VOD platform
VOD Platform: Turn Live Broadcasts Into an On-Demand Library
Record every broadcast. Compare platforms. Publish the replay.
Review any VOD platform based on storage, access, monetisation, and player. Turn your church, station, studio, or course broadcasts into an on-demand library on your website.
Sunday service, recording live
Broadcast and save it on your website.Go live once, watch it whenever
Broadcast from your own website
Enable Record Live Stream in the channel settings before going live. Then, broadcast the service, show, or class as usual.
The recording uses storage hours based on the broadcast length.
The recording lands in Recordings
After the live stream ends, the recording appears under Recordings. This is a saved copy, but it’s not yet available for your congregation or audience to watch on demand.
Turn it into an on-demand library
Open the recording to create a Free-To-View, Pay-Per-View, or Subscription VOD. Each option gets its own URL, so your sermon archive, episode list, or class library expands with every broadcast.
Viewers watch the live broadcast and published replay in the same WpStream player. Your audience stays on your website for both experiences.
A recording isn't video on demand until you publish it
Every broadcast can become a saved recording, then a published video on demand: a sermon archive for a congregation, a newscast archive for a station, or an on-demand class library for members.
The catch lies between these steps.
A recording isn't a video on demand until it’s published. How a VOD platform counts stored video can affect your costs for a year of services, shows, or classes.
What to compare in a live-and-VOD platform
Four factors determine if a VOD platform suits a church, station, studio, or course: how storage is metered, who can watch, how you charge, and what plays the video.
If you broadcast live, check a fifth factor: how soon a broadcast becomes a replay.
Storage Metering
WpStream tracks recording hours, which is the total video length you store. For example, if you record a 2-hour service, it counts as 2 recording hours, regardless of quality. Deleting an old recording returns its hours.
Other VOD platforms have different methods. As of September 2026, Uscreen lists hours of storage per plan, while BoxCast retains streams for 30, 90 days, or one year based on the plan. Dacast measures storage by file size.
Access Control
Lock to Website stops videos from playing on other sites. Encrypt Video protects files from unauthorized access, downloading, and redistribution.
You can sell each recording using WooCommerce or place it on a members-only page. A membership plugin can then control who watches.
Five membership plugins are compatible: Ultimate Membership Pro, MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, Paid Membership Pro, and ARMember.
As of September 2026, Dacast offers password protection and domain restrictions, along with AES and DRM for on-demand video on its top Scale plan. BoxCast also features geo-blocking by zipcode.
Monetization
WpStream offers three VOD types: Free-To-View, Pay-Per-View (a one-time purchase), or Subscription.
You can keep sermon archives free, charge once for recorded workshops, or sell memberships for the entire class library. There’s no ad-supported model.
As of September 2026, Uscreen adds a per-subscriber fee on its Growth and App Essentials plans, plus a fee for one-time sales.
Dacast supports pay-per-view and subscriptions through its paywall, starting from the Event plan.
Player
The WpStream player works for both live channels and on-demand videos. You can place it using a shortcode, an Elementor widget, or a WPBakery block.
The WpStream Video on Demand List widget displays a whole library on one page, and all paid plans are watermark-free.
This setup allows a station to create its own page. For example, WBRZ News 2 in Baton Rouge maintains a News Replay page for recent newscasts on its site.
How Soon It’s Watchable
A replay isn’t instant. After the live stream ends, the finished recording appears under Recordings. It remains a plain recording until someone converts it into a VOD.
Nothing publishes on its own.
If you sold the live event as Pay-Per-View, open that product, change it from Live Stream to Video on Demand, and select the recording. Those who purchased it retain access.
Real Archives, Built This Way.
Three Organisations Already Do It.
Sermon Archive
Faith Methodist Church in Richmond, Texas, maintains an archive page where visitors can explore past services.
The sermons remain on the church's website. This way, members who missed a Sunday can find the message easily.
Live Class Plus Library
Barre & Soul offers a virtual membership with unlimited live stream classes and VOD access.
Members can attend live classes with real-time instructor feedback or choose from hundreds of pre-recorded classes ranging from 10 to 60 minutes.
One membership covers both live sessions and the library.
