Is Vimeo Better Than YouTube?

YouTube is the undeniable king of the hill when it comes to online video hosting, but it's far from the only game in town. At last count there were over 90 other sites doing roughly the same thing, which you can see at all-video-sites.com. While most of these sites were very specific in their content, a number of them are a catch-all, open to anything that one might post, as is YouTube.

There is a competitor to YouTube that doesn't open its arms quite as wide, which in many cases makes it a better choice for the serious artist or videomaker. That's Vimeo, which gets 70 million unique visitors a month that are generally more engaged that what you'll find watching the competition.

One of the advantages of Vimeo is that the content is generally up a notch or two from YouTube, with fewer cat and baby videos. Add to that a streamlined layout that allows you to find and watch what you want a lot easier, and you can see why it's preferred by many after they try it.

One of the best reasons to watch on Vimeo though, is that it's advert free, which won't make money for the content creator but sure is better for the viewer. Let's face it; no one likes to wait for a pre-roll commercial before you get to the video you want to check out.

A basic membership is free and allows you to upload one HD video per week or 500meg of storage. The downside is that your uploaded videos are subject to banner ads, the ability to make a video private is turned off, and the analytics package is pretty basic. Upgrade to Vimeo Plus for $9.95 a month and those limitations are lifted. If you're a pro, you can upgrade to a Vimeo Pro account for $199 per year that basically ups the game by providing better video quality, more storage and bandwidth, and the ability to monetize your content.

You might not want to change completely from YouTube, but Vimeo offers a lot - for a price. Then again, with a service like OneLoad, you can upload to a number of platforms and have a presence across all of them. After all, there's nothing like a video everywhere to raise your profile.

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