Webcasting lets you broadcast live or pre-recorded video to large online audiences. Unlike standard video calls, webcasts are designed for one-to-many delivery – think corporate town halls, investor updates, product launches, and training sessions where hundreds or thousands of viewers tune in.
If you're short on time, here's the quick version: Digital Samba is our top pick for GDPR-compliant webcasting with full white-labelling and EU hosting. ON24 is the enterprise standard for marketing-driven webcasts. Zoom Webinars wins on scale and brand recognition. ClickMeeting offers the best value for small and mid-sized teams.
Read on for the full breakdown, including pricing, features, and the trade-offs you should know about.
Table of contents
We looked at eight webcasting platforms across seven criteria: ease of setup, video and audio quality, audience engagement tools (polls, Q&A, chat), scalability, security and compliance, branding and customisation, and pricing transparency.
We also checked each platform's current ownership status and recent changes – important because several major webcasting tools have changed hands in 2024–2025, which affects product stability and roadmap.
Every platform in this list was tested or researched directly. We verified pricing from official sources as of early 2026. Where pricing is custom or not publicly available, we note that clearly.
| Platform | Best for | Starting price | Max attendees | GDPR-ready | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Samba | EU compliance, white-labelling | Free (DS Free); €0.0040/min (Embedded) | Unlimited (broadcast mode) | Yes – EU-hosted | Yes |
| ON24 | Enterprise marketing webcasts | ~$10,000+/yr (custom) | 50,000+ | Partial | No |
| Zoom Webinars | Scale and familiarity | $79/mo (300 attendees) | 50,000 (custom tier) | Partial | No |
| ClickMeeting | SMB webinars and webcasts | $26/mo (annual, 25 attendees) | 10,000 (Enterprise) | EU data centre available | 30-day trial |
| Riverside | Recording-first webcasts | $19/mo (annual) | 1,000 (webinar mode) | US-hosted | Yes (limited) |
| GlobalMeet | Managed enterprise events | Custom pricing | 100,000+ | US-hosted | No |
| Webex Webinars | Cisco ecosystem | $150+/mo (estimated) | 100,000 | Partial (EU options) | No |
| Brightcove | Enterprise video hosting + streaming | ~$50K+/yr (custom) | Unlimited (CDN) | Partial | No |
Best for: Organisations that need GDPR compliance, full white-labelling, and the flexibility to both host webcasts and embed video into their own platforms.
Digital Samba is a European video conferencing platform founded in Barcelona in 2003. It offers two products: Digital Samba Free (a no-cost, browser-based video calling tool) and Digital Samba Embedded (a video API and SDK for developers).
For webcasting, Digital Samba supports live broadcasts to YouTube and Facebook, interactive sessions with polls, Q&A, and chat, plus breakout rooms for smaller group discussions within larger events. Everything runs in the browser – no downloads required for hosts or attendees.
What sets Digital Samba apart from most webcasting tools is its infrastructure. The entire platform is built and hosted in the EU on EU-owned servers, with no US hyperscaler dependencies. It's GDPR-compliant by design, supports end-to-end encryption, and includes full white-labelling (custom domain, logos, colours, fonts) for organisations that want to present webcasts under their own brand.
Key features:
Pricing: Digital Samba Free is genuinely free – no account required, no limits on calls. Digital Samba Embedded starts at €0.0040 per participation minute (standard rate), with volume discounts down to €0.0026/min. A free developer tier includes 10,000 participation minutes per month. The Create plan starts at €99/month for 25,000 minutes and 100 concurrent participants.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: European companies, healthcare and legal organisations with strict data residency needs, and SaaS businesses wanting to embed branded webcasting into their own products.
Try Digital Samba Free | Explore Digital Samba Embedded | View pricing
Best for: Enterprise marketing teams that want data-driven webcasting with deep CRM integration.
ON24 has been a dedicated webcasting and webinar platform since 1998, making it one of the longest-running players in this space. It's built specifically for B2B marketing teams that want to turn webcasts into measurable pipeline.
