Loom vs Vidyard vs Wistia (2026)
Three corrections most guides get wrong: Loom AI features require Business+AI ($20/user) — not included free. Vidyard Teams is $99/user/mo (not $300/mo). Wistia's March 2026 plan overhaul now has real numbers: Free → Business $79/mo annual → Business+Lead Gen $329/mo annual → Enterprise.
Find yourself first
Remote teams
Replacing meetings with async video updates. Loom's record-to-link workflow fits this best.
Sales teams
Sending personalised video outreach to prospects. Vidyard's CRM-linked analytics are purpose-built for this.
Marketing teams
Hosting video on their website with analytics. Wistia's SEO-friendly player leads here.
Customer success teams
Sending onboarding walkthroughs. All three work; Loom is fastest for quick one-off recordings.
Anyone checking Loom's free AI claim
Spoiler: AI summaries are NOT on the free plan — this page corrects that clearly.
Teams confused by recent billing changes
Loom's Atlassian migration and Wistia's March 2026 overhaul both changed pricing structures.
Three things most guides get wrong
The 10-second answer
Loom (Atlassian)
Free (25 videos, 5-min, no AI). Business $15/user/mo. Business+AI $20/user/mo (AI summaries, chapters). Acquired by Atlassian 2023 — billing changes to watch.
Free → $15 → $20/user/moVidyard
Free (5 videos/mo + 15 AI avatar videos). Starter $59/user/mo. Teams $99/user/mo. Per-recipient analytics tied to HubSpot/Salesforce.
Free → $59 → $99/user/moWistia
Free (25GB storage, AI tools). Business $79/mo annual (250GB, 3 users). Business+Lead Gen $329/mo annual (CRM integration). New storage-based model since March 2026.
Free → $79 → $329/moMatch your situation
| Your situation | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want to replace long emails with quick video updates | Loom | Fastest record-to-link workflow — one click, instant shareable URL. |
| Your sales team sends 1:1 video to prospects | Vidyard | Per-recipient analytics tied to HubSpot/Salesforce pipeline — unique. |
| You host marketing videos on your website | Wistia | Ad-free hosting, lead capture, heatmaps, SEO-friendly player. |
| You want AI summaries and auto-chapters on recordings | Loom Business+AI $20/user | AI features require Business+AI — NOT included on free or Business plans. |
| You need basic free async video with no AI features | Loom free | 25 videos, 5-min limit, basic transcriptions — free forever. |
| You need to track exactly who watched and for how long | Vidyard | Named viewer + watch % + company ID — Loom only shows basic view counts. |
| Video SEO matters — you want Google to index your content | Wistia | SEO-friendly structured data player — Loom and Vidyard don't have this. |
| You're evaluating Wistia and saw old Plus/Pro/Advanced names | Verify current plan | Those tiers retired March 17, 2026 — current structure is Free/Business/Business+Lead Gen/Enterprise. |
What will your team actually cost?
Loom and Vidyard charge per user. Wistia charges per account (with 3 users included on Business, then $25/extra user) — a fundamentally different model. Drag the seat slider to see how costs compare for your team size.
Assumptions: Loom and Vidyard are strictly per-user. Wistia's Business plan includes 3 users at $79/mo; each additional user beyond 3 costs $25/mo. Wistia's Business+Lead Gen ($329/mo) also includes 3 users with the same $25/extra-user rate. All figures are annual billing rates.
The numbers that matter
Business+AI — NOT on free plan as widely claimed
per month annual — not $300/mo
250GB, 3 users, annual billing
bundles CRM integration, annual billing
$975M acquisition 2023 — billing changes ongoing
old Plus/Pro/Advanced retired for new signups
Three tools, three philosophies
Loom (Atlassian) — Best for Async Comms
Free → $15 → $20/user/moRecord screen and camera — share a link instantly. Acquired by Atlassian 2023.
- Fastest record-to-link workflow — one click, instant URL
- Business+AI: auto-summaries, chapters, filler removal, meeting recaps
- Deep Atlassian integration — Jira, Confluence, Slack, Notion
- Cross-platform: Chrome extension, desktop app, iOS, Android
- Viewer can leave emoji reactions and time-stamped comments
- AI features (summaries, chapters) are NOT free — require $20/user Business+AI
- Atlassian acquisition caused billing surprises — Creator Lite being discontinued
- Stability issues reported since Atlassian migration
- No CRM integration or per-recipient sales analytics
Vidyard — Best for Sales Teams
Free → $59 → $99/user/moSales video platform — CRM-linked analytics, AI personalisation at scale.
