Brianna ParkerLast updated: Feb 9, 2020
YouTube is a popular online digital platform that is utilized for sharing videos. It features a diverse range of content, which comprises of vlog videos, music, TV, educational, and corporate.
Most of the video content that is available on YouTube is free of charge. However, there are some paid services such as YouTube Premium for Ad-free music and video experience.
This guide reflects upon different Youtube Competitors and alternatives.
Videos
1. Daily Motion
Launched: 2005
Founders: Benjamin Bejbaum and Olivier Poitrey
Headquarter: Paris, France
If you do not go for YouTube, then it is definitely Dailymotion. It serves as the perfect replacement for YouTube that allows you to start watching contents only at your fingertips.
Users often get accustomed to Dailymotion as it features the same categories of videos and provides the same layout, just like its rivals. Dailymotion has about 300 million monthly active users.
2. Vimeo
Launched: 2004
Founders: Zach Klein, Jake Lodwick
Headquarter: New York City, U.S.
Vimeo is a perfect YouTube alternative for streaming video. It has positioned itself as a premium high quality video player that is often used by professional and businesses.
Filmmakers can use this platform effectively for flaunting their work. What makes it amazing is the impact it creates by eliminating all the distracting elements that may divert your attention. Vimeo has over 150 million members.
3. Metacafe
Launched: 2003
Founders: Reza Izad
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, United States.
Metacafe is the ideal community-based YouTube alternative. It is another popular websites due to its delight from actual content streaming. If you are looking for a youtube like experience, then this is the perfect choice due to its shortened clips.
4. Vevo
Launched: 2009
Owners: Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Abu Dhabi Media, Alphabet Inc.
Headquarter: New York City, U.S.
For all music videos lover, do not wait and immediately bookmark Vevo. This will be your ‘go-to’ website for streaming as it delivers hard, fast, and swift content. When you are bored, this site will lighten up your mood immediately with its unlimited supply of music videos.
5. Facebook
Launched: 2004
Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz
Headquarter: Menlo Park, California, U.S
The search bar on Facebook is frequently users for searching people, pages, or places. Nowadays, Facebook is also used as an online video streaming platform by merely searching for specific content and clicking on the “videos” tab. Eventually, you will find numerous videos related to your search.
6. Instagram TV – IGTV
Launched: 2018
Founders: Instagram (Facebook Inc.)
Headquarter: Menlo Park, California
Instagram is already a popular social media app with over 1 billion registered users, but the launch of its streaming IGTV app took everyone by surprise. Unlike other streaming websites, IGTV is unique as the videos available here is created, especially for smartphones in long format.
7. Youku
Launched: 2006
Founders: Victor Koo
Headquarter: Beijing, China
Youku is referred as the YouTube of China, which is used as a streaming service and online video platform. It is widely appreciated by users, especially in areas where international social media is blocked.
8. Tubi
Launched: 2014
Founders: Farhad Massoudi and Thomas Ahn Hicks
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, U.S.
Tubi is a famous and independently-owned online streaming service in America, which provides its users with a diverse range of TV shows and movies for its users.
The company has collaborated with numerous studios, including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, and Paramount Pictures. You can get its apps on iOS, Android, Roku, and Amazon Fire.
9. Veoh
Launched: 2006
Founders: Dmitry Shapiro, Ted Dunning
Headquarter: San Diego, California
Speaking about great alternatives to YouTube, Veoh is another name that needs recognition. This site is known for offering a significant amount of perks, along with its clean interface facilitating million of its users.
This site has some good news for content creators. They have the freedom of uploading any video they like, regardless of the length of the video.
Movies, TV shows and Web Series
10. Netflix
Launched: 1997
Founders: Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph
Headquarter: Los Gatos, California, U.S
While discussing different YouTube competitors, Netflix is another leading name. It is known for high-quality services for online streaming that allows its users to watch movies, award-winning TV shows, and documentaries.
Netflix is a perfect application that allows you to enjoy your favorite without bothered by any commercial.
11. Amazon Prime Video
Launched: 2006
Founder: Amazon Inc.
Headquarter: Seattle, Washington, United States
Just like YouTube, Amazon Prime Video is considered as a buffet of movies, original programming, and television. As compared to other competitors on this list, Amazon offers a better option for children’s programming and comedy due to its deal with Viacom. Not only this, but users may also gain access to HBO’s back catalog.
12. Hulu
Launched: 2007
Owner: The Walt Disney Company
Headquarter: Santa Monica, California, USA
Hulu is another leading competitor of Youtube, which is reputable for its high-quality premium services for both on-demand and live movies and TV shows.
Whether you are traveling or at the comfort of your home, their services are easily accessible. Regardless of any major broadcast network in the US, it provides immediate access to every show for its users.
13. Apple TV+
Launched: 2019
Founders: Apple Inc
Headquarter: Cupertino, California.
Apple has launched Apple TV+, an online video streaming service in Nov 2019. Its content is available on Apple’s website and Apple TV app for a monthly fee of $4.99.