Class Recordings
Interface Technical Training features "Replay" for its class recordings: "Recordings are available after each class day."
Learners who miss part of a session can "watch it again, right away," which is important for cohort learning.
Turn a Live Stream into Video on Demand
Four steps turn a broadcast into VOD, whether it's a Sunday service, a weekly show, or a cohort session.
Recording hours measure the length of what you keep, and converting a recording into VOD is always your responsibility.
This is the part of a VOD platform that determines how quickly a replay reaches your audience. The full details are in the recording docs.
Record
Turn on Recording Before You Go Live
Open the channel's Settings and enable Record Live Stream before starting the channel.
If you skip this step, the broadcast won’t be recorded. You won't have a replay to publish, and no recording hours will be used.
Broadcast
Go Live as Usual
Stream the service, show, or class as you normally would. The recording builds in the background, using recording hours based on its length only.
Higher quality doesn’t cost more hours.
Wait
Let the Recording Land
Once the broadcast ends, turn off the channel. The finished recording will show up under WpStream, Recordings after the live stream ends.
It may take a little time, so be patient before assuming something went wrong.
Publish
Create the VOD
Open the recording and create a Free-To-View, Pay-Per-View, or Subscription VOD from it.
The VOD gets its own product ID and URL, which is separate from the live channel. You can then embed it on the page where your members or learners look for replays.
VOD hosting compared
Which platform costs less to store a year of recordings?
The table below compares four VOD platforms based on key factors: storage, access control, monetization, and player. Read it left to right.
All figures are from September 2026, taken from each vendor's pricing or product page.
Storage is compared in hours. A cap in hours shows a church or station how many services or shows it can keep.
A cap by file size answers a different question, so it isn't converted into hours.
Plan context, as of September 2026: Uscreen Starter is $49 a month, billed monthly. Growth is $149 a month, billed annually ($199 billed monthly).
Both plans include one free hour of live streaming. WpStream's current plans and hours can be found on the pricing page.
| What you compare | WpStream | Uscreen | Dacast | BoxCast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you compare: Storage metering | WpStream: Recording hours: the total length of video kept stored (a 90-minute service uses 1.5) | Uscreen: Hours of video storage: 20 on Starter, 100 on Growth and App Essentials | Dacast: Metered by file size, depending on plan | BoxCast: Recorded streams kept 30 days, 90 days or one year by plan; OTT Apps add-on includes 50, 100 or 150 hours |
| What you compare: Access control | WpStream: Lock to Website, Encrypt Video, five named membership plugins or a WooCommerce sale | Uscreen: Not listed | Dacast: Password protection, domain restrictions; AES and DRM for VOD on the Scale plan | BoxCast: Geo-blocking by zipcode or point and radius |
| What you compare: Monetization | WpStream: Free-To-View, Pay-Per-View and Subscription VOD; no AVOD | Uscreen: $1.99 per subscriber a month on Growth, $0.99 on App Essentials; 10% or 5% fee on one-time sales | Dacast: Pay-per-view and subscriptions through its paywall, Event plan and up | BoxCast: Ticketing add-on for live or recorded broadcasts |
| What you compare: Player | WpStream: Same player for live and VOD, a Video on Demand List widget, watermark-free on paid plans | Uscreen: Not listed | Dacast: White-label player embedded with your branding | BoxCast: White-labeled embed; video markers in recorded broadcasts |
Live first
Recordings become VODs on your site
WpStream is primarily a live streaming platform, with VOD as a secondary feature.
A recording exists because a service, show, or class was streamed live. It becomes a VOD only after you create one.
This contrasts with an upload-first VOD host.
Your library starts with the live channel on your website and grows through each broadcast. This means your sermon archive or class library is always a single project.
Video unavailable. Please try again later.
All paid plans include watermark-free video and unlimited PPV streaming.
Lite
Lite costs $24 a month or $190 a year. It includes 25 recording hours, 100 broadcast hours, and 500 viewer hours.
This plan suits a short season, a single event, or a small group, not a full year of weekly services.
Plus
Plus costs $59 a month or $490 a year, offering 100 recording hours. This supports a weekly 90-minute service or a 60-minute show for a whole year.
Pro ($169 a month, 500 recording hours) and Ultra ($449 a month, 1,500 recording hours) cater to daily class schedules.
