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Simulcasting in 2025: Why “just going live” isn’t enough
Streaming to a single platform is no longer the goal. If your live video isn’t simultaneously reaching YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and your own app, you’re not just losing viewers you’re leaving growth on the table.
But pushing a stream to multiple destinations sounds easier than it is. You’ll need to manage different RTMP endpoints, tune encoding settings per platform, and avoid overloading your origin infrastructure. Even then, one mid-stream failure can break your entire broadcast chain.
Most simulcasting tools weren’t built for developers. They’re designed for creators, with drag-and-drop dashboards and limited flexibility not the API access, observability, and control product teams need to build reliable, scalable systems.
Before you pick a simulcasting tool, make sure it does more than just push to multiple platforms. Here’s what actually matters:
FastPix is a developer-first video API platform with built-in simulcasting support. It lets you stream once and fan it out across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and custom RTMP targets without managing encoding pipelines or third-party relays.
Simulcasting is part of its broader live stack, which also includes instant live encoding, adaptive bitrate packaging, live-to-VOD recording, and granular analytics all wrapped in clean APIs and SDKs for full control.
FastPix is built for engineering teams building live-first products not just running events. If you want to own the stream experience, integrate simulcast into your own player, and optimize based on user data, FastPix gives you the power without the operational drag.
Restream is a browser-based multistreaming platform originally designed for creators, marketers, and social media teams. It lets you push your stream to 30+ platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and LinkedIn without configuring individual endpoints. You can go live directly from your browser, integrate with OBS or Zoom, and schedule events with branded pages and chat overlays.
However, it’s not API-friendly. There’s no native developer toolkit, no playback or delivery insights, and limited customization beyond the platform UI.
Restream is a solid choice for creators, marketers, and social-first teams who need fast, no-code broadcasting. But for developers building live experiences into products, apps, or OTT platforms it hits a ceiling quickly.
Castr is a cloud-based multistreaming and hosting platform that supports simulcasting to multiple destinations, stream recording, and live-to-VOD conversion. It also offers a white-label video player, letting you embed streams and on-demand videos on your own domain. Castr supports both RTMP and SRT protocols, making it flexible for media-heavy workflows.
While the platform includes useful UI tools for hybrid teams, its developer APIs are limited, and deeper app integrations can feel constrained.
Castr is a good fit for media companies, broadcasters, and teams looking for a mix of UI-friendly workflows and basic customizability. If you want to simulcast and host content without needing full backend control, it delivers. But if you're building a product around live video, the API limitations can be a blocker.
Switchboard is a professional-grade simulcasting platform built with agencies, B2B teams, and white-label providers in mind. It simplifies multi-platform broadcasting by automating destination management and enabling pre-configured stream access. Teams can register destinations in advance, share stream keys with clients, and let them go live without touching the backend.
While it's efficient for repeatable, client-facing workflows, Switchboard isn’t built for developer teams who want API-first control or playback visibility.
Switchboard works well for agencies and marketing teams who run recurring events or manage live streams for clients. If you need automation around multistream setup not playback, encoding, or analytics it gets the job done. But it's not the right fit if you're building live infrastructure directly into your product.
Vimeo Enterprise offers simulcasting as part of its broader live video suite, tailored for corporate communications and high-production branded events. You can stream to major destinations like Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn while keeping everything wrapped in a branded player. It also includes internal video streaming, compliance features, and enterprise-level support.
That said, Vimeo’s developer tooling is limited, and simulcasting is gated behind premium plans making it better suited for internal events than product-driven workflows.
Vimeo Enterprise fits best within enterprise environments, especially for internal comms, HR, and marketing teams running polished branded streams. But if you're a developer building live video into apps or products, the lack of deep API control and high cost make it a tough sell.
StreamYard is a browser-based live streaming studio that makes it easy to go live across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn all without needing to install any software. It’s built for simplicity: just open your browser, invite guests, and start streaming with branded overlays and layouts. Simulcasting is built in, and the platform handles all the encoding and distribution in the background.
But under the hood, there’s not much room for customization. There are no APIs, no SDKs, and limited control for dev teams building product-native video experiences.
StreamYard is ideal for solo creators, speakers, and teams running live webinars who want a polished stream without writing code. But for engineers building embedded live features or trying to own the stream UX, it’s not the right tool.
Streaming once and reaching everywhere shouldn’t mean duct-taping together relays or managing brittle workflows.
With FastPix, simulcasting is just another API call one that sits inside a clean, full-stack live video platform. You get observability, recording, playback, and analytics, without running your own muxer or hiring a video ops team.
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