In digital marketing, businesses are beginning to shift their marketing focus from blog posts to videos because of its effectiveness. Videos can greatly boost web traffic, page rankings, user engagement, and conversion rates. People are also more likely to share a video than any other type of content. When talking about video sharing platforms, YouTube is the first site to come to mind. It’s not strange considering that YouTube is the biggest video sharing website in the world. However, not all kinds of videos are on YouTube.
Here are the top 10 best YouTube alternatives.
1. Vimeo
Vimeo is a video sharing website that’s similar to YouTube, except that it offers higher quality videos using 4k Ultra HD. It’s also an ad-free platform, unlike YouTube, to make sure that the viewers can focus on watching the videos without any distractions. Vimeo is the best place for video-makers to share their high-quality videos with others.
However, just like any platform, it has weaknesses too. You’re allowed to upload as many videos as you like on YouTube without any limit, however, that’s not the case with Vimeo. Here, the maximum limit per week is only 500MB and can be upgraded to 5GB for premium users. But let’s be honest, that’s nothing compared to the number of videos you can upload on YouTube for free.
2. Dailymotion
This is probably the most similar alternative to YouTube, as Dailymotion offers the same layout and video categories that make the transition from YouTube easier. The advantage of using Dailymotion is that it has a less harsh video policy compared to YouTube. You can upload any kind of videos you want; no one will remove them. The downside to that is the lack of supervision of pirated videos. Moreover, you can only upload high-quality videos if you’re a pro user. The high-quality video has a resolution limit of 1080p and can only be 20 minutes long.
3. Dtube
Similar to Dailymotion, Dtube also has the same user interface as YouTube. But that’s about the only similarity they have because the way Dtube operates is completely different from the video-sharing giant. Dtube uses blockchain technology to store the videos, not one centralized server like YouTube does. As a result, the videos and personal data here are pretty much safe from hackers. Plus, this platform contains no ads and offers cryptocurrency revenue for its content creators.
4. PeerTube
Just like the name, PeerTube is a peer-to-peer based video sharing platform. Instead of using one server like YouTube and many other video websites, PeerTube gives freedom to its users to host their own server, called instance. Every instance contains a user and their videos and can connect to one another. You’re free to upload any kind of videos on this platform without having to worry about being banned. The only weakness of PeerTube is its relatively young age, making the video library not as rich as its established competitors.
5. Veoh
Veoh is like a hybrid of a video streaming and social media platform. You can upload videos as long as you want (no length limit) and then easily share it with your friends. You can also join groups and forums, then chat with people there. Just like social media, you need to engage with many people and get them to like your content for your channel to grow.
6. TED
It’s time to enter some niche territory. For those of you who are looking for an educational video streaming site, TED might be a fit for you. This platform has lectures covering a wide range of topics like technology, science, business, society, humanity, and personal growth, among many others.
7. Twitch
After a long day at work or a long lecture video from TED, you could head to Twitch to enjoy some live streaming videos. Not just an ordinary YouTube alternative, Twitch content is focused only on games, even though you’ll find plenty of non-gaming videos as well. Although it has a strong gaming community, YouTube is still better in some areas. First of all, you make a lot more money doing a live-streaming video on YouTube than here. Secondly, you can’t rewind videos on Twitch and last, the live-streaming performance is a bit slower compared to YouTube.
8. Metacafe
Metacafe is the home of short videos that are no longer than 90 seconds which are mostly low in quality. More people will know about Snapchat and Instagram Stories than Metacafe, even though it offers a similar service and is older than both of those apps. However, videos on Metacafe will stay forever and not disappear after 24 hours. Metacafe is like a mini YouTube alternative, where you can search for videos based on trending topics and categories, as well as subscribe to a channel. People here are usually looking for funny videos, quick product reviews and tutorials.
9. Vevo
After talking about educational videos, gaming platforms, and a short video library, it’s time for a video sharing website that focuses only on music videos. So, if you love music and want to watch video clips only, head to Vevo. This website offers high-quality music videos from Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. However, you can’t upload your own music video here, meaning that Vevo is more suited for music enthusiasts rather than musicians.
10. The Internet Archive
If you’ve been looking for a childhood TV show or movie but can’t find it anywhere, maybe you should start looking at the Internet Archive. Just like the name, it’s a website that stores old and classic movies, documentaries, TV series, and other kinds of videos. Besides enabling you to find rare footage that can’t be found anywhere else, you can upload your own videos as well. However, don’t be disappointed if you can’t find enough new and updated content on this platform compared to other video platforms.
