Gumlet vs. JW Player

For hybrid live event formats, where a group watches the same video simultaneously and the flow needs to be perfectly synchronized, Gumlet is, in my opinion, the best solution. Especially in combination with a live Zoom call, Gumlet made our work possible in the first place, because video and audio run smoothly and the quality is automatically adjusted to the viewers' internet connection. If an event depends on everyone finishing at the same time, Gumlet is invaluable. Gumlet is also ideal for online courses and video libraries where high-quality, high-resolution videos need to start without loading time – we are increasingly using it instead of our LMS because the performance is simply much better. Gumlet is currently less suitable if you need permanent live stream channels or want to prepare many live events simultaneously, as streams are currently automatically closed and archived when OBS ends. However, according to support, this feature is already in development. For our use cases, I would recommend Gumlet without hesitation. Für hybride Live-Event-Formate, bei denen eine Gruppe gleichzeitig dasselbe Video anschaut und der Ablauf absolut synchron sein muss, ist Gumlet aus meiner Sicht die beste Lösung. Besonders in Kombination mit einem Live-Zoom-Call hat Gumlet unsere Arbeit überhaupt erst möglich gemacht, weil Video und Audio stabil laufen und die Qualität automatisch an die Internetverbindung der Zuschauer:innen angepasst wird. Wenn ein Event davon lebt, dass alle gleichzeitig fertig sind, ist Gumlet Gold wert.
Auch für Online-Kurse und Videobibliotheken, bei denen hochwertige, hochauflösende Videos ohne Ladezeit starten müssen, ist Gumlet ideal – wir nutzen es inzwischen zunehmend anstelle unseres LMS, weil die Performance einfach deutlich besser ist.
Weniger geeignet ist Gumlet aktuell, wenn man dauerhafte Live-Stream-Kanäle benötigt oder viele Live-Events parallel vorbereiten möchte, da Streams derzeit automatisch geschlossen und archiviert werden, wenn OBS endet. Dieses Feature ist aber laut Support bereits in Entwicklung.
Für unsere Anwendungsfälle würde ich Gumlet jederzeit weiterempfehlen. This review was originally written in German and has been translated into English using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.

JW Player has flexible plans that won't cost you a lot of money. If you are a startup, JW offers a variety of plans that will suit your specific needs and grow with you as your company grows. You do not need to be a video expert to understand how to upload a video, which allows nearly anyone in the office to do it.

Incentivized

• Speedy transcoding, hosting, and streaming of my film media
• Privacy Features (Passwords, private, unlisted, geo-blocking of select countries, etc.)
• Automated AI subtitling / transcription of my content for no additional fee
• Extensive Analytics, reports about my content
• Additionally offers direct download links for my content
• Attractive Player customization, hide Gumlet logo if so wanted, change highlight color of the player, upload own logo
• Very attractive value proposition with the current special lifetime deal

• