10+ Best Live Streaming SDK & API

In an era where live streaming has woven itself seamlessly into our daily lives, the surge in its popularity is undeniable. The realm of live streaming apps has redefined our content consumption and real-time interactions. For those considering the creation of a live-streaming app, the choice of the perfect live streaming SDK holds immense importance. In this comprehensive article, we present a curated list of the top 10 live-streaming APIs & SDK providers.

What is Live Streaming SDK?

In the world of software development, a Software Development Kit (SDK) is a collection of tools and resources that developers can use to create mobile applications with finesse. This comprehensive toolkit includes a variety of helper libraries, precompiled modules, extensive documentation, code samples, well-designed processes, and informative guides. An SDK is customized to specific platforms or programming languages and helps to streamline the development process.

Out of various tools available, the live streaming SDK is a great boon for developers. It saves them from the hassle of creating thousands of lines of code from scratch, offering a shortcut to implement live streaming in their mobile apps. This SDK not only enhances the efficiency of the app development process but also improves the overall capabilities of the mobile apps with features like analytics, advertising integration, and push notifications handling.

However, standing shoulder to shoulder with SDKs in the developer's toolkit is the mighty API – the Application Programming Interface.

A veritable software intermediary, APIs orchestrate harmonious communication between two applications. Within this expansive landscape, the live-streaming video API shines, offering a suite of harmonious APIs curated for the world of video interactions.

Top+ 10 Live Streaming SDKs & APIs in 2024

The Top 10 Live Streaming APIs & SDKs are Video SDK, Mux, Agora, api.video, AWS IVS, 100ms, DaCast, Wowza, Vonage, and Dolby.io. You may choose your provider based on their features, pricing, and more.

1. VideoSDK

Enter the realm of VideoSDK, a remarkable integration powerhouse renowned for its lightning-fast prowess in seamlessly weaving live streaming capabilities into applications within a mere 10 minutes. This platform redefines efficiency, offering a harmonious synergy that caters to both end-users and developers. Dive into an expansive array of Software Development Kit (SDK) functionalities, elegantly curated within its repository.

Noteworthy is VideoSDK's versatility, embracing cross-platform compatibility like a true virtuoso. It effortlessly spans an array of programming languages and frameworks, encompassing the likes of JavaScript, React JS, React Native, Android, Flutter, and iOS, ensuring a universal canvas for your innovative creations.

Features offered by VideoSDK

• Unite with 25 co-streamers in a seamless symphony of live content.
• Transition fluidly from viewer to co-host, amplifying interactive engagement.
• Elevate video quality with adaptive bitrate technology for an unmatched experience, even at scale.
• Tailor your experience by selecting from an array of resolution options.
• Immerse viewers with orientation-based adaptive live streams.
• Infuse personal flair with customizable components like logos, overlays, and backgrounds.
• Unleash your content across 20+ concurrent platforms, broadening your reach.
• Embrace versatility with compatibility for custom RTMP outputs.
• Embrace browser freedom – go live effortlessly from any browser.

VideoSDK pricing

• Experience a pricing model as dynamic as your content – tailored to active participants in your live stream app.
• Choose your streaming quality for a personalized experience that meets your viewers' expectations.
• Enjoy the flexibility of pricing that aligns with your usage, ensuring cost-effectiveness and optimal value.
• With transparency and control, Video SDK's pricing adapts to your streaming needs

2. OnTheFly

• The OnTheFly has set a strong benchmark in the multistreaming industry with various trend-setting features and integration possibilities.
• The tools provided include studio-grade recording, unlimited chat, multistreaming, brand overlays, and moderation tools with polls and Q&A sections.
• The top-notch technical support is a highlight, creating an impact among the streaming customers solving issues.
• High-quality seamless 4k video delivery with low latency is a crucial feature suitable for podcasts, Talk Shows, Live Fitness, Live Shopping, and Live webinars.
• OnTheFly offers various pricing options, but to know them in detail, contact them on their official website.

OnTheFly features :

• The unlimited chat feature helps streamers build engagement and viewership with quality.
• The recording feature helps users store the content for future use and marketing purposes.
• The all-in-one studio makes it easy to brand the live-streaming content with brand logos and themes.

