Riverside vs StreamYard: Pricing, Free Plans and Which to Pick (2026)

Riverside or StreamYard: which is better?

It depends on the job. Riverside for recording-first podcasts and interviews. StreamYard for live-first streaming and webinars, especially on a budget. Neither beats the other overall, and most of the rest follows from that split.

Riverside records every guest on their own device at up to 4K and hands you separate tracks, so a bad connection does not ruin the file. StreamYard is a live studio in the browser: you add guests, overlays and a backstage, then push the stream to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and others. It records the session too, but recording is the second job. Riverside went the other direction and added 1080p live streaming on its Grow plan.

Is StreamYard free? Is Riverside?

StreamYard is. Riverside, as of this month, is not clearly.

StreamYard’s Free plan never expires. It streams to one destination at a time, allows 6 on-screen participants and 1 seat, includes 2 hours a month of local recording and puts the StreamYard logo on your streams. If you want to try multistreaming, the paid plans come with a 7-day free trial.

Riverside’s blog, last updated September 10, 2026, says it replaced the free plan with a 14-day trial of Pro, Grow or Webinar. The trial needs a credit card and charges it on day 15 unless you cancel. Its pricing page still lists a $0 tier with 2 one-off hours of separate tracks at up to 720p, and the page carries a notice that its information may not be up to date. Riverside seems to be testing pricing, so treat the trial as the default and the free tier as possible.

What do Riverside and StreamYard cost in 2026?

StreamYard is cheaper to enter. Riverside is cheaper if you want live streaming and high-end recording together.

Compare tiers by job, not by name. Riverside Pro records but does not stream. StreamYard Essential streams to 2 destinations at 1080p but does not give you 4K local files or cloud recording. The honest match for “stream and record properly” is Riverside Grow at $34 a month annually against StreamYard Advanced at $68.99, and Advanced adds 8 destinations, a 15-person backstage and On-Air webinars that Grow does not match.

Two cautions on Riverside. Its pricing page and a Riverside blog post disagree: the blog quotes Pro at $35 monthly and $29 annually. And the Webinar tier’s annual price is printed with a $408 total, which is Grow’s figure; $79 times 12 is $948. Confirm at checkout. Our Riverside review and StreamYard review list each plan in full, and our true cost calculator will price a team.

Streaming or recording: what is each one built for?

Think of two questions. Do viewers watch while you talk? Then you want a live studio. Do viewers listen or watch later? Then you want a recorder.

StreamYard fits the first. You open a tab, invite guests by link, add overlays and layouts, and go live to 2 destinations on Essential, 3 on Core or 8 on Advanced. Riverside fits the second. It captures each guest locally, uploads the files after the session, and adds transcription, AI clips and show notes on top.

The overlap is where people get stuck. Riverside’s Grow and Webinar plans stream in 1080p to unlimited destinations with custom RTMP. StreamYard records the live session, and paid plans save a WAV per participant locally. Neither is weak at the other’s job. Each is simply second at it.

Which is better for a podcast?

Riverside, in most cases. A podcast lives or dies on the audio file, and Riverside gives you uncompressed audio in separate tracks per guest from its entry paid plan, with 4K video if you publish to YouTube.

StreamYard can serve a live podcast or a video show you broadcast as you record. Its blog says local recording produces an uncompressed 48 kHz WAV per participant on paid plans. The cloud version of separate tracks sits higher: our review ties Individual Audio Tracks to Advanced at $88.99 a month, though today’s pricing page does not list them, so confirm before you buy for that. 4K local recording is also an Advanced feature.

Watch Riverside’s hour caps. Separate-track downloads run 15 hours on Pro, 20 on Grow and 25 on Webinar, according to the feature list and FAQ. Its comparison table shows different numbers (5, 15 and unlimited), so ask support if the cap decides your purchase. Going over the cap does not trigger a charge; you just cannot download new separate tracks until the next billing cycle.

What is the difference for guests and reliability?

Riverside lists up to 10 remote participants per recording in its blog. StreamYard allows 6 on-screen on Free, 10 on Core and 15 in the backstage on Advanced.

Neither vendor publishes reliability data, and we did not run a test. Our reviews show the same pattern on both sides: strong G2 and Capterra scores and a weaker or disputed Trustpilot. Riverside sits at 3.8 on Trustpilot, with complaints about recordings failing and Safari and Firefox support. StreamYard’s Trustpilot reading is disputed, with complaints about a price increase without a refund and slow support. Weigh the larger G2 and Capterra samples, but read both complaint patterns before you trust either with an irreplaceable interview.

Is StreamYard safe?

We did not audit either company, so we can only say what the vendors state. StreamYard’s homepage claims 12,000,000+ creators and makes no specific security statement we could read. Riverside’s homepage shows an AICPA SOC badge without naming the report.

Both run in the cloud. If you handle confidential material, read each privacy policy and set up a strong login first. The cheapest option for fully local control is OBS (next section), which never uploads anything on its own.

Is StreamYard better than OBS?

Different trade. OBS Studio describes itself as free and open source software for recording and streaming, on Windows, Mac and Linux. It costs nothing and gives you full control, but you configure scenes, audio and platform keys yourself, and it has no built-in guest invite.

StreamYard trades money for setup time. A guest joins from a link, and you pay for multistreaming. If you stream alone and like tinkering, OBS can replace StreamYard. If you interview guests every week, the time you save matters more than $15 a month.

How do Riverside and StreamYard compare with Restream and Zencastr?

Facts below come from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked on November 8, 2026.

• Restream is the specialist for reaching several platforms at once. Free gives 2 simultaneous channels with Restream branding. Standard is $19 a month for 3 channels, Professional $49 for 5, Business $239 for 8. Webinars start at $99 a month as an add-on, and clips at $19. It is not a recording studio, so pair it with a recorder if you need one. See the Restream review.
• Zencastr lists a free plan with 6 participants, 4K desktop and mobile video, 48 kHz WAV and live streaming up to 1080p, plus 4 seats, 5 shows and 60,000 video views. Its page shows no paid plan prices, only a custom Enterprise tier. If the free plan covers your show, it beats both of ours on price. If you grow past it, you have no published price to plan against. See the Zencastr review.

For the wider field, see best podcast recording software and best live streaming and webinar software.

What about refunds and trials?

StreamYard offers a 7-day free trial on paid plans and a 7-day money-back guarantee on the first charge only. You can cancel any time, and paid features last to the end of the billing cycle before the account drops to Free. Riverside’s pricing page states no refund policy. Its 14-day trial is the way to test, and you must cancel before day 15 to avoid the first charge.

So which should you pick?

Recording-first podcasts and interviews: start Riverside’s trial and record one real episode with a guest. Live-first streaming and webinars on a budget: start on StreamYard’s free plan and upgrade only when you need a second destination. If you want both, price Riverside Grow against StreamYard Core or Advanced for your actual destinations and track needs, since the answer shifts with your plan. And if streaming to many platforms is all you need, look at Restream before paying for either.