The trial
One-time plans start at $36, with no expiration. On monthly and annual plans, broadcast and viewer hours reset every month and do not roll over.
The hours math
How many recording hours does a year really need?
The table below outlines one year of recordings for four organisations: a church, a local station, a fitness studio, and a course.
It assumes nothing is deleted, so every service, episode, class, and session stays in the library all year.
Recording hours cap the total length of video you keep stored.
A church or studio that deletes older recordings needs less than shown in the table since deleting frees up those hours.
The fitness row assumes a daily class. A studio streaming five days a week would need closer to 195 hours: still beyond Plus, but within Pro.
Before you buy any VOD platform, do this math.
A weekly 90-minute service exceeds Lite's 25 recording hours in the 17th week. The plan you need depends on how much of last year you want to keep.
| Segment | Typical schedule | Recording hours a year | Lowest plan that fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Segment: Faith: weekly service | Typical schedule: 52 weeks x 90 minutes | Recording hours a year: 78 hours | Lowest plan that fits: Plus (100 hours) |
| Segment: Local media: weekly show | Typical schedule: 52 weeks x 60 minutes | Recording hours a year: 52 hours | Lowest plan that fits: Plus (100 hours) |
| Segment: Fitness: daily class | Typical schedule: 365 days x 45 minutes | Recording hours a year: About 274 hours | Lowest plan that fits: Pro (500 hours) |
| Segment: Cohort education: 10-week program | Typical schedule: 10 weeks x 2 sessions x 90 minutes | Recording hours a year: 30 hours | Lowest plan that fits: Plus (100 hours) |
Honest limits
When does a VOD-only host fit better?
When nothing is streamed live. A course library recorded in advance, or an archive of marketing videos, doesn’t need a live streaming platform.
A VOD-only host, or a WordPress player like Presto Player, may be a better fit.
Presto Player's FAQ discusses hosting options, pointing to self-hosting or a third-party host like Bunny Stream.
This isn’t a criticism of either option.
A recorded course sold to learners who never meet live needs good upload tools and a clean player. A live-first platform adds features that won’t be used.
WpStream does not offer an ad-supported (AVOD) model. If your station relies on ads for funding, you need a platform focused on that.
WpStream requires a broadcast to start from. Your library grows from what your church, station, studio, or group streamed live.
For a broader view of different hosts, read our video hosting platform guide.
Go deeper on VOD
How to Record Your Live Streams: 6 Simple Methods
Six ways to record a live broadcast, from local recording to cloud recording, with the honest tradeoffs of each.
What Is VOD? Video On Demand Explained
The plain-language definition of video on demand, and what a replay library means for your website.
SVOD vs AVOD vs TVOD: Which Model Fits Your Stream?
Subscription, ad-supported and pay-per-view models explained, so you can pick how your archive earns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. After the event, the organiser changes the product type from Live stream to Video on demand and selects the recording.
Everyone who bought a ticket retains access without a second purchase.
On WpStream, it’s measured by length: recording hours count the total time of video stored. A 2-hour service uses 2 recording hours, regardless of quality.
Some VOD platforms measure by file size, so check before comparing prices.
No. The finished recording appears under Recordings after the live stream ends. It remains a plain recording until someone creates a Free-To-View, Pay-Per-View, or Subscription VOD from it in WpStream.
SVOD is a recurring subscription, TVOD is a one-time purchase per video, and AVOD is ad-supported. WpStream supports Subscription and Pay-Per-View VODs, but not AVOD.
Yes. A class or episode that was never streamed can be uploaded into Recordings and turned into a VOD.
However, WpStream is designed for live streaming, so organisations without broadcasts may prefer a VOD-only host.
No. WpStream counts hours by time only, so a 90-minute sermon uses 1.5 recording hours, regardless of quality.
A live streaming platform delivers broadcasts in real time, while a VOD platform stores recordings for later viewing.
A platform like WpStream records live services, shows, or classes, and the recording becomes the on-demand copy once published.
When there’s no live component, such as a pre-recorded course library or an archive of marketing videos.
A WordPress player like Presto Player or a dedicated VOD-only host is a better fit than WpStream in those cases.
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