3. GUDSHO

• GUDSHO is a premium live streaming platform for Enterprises that offers an all-inclusive API toolkit to integrate video content into your website or app.
• GUDSHO allows you to live stream and monetize virtual events, virtual webinars, conferences, religious streaming, online fitness sessions, educational videos online, etc.
• You can encode and transcode seamlessly and convert your videos into different formats and resolutions.
• Besides easy OBS integration, GUDSHO also offers customized email templates to promote your Live Videos and lets you control who watches your videos with whitelist & blacklist options.

GUDSHO Features

• Instant 4K live streaming
• Record Live Stream & convert it into VOD
• Video API toolkit
• Monetize Live events in 5+ ways
• Low Latency Streaming
• 360° Real-time analytics

4. Mux

• Seamlessly integrate live streaming into your app with Mux's powerful tools and APIs.
• Deliver captivating real-time video content to your users with ease.
• Mux's SDK streamlines the live streaming process, handling encoding, transcoding, adaptive bitrate streaming, and delivery.
• Empower your app with Mux's expertise in video streaming and analytics, creating a dynamic and engaging user experience.

Mux pricing

• Choose from a range of Starter Plans, perfect for small businesses and newcomers to live streaming.
• Explore Pro Plans with advanced features and increased capacity, catering to businesses with larger audiences and higher demands.
• Tailored Custom Enterprise Plans are available for larger organizations with specific and unique requirements.

5. Agora

• Seamlessly integrate voice and video chat, real-time recording, live streaming, and instant messaging features into your application.
• Enhance user engagement with premium add-ons like AR facial masks, sound effects, and whiteboards (additional cost).
• Keep in mind that Agora's pricing structure may be detailed, which could be a consideration for businesses with budget constraints.
• Users seeking direct support from Agora should be aware that response times may vary.

Agora pricing

• Agora presents a choice between two pricing plans, Premium and Standard, allowing users to choose based on their service needs.
• The pricing model is based on the monthly duration of audio and video calls, providing a cost-effective approach.
• To enhance flexibility, Agora offers four pricing categories, each aligned with different video resolutions, ensuring precise fit to users' needs.
• Audio calls are priced at $0.99 per 1,000 participant minutes.
• HD Video calls are available at $3.99 per 1,000 participant minutes, and Full HD Video calls come in at $8.99 per 1,000 participant minutes.

See how Agora compares with its competitors

6. api.video

• api.video serves as a powerful platform with a comprehensive API toolkit, empowering developers to seamlessly integrate live streaming and video hosting functionalities into their applications and websites.
• Developers can effortlessly infuse their projects with video streaming, hosting, and playback capabilities using api.video's offerings.
• The platform encompasses a range of features, including live streaming, video recording, video encoding, and efficient content delivery, enhancing the multimedia experience for users.

api.video pricing

• api.video presents a diverse range of pricing plans that align with your usage patterns and specific requirements.
• These plans encompass a variety of features, including live streaming, video recording, transcoding, and efficient content delivery.
• The cost structure takes into account factors such as the duration of streamed minutes, the quality of the streams, and your storage needs.
• With api.video's flexible pricing, you can select a plan that perfectly matches your project's demands and budget, ensuring a cost-effective solution tailored to your goals.

7. AWS IVS

• Amazon Interactive Video Service (IVS) emerges as a dynamic offering within Amazon Web Services (AWS), delivering a fully managed live video streaming solution.
• This service empowers developers with the seamless integration of interactive live video content into their applications or websites through a suite of Software Development Kits (SDKs) and APIs.
• Amazon IVS streamlines the process of enriching your platform with live video capabilities, enabling real-time engagement and interaction with your audience.
• By harnessing the power of Amazon IVS, developers can create captivating live-streaming experiences that resonate with their users, driving engagement and growth.

AWS IVS pricing

• AWS IVS presents a versatile pricing structure, rooted in the pay-as-you-go model. Your costs are intricately tied to the volume of video input and output associated with your streams.
• This model ensures that you are billed in proportion to factors like stream quality, duration, and the concurrent viewers engaging with your content.
• AWS IVS extends an alternative avenue known as reserved pricing. By opting for reserved pricing, you commit to a predetermined usage level, consequently unlocking discounted rates that align with your long-term engagement plans.

8. 100ms

• Step into the realm of 100ms, a cloud platform tailored to empower developers in seamlessly integrating video and audio conferencing functionalities into a spectrum of applications encompassing Web, Android, and iOS domains.
• Within its arsenal lies a suite of meticulously designed tools. REST APIs and SDKs join forces with a user-friendly dashboard to elevate the process of capturing, distributing, recording, and showcasing live interactive audio and video content.
• This platform stands as a testament to the fusion of convenience and capability, opening up avenues for creating immersive and dynamic user experiences in the realm of real-time communication.

