Both platforms host internet radio stations, but the trade-off is sharp. Live365 bundles US, Canadian, and Mexican music royalties into the plan and sells five tiers from $65 to $1,099/mo. The headline prices include Live365-inserted ads on a 50/50 revenue share; a version without Live365's ads (Ad Control) costs more. CloudRadio One is one flat plan at $39/mo with unlimited listeners and 750 GB of storage, no platform-inserted ads, and you keep 100% of any ads you choose to run.
Live365 sells five broadcaster tiers. Each tier has a "with ads" price (Live365 inserts programmatic audio ads) and a "no ads" price. Listening hour caps and storage scale with the tier.
| Plan | With ads | No ads | TLH/mo | Storage | Bitrate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcast 1 | $65/mo | $89/mo | 1,500 | 50 GB | 192 kbps |
| Broadcast 2 | $109/mo | $149/mo | 3,500 | 75 GB | 192 kbps |
| Broadcast 3 | $219/mo | $299/mo | 7,000 | 150 GB | 320 kbps |
| Broadcast 4 | $549/mo | $729/mo | 10,000 | 300 GB | 320 kbps |
| Broadcast 5 | $1,099/mo | $1,459/mo | 20,000 | 750 GB | 320 kbps |
Prices checked October 2026, after Live365's September 2026 price increase. Annual billing saves two months. Listening hours over the plan are billed at $0.07 per hour. Check live365.com/broadcaster/pricing for the latest.
CloudRadio One ($39/mo) vs Live365 Broadcast 1 ($65/mo, the entry tier Live365 publicly advertises). Higher Live365 tiers unlock more capacity at significantly higher prices.
| Feature |
CloudRadio One $39/mo |
Live365 Broadcast 1 $65/mo (with Live365 ads) |
|---|---|---|
| Concurrent listeners | Unlimited | Unlimited (metered by TLH) |
| Listening hours / month | Unlimited | 1,500 TLH, then $0.07 per hour |
| Storage | 750 GB | 50 GB |
| Max audio quality | 256 kbps AAC | 192 kbps AAC or MP3 (320 kbps from BC3, $219) |
| HLS streaming | ✓ (adaptive bitrate) | Not listed |
| ICY / HTTP streaming | ✓ | ✓ |
| AutoDJ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduled programming | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live broadcasting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Embeddable player | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bundled music royalties (US, Canada, Mexico) | ✗ | ✓ (UK is an add-on) |
| Royalty reporting | SoundExchange Report of Use, ready to download and file | Filed for you |
| Live365 ad insertion | None. You run your own ads and keep 100% of revenue | Live365 inserts ads, 50/50 revenue share. $89/mo for Ad Control |
| Alexa skill | ✗ (Alexa can play your station once it is on TuneIn) | ✗ (higher tiers) |
| Branded mobile apps | ✗ | Add-on (included on higher tiers) |
| iHeartRadio distribution | ✗ | ✗ (BC4, $549+, US and Mexico) |
Bottom line: CloudRadio One costs $26 less per month, includes 15x more storage, and has no listening-hour meter or overage fees. You can run your own ads and keep 100% of the revenue. Live365's edge is bundled music royalties for listeners in the US, Canada, and Mexico (UK as an add-on) and a 50/50 ad revenue share if you let them sell inventory for you. That bundling is a real cost saver if you would otherwise pay ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange directly, but it is irrelevant for talk, podcast, royalty-free, or original-music stations.
Live365's signature feature is bundled music licensing for listeners in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The plan includes ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, AllTrack, Word Collections, and SoundExchange in the US, SOCAN and Re:Sound in Canada, and SOMEXFON and EMMAC/SACM in Mexico. Since May 2026, UK coverage (PPL and PRS for Music) is an add-on priced by listening hours. Coverage depends on the track details you send for each song. Live365 files your royalty reports for you.
CloudRadio does not bundle royalties. You handle music licensing yourself, either by streaming licensed-by-design content (talk, podcasts, original music, royalty-free libraries) or by paying the relevant societies directly. For US stations, CloudRadio builds the SoundExchange Report of Use from what aired, ready to download and file. If you broadcast commercial music in the US and do not already have your own licenses, the royalty math may favor Live365 even at $89/mo.
Live365 charges by total listener hours (TLH). Broadcast 1 includes 1,500 TLH per month. If your station has 50 average concurrent listeners, you will burn through that in about 30 hours of broadcasting. After that, Live365 bills $0.07 per listening hour, or you upgrade. Broadcast 2 ($109/mo) gives you 3,500 TLH; Broadcast 3 ($219/mo) gives you 7,000.
CloudRadio One does not meter listener hours. Whether you stream to 10 listeners or 10,000, the bill stays at $39/mo. For a growing station, this avoids overage bills or a forced upgrade mid-month.
CloudRadio streams over HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), the same protocol behind Apple Music and YouTube. HLS delivers adaptive bitrate: listeners on slow connections receive a lower-quality stream instead of buffering. CloudRadio also exposes a legacy Icecast endpoint for compatibility with older players and TuneIn-style aggregators.
Live365's pricing page lists one stream on Broadcast 1 and two on higher tiers, in AAC or MP3. It does not mention HLS or adaptive bitrate.
CloudRadio One includes 750 GB on the base plan, enough for tens of thousands of tracks. Live365 starts at 50 GB on Broadcast 1 and only reaches 750 GB on the $1,099/mo Broadcast 5 tier. If you have a deep music library or run multiple programmed shows, this gap matters.
No. CloudRadio is a hosting and broadcasting platform; it does not file ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or SoundExchange reports for you. It does build the SoundExchange Report of Use from what aired, so you can download it and file it yourself. If your station plays commercial music in a jurisdiction that requires performance licenses, you need to obtain those licenses directly or choose a service like Live365 that bundles them.
On the "with ads" prices, Live365 inserts its own audio ads into your stream and shares the revenue 50/50 with you. The Ad Control prices cost more and leave Live365's ads out. You can run your own ads on any Live365 plan. CloudRadio never inserts ads into your stream.
Yes. You can download your audio files from Live365 and re-upload them to CloudRadio. Playlists and schedules will need to be recreated. The biggest consideration is royalties: if Live365 was covering your music licensing, you will need to arrange your own coverage before switching.
Live365 offers a 14-day free trial. There is no permanent free tier. CloudRadio also does not offer a free plan, but our embeddable player and stream monitoring tools are free.
CloudRadio is a stronger fit. Royalty bundling is the main reason to pay Live365's premium, and talk, podcast, or royalty-free music stations do not need it. CloudRadio's flat pricing, larger storage, and HLS streaming are pure upside in that case.
Start with CloudRadio One at $39/month. Unlimited listeners, 750 GB storage, built-in AutoDJ, and HLS streaming. No listener-hour caps, no surprise overages.