The platform's strength is its analytics engine. ON24 tracks attendee engagement at a granular level – which polls they answered, how long they watched, what resources they downloaded – and feeds that data directly into marketing automation tools like Marketo, HubSpot, and Salesforce.
Important update: In December 2025, Cvent announced an agreement to acquire ON24 for approximately $400 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026. ON24 continues to operate independently for now, but buyers should be aware that the product roadmap, branding, and support structure may change after the acquisition completes.
Key features:
Pricing: ON24 does not publish pricing. Based on third-party sources, annual contracts typically start at around $10,000/year, with a reported median cost of approximately $38,750/year for enterprise customers. Pricing varies by features, attendee capacity, and contract length.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Enterprise B2B marketing teams running regular webcast programmes tied to lead generation and pipeline reporting.
Best for: Organisations that want massive reach with a platform most attendees already know.
Zoom needs little introduction. Its webinar product extends the familiar Zoom Meetings interface into one-to-many broadcast mode, supporting up to 50,000 view-only attendees on custom enterprise plans.
The biggest advantage of Zoom Webinars is adoption. Your attendees almost certainly have Zoom installed already, which removes the friction of asking people to download new software or create accounts. For internal town halls and broad-audience events, that familiarity matters.
Key features:
Pricing: Zoom Webinars requires a Zoom Workplace Pro subscription ($13.33/user/month) as a base. Webinar pricing starts at $79/month for 300 attendees, $95/month for 500 attendees, and scales up from there. Webinars Plus starts at $99/month (100 attendees) with added features. Zoom Events starts at $149/month. Enterprise pricing for 10,000+ attendees is custom. All prices are based on annual billing.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Companies already in the Zoom ecosystem that need to host large-scale one-off or regular webcasts without onboarding a new tool.
Best for: Small and mid-sized teams that want affordable webcasting with solid engagement tools.
ClickMeeting is a browser-based webinar and webcasting platform from Poland that's been around since 2011. It positions itself as a simpler, more affordable alternative to enterprise tools like ON24 or Zoom Events.
What makes ClickMeeting stand out at its price point is the automation. Even on lower-tier plans, you can create automated webinars that run on a schedule without a live host – useful for lead generation, product demos, and training content that you want to reuse.
Key features:
Pricing: The Live plan starts at $32/month ($26/month on annual billing) for up to 25 attendees. Pricing scales with attendee count. The Automated plan adds evergreen and on-demand webcasting. Enterprise plans support up to 10,000 attendees with custom pricing. A 30-day free trial is available with no credit card required.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Marketing teams, trainers, and educators at SMBs who run regular webcasts and want automation features without enterprise pricing.
Best for: Content creators and marketers who want studio-quality recording with live streaming capability.
Riverside started as a podcast recording tool and has expanded into webinars and live streaming. Its core strength is recording quality – it captures separate audio and video tracks locally on each participant's device, then uploads them, resulting in studio-grade output even with unstable internet connections.
For webcasting specifically, Riverside supports live streaming to multiple platforms simultaneously and can host interactive webinars for up to 1,000 guests. It's a good fit if your webcasts double as content you'll repurpose – the AI editing tools can turn a one-hour webcast into social media clips, transcripts, and show notes automatically.
Key features:
Pricing: A free plan includes 2 hours of recording at 720p with watermarks. The Standard plan costs $19/month (annual) for unlimited recording at 1080p. The Pro plan costs $29/month (annual) for 4K recording, 15 hours of transcription, and advanced editing tools. Teams pricing is $24/user/month (annual). Business pricing is custom.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Podcasters, content creators, and marketing teams that want high-quality recordings they can repurpose, with live streaming as a secondary feature.
Best for: Fortune 500 companies running managed, high-stakes corporate webcasts.
