Best Church Live Streaming Software in 2026: Free and Paid Options
The short answer: most small churches can stream well with free software: OBS Studio to build the broadcast on a laptop, sent straight to YouTube or Facebook, and optionally the free Church Online Platform for a hosted, chat-and-prayer “watch party” page. Paid tools earn their cost when you need an easier volunteer experience (vMix, Wirecast or Ecamm Live), streaming to several platforms at once (Restream or StreamYard), or a managed, highly reliable service with a website player and support on Sunday morning (BoxCast or Resi).
This guide compares ten tools churches actually use, by job, platform and price, then suggests three simple setups by church size. Prices are the US-dollar figures listed on each vendor's own pricing page when we checked on October 25, 2026; vendors change them often, so confirm before you buy. If you are still planning cameras and audio, start with our small-church live streaming setup guide and come back here to pick the software.
First, know which job each tool does
“Church streaming software” covers four different jobs, and a lot of wasted money comes from buying two tools that do the same one:
- Production (the encoder or switcher). Runs on the streaming computer. It mixes cameras, the sound-desk feed, lyrics and slides into one picture and sends it out. OBS Studio, vMix, Wirecast and Ecamm Live live here.
- Delivery and multistreaming. Takes one stream and sends it to YouTube, Facebook and other destinations at the same time. Restream and StreamYard do this as cloud services.
- Managed church streaming. A paid service, usually with its own hardware or encoder, that delivers the stream reliably to social platforms and your own website, with scheduling and support. BoxCast and Resi are the best-known examples.
- The online-church experience. The page your online congregation joins: chat, prayer requests, giving and next-step buttons. Church Online Platform is built for this.
Presentation software such as ProPresenter sits alongside all of these. It produces the lyrics and sermon slides, which your production tool then puts on the stream.
Church live streaming software compared
| Tool | Job | Runs on | Listed price (Oct 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | Production | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free, open source | Almost every church starting out |
| Church Online Platform | Online-church page | Web | Free | Chat, prayer and next steps around any stream |
| vMix | Production | Windows | Lifetime from $60 (Basic HD); HD $350 | Multi-camera services on a PC |
| Wirecast Studio | Production | Mac, Windows | $59/mo, or $34/mo billed yearly | Teams that want vendor support |
| Ecamm Live | Production | Mac | From $16/mo billed yearly | Mac-based churches and small studios |
| StreamYard | Browser studio + multistream | Web browser | Free plan; paid from $18.99/mo | Interviews, midweek talks, remote guests |
| Restream | Multistreaming | Cloud | Free (2 channels); Standard $19/mo | Sending one stream to several platforms |
| BoxCast | Managed streaming | Cloud + encoder | From $109/mo billed annually | Hands-off reliability and website player |
| Resi | Managed streaming | Cloud + encoder | From $99/mo billed annually | Churches with unreliable internet or multiple sites |
| ProPresenter | Lyrics and slides | Mac, Windows | $29/mo per seat | Worship lyrics and sermon graphics |
The free options
OBS Studio
OBS Studio is free and open source, and currently supports Windows 10 and 11, macOS 13 or newer, and Linux. You build “scenes” (welcome slide, worship with lyrics, sermon, giving slide, end card) and switch between them with one click or a hotkey. It has a built-in audio mixer with per-source noise suppression, noise gate and gain filters, which matters because sound quality is what keeps online viewers watching.
Our take: OBS is the right first tool for most churches. The trade-off is that it has no phone support line, so you rely on documentation, community forums and volunteer tutorials. Train at least two people and save your scene collection so a stand-in can run it.
Church Online Platform
Church Online Platform is not an encoder. It is a free, church-specific page your online congregation joins while your stream plays. Its site lists live or simulated-live services, unlimited services and attenders, public and private chat, live prayer requests for volunteer hosts, custom calls to action, a custom domain and analytics, all free. It works with the streaming provider you already use, so it pairs naturally with OBS and YouTube.
YouTube or Facebook direct, plus free multistream plans
Streaming from OBS straight to YouTube Live or Facebook costs nothing. If you want both platforms at once, Restream's free plan streams to two channels at once with Restream branding on the stream. StreamYard's free plan also includes its browser studio, with a StreamYard logo on your streams and limits such as two hours of local recording a month.
Paid production software
vMix (Windows)
vMix is sold as a lifetime licence with the first 12 months of updates included: Basic HD at $60 (4 inputs, 3 of them cameras or NDI sources), HD at $350, 4K at $700 and Pro at $1,200, or the MAX subscription at $50 a month. There is a 60-day free trial. Its strengths for churches are multi-camera switching, built-in animated titles, PTZ camera control on the higher editions and a Zoom integration for bringing in a remote speaker. Basic HD's four-input limit fills up quickly once you add lyrics and a holding slide, so most churches using vMix end up on HD.
Wirecast (Mac and Windows)
Wirecast Studio lists $59 a month, or $34 a month billed yearly, with a free trial. It runs on both Mac and Windows and includes unlimited live camera sources, screen capture, IP camera input, two remote guests and a dedicated technical support team. Choose it over OBS when the team wants a commercial product with someone to call.
