Leaving a PC on around the clock is not free. Compare the electricity of a home computer, a cloud VPS you run yourself, and StreamZop’s flat monthly price — then see your monthly and yearly savings.
US electricity averages about $0.17/kWh. PC cost assumes one always-on machine per channel for reliable 24/7 uptime.
Upload once, paste your stream key, and StreamZop keeps it live around the clock with automatic restarts.
There are three common ways to keep a stream live around the clock, and they cost very differently once you add everything up.
Electricity = power (kW) × 24 × ~30.4 days × your rate. A 200W desktop at $0.17/kWh is about $25/month, plus wear, fan noise, and the risk that any crash or update kills the stream until you are back.
A VPS that can encode a stream runs roughly $20–40/month, and you still set up FFmpeg, keep it patched, and build your own auto-restart. Cheaper than a PC, but it is a project.
A flat $9/month for an always-on stream from the cloud, with automatic restarts and nothing running at home. Often less than the electricity of a desktop, and it scales flat as you add channels.
Ready to set one up? See how to stream 24/7 on YouTube, or size your bitrate with the bitrate calculator.
Multiply the PC's power draw (in kilowatts) by 24 hours, by ~30.4 days, by your electricity rate. A 200W desktop at $0.17/kWh is about 0.2 × 24 × 30.4 × 0.17 ≈ $25 a month, or roughly $300 a year — just in electricity, before wear, internet and the machine being tied up.
YouTube itself is free to stream to. Your real cost is keeping something running around the clock to send the video: a home PC (electricity plus wear), a cloud VPS you manage yourself, or a managed service. A home PC is often the most expensive and least reliable option once you add it up — use the calculator above.
For occasional use it is fine, but running a PC nonstop for live streaming adds heat, fan wear and power draw, and any crash, Windows update or power blip takes your stream offline until you are back at the keyboard. That is why most 24/7 streamers move off their own machine.
A managed cloud streaming service is usually cheapest once you include electricity, hardware wear and your own time. StreamZop starts at $9/month for an always-on stream — typically less than the electricity of a desktop left running, with automatic restarts and no PC required.
Yes. YouTube allows continuous 24/7 live streams. You just need a stable source sending the video the whole time, which is exactly what StreamZop does from the cloud so your own computer does not have to stay on.
Often, yes. If your desktop draws 150–350W, the electricity alone usually meets or beats StreamZop's $9/month Starter plan — and that ignores the convenience of automatic restarts, no noise, and freeing up your computer. Plug your numbers into the calculator to see your exact figure.
Upload once, paste your stream key, and StreamZop keeps it live around the clock with automatic restarts.