api.video review
A broad video infrastructure API with a free sandbox and usage-based pricing.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
api.video is a cloud video infrastructure platform for developers and businesses building online learning platforms, marketplaces, social video services, e-commerce applications, and user-generated-content tools. It covers video upload, hosting, transcoding, playback, delivery, live streaming, recording, analytics, captions, chapters, thumbnails, trimming, watermarks, and AI transcription and summarization. Its platform support spans web, iOS, Android, and API deployments, with REST APIs, server-side SDKs, mobile SDKs, and customizable HTML5, Android, iOS, React, and Flutter players.
Pricing is usage-based after the free Sandbox. The Sandbox includes unlimited tests, but videos and live streams are limited to 30 seconds, watermarks are applied, and content is deleted after 24 hours. Pay as you go - Video hosting costs $0.00285 USD per minute of video stored per month and includes free encoding. Pay as you go - Video delivery costs $0.0017 USD per minute of video delivered per month, with HLS and MP4 output. The Enterprise plan adds custom agreements, higher API rate limits, security reviews, isolated storage, and SLA credits.
The main strength is breadth: teams can manage recorded video and low-latency live streaming through one API, then add adaptive delivery, live-stream replay hosting, webhooks, metadata, tagging, analytics, captions, and AI features. Integrations with Zapier, Bubble.io, Contentful, Strapi, and WordPress extend its fit for content and application workflows. Choose api.video when a product needs video infrastructure across web and mobile rather than a single playback function. Teams needing only a basic hosted player may find this wider feature set unnecessary, while US legal entities seeking new subscriptions face a stated availability restriction.
api.video pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Covers upload, hosting, transcoding, delivery, and live streaming
- Includes web, iOS, Android, REST, server-side, and mobile SDKs
- Adds analytics, captions, AI transcription, and customizable players
- Where it doesn't
- Sandbox videos and live streams are limited to 30 seconds
- Sandbox content is watermarked and deleted after 24 hours
- New US legal-entity subscriptions are unavailable from February 1, 2026
api.video fact sheet, pricing and score →
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