- Per-recipient analytics — who watched, watch %, company identification
- Native HubSpot, Salesforce, Salesloft, Marketo integrations
- AI avatar video generation for personalised outreach at scale
- Video Agent — auto-creates and sends videos based on CRM deal events
- 4K recording quality on all plans including free
- Starter at $59/user/mo is 3–4x more expensive than Loom Business
- Free plan limited to 5 videos/month (not unlimited as older guides say)
- Overkill and overpriced for internal async communication
- Chrome extension reliability issues reported by users
Wistia — Best for Marketing Video
Free → $79 → $329/mo (new March 2026 structure)Professional video hosting — SEO-friendly, lead capture, ad-free. Fully restructured March 2026.
- Zero ads on all plans — your video, your brand
- SEO-friendly player — Google indexes your video content
- Video heatmaps and engagement analytics per viewer
- Lead capture forms embedded directly in video
- AI dubbing, social clip generation, and captions included on Free
- New storage-based model (since March 2026) — 250GB fills faster than expected for active teams
- Business+Lead Gen ($329/mo) needed for CRM integration — not included in base Business
- Extra users cost $25/mo each beyond the 3 included
- Not built for 1:1 sales video outreach or internal async communication
Strengths at a glance
| Criteria | Loom | Vidyard | Wistia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup speed | Best — minutes | Moderate | Moderate |
| AI summaries & chapters | $20/user Business+AI only | Avatar gen on all plans incl. free | Included even on free plan |
| Free plan | 25 total, 5-min limit | 5 videos/mo + 15 AI avatars | 25GB storage, AI tools |
| CRM integration | No native CRM | Best — named viewer data | $329/mo Business+Lead Gen tier |
| Entry paid (annual) | $15/user Business | $59/user — expensive | $79/mo (3 users included) |
| Pricing model clarity | Watch Atlassian billing changes | Stable since Feb 2025 restructure | New structure since March 2026 |
🟢 STRONG · 🟠 ACCEPTABLE WITH CAVEATS · 🔴 WEAK / WATCH OUT
Feature by feature
| Feature | Loom | Vidyard | Wistia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ⚡ 25 videos total, 5-min limit, no AI | ⚡ 5 videos/mo + 15 AI avatar vid (not unlimited) | ✓ 25GB storage, AI creation tools |
| Entry paid (annual) | ✓ Business $15/user/mo | Starter $59/user/mo | Business $79/mo (3 users incl.) |
| AI summaries & chapters | ✗ Business+AI only ($20/user) — NOT free | ✓ AI avatar generation all plans | ✓ AI dubbing, social clips, captions |
| CRM integration | ✗ No native CRM | ✓ Best — HubSpot, Salesforce, Salesloft native | ⚡ Business+Lead Gen tier ($329/mo) |
| Per-viewer analytics | ⚡ Basic view counts only | ✓ Best — named viewer + watch % + company | ✓ Heatmaps + engagement per viewer |
| Lead capture forms | ✗ No | ✓ In-video CTAs | ✓ Email gates + in-video CTAs |
| SEO-friendly player | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✓ Google indexes content |
| Storage included (entry paid) | Unlimited video count | Unlimited video count | 250GB (Business) |
| Pricing model | Per user | Per user | ✓ Per account — 3 users included, then $25/extra |
Every plan, verified
Three corrections: (1) Loom AI features require Business+AI at $20/user/month. (2) Vidyard Teams is $99/user/month, not $300/month. (3) Wistia's March 17, 2026 overhaul now has real numbers below — no more "verify at wistia.com" placeholder.
