reasonable number against the revenue a well-run live event can drive. Track this ratio over your first few months to confirm the tier you chose actually makes financial sense for your event frequency.
What’s Included at Every Tier
Every paid tier includes the core multistreaming functionality, unified chat, and scene switching, meaning you are not missing fundamental features on Standard versus Business. The differences are almost entirely about channel count, resolution, team access, and support responsiveness rather than core capability, which makes the upgrade decision more about scale than functionality.
Team Costs at Scale
A business running a genuinely large live shopping operation with a dedicated host, a chat moderator, and a technical producer needs to budget three team seats on top of the base Professional or Business plan. At roughly $25 per seat, that adds $75 per month to the base cost, a number worth confirming makes sense against the actual value each team member adds during a live event.
Integration Costs
Restream’s integrations with OBS Studio and other broadcast software do not carry additional fees on Restream’s side, though the third-party software itself may have its own separate cost depending on which tool you pair it with. Factor in any third-party software licensing separately from your Restream subscription when budgeting your full production cost.
International Pricing Considerations
Restream’s pricing is listed in US dollars, and international sellers should account for currency conversion and potential payment processing fees on top of the advertised price. For a business running live shopping events targeting international buyers, this is a small but real cost to factor into your overall budget.
Free Trial Access
Rather than a traditional time-limited free trial, Restream’s free forever plan lets you test the core workflow indefinitely, though the watermark and 720p cap mean you will want to upgrade before running an actual revenue-driving event. Use the free plan for as long as it takes to get comfortable with the studio before committing to a paid tier.
Contract Negotiation on Larger Deals
For a business planning a genuinely high volume of live events with multiple team members, reach out to Restream’s sales team directly before committing to the standard Business tier pricing, since larger accounts sometimes have room for negotiated seat pricing or custom terms. This is worth a direct conversation rather than assuming the listed price is the final word for a large-scale commitment.
Tracking Spend Against Actual Usage
Review your channel usage, team seat usage, and whether you are actually using AI Clips or other add-ons every few months, since it is easy to keep paying for a feature you tested once and never used again. A quarterly review of your Restream spend against what you are actually using keeps your streaming budget honest.
When a Cheaper Tier Makes More Sense
If your live shopping events have slowed to an occasional event rather than a regular part of your marketing calendar, downgrading from Professional back to Standard is a reasonable move rather than continuing to pay for team access and resolution you are not using. Revisit your tier choice whenever your event frequency changes meaningfully in either direction.
Category-Wide Pricing Comparison
Across the multistreaming and live production category, prices generally range from free tools with real limitations up through several hundred dollars a month for full broadcast-grade production tools. Restream sits comfortably in the middle of that range, more capable than the purely free options while staying well under dedicated broadcast software aimed at large production teams.
Onboarding Time’s Effect on True Cost
Because Restream’s browser studio requires minimal setup time compared to desktop broadcast software, the effective cost of getting started is lower than the subscription price alone suggests, since you are not paying a team member for days of setup and training. Factor this time savings into your comparison against a more complex, feature-heavy competitor.
Seasonal Cost Fluctuations
A seller running more frequent live shopping events around a seasonal peak, holiday launches for example, may temporarily need a higher tier or additional team seats during that window, then scale back down afterward. Plan for this fluctuation rather than locking into a year-long annual commitment sized for your busiest month alone.
List Price vs What Sellers Actually Pay
Most sellers running a real live shopping program land on the Professional tier once they move past initial testing, making that the realistic budget line for planning purposes rather than the advertised free or Standard entry price. Plan your actual budget around Professional plus any team seats you genuinely need, not the lowest advertised number.
Total Cost of Ownership Over a Year
A year of Professional tier billed monthly runs roughly $468, or noticeably less with the annual discount applied, before adding any team seats or add-ons. Compare this total cost of ownership figure against the actual revenue your live shopping events generate over the same period to judge whether the tool is genuinely paying for itself.
