SStreamPartPicker
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Best Relay / VPS for streaming

The middle layer so a connection drop becomes a BRB screen, not a stream restart.

Which relay / vps should you use for streaming?
StreamPartPicker tracks 3 relay / vps options for streaming, ordered by what each costs to run for a year: anything you buy once plus twelve months of subscription. belaBOX Cloud is the cheapest to run at $10/mo, IRLToolkit the most at $100/mo. Options with no fixed price, free software and pay-per-GB data, sit first. Nothing here has a retailer rating to rank on, so cost and the specs below are the comparison, and none of it is lab-tested by us.
The Relay Turns a Drop Into a BRB

Sending a mobile stream to your own SRT relay first, instead of straight to the platform, is what turns a lost connection into a short BRB screen rather than an ended broadcast.

Why this rule

Ordered by first-year running cost, cheapest first. How we compare

Buy links are affiliate links: we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices are tracked estimates, not live prices. Full disclosure

  1. 1

    belaBOX Cloud

    $10/mo
    $120 first year

    Managed SRT relay plus phone control to start/stop the encoder. The cheap, popular choice.

    Type
    Managed relay
    Cloud OBS
    No
    Latency
    Low
    Learn more Use in Phone builds
  2. 2

    Self-hosted VPS

    $20/mo
    $240 first year

    Run nginx-rtmp/SRTLA and OBS on your own VPS from a host like DigitalOcean or Vultr. Cheapest at scale if you are technical.

    The catch: You set up and maintain Linux, OBS, and the relay yourself.

    Type
    Self-host
    Cloud OBS
    DIY
    Latency
    Low (SRT)
    Learn more Use in IRL Backpack builds
  3. 3

    IRLToolkit

    $100/mo
    $1,200 first year

    Managed cloud OBS with offline protection, SRT/H.265, and scene control. Hands-off.

    The catch: The premium option at $100+/mo.

    Type
    Managed cloud OBS
    Cloud OBS
    Yes
    Latency
    Low
    Learn more Use in Phone builds

We are building one of these ourselves. SPP Relay is in development and is not on the list above until it ships.

Guides that use these

Plan a full build in the configurator

Prices and plan terms are what the provider published when we last checked, not a live feed, and services change them. Nothing here is tested in a lab by us. How picks are chosen: editorial policy.