The video layer Cloudflare Stream does not include.
| Feature | host.video | Cloudflare Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard for non-developers | Full management UI | Developer console only |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly plans | Per-minute storage + delivery |
| Analytics | Views, heatmaps, completion, geography | "Least statistics available" — basic client-side only |
| AI search inside videos | Included on all plans | Not available |
| Auto transcription | Included, no per-minute fee | Captions available (multilingual) |
| Password protection | Included | Not available (signed URLs only, requires your own auth) |
| White-label player | Included, zero branding | Basic player, limited customization |
| Custom domains | Included on Business plan | Via Cloudflare DNS (manual setup) |
Cloudflare Stream offers client-side only analytics with a GraphQL API limited to 1-month windows. Documentation is described as "terribly sparse and far from complete." host.video provides server-side analytics with engagement heatmaps, completion rates, geographic breakdowns, and referrer tracking.
Cloudflare Stream has no password protection, no marketing features, no lead capture, no engagement heatmaps, and no branding controls. It is raw infrastructure. host.video includes the entire platform layer: upload UI, video management, access controls, analytics, and a white-label player.
Cloudflare Stream charges per minute stored ($5 per 1,000 minutes) and per minute delivered ($1 per 1,000 minutes). Costs escalate unpredictably at scale. host.video charges a flat monthly rate with clear limits.
If your infrastructure already runs on Cloudflare (Workers, R2, DNS, WAF), Stream integrates natively with zero additional vendor overhead. The unified billing and network-level performance advantages are real.
Cloudflare Stream Starter is $5/mo for 1,000 minutes stored and 5,000 minutes delivered. For very low volume usage, the per-minute model can be cheaper than a flat plan.
Cloudflare Stream Starter is $5/mo for 1,000 minutes stored and 5,000 minutes delivered. Creator is $50/mo for 10,000 minutes stored and 50,000 minutes delivered. host.video Starter is $20/mo ($200/yr) for 200 GB storage and 2 TB bandwidth with analytics, AI search, transcription, and a white-label player included. At the Creator-equivalent scale, host.video Business at $100/mo ($1,000/yr) includes 500 GB storage, 5 TB bandwidth, custom domains, and every platform feature — analytics, search, transcription, chapters, and access controls. Stream charges separately for each capability you build on top.
Cloudflare Stream is the right choice for developer teams already on Cloudflare who want the simplest possible video encoding and delivery pipeline with minimal overhead. If you have engineering resources to build your own analytics, access controls, and player on top of Stream, and you value the Cloudflare ecosystem integration, it offers a solid low-level foundation. If you want developer-grade programmatic control from the same team behind host.video, take a look at ittybit.com — fully customizable media processing tasks via API, SDK, CLI, and AI agents.
Choose host.video if you need more than raw video infrastructure. If your team needs analytics without building a GraphQL dashboard, password protection without writing an auth layer, or a management UI that non-developers can use, host.video provides the complete platform. Built on Cloudflare infrastructure under the hood, with the product layer on top.