RadioKing is a polished French platform with a website builder, mobile apps, and three pricing tiers. CloudRadio is a single $39/mo plan with unlimited listeners, 750 GB of storage, and HLS streaming. Here is an honest, current breakdown.
The closest apples-to-apples comparison is CloudRadio One ($39/mo) vs RadioKing Start ($34/mo). The $5 difference hides a much larger gap in storage, stream quality, and listening-hour caps.
| CloudRadio One · $39/mo | RadioKing Start · $34/mo | |
|---|---|---|
| Concurrent listeners | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Listening hours / month | Unlimited | 20,000 |
| Stream quality | 256 kbps AAC (HLS) + Icecast MP3 | 128 kbps MP3 |
| Media storage | 750 GB (~150,000 tracks) | 10 GB (~2,500 tracks) |
| Adaptive bitrate (HLS) | 64 / 128 / 256 kbps AAC | ✗ (single MP3 stream) |
| AutoDJ & scheduling | Full automation, scheduling, live takeover | Full automation, scheduling, live takeover |
| Radio website / mobile app | Station page with QR code, 16 embeddable player designs | Radio Page add-on ($10/mo), website and mobile app add-ons |
| Free trial | None (no contract, cancel anytime) | 14 days |
Bottom line: For roughly the same monthly price, CloudRadio gives you 75x the storage, 2x the bitrate, AAC instead of MP3, HLS adaptive streaming, and no listening-hour cap. RadioKing is stronger if you want a turnkey radio website and a branded mobile app under one roof.
RadioKing splits its offer into three tiers. Storage, bitrate, and listening hours are the levers that move you up the ladder.
| Plan | Price | Storage | Hours/mo | Bitrate | Concurrent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $34/mo | 10 GB | 20,000 | 128 kbps MP3 | Unlimited |
| Pro | $64/mo | 25 GB | 150,000 | MP3 up to 192 kbps, AAC up to 64 kbps | Unlimited |
| Business | $119/mo | 50 GB | 500,000 | MP3 up to 320 kbps, AAC up to 64 kbps | Unlimited |
RadioKing prices in effect from September 15, 2026, checked October 2026. The $19/mo Discover tier is no longer offered. Annual billing saves two months. Mobile apps start at $29/mo and a radio website at $44/mo, and require an Apple Developer account ($99/yr) and Google Play account ($25 one-time). Check radioking.com/pricing-radio for the latest.
Both platforms let you build playlists, schedule shows, and switch to a live input. RadioKing uses a fairly traditional scheduling model where you assign blocks to time slots.
CloudRadio uses a layered priority stack: live input beats schedule, schedule beats rotation playlists, rotation beats the fallback library. Every layer is optional, and CloudRadio always plays the highest one available. Add a schedule when you want timed shows, plug in SAM Broadcaster or any encoder when you want to go live, and otherwise the library and rotation keep you on air.
RadioKing includes real-time and historical statistics, plus an exportable web player widget, on its paid tiers.
CloudRadio bundles a free stream-monitoring service that checks your stream every minute from four regions, detects dead air, and alerts you by email, Slack, Discord or webhook the moment something breaks. It works on any Shoutcast v2, Icecast, or HLS stream, even ones not hosted with us. Our free embeddable player ships in 16 designs with automatic album art and live metadata, and works with any HTTPS audio stream.
RadioKing Start gives you 10 GB of media storage, which holds about 2,500 average MP3 tracks. The Pro plan at $64/mo gives you 25 GB, and Business at $119/mo gives you 50 GB. For a real music rotation, podcast archive, or pre-recorded show library, even the top tier fills up fast.
CloudRadio bundles 750 GB on the $39/mo plan. That is roughly 150,000 tracks, plus headroom for jingles, voice tracks, ads, and recorded shows. Storage is rarely the limiting factor on CloudRadio, so you can build a deep library without worrying about cleanup.
RadioKing Start streams at 128 kbps MP3, single bitrate. The Pro plan ($64/mo) adds three encodings: MP3 up to 192 kbps and an AAC stream up to 64 kbps. Business ($119/mo) raises MP3 to 320 kbps. RadioKing's pricing page does not list adaptive HLS.
CloudRadio runs an HLS ladder on every plan: 64, 128, and 256 kbps AAC. Each listener automatically gets the best quality their connection can handle, which means cleaner audio on Wi-Fi and no buffering on patchy mobile data. A legacy Icecast MP3 endpoint is still available for older players and directories.
Listening hours are the lever RadioKing uses to move stations up the price ladder. 20,000 hours/month sounds like a lot, but a single 24/7 listener uses 720, so 27 round-the-clock listeners is enough to burn through Start. Pro buys you 150,000, Business 500,000. RadioKing emails you at 80% and 90% of your hours. At 100%, listeners can no longer tune in unless you move to a bigger plan.
CloudRadio does not meter listening hours. The plan is flat: 10 listeners or 10,000, the bill stays $39. If you are running a real 24/7 station with a live audience, this is the predictability that matters most.
RadioKing's strongest argument is the bundle: a customizable Radio Page on Pro and Business ($10/mo add-on on Start), a radio website builder from $44/mo, and branded mobile apps for iOS and Android from $29/mo. The mobile apps require you to bring an Apple Developer membership and a Google Play account, but the build, branding, and store submission are handled by RadioKing.
CloudRadio focuses on the stream and the embeddable player widget. Every CloudRadio One station gets a station page: a full-screen player at its own link, with recently played songs, your social links and a printable QR code, at no extra cost. We do not build full radio websites or mobile apps. If you already have a website, a brand, and a community, that focus keeps the platform simple and the price flat. If you want a turnkey "radio + website + app" bundle, RadioKing is more direct.
Not for the full AutoDJ + HLS product. CloudRadio's lowest tier is $39/mo for the One plan. We do offer classic Shoutcast and Icecast server hosting starting at $5/mo if you already run your own AutoDJ software (RadioDJ, SAM, mAirList, etc.) and just need a streaming server.
Yes. Download your media from RadioKing's manager, re-upload to CloudRadio, and rebuild your scheduling. The harder part is the stream URL: any link to your RadioKing stream needs to be updated in players, embeds, smart-speaker skills, and TuneIn or Radio.net entries. Run both platforms in parallel for a transition window.
The cushion goes away because CloudRadio does not meter hours. A station that was carefully managing usage on RadioKing Start can simply broadcast without watching the counter on CloudRadio One.
No. We provide a stream URL, an embeddable HTML5 player, and a station page that listeners can add to their phone's home screen. If you want a branded mobile app, you can either submit your CloudRadio stream to a third-party app builder, or use RadioKing's bundle if that is the priority. Our focus is the broadcast core: stream delivery, automation, and reliability.
$39/month, flat. Unlimited listeners, 750 GB storage, HLS streaming, and free stream monitoring for any Icecast, Shoutcast v2 or HLS stream.