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Despite X now charging people to livestream there, the answer to how much does live streaming cost still can be $0 dollars. You can technically stream live for free on TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. Even without any additional equipment.
Let’s take a look at the options.
Streaming for free
Literally, you can use your phone, hold it up in selfie style, and go live. Some creators just prop it up on nearby furniture even.
Total cost: $0
If you prefer to stream from your computer, which is what I do, you can use a free Restream account to stream. But it won’t record the stream and other nice features are missing too.
Total cost: $0
Read next: How to recover your livestream video recordings if you don’t have the video file
A bit more equipment
The next level up, might be to get a microphone and a light – a mobile kit could do the trick when streaming from a phone.
Total cost: $100-plus
When it comes to adding equipment while streaming from your computer, consider a microphone as the top priority, maybe lighting, and you can go even with sound panels to level up your sound.
Total cost: $70-plus
Adding software tools
To stream at higher quality, get more functionalities – like being able to add an opening video clip – use a paid plan on Restream. You may also have to pay to optimize the stream for certain platforms like Amazon.
I also use a paid Calendly plan to book livestream guests and handle payments for sponsored guests.
Total cost: Several hundred per year for subscriptions
So when it comes to how much does live streaming cost, the technical answer is that you can do that for free and many creators do. The added cost comes in when you want to level up your equipment and production capabilities. Certainly, it’s worth weighing the cost versus return. For example, I don’t mind to pay for all these tools as one sponsored podcast episode basically pays that cost for the year.
Equipment is mostly a once-in-a-while cost.
So overall, cost shouldn’t be a prohibiting factor from livestreaming and there are plenty of ways to level up as you go.
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