9. DaCast

• While DaCast promises ad-free streaming and monetization options, the actual implementation of these features might require a thorough exploration of their APIs and SDKs.
• The integration process, despite the provided tools, could potentially demand substantial technical expertise and time investment to align with your desired outcomes.
• The availability of various SDKs and APIs sounds promising, yet navigating their intricacies might not be entirely hassle-free, particularly for those less familiar with technical integrations.
• While ongoing technical support is highlighted, the responsiveness and effectiveness of this support could vary, impacting your ability to swiftly resolve challenges you encounter during integration or usage.
• DaCast offers a subscription-based pricing model.

10. Wowza

• While Wowza Live Streaming SDK boasts versatility, integrating it into your application might not be as straightforward as expected.
• The wide range of supported streaming protocols and formats could potentially lead to complexities in configuration and optimization, demanding extra development efforts.
• Despite its rich feature set, the SDK's learning curve could pose challenges, especially for developers who are new to the intricacies of live video streaming.
• The abundance of options might not always translate into a streamlined experience, potentially requiring more time and resources to fine-tune the integration according to your specific requirements.

11. Vonage

• However, while the inclusion of live video, voice, messaging, and screen-sharing functionalities seems comprehensive, the depth of customization and integration ease might not align with all developers' expectations.
• While customization options exist, they might not be as intuitive or robust as desired, potentially requiring more manual code development than initially anticipated.
• The availability of performance analysis tools is valuable, but their usability and effectiveness might vary based on your familiarity with the provided metrics and insights.
• The mention of paramount security and compliance measures is reassuring, yet the precise extent of these measures and how they align with your project's specific requirements may warrant further exploration.
• Scalability sounds promising, but the actual capacity to smoothly accommodate varying participant needs under real-world usage conditions could vary.
• The note about edge case management being user responsibility might indicate that certain complex scenarios or troubleshooting might not be fully supported through the platform's native features.

Vonage pricing

• Starting at $9.99 per month might appear to be an appealing entry point; however, it's important to carefully assess your expected usage against this plan's allowances to determine its true value for your needs.
• The allocation of 2,000 free minutes across plans could be enticing, but evaluating how these minutes align with your typical usage patterns is essential to assess their actual significance.
• While the incremental charge of $0.00395 per minute per participant after consuming the free minutes seems reasonable, projecting your anticipated participant counts and usage frequency can help determine if this rate is competitive for your expected activity.
• The noted cost of $0.10 per minute for recording services might appear affordable at first glance, but it's crucial to map out your recording needs and their potential impact on costs over time.
• Similarly, the HLS streaming cost of $0.15 per minute should be evaluated alongside your streaming requirements and long-term streaming plans to gauge its feasibility.

See how Vonage compares with its competitors

12. Dolby.io

• The Dolby.io Live Streaming SDK, while promising in its intent, has raised some concerns within the developer community.
• Despite Dolby's established reputation in the audiovisual industry, the SDK's integration process has been described as complex and resource-intensive, posing significant challenges for smaller development teams with limited capacities.
• Additionally, some users have reported compatibility issues with certain platforms and devices, leading to an uneven experience for viewers.
• The potential benefits of enhanced audio quality and immersive features must be weighed against the difficulties posed by the SDK's implementation.
• As Dolby.io continues to refine and optimize its Live Streaming SDK, it remains to be seen whether these drawbacks will be effectively addressed, allowing the technology to truly deliver on its promises in a more accessible and user-friendly manner.

Elevate Your Live Streaming App with the Ideal Live Streaming API Integration Today

As you navigate the landscape of live streaming APIs, a realm rich with potential reveals itself, and the ten exceptional options we've uncovered here present their unique merits. Yet, it's vital to acknowledge that the digital universe stretches endlessly before you, beckoning you to explore further and unveil a myriad of opportunities that extend far beyond your current view.

No matter which API you decide to embrace, make certain it resonates with the constellation of features and advantages we've brought to light for your live-streaming app. As you traverse this terrain, keep pricing in your field of vision, as it holds a significant role. With these insights as your compass, set forth on your implementation journey with a spirit of boundless enthusiasm and unshakable confidence.

Happy Implementing & Celebrating Your Success!