What multi-DRM actually costs
Published self-serve prices for Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay video hosting, with a link to the page each figure came from. The useful comparison is not the headline number — it is whether DRM is included in the plan or sold as an add-on on top of one.
These are self-serve prices. Several of these vendors also sell unpublished enterprise pricing that can be lower at volume, and prices move — Gumlet cut theirs by up to 70% in May 2026. Check the source links before relying on anything here.
| Platform | Entry price for DRM | How it is sold | Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| StreamVault 250 GB storage and 1 TB delivery per month on the entry plan. Plays beyond the allowance are metered at $6 per 1,000 if you switch overage billing on. Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay. Our pricing | $12/mo | Included on every plan | 1,000 protected plays/mo (Starter) · 3,000 (Plus) · 5,000 (Pro) |
| VdoCipher Annual credit: the term ends when the bandwidth is consumed or the year is up, whichever is first. Lite has 50 GB of storage, Starter 100 GB. Widevine and FairPlay. Source | $49 for 3 months, or $149/yr | Included in the plan | Lite: 200 GB delivery. Starter: 1 TB delivery per year |
| DynTube One licence per play, counted monthly. Hosting starts at $12/mo (Micro: 230 GB of monthly delivery) and $24/mo (Starter: 1.25 TB). Widevine, FairPlay and PlayReady. Source | $25/mo add-on (hosting from $12/mo) | Add-on, on top of a hosting plan | 5,000 licences/mo; $50 for 10,000, $100 for 20,000, $200 for 40,000 |
| Gumlet A large included allowance — better value than ours if you are protecting a big audience. Widevine and FairPlay only, no PlayReady. Gumlet cut prices up to 70% in May 2026. Source | $99/mo add-on | Add-on, on top of a paid plan (from $6/mo billed annually) | 100,000 views, then $1 per 1,000 |
| Bunny Stream (MediaCage) Billed per device per key, so a video protected with several keys can bill more than once for one viewer. Widevine and FairPlay. Storage and delivery are billed separately by usage. Source | $99/mo base | Add-on, on top of Bunny Stream | Then $0.005 per licence (0 to 20,000 a month), falling to $0.003 |
| Mux An API, not a ready-made course platform: you build the player and the dashboard. Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay. Storage and delivery are billed separately by usage. Source | $100/mo + $0.003 per play | Add-on to a developer video API | Pay per play |
| Kinescope Traffic from €0.03/GB and storage from €0.03/GB, both falling with volume, so the bill grows with every viewer. Widevine and FairPlay, no PlayReady. Source | From €10/mo | Included in the Super plan, billed on usage | Unlimited storage and bandwidth, billed per GB |
| Dacast DRM for VOD appears on the higher self-serve tier rather than as a separate add-on; the $39/mo Starter tier has none. Source | $165/mo billed annually ($199 monthly) | On the Scale tier | 24 TB delivery per year, 2,000 GB storage |
| Vimeo DRM, geo-blocking and a custom subdomain are listed as Enterprise features; you talk to sales and sign an annual agreement. Self-serve plans run $12 to $75 per seat per month. Source | No published price | Enterprise only | Quoted |
Which one is cheapest for you
Work out roughly how many protected plays you serve in a month, then look at the shape of the bill rather than the headline. At 1,000 protected plays a month, StreamVault's $12 Starter plan covers it with nothing extra; the smallest add-on elsewhere is DynTube's $25 on top of a hosting plan from $12, and Gumlet, Bunny and Mux start at about $100 before hosting. At 5,000 plays, DynTube's add-on plus its $12 hosting plan is about $37 and StreamVault Starter with overage billing on is about $36, so those two are close. At 20,000 plays and above, Gumlet's flat $99 add-on, which includes 100,000 views, is the cheapest published DRM line.
We have written that down even though it sends some readers to a competitor, because the alternative is a comparison page you cannot trust — and because someone who signs up on the wrong side of that line churns in a month anyway.
The same figures, organised by who each host suits, are on Best DRM video hosting for online courses.
Questions
What does DRM video hosting cost in 2026?
Published self-serve prices split into two shapes. Some platforms include multi-DRM in the plan — StreamVault from $12/month, VdoCipher from $49 for three months or $149/year, Kinescope from €10/month with usage-based delivery. Others sell it as an add-on on top of hosting — DynTube at $25/month for 5,000 licences, Gumlet at $99/month, Bunny's MediaCage at $99/month plus $0.005 per licence, and Mux at $100/month plus $0.003 per play. Dacast puts it on a $165/month tier, billed annually. Vimeo does not publish a price and sells DRM only on Enterprise. Checked 21 October 2026.
Why do some vendors charge per licence?
Because a DRM licence request hits a licence server, and that has a real per-request cost — roughly $0.005 to $0.05 depending on volume and vendor. Charging per licence passes that through honestly. Including an allowance in the plan averages it instead. Neither is wrong; the per-licence model just makes the cheapest way to try DRM a three-figure monthly commitment.
Do I pay three times for Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay?
No, and you should be suspicious of anyone who quotes it that way. One CMAF file encrypted once with the cbcs scheme serves all three through Common Encryption, so a managed platform packages once and serves whichever DRM the viewer's device asks for. Every platform in the table above includes the systems it supports at no per-DRM charge.
Which is cheapest?
It depends on the shape of your audience, which is why the table shows the shape of the bill rather than just a number. At 1,000 protected plays a month, an included allowance on a $12/month plan is far cheaper than any add-on: the smallest is DynTube's $25 on top of hosting, and Gumlet, Bunny and Mux start at about $100. At 5,000 plays, DynTube's $25 add-on on its $12 hosting plan (about $37) and StreamVault Starter with overage billing on (about $36: $12 plus 4,000 extra plays at $6 per 1,000) are close. At 20,000 plays and above, Gumlet's flat $99 add-on, which includes 100,000 views, is the cheapest published DRM line. Work out your protected plays per month first, then compare.
What does DRM cost at 5,000 protected plays a month?
On the add-on platforms the DRM line alone is about $25 on DynTube (its 5,000-licence step), $99 on Gumlet (inside its 100,000 views), $115 on Mux ($100 plus 5,000 plays at $0.003) and $124 on Bunny ($99 plus 5,000 licences at $0.005, assuming one licence per play), each on top of hosting and delivery. On StreamVault the plays are included in the $59/month Pro plan, which also covers hosting and 2.5 TB of delivery; on the $12/month Starter plan, which includes 1,000, the extra 4,000 plays are $24 if you switch overage billing on. Checked 21 October 2026.
What does DRM not do, at any price?
It does not stop someone filming the screen with a phone camera, on any platform in the table. What it does is remove the clean, redistributable file, so the only copy anyone can make is visibly worse — and a viewer-identifying watermark makes that copy traceable. Budget for DRM as the thing that keeps your course off download sites, not as something that makes copying impossible.
How current are these numbers?
They were checked on 21 October 2026 against each vendor's published pricing page, linked in the table. Two caveats worth stating plainly: these are self-serve prices, and several of these vendors also sell unpublished enterprise pricing that can be lower at volume; and prices move — Gumlet cut theirs by up to 70% in May 2026. If you find a figure here that is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.