COMPARISON

CloudRadio vs RadioKing: which is right for your station?

RadioKing is a polished French platform with a website builder, mobile apps, and four 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.

Head to head: $39/mo vs $34/mo.

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) 5 GB (~1,250 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 Embeddable player widget Hosted radio page, mobile app add-on
Free trial 14 days 14 days

Bottom line: For roughly the same monthly price, CloudRadio gives you 150x 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.

All RadioKing plans at a glance.

RadioKing splits its offer into four tiers. Storage, bitrate, and listening hours are the levers that move you up the ladder.

Plan Price Storage Hours/mo Bitrate Concurrent
Discover $19/mo 1 GB 150 128 kbps MP3 50
Start $34/mo 5 GB 20,000 128 kbps MP3 Unlimited
Pro $64/mo 10 GB 150,000 Up to 192 kbps (MP3 + AAC) Unlimited
Business $119/mo 20 GB 500,000 Up to 320 kbps Unlimited

Pricing as of late 2024 / early 2026. Annual billing saves roughly two months. Mobile apps require an Apple Developer account ($99/yr) and Google Play account ($25 one-time). Check radioking.com/pricing-radio for the latest.

Where each platform shines.

Choose CloudRadio if you want:

  • One flat plan, no upgrade pressure. $39/mo gets you the full feature set with no cap on hours or listeners.
  • 750 GB of storage instead of 5 GB. Room for a deep music library, jingles, voice tracks, and full episodes.
  • HLS adaptive streaming at 256 kbps AAC that works in browsers, iOS, Android, and CarPlay without buffering.
  • No listening-hour anxiety. Your bill stays the same whether the audience grows 10x overnight or not.
  • A stream URL you control. Use it in any third-party player, directory, or app.
  • Layered automation with a priority stack: live input beats schedule, schedule beats rotation, rotation beats fallback. Use as much or as little as you want.
  • Free stream monitoring with 60-second uptime checks, dead-air detection, and email alerts, included on every plan.
  • A free HLS-ready player widget with multiple styles (Bar, Mini, Vinyl, Cassette, Cyber), automatic album art, and live metadata.

Choose RadioKing if you want:

  • A hosted radio website with a customizable Radio Page included on Pro and up.
  • Branded iOS and Android apps published under your own name (you supply the developer accounts).
  • An entry-level $19/mo tier for hobby projects that don't need much storage or hours.
  • French and EU support with a long track record of running thousands of stations.

Key differences explained.

Automation: layered priority stack

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.

Monitoring and embeddable player

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 runs 60-second uptime checks, detects dead air, and emails you the moment something breaks. It works on any Shoutcast, Icecast, or HLS stream, even ones not hosted with us. Our free embeddable player ships in five styles (Bar, Mini, Vinyl, Cassette, Cyber) with automatic album art and live metadata, and works with any HTTPS audio stream.

Storage: 5 GB vs 750 GB

RadioKing Start gives you 5 GB of media storage, which holds about 1,250 average MP3 tracks. The Pro plan at $64/mo doubles that to 10 GB, and Business at $119/mo gives you 20 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.

Stream quality and HLS

RadioKing Start streams at 128 kbps MP3, single bitrate. AAC and higher MP3 bitrates start at the Pro plan ($64/mo). 320 kbps and multiple stream variants land on Business ($119/mo). There is no adaptive HLS by default.

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: cap vs no cap

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. Going over the cap throttles or stops the stream until you upgrade.

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.

Hosted radio page and mobile app

RadioKing's strongest argument is the bundle: a customizable Radio Page (your hosted radio website) on Pro and Business, plus optional branded mobile apps for iOS and Android. 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. We do not generate 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.

Common questions.

Does CloudRadio offer a $19/mo entry tier like RadioKing Discover?

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 relay server.

Can I migrate from RadioKing to CloudRadio?

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.

Will I lose my listening-hour cushion if I move?

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.

Does CloudRadio build a mobile app for my station?

No. We provide a stream URL and an embeddable HTML5 player. 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.

Ready to try CloudRadio?

$39/month, flat. Unlimited listeners, 750 GB storage, HLS streaming, and free stream monitoring on any HTTPS stream.