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Vultr Cloud Compute vs AWS Lightsail for a 24/7 YouTube Stream

Lightsail’s published bundles make its costs easier to model, but a fair Vultr comparison needs current region-specific pricing and transfer terms. Estimate egress from bitrate first.

By DocumentaryTube Team 5 min read
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Short answer: AWS Lightsail is easier to price from the official information available here: its Linux/Unix bundles include published compute, storage and transfer allowances. Vultr documents a cloud-hosted OBS/Broadcaster workflow, but the material cited here does not establish current standard Cloud Compute prices, transfer quotas or overage rates. That is not enough evidence to call either provider cheaper or more reliable for a continuous stream.

For a fair comparison, estimate the stream’s monthly outbound data from its bitrate, then compare that figure with Lightsail’s allowance and the current regional terms for either provider. If you mainly want a YouTube channel to keep playing uploaded videos without maintaining a server or computer, StreamNeo is a simpler alternative: it loops videos from the cloud at any uploaded quality up to 4K 60fps for one flat price per slot. See how StreamNeo works.

What each service offers for a continuous YouTube stream

AWS Lightsail: published VPS bundles

Lightsail instances are virtual private servers with set amounts of vCPU, memory, SSD storage and data transfer. AWS publishes bundles for Linux/Unix and Windows, with multiple Linux distributions available. The examples below are the general-purpose Linux/Unix public IPv4 bundles in AWS’s current documentation, accessed in 2026; they are published specifications, not a guarantee that a particular instance can encode your chosen stream.

Monthly price vCPU Memory SSD storage Transfer allowance
$5 2 0.5 GB 20 GB 1 TB
$7 2 1 GB 40 GB 2 TB
$12 2 2 GB 60 GB 3 TB
$24 2 4 GB 80 GB 4 TB

These are AWS’s published bundle values; they do not establish which plan is sufficient for OBS, an encoder, or a specific resolution and frame rate. Check the current [Lightsail bundle and regional pricing details] before choosing a region or calculating a bill.

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Vultr: a documented OBS/Broadcaster workflow

Vultr’s official Broadcaster guide describes OBS delivered as a marketplace app on cloud GPU infrastructure, accessed through a browser and configurable to stream to platforms including YouTube. This establishes a relevant hosted workflow, not a current price or bandwidth comparison for regular Vultr Cloud Compute. Vultr’s Broadcaster guide also shows an example connecting Broadcaster with Owncast; that example is not a performance benchmark or an uptime guarantee.

The available Vultr material does not settle standard Cloud Compute pricing, included outbound transfer, overage charges or the relevant Broadcaster GPU-instance price. Because those are essential inputs for a 24/7 feed, a numeric Vultr-versus-Lightsail cost verdict would be premature.

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Estimate the bandwidth before comparing prices

A continuous stream sends data to YouTube for as long as it is live. Its approximate outbound volume can be estimated from the video bitrate and the number of hours streamed. A convenient decimal-unit calculation is:

monthly GB ≈ bitrate in Mbps × 0.45 × hours streamed

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The 0.45 factor converts megabits per second over an hour to decimal gigabytes. For a 24/7 stream running for a 30-day planning month, that is 720 hours. These are calculations, not provider-published traffic figures, and they omit protocol overhead and any additional output.

YouTube-recommended H.264 setting Approximate data for 720 hours
720p at 30 fps, 8 Mbps 2,592 GB (about 2.6 TB)
720p at 60 fps, 8 Mbps 2,592 GB (about 2.6 TB)
1080p at 30 fps, 14 Mbps 4,536 GB (about 4.5 TB)
1080p at 60 fps, 17 Mbps 5,508 GB (about 5.5 TB)

YouTube’s current encoder guidance also lists 10 Mbps for AV1 or H.265 at 1080p/30 fps and 12 Mbps at 1080p/60 fps. At 720 hours, those rates work out to approximately 3,240 GB and 3,888 GB respectively. All these estimates scale with actual hours online and configured bitrate; add headroom for overhead, reconnects, audio, monitoring traffic and any secondary output.

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How Lightsail transfer allowances apply

AWS counts both inbound and outbound data toward the plan’s transfer allowance, but charges overage only for excess outbound transfer. The overage rate varies by region, so compare your estimate against the allowance and the rate for the specific region rather than treating the bundle’s transfer figure as unlimited bandwidth.

AWS documents half the general-table transfer allowance in Mumbai, Sydney, Jakarta, Malaysia, Hong Kong and São Paulo. For example, the listed 1 TB general allowance on the smallest Linux/Unix public IPv4 bundle is reduced to half in those locations. Confirm the current regional allowance and outbound overage terms on [AWS’s Lightsail pricing page] before committing.

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Configure YouTube ingest for the stream

YouTube recommends RTMPS, constant bitrate (CBR), and a two-second keyframe interval, with a maximum interval of four seconds. Its recommended bitrate depends on resolution, frame rate, codec and stream format. For example, YouTube lists H.264 at 14 Mbps for 1080p/30 fps and 17 Mbps for 1080p/60 fps. These are ingest recommendations, not a promise that a particular cloud server can encode the stream at that setting.

  • Use RTMPS where supported; YouTube describes it as a secure extension of RTMP.
  • Set the encoder to CBR and use a two-second keyframe interval, never exceeding four seconds.
  • Choose bitrate from YouTube’s current table for your codec, resolution and frame rate, then use that bitrate in your traffic estimate.
  • Test the actual stream and monitor YouTube’s stream health rather than assuming a server specification guarantees a clean ingest.

Choose a provider using comparable terms

Before deciding between Vultr and Lightsail, compare both providers for the same stream, region and runtime. The available sources establish Lightsail’s published bundle and transfer structure and Vultr’s Broadcaster workflow, but do not provide enough matching Vultr plan data to fill in a complete price comparison.

  • Total monthly cost: include the instance or GPU workload and any outbound transfer charges.
  • Outbound allowance and overage: compare the estimated monthly traffic with the allowance and regional rate.
  • Region: account for the server’s location and network distance relevant to your setup.
  • Encoding capacity: verify CPU or GPU capability, memory and storage against the chosen encoder workload; listed resources alone are not a stream-performance test.
  • Operations: account for setup, management, monitoring and recovery needs for a service that must remain live continuously.

On documented pricing transparency, Lightsail is easier to model from the cited figures. Vultr has a documented streaming-oriented Broadcaster path. Neither point proves which option costs less for your exact stream or which will be more reliable.

Or let it run in the cloud

If your goal is to keep uploaded videos playing on YouTube around the clock, StreamNeo avoids managing a VPS or leaving a home computer on: upload your recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live. The cloud loops the uploaded videos; it does not stream from a camera.

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  • Automatic recovery if YouTube drops the stream.
  • The first day is free with no card required (one free day per account).

Monthly: $9.99 per month. Start the free day at StreamNeo registration.

Sources

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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