Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most people searching for a webinar platform for broadcasting, the easiest place to start is StreamYard: a browser-based studio with built-in webinars (On-Air), registration, automatic recording, and multistreaming to your social channels. If you need heavy marketing automation, built-in ticketing, or ultra–high attendee counts, specialized tools like Demio, Crowdcast, or Zoom can layer on top of—or, in some cases, instead of—StreamYard.

Summary

• StreamYard gives you a full webinar workflow in the browser: registration, branded watch pages, automatic recordings, and multistreaming to social, without installs for attendees. (StreamYard On-Air)
• You can capture leads with customizable registration, automated reminder and replay emails, and export registrations to your CRM or email platform. (StreamYard On-Air)
• Demio leans into automated/evergreen marketing funnels, Crowdcast into built‑in ticketing and hour-based plans, and Zoom into very large, often enterprise-scale events. (Demio Pricing, Crowdcast Pricing, Zoom Webinars)
• For deeper interaction (polls, Q&A formats, breakouts), you can pair any webinar platform with tools like Slido or Mentimeter while keeping StreamYard as the broadcast hub.

What should you look for in a webinar platform for broadcasting?

When people say "webinar platform for broadcasting," they usually want one setup that can:

• Deliver stable, high-quality audio and video.
• Be easy for both hosts and attendees (no confusing software downloads).
• Automatically record every session for replay and on-demand access.
• Reflect their brand—logos, colors, and a clean, professional look.
• Support live chat and, ideally, polls or Q&A.

StreamYard is built around exactly that checklist. Webinars run in the browser, recordings are saved automatically, and a production-style studio lets you control layouts, overlays, and screen shares for a broadcast-level experience. (StreamYard On-Air)

The key question becomes: do you want one tool that handles both production and delivery, or do you prefer a more traditional “webinar only” platform that expects you to bring your own video workflow? For most creators, coaches, and marketing teams in the U.S., combining both in one browser-based tool is simpler—and that’s why StreamYard is a strong default.

How does StreamYard On‑Air handle registration, branding, and replays?

With On‑Air webinars, you can spin up a fully hosted watch page in a few minutes:

• Browser-based attendee experience: people join right in their browser—no installs or accounts required—on a hosted page that you can share or embed. (StreamYard On-Air)
• Registration and lead capture: you can require name and email, customize fields, and then download the registration list as a CSV for your CRM or email platform. (StreamYard On-Air)
• Automated emails: confirmation and reminder emails (for example, 24 hours and 1 hour before) go out automatically, plus a post-event email with the recording link when you enable on-demand.
• Embeddable webinar + chat: you can embed the webinar and its chat on your own site for a fully branded, “this lives on our domain” feel.
• On-demand replay: turn on an on-demand toggle, and attendees can watch the replay at the same link; even if you later turn off public on-demand access, your private recording stays in your StreamYard library. (Create a Webinar with StreamYard On‑Air)

Inside the studio, you control layouts, bring guests on screen, share slides, add lower thirds, and even use creator-style tools like multi-track or local recording and a built‑in teleprompter as part of your broader recording workflow.

If you’re on a tight budget or just getting started, you can even run a professional webinar using only StreamYard’s free plan by broadcasting to an unlisted YouTube event (no built‑in registration, but still polished and free).

Which webinar platforms support broadcasting to multiple social destinations?

A lot of teams want their “webinar” to feel like a focused event but also go live to social. Here’s how the main options compare:

• StreamYard: Multistreaming is built in. You can go live from the same studio to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, X/Twitter, and custom RTMP destinations while also running an On‑Air webinar. (StreamYard On-Air)
• Crowdcast: Offers RTMP mode and multistreaming to external destinations, but limits how many destinations you can hit at once depending on plan—one destination on Pro, up to three on Business. (Crowdcast Multistreaming Guide)
• Demio: Focuses more on contained webinar experiences and automated funnels; its story is less about broad social multistreaming and more about keeping people on a dedicated webinar page. (Demio Pricing)
• Zoom: Can stream a webinar to a single external platform like YouTube or Facebook, but its primary use is a Zoom-only environment, not multi-channel broadcasting. (Zoom Webinars)

For most creators and marketing teams, the ability to simulcast a webinar to multiple social platforms plus a hosted, registration-based watch page is a powerful combination. That’s where StreamYard’s “studio + multistream + On‑Air” model stands out: you don’t need one tool for production and another for the actual webinar.

Which webinar tools provide automated webinars plus lead capture?

