# Owncast

Live video you host. Owncast is MIT — Twitch and StreamYard without the hosted studio seat.

**Replaces:** Twitch / StreamYard / Restream

**Tier:** Medium

## Problem

Twitch is a hosted live platform. StreamYard is a browser studio that publishes to someone else's RTMP. Restream is the same multi-destination live seat. You wanted a live stream and chat on a box you run. Owncast is MIT (owncast/owncast): ingest, player, and chat. PeerTube is AGPL-3.0 VOD — already on /replace/vimeo. Jitsi is a meeting room, not a broadcast. OpenScreen is async recordings — /replace/loom. This is not Twitch's every discovery SKU, StreamYard's multi-destination browser studio, Restream's every destination pack, or a PeerTube library. You still pay bandwidth. You do not get Restream's hosted multistream graph.

## Stack

- [Owncast](https://owncast.online) — MIT live stream and chat you run
- [PeerTube](https://joinpeertube.org) — AGPL-3.0 VOD library if the job is not live
- [Jitsi Meet](https://meet.jit.si/) — A meeting room, not a broadcast

## Estimated SaaS cost saved

| You stop paying | Typical / year | Self-host instead |
|---|---:|---|
| Twitch / StreamYard (small team) | $1,200 | Owncast + bandwidth |

**About $1,200 / year** on a small team, before you count lock-in.

## Deploy on Railway

Placeholder: Owncast plus a volume for the stream config and optional recordings. RTMP ingest wants a public port. Bandwidth is the bill. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway. VOD stays on /stacks/peertube-video.

[Start on Railway](https://c17.io/go/railway/owncast-live?from=%2Fstacks%2Fowncast-live.md)

[PeerTube if this is a video library, not a live stream](https://c17.io/stacks/peertube-video)

## AGENT_PROMPT

```
Replace Twitch or StreamYard with Owncast (https://owncast.online).

- Official image. Persist config. Point an encoder at the RTMP ingest. Confirm one test stream and chat. Do not claim StreamYard's browser multi-destination studio.
- PeerTube if the job is a library — /stacks/peertube-video.
- Write AGENT_PROMPT.md.
```

## FAQ

### Owncast or PeerTube?

Owncast if the product is live (the published Twitch/StreamYard stack). PeerTube if the product is a library — /compare/owncast-vs-peertube.

### Is this StreamYard's studio?

No. Owncast is the server. OBS or another encoder still pushes the stream. The hosted browser studio stays behind.

### Why not Jitsi?

Jitsi is a meeting room — /best/video-conferencing. This page is a broadcast.

### Restream?

Same published live ingest — /replace/restream. Owncast is one stream you host, not Restream's destination graph.

Source: https://c17.io/stacks/owncast-live