Add-On Pricing Mechanics
Add-ons like extra team seats and AI Clips are billed separately from your base plan and typically prorate mid-cycle if added partway through a billing period. Review exactly what prorates and what does not before adding a feature mid-month, since this affects your actual invoice more than the sticker price implies.
Switching Plans Mid-Contract
Upgrading tiers mid-cycle on Restream generally takes effect immediately with a prorated charge for the difference, while downgrading typically takes effect at the next billing cycle rather than immediately. Confirm the exact mechanics in your account settings before assuming a downgrade will reduce your very next invoice.
Multi-Year Contract Discounts
Restream’s standard discount structure is built around annual versus monthly billing rather than offering separate multi-year contract pricing, so a business seeking a longer commitment discount should reach out directly to sales to ask whether a custom arrangement is available. Do not assume a multi-year discount exists without confirming it directly.
Pricing Transparency vs Competitors
Restream publishes its pricing tiers clearly on its website without requiring a sales call to see actual numbers, which compares favorably against tools that gate pricing behind a “contact us” form for anything beyond the entry tier. This transparency makes budgeting and comparison shopping meaningfully easier before you commit any real time to evaluating the tool.
Setting a Realistic Budget Line
Budget for Professional tier plus one additional team seat as a realistic starting point for a genuinely active live shopping program, roughly $65 per month before any add-ons. Adjust up or down after your first quarter of real usage data rather than guessing at the right tier before you have run a single live event.
Reviewing Your Plan at Renewal Time
Set a calendar reminder ahead of your annual renewal date to review whether your tier still matches your actual event frequency and team size, since needs shift meaningfully over a year of running a live shopping program. This single habit prevents paying for a tier that no longer matches how you are actually using the platform.
Comparing Cost Against Production Value Gained
A jump from Standard to Professional adds roughly $23 per month but unlocks 1080p resolution and team access, both of which genuinely affect how professional a live shopping event looks and how smoothly it runs. Weigh that incremental cost against what a noticeably more polished, better-staffed event is actually worth in terms of buyer trust and conversion during the stream itself.
Handling Currency and Payment Method Changes
If your business banking or primary card changes, update your payment method in Restream’s billing settings promptly, since a failed payment can interrupt access mid-billing-cycle right before a scheduled live event. Set a calendar reminder around your renewal date specifically to confirm your payment method is still current, especially if you rely on a business card that gets reissued periodically.
Weighing Restream Against a Bundled Alternative
Some competitors bundle streaming with broader video hosting or course delivery, which can make a direct dollar-for-dollar price comparison misleading if you do not actually need those bundled features. Compare Restream’s price specifically and carefully against what you would genuinely pay for truly equivalent standalone multistreaming capability elsewhere, not against a bundle’s full advertised price if most of that broader bundle goes completely unused in your actual day-to-day workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Restream’s free plan enough for a real live shopping event?
Not really. The watermark and 720p cap undercut the polished look a real revenue-driving event needs, so treat the free plan as a testing ground rather than your launch tier.
Which Restream plan do most ecommerce sellers actually use?
Professional, at roughly $39 per month, is the most common landing spot once a seller moves past testing and runs live shopping events regularly.
Does Restream charge per team member by default?
No, team access comes with Professional and above, but additional seats beyond what is included cost roughly $25 per seat per month.
Is annual billing worth it?
Yes, if live shopping is a confirmed permanent part of your marketing calendar. The discount runs up to about 20.4% depending on tier, most significant on Professional.
How does Restream’s pricing compare to StreamYard?
Both follow a similar channel-and-feature-tiered structure. See our full Restream vs StreamYard comparison for the exact breakdown.
Pricing your streaming stack correctly is one piece of building a sustainable high-ticket dropshipping business. Before your next launch, make sure your business formation and payment processing can handle the order volume a successful live event can drive.
For additional independent pricing research, see TrustRadius’s Restream pricing page, Capterra’s Restream pricing breakdown, and GetApp’s Restream reviews before committing to a plan.
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
