3 Best Alternatives to YouTube in 2024

YouTube is the undisputed champion among the video portals and can easily be defined as the industry leader. With over a billion users, according to data provided by the company itself, almost a third of all Internet users browse YouTube. There is no doubt that the platform has long been recognized as an effective marketing tool. The videos can be uploaded with a few clicks and through the automatic generation of an HTML code, they can be easily posted on external websites. In addition, since 2010, when YouTube and SIAE signed an agreement regarding music videos and the revenue generated from their visualizations, it became even more difficult for the competition. So we can ask the following question: what alternatives are there to YouTube?

The active alternatives to YouTube presented in this article are 3 and they are Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Twitch. These services offer private users and those who use them to work many different possibilities, such as watching and making exceptional content available. Here are the alternatives to YouTube and their advantages and disadvantages in comparison.

1. Dailymotion

Dailymotion is a video portal of French origin, which represents one of the best alternatives to YouTube in terms of the number of users, especially in its country of origin. In 2015 the service registered an active user of 23%. Comparing internationally, no other service achieves a similar value. In France, Dailymotion is second only to YouTube, which has an active audience of 57%. However, Dailymotion is also in second place behind YouTube in other countries. The company calculates its users around the globe around 300 million. 3.5 billion videos are viewed on Dailymotion monthly. In Italy Dailymotion receives 6 million unique viewers per month, recording a total of approximately 65 million views across all types of devices.

Dailymotion focuses mainly on upload specifications: with video files up to 2GB and 60 minutes in duration. Numerous video and audio formats are supported, so you can choose between files with the extension .mov, .mpeg4, .mp4, .avi and .wmv. H.264 and AAC with a frame rate of 25FPS are recommended as video and audio codecs respectively. The maximum possible resolution is 1080p (Full HD). In this way the portal is suitable for even the most demanding uploaders; Large files are as welcome as convincing image quality is.

Advantages of Dailymotion

• Alternative to YouTube with excellent range
• Various upload functions
• Neat layout
• Video files with maximum size up to 2GB and duration 60 minutes
• Monetization of views possible
• Applications available for numerous devices

Disadvantages of Dailymotion

• Relatively limited use

2. Vimeo

Vimeo is an American video service founded in 2004, which specializes in artistic videos of a certain level. So it’s no wonder that the filmmaking service was founded by directors and that its offerings are addressed to them, both private and non-private, providing a distribution platform for their works. For example, here are some short films, documentaries and music videos of remarkable workmanship. Those interested in independent productions of all kinds, find in Vimeo one of the best quality alternatives to YouTube.

The claim to be a creative exchange platform is immediately reflected on the homepage: videos curated by collaborators are presented here, which immediately gives the impression of being in an interactive gallery. Consequently, the service offers its users a generous section for uploading videos, in which it is possible to autonomously make available top quality content. To do this, Vimeo offers several account upgrades, for a fee.

Advantages of Vimeo

• High-quality content
• Particularly interesting for video professionals
• Extensive upgrades (for a fee), which offer practical tools and tutorials
• Possible constructive exchange with the community
• Apps available for numerous devices

Disadvantages of Vimeo

• Limited use
• The most important functions are paid

3. Twitch

While Vimeo belongs to the alternatives to YouTube for those users primarily looking for music, Twitch represents the alternative for gamers. Twitch is the live streaming portal that mainly deals with video games and e-sports (or “electronic sports”).

Twtich.tv went online for the first time on June 6, 2011, in its beta version and two years later it already had 45 million viewers divided between about 6 million channels. In 2014 Amazon bought the company for $ 970 million, and Twitch Prime has been offered to Amazon Prime customers since 2016. It is a service that offers free games and subscriptions, game loot and ad-free streaming. Since 2015, the video portal organizes an annual convention called TwitchCon, which takes place in several cities in the USA during the autumn.

In fundamental traits Twitch looks a lot like YouTube: in principle, the contents are accessible by everyone. A free registration, via the e-mail address or Facebook account, is enough to be able to have additional functions such as the messaging function, the ability to follow certain channels and subscribe to the platform of your friends.

Advantages of Twitch

• User-generated content
• Great relevance of the community

Disadvantages of Twitch

• Content interesting only for video game enthusiasts
• Many features available only for a fee or with an Amazon Prime account

Bonus: How to Download Videos from YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and More Other Sites

When you find some interesting videos and you want to enjoy them anytime and anywhere, it will be the best idea to have these videos downloaded to your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Good videos shall never be limited to only being watched on any website. However, it is a nasty that you can’t freely download videos from all website, including Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, etc., which don’t offer download function. How to download videos from YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and more other sites for free? IOTransfer 4 built-in with a totally free YouTube Video Downloader, which can help you make it without effort.

You could also check out this site do download videos directly from Youtube.

Conclusion

This article shows how each of these alternatives to YouTube has found its own niche. All alternatives are valid in their own way and are aimed at different targets with different strategies. Many providers have decided to play their cards and land not only on mobile devices but also on all those other devices that are generally found in the living rooms of homes.

Dailymotion is certainly the closest to YouTube both as regards the principle of the service offered and the breadth of users. Vimeo differs from its competitors due to the high quality and artistic ambition of its contents. Twitch is voted to the world of gaming and e-sport.

So, as anticipated in the introduction of this article, YouTube definitely emerges from the comparison with its alternatives, but this does not mean that users have excellent alternatives to choose from, based on their needs and preferences.