Kinescope logoKinescope vs Cloudflare Stream:
video hosting with DRM and 4K

Cloudflare Stream is a simple per-minute video API that stops at 1080p, and its documentation doesn’t mention DRM. Kinescope adds Widevine and FairPlay, 4K, per-viewer watermarks, analytics for every viewer and EU storage by default, from €10 a month.

Key differentiators

DRM included, not left to you

Cloudflare Stream protects video with signed URLs, allowed origins and geo or IP rules, and its documentation doesn’t mention DRM. Kinescope includes Widevine and FairPlay on every paid plan from €10 a month, so a downloaded copy won’t play.

Up to 4K, not capped at 1080p

Stream encodes uploads from 360p to 1080p and turns HDR into SDR. Kinescope delivers adaptive streams up to 4K on paid plans — the difference shows on product demos, screen recordings and big displays.

A watermark per viewer, not a static logo

Stream burns in a static PNG at upload, and watermarks can’t be used with live video. Kinescope draws a dynamic watermark with the viewer’s e-mail or ID, so a leaked recording points to the account it came from.

Analytics per viewer, not just minutes

Stream reports server-side views and minutes viewed by video and country. Kinescope shows who watched, how far each viewer got, retention second by second and the clicks on your CTAs.

Data in the EU by default

Cloudflare lists Stream as not compatible with Regional Services, its option to keep data in one region. Kinescope stores video in EU data centres by default and is a Dutch company, Kinescope B.V.

Pay per GB, no prepaid storage wall

Stream bills $5 per 1,000 minutes stored, prepaid, and $1 per 1,000 minutes delivered; when prepaid storage runs out, uploads stop. Kinescope bills delivery from €0.03/GB down to €0.01/GB with volume and €0.01 per minute of processing, once.

Comparison at a glance

Pricing model
Per GB: delivery from €0.03/GB, storage from €0.03/GB, processing €0.01/min once
Per minute: $5/1,000 min stored (prepaid) + $1/1,000 min delivered; encoding free
DRM (Widevine + FairPlay)
Included from €10/month
Not in the Stream docs; signed URLs and allowed origins
Maximum quality
Up to 4K
1080p; HDR delivered as SDR
Watermarking
Dynamic, per viewer
Static PNG at upload; not on live
Viewer analytics
Per viewer: retention, engagement, conversions
Views and minutes by video and country
Live ingest
RTMP, RTMPS, SRT
RTMPS, SRT, WebRTC (WHIP)
Lowest live latency
5–10 s over RTMP
Under 500 ms over WebRTC (no recording)
Where data lives
Regional Services not available for Stream
Uptime SLA
99.98% target, financial SLA on Mega
No Stream-specific SLA; network SLA on Business and up
Free plan
100 min + 200 GB/month, no card
None; Pro and Business include 100 min stored + 10,000 min delivered

Moving off Cloudflare Stream? Our team brings the library across

We bring your videos over at no cost on the Super and Mega plans. Stream doesn’t export original files, but MP4 downloads can be switched on per video; your old embeds stay live until the Kinescope embeds are tested, so nothing goes dark. Hands-on EN/PT support throughout.

When to choose

Choose Kinescope if you need:

Widevine and FairPlay DRM, video up to 4K, per-viewer watermarks, analytics for every viewer, a video library your editors can use, data in the EU by default and a team that migrates you.

Choose Cloudflare Stream if you need:

WebRTC live with under 500 ms of latency, restreaming to up to 50 destinations, free encoding with per-minute pricing, or a video API next to the rest of your Cloudflare Workers stack — and 1080p without DRM is enough.

Meet Kinescope: video hosting with protection built in

DRM from day one

Widevine and FairPlay on every paid plan from €10 a month — no add-on fee and no per-license charge — plus dynamic per-viewer watermarking, signed links and domain restrictions.

API, SDKs and MCP

A REST API, 7 webhook event types, open-source SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, React, React Native, Vue and Angular, and an MCP server that lets AI agents search and edit videos and manage live streams.

Our own CDN

Our own infrastructure, not resold AWS or Cloudflare, covering Latin America, the US, Europe and the CIS, with a 99.98% monthly uptime target.

Live streaming

Go live over RTMP, RTMPS or SRT from OBS, vMix or a hardware encoder, keep an automatic recording, and let live-stream webhooks tell your backend when the encoder connects.

A video library for the whole team

Editors upload, organise and publish in the dashboard — projects, folders, playlists, player templates, AI subtitles and chapters — while your code works with the same videos over the API.

One predictable price

Plans from €10 a month with pay-as-you-go usage: delivery from €0.03/GB down to €0.01/GB, storage from €0.03/GB, processing €0.01 per minute once. No per-seat fees and no annual contract.

Trusted by more than 9,500 clients in 84 countries and counting.

Try Kinescope free — 100 minutes + 200 GB/month, no card required

FAQ

Can’t find the answer you need? Check out our Help Center.

Cloudflare’s Stream documentation doesn’t mention DRM — Widevine, FairPlay or PlayReady — as of November 2026. Stream protects video with signed URLs, allowed origins and geo or IP rules, which control who gets a playable link but don’t encrypt the stream for a licensed player. Kinescope includes Widevine and FairPlay on every paid plan from €10 a month, together with per-viewer watermarks — see DRM video hosting.

Stream charges $5 per 1,000 minutes of video stored per month, bought in advance, and $1 per 1,000 minutes delivered; encoding and ingest are free. Storage is counted by duration regardless of file size, delivered minutes are counted from segment requests, and when prepaid storage runs out you can’t upload new videos until you buy more. Pro and Business plans include 100 minutes stored and 10,000 minutes delivered (Cloudflare, November 2026). Kinescope bills delivery from €0.03/GB down to €0.01/GB, storage from €0.03/GB and €0.01 per minute of processing, once, on plans from €10 a month — see pricing.

Stream encodes video from 360p to 1080p with adaptive bitrate, and HDR uploads are re-encoded and delivered in SDR (developers.cloudflare.com, November 2026). Kinescope delivers adaptive streams up to 4K on paid plans.

Stream applies a static PNG watermark through a watermark profile at upload, and watermarks can’t be used with live video. Kinescope adds a dynamic watermark with the viewer’s e-mail or ID, so a screen recording that leaks points back to the account it came from.