Predictable pricing without the hostage billing.
| Feature | host.video | Vimeo |
|---|---|---|
| Starter price | $20/mo ($200/yr) | $20/mo ($12/mo annual) |
| Storage (Starter) | 200 GB | 2 TB |
| Bandwidth | 2 TB/mo (Starter), 5 TB/mo (Business) | 2 TB/mo on all self-serve plans |
| Bandwidth overage | Playback pauses or opt-in $0.02/GB cap | Forced Enterprise upgrade conversation |
| AI search inside videos | Included on all plans | Not available |
| Auto transcription | Included, no per-minute fee | Available on paid plans |
| Custom domains | Included on Business plan | Not available on self-serve |
| White-label player | Zero branding on all plans | Vimeo branding on free/Starter |
Vimeo users report price hikes of "over 946% with no warning." Exceeding 2 TB bandwidth twice in 12 months triggers forced Enterprise upgrade conversations. Channel 5 had all backer videos disappear overnight, with Vimeo demanding $8k-9k/yr to restore them. host.video pauses playback at your limit — you are never billed for usage you did not approve.
Every upload on host.video is automatically transcribed and indexed. Search across hundreds of hours of video to find the exact moment you need. Vimeo does not offer in-video search.
Bending Spoons acquired Vimeo for $1.38B in November 2025 and laid off the majority of staff — including the entire video team — in January 2026. This follows the same pattern as WeTransfer (75% cuts) and Filmic Pro. Self-serve subscribers collapsed from 1.5M (2022) to roughly 53,500 by Q3 2024.
host.video Business plan includes custom domains with auto-SSL. Vimeo does not offer custom domains on self-serve plans.
Vimeo Starter includes 2 TB of storage for $20/mo versus 200 GB on host.video Starter. If raw storage volume is your primary concern and you do not need AI search or custom domains, Vimeo offers more at the entry price.
Vimeo has years of third-party integrations across CMS platforms, marketing tools, and OTT distribution. Teams deeply embedded in that ecosystem may find migration effort significant.
host.video Starter is $20/mo ($200/yr) for 200 GB storage and 2 TB bandwidth. Vimeo Starter is $20/mo ($12/mo annual) for 2 TB storage and 2 TB bandwidth. The gap narrows at scale: host.video Business is $100/mo ($1,000/yr) for 500 GB storage and 5 TB bandwidth with custom domains, AI search, and white-label player included. Vimeo Advanced is $99-108/mo ($65-75/mo annual) for 7 TB storage but still caps bandwidth at 2 TB — exceed that twice and you face a forced Enterprise upgrade that customers report starts at $6k-12k/yr. host.video has no forced upgrades. If you hit your limit, playback pauses. Enable overages with a hard spend cap you control.
Vimeo still makes sense for teams that need large storage volumes on a budget, rely heavily on existing Vimeo integrations, or need features like video review workflows with timestamped comments. If your team is already deeply embedded in the Vimeo ecosystem and the acquisition uncertainty does not concern you, the storage-per-dollar ratio on lower tiers is hard to beat.
Choose host.video if you want predictable pricing with no surprise bills, AI-powered search inside your video library, automatic transcription and chapters on every upload, and a white-label player on a custom domain. If the Bending Spoons acquisition and the mass layoffs concern you, host.video is a stable alternative with a product team that is actively shipping.