What Is Self-Hosting?

In today’s age, millions of videos are posted online via websites, apps, or even social media. In order for these videos to be viewed, they have to be hosted online. Hosting allows you to upload and store your video on a third-party website. Once your video has been uploaded to a third-party site, viewers can then watch the video on the host website directly (Ex: YouTube) or you can use an embed code to add the video directly to your website.

Common Video Hosting Platforms

Some common examples of common hosting platforms include Vimeo, YouTube, and Wistia. The viewing experience, analytics features, and compatibility with other software vary among these sites. You’ll want to take these factors into account when choosing which hosting platform is best for you. 

Benefits of Using a Video Hosting Platform

There are plenty of benefits of using a video hosting platform, including:

• Simplifies the hosting process
• Eliminates storage and bandwidth costs 
• Improved viewer experience
• Ability to use integrations
• Increase accessibility
  

Hosting Interactive Videos with Mindstamp

Mindstamp is an interactive video platform that can use your existing video files from any number of sources, including Vimeo, Wistia, Kaltura, and more. You can use these videos in Mindstamp by simply copying and pasting the respective link to the video into Mindstamp and begin adding interactive features such as buttons, hotspots, questions, and more to increase video engagement.

25% Self-Hosting Discount with Mindstamp

If you choose to use videos from outside of Mindstamp (rather than uploading files directly to the Mindstamp platform), this is called "self-hosting". We offer a 25% discount on the CORE and ENTERPRISE plans if you choose to self-host!

If you are interested in self-hosting your videos and taking advantage of this discount, we recommend that you use Vimeo to host your videos. Vimeo’s PRO subscription is available to users for $20/month with up to 20GB/week in storage for your videos. By using Vimeo and Mindstamp, you’ll receive ~$25 discount on the CORE plan and ~$100 discount on the ENTERPRISE plan in addition to two copies of your videos — the original on Vimeo and the interactive version on Mindstamp, which is good for redundancy and general sharing.

While Mindstamp can serve as both a way to host your videos AND add interactivity, self-hosting can be a great option for those who are looking to save some money. Vimeo is really great at hosting videos, and we are really great at interactivity, so it's a perfect match!

Ready to start using interactive video with Mindstamp?

Start your 14-day free trial with Mindstamp’s interactive video platform to see how easy it is to use Mindstamp with Vimeo. Or, request a Mindstamp demo to schedule your personalized demo with one of our Mindstamp experts and ask how you can receive your 25% self-hosting discount.