Open-source alternative
Replace Vimeo with PeerTube / MediaCMS
The best open-source alternative to Vimeo is PeerTube (or MediaCMS) with Owncast, self-hosted on Railway. Video you host. PeerTube and MediaCMS are AGPL-3.0 — Vimeo without the Starter seat. Owncast is MIT if the job is live.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How Vimeo compares
| Vimeo | PeerTube / MediaCMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Plan subscription (storage + seats) | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Starter $12/mo billed annually; Standard $25/mo billed annually source | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- PeerTube
AGPL-3.0 federated video hosting
- MediaCMS
AGPL-3.0 video library without federation
- Owncast
MIT livestreaming if the job is live, not a library
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The PeerTube / MediaCMS licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Vimeo seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Vimeo?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The PeerTube / MediaCMS stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Vimeo links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the PeerTube / MediaCMS stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: PeerTube (or MediaCMS) + object storage or a large volume. Transcoding is CPU-heavy. Owncast if this is live only. Loom stays on /stacks/openscreen-video.
- What does this replace?
- Vimeo. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
Related pages
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