Fileboy streams on-demand video and handles uploads and resized images in the same service, for a flat price per app. Cloudflare Stream is a video product on a large network. This page is about which one you need.
Cloudflare Stream is a solid, focused video service that runs on Cloudflare's network, with live streaming and signed URLs, and it is billed by the minutes of video you store and deliver. Fileboy is smaller: on-demand video up to 1080p, plus images and files, at a flat price per app. If you already build on Cloudflare, or need live streaming, Stream is the better choice. If you want video and images from one service with a predictable price, Fileboy is the simpler fit.
A short comparison of the parts most people choose between. We have not quoted Cloudflare prices, because they change. Check their pricing page and compare with ours.
Check current prices: Cloudflare Stream pricing · Fileboy pricing
| Fileboy | Cloudflare Stream | |
|---|---|---|
| Upload and encoding | Upload the original from your server or the dashboard. Fileboy encodes it in the background at sizes up to 1080p and sends a webhook when it is ready. | Upload by API or the dashboard, with encoding handled for you. |
| Streaming | Adaptive HLS and DASH for on-demand video, with an automatic poster image and seek-preview thumbnails. | Adaptive streaming for on-demand and live video on Cloudflare's network. |
| Live streaming | Not supported. | Supported. |
| Players | One web component and an iframe embed, or any HLS or DASH player. Your colours, logo and controls are set once in the dashboard and applied to the watch page and embeds. | An embeddable player and manifests for your own player. |
| Playback security | Open by default. Turn on signed URLs for an app and every video needs an expiring URL signed on your server. No DRM. | Signed URLs to restrict who can play a video. |
| Video metadata | A description for the watch page, private tags and your own key-value data. Filter the video list by tag or metadata, and get them back in every webhook. | A free-form key-value meta object on each video, returned with it by the API. |
| Images and other files | The same service resizes images by URL and stores any file, with one ID per file. | Video only. Images and storage are separate Cloudflare products. |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly price per app, with a video allowance on each plan. | Billed by the minutes of video stored and delivered. |
| Fit with the rest of your stack | Independent of any cloud. It is an API and a few components. | A natural fit if the rest of your app already runs on Cloudflare. |
Reviewed November 2026. Products change, so check Cloudflare Stream's own documentation for current details. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
No. The APIs, ids and URLs differ, and Fileboy has no live streaming or DRM. Moving means uploading your videos to Fileboy and changing the player in your app.
It depends on how much video you store and how much is watched. Stream bills by minutes stored and delivered, while Fileboy has a flat price per app. A small, lightly watched library may be cheaper on Stream. Heavily watched video can be cheaper on a flat price. Compare your own numbers.
Yes. Turn on signed URLs for the app, and your server signs each video for the signed-in user with an expiry. The player takes the signature and every manifest, segment, poster, caption and thumbnail request is checked. There is no DRM.
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