Mux-quality video without building your own UI.
| Feature | host.video | Mux |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard for non-developers | Full management UI included | No dashboard — API/code only |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly plans | Per-second usage-based metering |
| Custom domains | Included on Business plan | $200/mo add-on |
| AI search inside videos | Included on all plans | Not available (AI chapters via separate SDK) |
| Auto transcription | Included, no per-minute fee | Via @mux/ai (separate integration) |
| White-label player | Included, zero branding | Mux Player included but requires code |
| Analytics | Included on all plans | Mux Data included (quality-of-experience focus) |
| Marketing features (CTAs, gating) | Password protection, signed URLs | Not available |
Mux is a developer platform with no drag-and-drop dashboard. Non-technical users cannot upload, manage, or embed videos without engineering support. host.video provides a full management UI that any team member can use immediately.
Mux bills per second of storage and delivery. Users report costs that at scale become "bigger than their AWS or GCP bill." host.video charges a flat monthly rate. You know what you will pay before the month starts.
Mux charges $200/mo for custom domains as an add-on. host.video includes custom domains with auto-SSL on the Business plan at no extra cost. This is built into the architecture, not bolted on.
Mux offers deeper API primitives, SDKs across multiple languages, and modular building blocks for teams building video into a product. If you have a dedicated engineering team and need granular control over every aspect of the video pipeline, Mux provides more low-level flexibility.
Mux claims 3/4 of uploads are ready to play in 5 seconds via multi-CDN delivery. Their infrastructure is purpose-built for developer-driven, high-performance video at massive scale.
host.video Starter is $20/mo ($200/yr) for 200 GB storage and 2 TB bandwidth. Mux Pay As You Go starts at $20/mo in credits with per-second metering — storage from $0.0024/min/month and delivery from $0.0008/min at 720p. A concrete example: 100 hours of 720p video stored and delivered 10,000 times costs a predictable amount on host.video but requires a spreadsheet on Mux. Add custom domains ($200/mo on Mux, included on host.video Business) and the cost gap widens. Mux Scale plan is $500/mo for $1,000 in credits. host.video Business is $100/mo ($1,000/yr) for 500 GB storage, 5 TB bandwidth, custom domains, and AI search — all included.
Mux is the right choice for engineering teams building video into a SaaS product who need raw API primitives, multi-CDN delivery, and granular control over the encoding pipeline. If you have dedicated video infrastructure engineers and want to build a custom experience from the ground up, Mux provides the building blocks. That said, if you want that level of developer control from the same team behind host.video, check out ittybit.com — it offers fully customizable media processing tasks via API, SDK, CLI, and AI agents.
Choose host.video if you want Mux-quality video delivery without requiring engineering for every upload. If your team includes non-developers who need to manage videos, or you want custom domains without a $200/mo add-on, or you want AI search and automatic transcription included rather than assembled from separate SDKs, host.video delivers the complete experience out of the box.