When churches went online in 2020, a lot of us learned livestreaming the hard way. Phones taped to music stands. Audio that sounded like it was recorded in a tin can. That one Sunday the stream died during the sermon and nobody noticed for twenty minutes.
The good news is that streaming is much easier and cheaper now. The bad news is there are about a hundred ways to do it, and every vendor says theirs is the one. Let me lay out the real options from free to "worth paying for," with actual prices from each vendor's pricing page (checked October 22, 2026).
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Step 1: Where your stream lives (usually free)
YouTube Live is free. It's where most people already watch video, and it's easy for people to find you later. One big watch-out: copyright claims on worship music are common. Get the right streaming license through CCLI or WORSHIPcast before you stream songs.
Facebook Live is also free, but there are rules. To go live from a Page, the account must be at least 60 days old and the Page needs 100+ followers, and Page live videos are always public. Same music licensing story.
Church Online Platform is free too, with unlimited services, attenders and hosts, plus chat, private prayer and next steps. It's a great experience for your online family. Just know it doesn't stream video itself. You still need YouTube, Vimeo or similar underneath it.
Step 2: The software that sends the stream
This is where you have real choices. Here's how the main options stack up:
| Tool | Price | Our score | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | Free, open source | 3.7/5 | Small churches with a tech volunteer | Weeks to train; strains the PC; no support |
| StreamYard | Free; Essential $14.99/mo (annual) | 3.5/5 | Beginners; no install | Free plan: branding, 720p, 20 hrs/mo |
| Castr | $19.99/mo ($16.67 annual) | Not yet rated | Multistreaming | Fewer reviews collected |
| Ecamm Live | $16/mo (billed $192/yr) | Not yet rated | Mac churches | Mac only |
| vMix | $60 lifetime (Basic HD) | 3.5/5 | Multicam, graphics, NDI | Steep learning curve; Windows only |
| Wirecast | $34/mo (annual) | Not yet rated | Pro production | Pricier |
| BoxCast | $109/mo (annual) | 3.8/5 ⚠️ limited reviews | Hands-off reliability | "A long way from cheap or free" |
The free route: OBS
OBS is free, and it's genuinely good. One church said switching to constant bitrate in OBS fixed their YouTube buffering. You get flexible scenes and Stream Deck control.
But here's the honest truth from churches using it: it takes weeks to train new volunteers, and it often ends up depending on one tech person. It strains the computer, it's a single point of failure, and there's no vendor support or cloud archive. If your one OBS person goes on vacation, so might your stream.
The easy route: StreamYard
StreamYard runs in a browser with no install, sends to YouTube and Facebook at once, and the Church of England recommends it for beginners. The free plan includes StreamYard branding, 720p and 20 hours a month. Paid starts at $14.99/mo billed annually. Some users report lag and weak support.
The middle route: vMix
vMix starts at $60 for a lifetime Basic HD license, and one church said it solved many OBS limitations. It handles multicam, graphics and NDI in one app. Steep learning curve, though, and the Windows PC is still a single point of failure. One church AV guide put the cost at roughly $600–1,000 a year once you go up the tiers.
The "it just works" route: BoxCast
BoxCast starts at $109/mo on an annual plan ($119 monthly). Reviewers praise its reliability, plug-and-play setup, live in-house support and 12-month archive. But it is, in one reviewer's words, "a long way from cheap or free," add-ons cost more, and you have to schedule streams in advance. Heads up: it has fewer reviews than we'd like (only 6 on Capterra), so we've flagged its score.
Resi is in the same reliable-but-premium category. Reviewers love its glitch-resistant streaming and support, but it requires ProPresenter or Resi's own hardware encoders and is "by no means cheap." Resi doesn't show a price we could verify.
What about Vimeo?
Vimeo offers ad-free embeds, and live streaming is on the Advanced plan at $75/mo annual. But I'd be careful. One church on r/churchtech reported a 400%+ renewal increase without notice, and PetaPixel reported in September 2026 that Vimeo can move accounts to costlier plans based on usage. That's why it scores 2.7/5 with us.
My budget recommendations
- $0/month: YouTube Live + OBS (if you have a tech volunteer) or StreamYard free (if you don't). Add Church Online Platform for chat and prayer.
- Under $20/month: StreamYard Essential or Castr for easier multistreaming and no branding.
- One-time spend: vMix Basic HD at $60 if your team is ready to learn it.
- Volunteers rotate every week: BoxCast or Resi. You're paying for "it just works."
The thing that matters more than software
Audio. I'll say it again: audio. Viewers will forgive a grainy picture. They won't stay for bad sound. Before you spend a dollar on streaming software, send a dedicated mix to the stream. Then fix the lighting. Then worry about cameras.
And pray for your stream team. They're serving people they'll never see, and that's real ministry.
Browse every livestreaming tool we track, with sourced pros and cons.