YouTube is an amazing resource for sharing and discovering video content, there’s no doubt about that though there are some very fine alternatives out there with certain benefits over YouTube. YouTube lets users upload, view, and even stream certain videos while the alternatives are often missing one feature or another. While they are often overlooked in favor of the omnipresent and wildly popular YouTube, these alternatives are great in their own right and worth checking out for the variety and difference in content offerings.
1. DailyMotion
DailyMotion is like going back in time several years to what YouTube used to be before it became more focused on channels. It’s less focused but easier to just stumble across some crazy completely unrelated video you might be interested in. Like YouTube, you can also upload your own videos for free with limits, or sign up for an account and upload longer videos.
2. Vimeo
Vimeo has a very clean, modern interface and high quality, high resolution video. It’s geared towards those who want to create a portfolio of quality videos to share with others. You can upload up to 500 MB of data per week with a free account or increase that to 5GB with a monthly fee. One nice benefit is that Vimeo videos are completely free of ads for the entire experience.
3. flickr
For photo sharing and storage, flickr is a very popular platform. Many users don’t know you can also upload and view videos via flickr. You’re also given a generous terabyte of storage when using flickr so you can upload quite a few photos and videos. You won’t have the advanced editing and sharing features of YouTube but when it comes to bare bones uploading and sharing, flickr is great.
4. Veoh
Veoh is another popular video sharing and browsing site. You can upload your own videos or search for and view those uploaded by others. It has a vast selection of videos to choose from though the site itself is on the clunky side. It does have quite a few social features for finding friends, channels, and groups to share and discuss content with however.
5. Metacafe
Metacafe is even older than YouTube and still has a dedicated following. It is also like a throwback to the older version of YouTube which has much less curated content but makes it easier to find the strange and unusual. Unfortunately you apparently cannot easily upload content to Metacafe anymore but you can still easily browse and view the enormous number of video files that have been uploaded in the past.