| Tier | Loom (Atlassian) | Vidyard | Wistia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 25 videos total · 5-min recording · 720p · basic transcriptions · no AI | 5 videos/month · 15 AI avatar videos · 4K quality | 25GB storage · 1 user · AI creation tools · basic analytics |
| Entry paid (annual) | Business $15/user/mo · unlimited video · 4K · custom branding · NO AI | Starter $59/user/mo · per-recipient analytics · CRM integration | Business $79/mo ($99 monthly) · 250GB storage · 3 users · 1TB bandwidth |
| AI / add-on tier | Business+AI $20/user/mo — auto-summaries, chapters, filler removal | AI Avatar generation included on all plans including free | Business + Lead Gen $329/mo ($412 monthly) — bundles CRM automation (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Eloqua) |
| Teams/Growth tier | Enterprise (custom) | ✓ Teams $99/user/mo (NOT $300/mo — corrected Feb 2025) | Enterprise (custom) — unlimited media, 2TB+ bandwidth, dedicated support |
| Extra seats | $15 or $20/user (same per-seat rate) | $59 or $99/user (same per-seat rate) | $25/user/mo beyond the 3 included on Business or Business+Lead Gen |
| Watch out for | AI summaries are NOT on free or Business plans. Atlassian migration: Creator Lite seats auto-upgrade to paid during transition — check your workspace. | Free plan is 5 videos/month, not unlimited. Starter $59/user is expensive for small teams if CRM analytics aren't needed. | Old Plus/Pro/Advanced retired March 17, 2026. Storage-based billing means overages trigger automatically — 250GB fills faster than expected for active video teams. |
Tool by tool, honestly
Loom — post-Atlassian, faster integration, more billing complexity
Free → $15 → $20/user/moLoom was acquired by Atlassian in October 2023 for $975 million. The acquisition brought deeper integrations but also genuine billing friction worth knowing about upfront.
New AI features arrived post-acquisition: filler word removal, silence removal, auto-meeting recaps, text-based editing, and auto-chapters. But these AI features are not free — they require the Business + AI plan at $20/user/month (annual). The free Starter plan and the $15/user Business plan include basic transcriptions only. Many comparison guides and even some Loom marketing materials imply AI features come with the free plan; they do not.
The Atlassian migration introduced billing complexity that has caught teams off guard. Creator Lite seats — previously free workspace members who could view but not record — are being phased out. As they're discontinued, Loom auto-upgrades them to paid Creator seats during the migration grace period. Accounts created after February 2026 are already on the new Atlassian billing system with a 10-user limit on the free plan — a significant reduction from the previous 50-member free workspace cap.
Vidyard — sales intelligence platform, not just video messaging
Free → $59 → $99/user/moVidyard restructured its pricing in February 2025, and the Teams plan correction ($99/user, not $300) is one of the most persistent errors circulating in older comparisons.
The free plan was also restructured — it now includes 5 videos per month plus 15 AI avatar videos, not unlimited recording as some guides still state. The 15 AI avatar videos per month on the free plan is genuinely useful: it lets sales teams test personalised video outreach before committing to a paid plan.
Vidyard's Video Agent is the most significant product development since the pricing restructure. Video Agent automatically creates and sends personalised AI avatar videos based on CRM deal events — a prospect downloads content, books a demo, or goes cold after a proposal, and Video Agent fires a personalised video without any rep involvement. For outbound SDR teams, this changes the economics of video prospecting from a time-intensive manual activity to an automated workflow.
Wistia — new plans March 2026, still the marketing video specialist
Free → $79 → $329/moWistia's March 17, 2026 overhaul moved the platform from per-video-count billing to storage-based billing — the most significant pricing change since the company introduced its previous Plus/Pro/Advanced structure.
The current structure is now clear: Free ($0, 25GB storage, AI creation tools, basic analytics), Business ($79/month annual, $99/month monthly, 250GB storage, 1TB bandwidth, 3 users included, +$25/extra user), Business + Lead Gen ($329/month annual, $412/month monthly, bundles what was previously a separate "Automation Suite" add-on connecting to HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and Eloqua), and Enterprise (custom, unlimited media, 2TB+ bandwidth). Customers who signed up before March 17, 2026 remain on legacy plans until migrated, with advance notice from Wistia before any changes.
Wistia's core value proposition remains unchanged regardless of plan structure. It is categorically different from Loom and Vidyard — a video hosting and marketing platform for content that lives on your website, not a recording or outreach tool. The ad-free player, SEO-structured data, in-video lead capture forms, and engagement heatmaps address marketing teams building video libraries. One practical note: the 250GB storage on Business fills faster than the old per-video model suggested — teams recording monthly webinars in 1080p commonly add 20-40GB per month, filling the plan within 8-12 months of active use.
Choose by fit
Choose Loom if…
- You want the fastest async video recording and sharing workflow
- Your team uses Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence) — deep integration
- Budget allows Business ($15) or Business+AI ($20) per user
- AI summaries and auto-chapters are needed — budget for Business+AI
- Internal async communication is the primary use case
Choose Vidyard if…
- Your sales team sends personalised video to B2B prospects
- You need to know exactly who watched and for how long
- You use HubSpot or Salesforce and want video analytics in deal records
- AI-powered automated video outreach (Video Agent) is relevant
- Your deal size justifies $59/user Starter or $99/user Teams
Choose Wistia if…
- You host marketing or product videos on your website
- Video SEO matters — you want Google to index your content
- You need lead capture forms built into your videos
- Brand control is important — no third-party ads on your content
- You've confirmed current pricing reflects the March 2026 structure
Match the tool to your job
Free async video
Loom free25 videos, 5-min limit — no AI but functional for light use.