14. Sling TV
Launched: 2015
President: Warren Schlichting
Headquarter: Meridian, Colorado, United States
As a replacement for cable, Sling TV serves as a cost-effective and reliable service for streaming video. It offers live TV service at only $25 a month, allowing people to watch their favorite TV channels live.
15. Vudu
Launched: 2004
Founder: Alain Rossmann, Tony Miranz
Headquarter: California, United States
Unlike Apple, HBO, Netflix, and Hulu, Walmart’s Vudu is a famous online streaming service that allows its customers the best quality movies without the need for an online subscription. Viewers can find the best 4K movies and buy products that are seen on TV.
16. Disney+
Launched: 2019
Founder: Walt Disney
Headquarter: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Disney + will indeed serve as a major rival for YouTube, which will offer exclusive original shows and big-budget movies from Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, as well shows from its own studio.
What makes it exciting is that all of it will be offered at $6.99 a month, which is half of the cost charged by HBO.
17. HBO NOW
Launched: 2015
Founders: Warner Media
Headquarter: New York City, United States
As a major competitor of YouTube, HBO NOW was launched by HBO that provides users access to all HBO’s programs without the need for subscribing to the cable. This is the best deal for everyone who is keen to watch the latest season of their favorite shows.
18. Sony Crackle
Launched: 2007
Owner: Sony
Headquarter: Culver City, California, United States
If you are amongst those individuals who still crave for anime and cheesy action movies, then Crackle is here for you. This platform is widely popular for its online programming, TV shows, and broadcasting movies on a rotational basis.
It usually offers streaming content that you have already heard, rather than something blockbuster, taking you back in time.
19. HotStar
Launched: 2015
Founders: The Walt Disney Company, India
Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
HotStar is an Indian online streaming service that deploys the most adaptive technology for streaming video. As the quality of the video is adjusted automatically according to the bandwidth, therefore users get the best experience on both WiFi and network connections.
Gaming Videos
20. Twitch
Launched: 2011
Founders: Justin Kan
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, United States.
Initially launched as a concept, Twitch gained its popularity amongst content uploaders and viewers. It is the best choice for millions of internet users with the sole motto of watching gaming videos. Even though its popularity is pale as compared to YouTube, yet it is idyllic for “live broadcasting” videos.
Music & Podcast
21. Apple Music
Launched: 2015
Founders: Apple Inc
Headquarter: Cupertino, California.
Apple Music is another major competitor of YouTube that has been expertly curated and personalized. This allows users with the facility to rent or buy numerous music and movies from Apple Music.
It is indeed the ultimate and user-friendly way of listening music and watching videos as it has everything being listed in one place.
22. Spotify
Spotify is one of the largest competitors of YouTube. They primarily target young professionals and high school students by providing them access to a large collection of music.
They offer the benefit to initially try their trial version, following which, users move to their paid premium package.
Others
23. The Internet Archive
Launched: 1996
Founders: Brewster Kahle
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, United States.
Unlike other competitors of YouTube, the name of The Internet Archive must be giving you a feeling of a storage platform. It is a part of a Wayback Machine as it dates back to the time when the number of viewers and content uploaders was few.
24. 9Gag TV
Launched: 2008
Founders: Ray Chan
Headquarter: Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, Mountain View, California, United States.
For all users of Twitter and Facebook, the 9Gag brand is not something that they have not come across. It is widely known for entertaining its users by offering different memes, GIFs, images, and other exclusive content.
25. DTube
Launched: 2016
We are all aware that Blockchain is spreading slowly following the explosion of cryptocurrency, making it the latest trend these days. The popularity of DTube is associated with the fact that it is a complete decentralized platform based on Blockchain.
As its interface is similar to YouTube, therefore it is an excellent YouTube alternative for users.
26. PeerTube
Launched: 2018
Founders: Framasoft, et. al
The name of this platform indicates that it is a peer-to-peer platform for sharing and streaming video. It is user-friendly as anyone takes their first step for hosting any video they look. What makes it outstanding is its unique interface that has no ads and has been presented very neatly.
27. Flickr
Launched: 2004
Founders: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Headquarter: San Francisco, California, United States.
Most of you must be surprised with the name of Flickr on this list. Even though it allows you limited capacity, yet it is another platform that you can utilize for uploading videos online.
Currently offering several features, this platform is still in place and always room for improvements. For the ease of users, uploaders can even make a free account; however, they can utilize the benefit of only uploading a 90-second video.
28. Photobucket
Launched: 2003
Founders: Alex Welch, Darren Crystal
Headquarter: Denver, CO.
Apple App StoreJust like Flickr, Photobucket is another name on this list. The factor that differentiates it is the diverse range of content that is available, thus presenting more options to users. A very impressive repository that comprises of user-generated videos is hosted by it. It still needs some time, though to be able to compete with YouTube by offering a higher collection of content.
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Ava Abbott
Kevin Johnson
S.K. Gupta
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