GlobalMeet is a dedicated enterprise webcasting platform now owned by Pivotal Group (acquired from PGi in 2023). It's a managed-service platform, meaning GlobalMeet's event production team can plan, run, and support your webcasts – from technical setup to live monitoring.
This managed approach makes GlobalMeet well-suited for high-profile events where technical failure isn't an option: investor days, earnings calls, global town halls, and compliance-sensitive broadcasts.
Key features:
Pricing: GlobalMeet uses custom enterprise pricing. There is no self-service plan. Pricing depends on attendee capacity, number of events, and level of managed services required.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Large enterprises running mission-critical corporate communications where professional event production support is essential.
Best for: Organisations already in the Cisco ecosystem that need enterprise-grade webcasting.
Webex Webinars (previously Webex Events) is Cisco's webcasting product, supporting up to 100,000 attendees. It's tightly integrated with the broader Webex Suite and Cisco's security infrastructure, making it a natural choice for companies that already use Cisco for IT and communications.
Key features:
Pricing: Webex Webinars pricing is not fully transparent. Plans are typically bundled with Webex Suite subscriptions. Enterprise pricing is custom and requires sales engagement. Expect costs starting around $150+/month for webinar capabilities, scaling significantly with attendee count.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Cisco shops, government agencies, and large enterprises that need high-security webcasting at scale.
Best for: Media companies and large enterprises that need enterprise video hosting with live streaming capability.
Brightcove is not a webcasting tool in the traditional sense. It's an enterprise video platform that includes live streaming, video hosting, monetisation, and analytics. Think of it as the infrastructure layer – you'd use Brightcove if you need to host, stream, and monetise video content at scale, rather than run interactive webinars.
Important update: Brightcove was acquired by Bending Spoons in late 2024. The company has been pushing an AI-focused 2026 roadmap, but also underwent significant layoffs in January 2026. Buyers should evaluate platform stability and support continuity.
Key features:
Pricing: Brightcove uses custom enterprise pricing across three tiers: Communications Studio, Marketing Studio, and Media Studio. No self-service pricing is available. Based on third-party data, SMB customers pay an average of approximately $50,000/year, with enterprise customers averaging around $95,000/year.
Pros:
Cons:
Best fit: Media companies, broadcasters, and large enterprises with dedicated video teams that need hosting, streaming, and monetisation in a single platform.
The right platform depends on what kind of webcasts you run and what matters most to your organisation. Here's a simple decision framework:
If data privacy and EU compliance are your priority: Digital Samba is the only platform on this list that's fully built and hosted in the EU with no US hyperscaler dependencies. For organisations in healthcare, legal, finance, or government where data residency matters, this is a significant differentiator.
If you're a B2B marketing team focused on pipeline: ON24 is purpose-built for this. Its engagement analytics and CRM integrations are the deepest in the market.
If you need maximum reach and minimum friction: Zoom Webinars. Everyone knows Zoom, and that alone removes a major adoption barrier.
If you're a small team on a budget: ClickMeeting offers the most features per pound at its price point, including automated webcasting.
If recording quality matters more than live interaction: Riverside gives you studio-grade recordings you can repurpose, with live streaming as a bonus.
If you need white-glove event production: GlobalMeet's managed services take the technical burden off your team for high-stakes events.
If you're in the Cisco ecosystem: Webex Webinars integrates naturally and offers enterprise-grade security.
If you need video infrastructure, not just webcasting: Brightcove provides the hosting, streaming, and monetisation layer for organisations with dedicated video operations.
The terms 'webcast' and 'webinar' are often used interchangeably, but there's a practical difference. Webcasts are typically one-to-many broadcasts – a speaker presents to a large audience, with limited two-way interaction. Webinars tend to be more interactive, with smaller audiences, more Q&A, and closer to a workshop format.
In practice, most modern platforms support both modes. The platforms in this article can all handle large-audience broadcasts and smaller interactive sessions. The line between webcasting and webinar software has blurred considerably.
For a more detailed comparison, see our guide to webinar vs webcast differences.