AI summaries & chapters
Loom Business+AI $20NOT free — requires Business+AI plan at $20/user/mo annual.
B2B sales video outreach
VidyardPer-recipient analytics + CRM — no other tool has this combination.
SEO video hosting
WistiaGoogle indexes content — keeps SEO value on your domain, not YouTube.
Lead capture in video
WistiaIn-video email gates and CTAs — Loom and Vidyard don't have this.
AI avatar video at scale
VidyardVideo Agent auto-creates personalised AI avatar videos based on CRM events.
Atlassian team integration
LoomDeep Jira, Confluence, Slack integration since Atlassian acquisition.
Marketing video analytics
WistiaHeatmaps, per-viewer engagement, A/B testing — best for marketing teams.
Small team, account-based pricing
Wistia Business3 users included at $79/mo — cheaper than per-user for small teams.
What vendors won't lead with
🤖 Loom — AI features are NOT on the free plan
Auto-summaries, auto-chapters, filler word removal, and meeting recaps are Business+AI features at $20/user/month. The free plan and the $15/user Business plan include basic transcriptions only.
💳 Loom — Atlassian billing migration surprises
Creator Lite seats (previously free viewer-only accounts) are being discontinued as Atlassian integrates billing. They auto-upgrade to paid Creator seats during migration. Check your workspace member list before the migration hits your account.
📹 Vidyard — free plan is 5 videos/month, not unlimited
Many older guides still show Vidyard free as "unlimited recording." After the February 2025 restructure, the free plan includes 5 videos per month plus 15 AI avatar videos.
💰 Vidyard — Starter $59/user scales fast for teams
A 10-person sales team on Vidyard Starter costs $7,080/year. Teams plan at $99/user is better per-seat value for larger teams. Verify that CRM analytics genuinely improve pipeline before rolling out to a full team.
📦 Wistia — storage fills faster than the old model suggested
250GB on Business sounds generous, but teams recording monthly webinars in 1080p commonly add 20-40GB/month — filling the plan within 8-12 months. Archived content still counts toward storage, despite sounding like cold storage.
🔌 Wistia — CRM integration requires the $329/mo tier
The base $79/mo Business plan does not include HubSpot/Marketo/Pardot integration. That requires Business + Lead Gen at $329/month — a $250/month jump if CRM-driven video attribution matters to your team.
Quick answers
No — this is a common misconception. Loom's free Starter plan includes basic transcriptions but NOT AI features like auto-summaries, auto-chapters, filler word removal, or meeting recaps. Those require the Business + AI plan at $20/user/month (annual). The Business plan at $15/user/month also does not include AI features.
For B2B sales teams with CRM integration and meaningful deal sizes, yes. Vidyard's per-recipient analytics are genuinely valuable for pipeline prioritisation. The Teams plan is $99/user/month — not $300/month as older guides show. The free plan includes 5 videos/month plus 15 AI avatar videos.
Wistia's current structure (for new signups) is: Free ($0, 25GB storage), Business ($79/month annual, 250GB storage, 3 users included), Business + Lead Gen ($329/month annual, adds CRM integration with HubSpot/Marketo/Pardot), and Enterprise (custom pricing). The old Plus ($19), Pro ($79), and Advanced ($319) tiers are retired for new customers as of March 17, 2026 — existing customers remain on legacy plans until migrated.
For async communication, Loom replaces many meetings that don't need to be live — record a walkthrough, send the link, the recipient watches on their schedule. For real-time collaboration, live brainstorming, or two-way interaction, Loom is not a Zoom replacement. Most teams use both alongside each other.
Yes — Vidyard has native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Salesloft, and Marketo. Sales reps can send video directly from their CRM, track viewer engagement per contact, and see video analytics inside deal records. This pipeline-linked analytics is Vidyard's primary differentiator over Loom and Wistia for sales teams.
Wistia is best for marketing teams hosting video on their website who need SEO-friendly video (Google indexes their content), lead capture forms, ad-free hosting, and engagement analytics. It's not built for 1:1 sales outreach (Vidyard) or internal async communication (Loom).
Ready to try these video tools?
All three offer free plans — try before you commit.