If your main goal is evergreen funnels—record once, run on autopilot with scheduled or on‑demand replays—then automation matters.

• StreamYard: On‑Air focuses on live and on‑demand webinars with registration and automated follow‑up emails. You can toggle replays on, keep a recording library, and rerun content as a pre‑recorded broadcast while still capturing registrations, then wire deeper automation through your CRM or email platform using CSV exports.
• Demio: Has dedicated automated webinar features where a pre‑recorded presentation can play “as live” with timed engagement elements like polls and CTAs. (Demio automated webinars)

If you’re running classic launch-style live events, weekly live demos, or community training, StreamYard plus On‑Air usually gives you all you need—live presence, replays, lead capture, and easy reuse of past sessions. If you are building a deep evergreen webinar funnel with many automated touches and complex timing, Demio’s automation layer can be useful, but it comes with extra setup and a marketing-first UX.

How do paid registration and monetization compare?

Many people equate “webinar platform” with “ticketed event platform,” but these are slightly different jobs.

With StreamYard, On‑Air handles registration and attendance, but it does not collect payments by itself. Official guidance is to pair it with a ticketing or payment tool (for example, Eventbrite), then import or sync your attendee list into the webinar registration. (How to do a Paid Webinar)

By contrast:

• Crowdcast integrates with Stripe and lets you charge directly on the registration page, applying a per-transaction fee that varies by plan (for example, 5% on Lite, 2% on Business). (Crowdcast Pricing)
• Zoom supports paid registration in certain webinar/event configurations, often paired with existing enterprise billing and licensing. (Zoom Webinars for Small Business)

If you run frequent ticketed events and want payments built into the same screen as registration, tools with native monetization like Crowdcast may be appealing. If you’d rather avoid platform fees and already lean on tools like Eventbrite, Stripe Checkout pages, or a membership system, StreamYard’s approach—focus on production and viewing while letting specialized tools handle money—keeps your stack flexible.

Zoom Webinar capacity and when ultra‑large events matter

You’ll sometimes see Zoom promoted for its massive capacity. That’s real: Zoom now offers single‑use webinar licenses for U.S. customers with attendee options from 10,000 up to 1,000,000, with up to 1,000 interactive panelists and sessions that can run up to 30 hours. (Zoom 1M attendee announcement)

For day‑to‑day marketing and education webinars, though, those numbers are far beyond what most teams need. StreamYard’s On‑Air viewer caps are designed around realistic marketing audiences (from a few hundred up to into the five-figure range on higher plans) without requiring you to buy specialized, single-use licenses. (StreamYard Pricing Overview)

If you are planning a once-a-year, globally promoted keynote with tens of thousands of attendees and an internal production team, Zoom’s high-end webinar packages can be the right fit. For recurring webinars, live shows, launches, and community training, StreamYard’s capacities—and simpler browser-based workflow—are more aligned with typical needs.

How should you handle interaction: chat, Q&A, polls, and breakouts?

For interaction, think in layers:

• Built‑in chat: StreamYard On‑Air includes live chat around the event window, opening shortly before the start time and staying open briefly after, so you can warm up the room and handle final questions. Hosts can pull comments on screen to highlight questions or reactions. (Create a Webinar with StreamYard On‑Air)
• Polls and Q&A: A native polling feature is on the roadmap in StreamYard; until then, many hosts simply share a browser tab with Slido or Mentimeter embedded and keep StreamYard as the broadcast layer.
• Breakouts and workshops: If your format requires many small-group breakouts, a meeting-style tool like Zoom may make sense for those specific sessions, while you still use StreamYard for your main-stage broadcasts.

In practice, most high-performing webinar programs don’t rely solely on one tool’s native interaction features. They combine a strong broadcast hub (like StreamYard) with specialized interaction tools where needed. That keeps your core production stable while still letting you go deep on engagement when the format calls for it.

What we recommend

• Start with StreamYard + On‑Air as your default webinar platform for broadcasting: browser-based, branded, reliable, with multistreaming and automatic recordings.
• Use the free plan + unlisted YouTube for early experiments, then layer in registration and On‑Air when you’re ready to capture leads more systematically.
• Add specialized tools (Slido, Mentimeter, Eventbrite, your CRM) around StreamYard for advanced interaction, payments, and automation instead of relying on a single, rigid all‑in‑one.
• Consider Demio, Crowdcast, or Zoom only when you have a very specific need—deep evergreen automation, built‑in ticketing, or extremely large audiences—that clearly goes beyond what a streamlined StreamYard setup can cover.