Ecamm Live (Mac only)
Ecamm Live is Mac-only. Its Standard plan is listed at $16 a month billed yearly ($192), and Pro at $32 a month billed yearly; there is a 14-day trial that does not need a credit card. It is quick to learn and handles overlays, screen sharing and multistreaming well, which suits a smaller church or a youth ministry running from a single Mac.
Browser studios and multistreaming
StreamYard runs entirely in the browser, which makes it excellent for midweek Bible studies, interviews and prayer nights with guests joining remotely. Paid individual plans start at $18.99 a month ($14.99 billed yearly) with multistreaming to two destinations in 1080p. Note that StreamYard says its Essential, Core and Advanced plans are for individual use only and points organisations to its Business plans, so a church account should check those terms.
Restream takes the stream you already produce in OBS or vMix and sends it to several platforms. Standard is $19 a month (three channels, no Restream branding) and Professional is $49 a month (five channels, Full HD streaming).
Managed church streaming services
BoxCast
BoxCast plans start at $109 a month billed annually ($119 monthly) for 1080p30, rising to $449 a month for 4K. Every plan lists unlimited viewers with at least 10,000 viewer hours a month, cloud transcoding, scheduling that starts and ends broadcasts automatically, viewer chat, automated captioning, streaming to Facebook, YouTube and X at the same time, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Resi
Resi is built around its Resilient Streaming Protocol, which is designed to keep a stream going over shaky church internet. The Social Only plan is listed at $99 a month billed annually ($1,188) for unlimited broadcasts to Facebook and YouTube in up to 1080p60, with 7-day-a-week live support, automated scheduling and one ProPresenter Encoder licence included. Starter Lite at $159 a month adds streaming to your own website with a white-labelled player and simulated-live rebroadcasts; Pro is $299 a month. Resi also invites non-profits to apply for non-profit pricing.
Our take: managed services make sense when the stream is a core ministry, the volunteer pool is thin, or Sunday-morning internet keeps failing. For a church of 80 people whose OBS stream works, $1,200 or more a year is usually better spent on a decent audio interface and a second camera.
Where ProPresenter fits
ProPresenter is the lyrics and slides software many churches already run for the screens in the room. It is listed at $29 a month per seat, with a 14-day free trial. You do not need it to stream, but if you already use it, send its lyrics output into OBS or vMix rather than retyping songs, and check Resi's plans, which include a ProPresenter encoder licence.
How to choose in five questions
- Who runs it on Sunday? Experienced volunteers can handle OBS or vMix. A rotating, non-technical team benefits from a managed service or a simpler tool like Ecamm Live.
- Mac or PC? vMix is Windows-only and Ecamm Live is Mac-only; OBS and Wirecast run on both.
- Where should people watch? YouTube only needs nothing extra. Several platforms means Restream, StreamYard or a managed service. A player on your own website points to BoxCast or Resi Starter Lite, or a YouTube embed.
- How reliable is your internet? Run a speed test during a real Sunday service. If it drops, fix the connection first; if you cannot, that is the strongest case for Resi or BoxCast.
- What is the real annual budget? Multiply monthly prices by 12 and compare against hardware. Software rarely matters more than clear audio.
Three setups by church size
- Small church ($0 software): OBS Studio on a laptop, one camera, a sound-desk feed, streaming to YouTube, with a Church Online Platform page for chat and prayer.
- Growing church (about $20 to $60 a month): OBS or Wirecast, Restream Standard to reach YouTube and Facebook together, and StreamYard for midweek studies with remote guests.
- Multi-camera or multi-site church: vMix HD or Pro on a dedicated PC with PTZ cameras, plus BoxCast or Resi for delivery, website streaming and support.
Whatever you choose, sort out music licensing before you go live: your in-building lyrics licence does not automatically cover streaming. Our setup guide explains the streaming licence question. Once you are live, help your online congregation take part with our guide to worshipping well at an online church service, and see how other congregations do it in our list of church live streams to join online.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free church live streaming software?
OBS Studio. It is free, open source, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and handles scenes, lyrics and audio filters. Pair it with YouTube Live and, if you want chat and prayer around the stream, the free Church Online Platform.
Do we need a paid streaming service like BoxCast or Resi?
Not to start. They are worth it when reliability, website streaming, automatic scheduling or Sunday-morning support matter more than the annual cost, or when your internet connection is unreliable.
Can we stream to YouTube and Facebook at the same time?
Yes. Restream's free plan streams to two channels with its branding; paid Restream, StreamYard, vMix, Ecamm Live, BoxCast and Resi plans can also send to several destinations.
Is vMix available for Mac?
No. vMix runs on Windows. Mac-based churches usually choose OBS Studio, Wirecast or Ecamm Live.
Does streaming software cover worship music copyright?
No. Software only sends the video. Songs need a streaming licence, such as CCLI's Streaming License, in addition to your church copyright licence.