Live is part of the stack, not the whole thing.
Dacast is focused on live streaming and OTT delivery. Hiway wraps live inside the whole selling stack: SmartLinks, Screener Rooms, open syndication and a CRM you own.
Dacast is a solid live streaming service and has been for years. Hiway covers live as well, then adds the parts around it: direct-to-fan VOD sales, secure screeners, syndication and audience data. If your job is broadcasting, Dacast is the specialist. If your job is selling, Hiway carries more of the work.
| Feature | Hiway | Dacast |
|---|---|---|
| Live streaming | Ticketed live plus instant VOD | Core product, years of broadcast work behind it |
| Pricing model | From £12 a month, plus 10% of pay-per-view | Monthly tier plus usage and egress |
| Revenue retained | You keep 90% of every sale | Subscription plan, sales handled separately |
| Payouts | Real time, into your own Stripe account | Depends on the payment setup you bring |
| Direct-to-fan SmartLinks | Core feature | Limited |
| Forensic screener rooms | Included on every paid plan | Not supported |
| Open syndication | Included | Not supported |
| Audience CRM | A CRM you own, exports to CSV any time | Limited |
| Best fit | Selling film, festivals and events | Broadcast-grade live streaming |
Dacast is a genuinely good live streaming service with real broadcast engineering behind it. Your job may be delivering reliable live video at scale, on your own player and your own site. If selling access is secondary, Dacast is the specialist and the sounder pick. Encoder support and delivery are its home ground.
Hiway suits you when selling is the point of the stream. Ticketed live, instant VOD, secure screeners, syndication and a CRM you own. All on one plan from £12 a month. You keep 90% of every sale and it settles into your own Stripe account as it happens.
The split is roughly this. Dacast sells you the pipe and does it well. Hiway sells you the shop as well as the pipe. That matters more when the video is the product.
Plans start at £12 a month and Hiway takes 10% of pay-per-view. There is no usage tier to outgrow mid-event.
Every ticket buyer and viewer enters your CRM. Dacast streams the video, Hiway streams it and builds the list behind it.
Screeners for press and buyers, direct sales, ticketed live and syndication all sit in one dashboard.
If your business is film, festivals or events rather than streaming as a service, the workflow maps more directly.
For most teams this starts as an addition rather than a switch. One event moves first, and the rest follows if the numbers agree.
Take a single ticketed live event and run it end to end. The permanent free account is enough to test the whole flow before you pay anything.
A SmartLink carries the paywall, the player and the analytics inside one URL. It embeds on the same page your Dacast player sits on today.
Upload the recordings you still want to sell. Each becomes a title you can price, window and restrict by territory, and change later.
Every ticket buyer lands in your CRM. Export to CSV whenever you want, or push the list into the marketing tools you already run.
Nothing stops you keeping Dacast for pure broadcast work while Hiway handles the selling. There is no minimum term on either side of that arrangement.
It depends on how you sell. Dacast charges a monthly tier plus usage, so the bill arrives whether or not you sold anything. Hiway plans start at £12 a month and take 10% of pay-per-view sales. If your sales are lumpy, Hiway usually costs less.
No. Dacast is a specialist live streaming service with years of broadcast delivery behind it. Hiway covers ticketed live and instant VOD, then adds direct sales, screeners, syndication and a CRM. For pure broadcast reliability at scale, Dacast is the specialist.
Yes. You re-upload your master files, then set price, window and territory for each title. Most teams start with one event or one title, check what it earns, then move the rest.
Yes. Nothing on Hiway is exclusive and there is no minimum term. Plenty of teams broadcast on one platform and sell through Hiway SmartLinks. They consolidate later, once the numbers decide it for them.
Book a demo and we will walk through the whole selling flow, not just the broadcast.
