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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →There is no single monthly price for running a 24/7 YouTube stream on AWS EC2. EC2 cost depends on the instance, Region, storage and outbound traffic; a home PC’s electricity cost depends on its measured power draw and your local electricity rate. At the same 10 Mbps bitrate, the EC2 encoder sends roughly 3,240 GB in a 30-day month before overhead—so its internet data-transfer charges can matter as much as, or more than, compute.
Use the calculations below to compare your own setup. They exclude video production, a home internet plan you already pay for, YouTube’s delivery to viewers, and hardware purchase unless you add those costs separately.
What you are comparing
For a fair comparison, count one continuously running encoder sending one feed to YouTube. The home-PC option uses electricity and an existing internet connection. The EC2 option uses a cloud instance and may incur AWS data-transfer-out charges for the encoder feed, along with storage and any other selected services.
This is not the same as an AWS-managed live-streaming pipeline that encodes, packages and distributes video to viewers using services such as MediaLive, MediaPackage and CloudFront. YouTube says it automatically transcodes incoming live video into formats for viewers, so a basic EC2-to-YouTube setup should not be charged as though EC2 were delivering a separate copy to each viewer.
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Calculate the home PC’s monthly electricity cost
Measure the computer’s average wall draw while it is streaming, then multiply by your local electricity rate:
Monthly electricity cost = average watts ÷ 1,000 × 730 hours × price per kWh
- Measure the PC and any always-on peripherals with a plug-in watt meter while the stream is running. Use the incremental draw attributable to streaming if the computer would already be on for other reasons.
- Convert watts to kilowatts by dividing by 1,000.
- Multiply by 730 hours for a 30-day planning month, then by your electricity price per kWh.
For a U.S. benchmark, the Energy Information Administration’s 2025 residential average was 17.30¢ per kWh, based on February 2026 preliminary data. At that rate, a continuously running 100 W load uses 73 kWh and costs about $12.63 for 730 hours. At the same rate, 50 W costs about $6.31 and 200 W about $25.26. These are illustrative calculations, not measurements of a typical streaming PC. The EIA reported a 2025 state range of 8.20¢ to 35.72¢ per kWh, from North Dakota to Hawaii, so use your actual rate rather than assuming the national figure applies to you.
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Estimate EC2 compute and data transfer
An EC2 monthly estimate needs more than an instance price. Include the hourly compute rate for 730 runtime hours, storage, any public IPv4 address or other selected services, and applicable data transfer out for the stream feed. AWS lists 100 GB per month of internet data transfer out as free, aggregated across AWS services and Regions, with China and GovCloud exceptions; confirm the current terms and charges for usage beyond that allowance on the Amazon EC2 On-Demand Pricing page and in the AWS Pricing Calculator.
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For a 30-day month, a useful decimal planning conversion is:
Approximate GB per month = bitrate in Mbps × 0.45
This comes from bitrate × seconds ÷ 8. It excludes protocol overhead and assumes uninterrupted streaming, so actual transfer can differ.
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| Feed bitrate | Approximate outbound data in 30 days |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 3,240 GB |
| 17 Mbps | 5,508 GB |
The volume is the encoder’s continuous feed, not the total video watched by your audience. The first 100 GB allowance does not make a multi-terabyte feed automatically free; enter your expected usage and current Region-specific rates in the calculator.
Build an estimate with your actual configuration
- Choose the AWS Region and EC2 instance family and size that can encode your video at the required resolution and frame rate.
- Set the operating system, EBS storage, public IPv4 use if applicable, and 730 runtime hours in the AWS Pricing Calculator.
- Estimate outbound stream volume from your bitrate and uptime, then include applicable data transfer out beyond any qualifying allowance.
- Add any discounts or free-tier eligibility only if they apply to your account and configuration.
The result is specific to those inputs; there is no defensible universal EC2 monthly price for an unspecified instance and Region. The current AWS pricing calculator is the appropriate place to get a configuration-specific total.
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Use YouTube’s bitrate settings in the comparison
Bitrate affects both stream quality and EC2 outbound volume. YouTube’s official encoder settings and bitrate guide gives H.264 recommendations of 10 Mbps for 1080p30 and 17 Mbps for 1080p60. Its guide recommends testing upload bitrate, streaming with RTMPS, using constant bitrate (CBR), and setting a two-second keyframe interval; do not exceed four seconds. Recommendations vary by codec, resolution and frame rate, so choose the applicable setting for your stream rather than treating one bitrate as universal.
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YouTube states: “YouTube will automatically transcode your live stream to create many different output formats so that all of your viewers across many devices and networks can watch.” It also recommends RTMPS, a secure extension to RTMP. This means a simple EC2 encoder-to-YouTube setup sends the source feed to YouTube; it does not send a separate high-bitrate copy from EC2 to each viewer.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which option is cheaper? Compare the full trade-offs
The break-even point depends on your PC’s actual draw and electricity tariff, EC2’s Region and instance choice, the video bitrate, and whether the PC or internet connection would already be running. Compare the same uptime and source bitrate on both sides.
| Cost or consideration | Home PC | AWS EC2 |
|---|---|---|
| Core monthly cost | Measured incremental electricity use × local kWh rate | Instance hourly price × runtime, plus applicable storage and selected services |
| Stream upload traffic | Uses the home internet connection; an existing plan is excluded from this comparison | Continuous encoder feed creates outbound traffic; estimate volume from bitrate and check AWS transfer pricing |
| Hardware | Existing PC purchase cost is excluded unless you choose to amortize it | No home streaming PC required, but the instance must have sufficient encoding capacity |
| Reliability and upkeep | Depends on the PC, power, home network and your maintenance | Depends on instance and service configuration; this comparison does not establish a particular uptime or resilience level |
A home PC can have a low incremental electricity cost if it is already on, while EC2 adds a cloud compute charge and substantial source-feed egress. Conversely, a dedicated PC used only for streaming consumes power for the full runtime, and home power or network interruptions can stop it. The comparison is not a performance test: no particular PC wattage or EC2 instance capability is assumed.
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Keep the AWS managed-service figure in context
AWS’s 2019 Media & Entertainment Blog cited $2.923 per hour on demand or $0.0716 per hour reserved ($515.59 for a 30-day month) for its described single-pipeline AWS live-channel configuration. That historical, architecture-specific figure is not an EC2 instance quote. It refers to a managed-service architecture and should not be used as the monthly cost of an EC2 encoder sending one feed to YouTube.
Or let it run in the cloud
If the goal is simply to keep uploaded videos running as a 24/7 YouTube stream without leaving a PC at home, StreamNeo is an alternative: upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live. It loops the uploaded videos from the cloud; it does not stream from a camera or to other platforms.
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Quick Recap
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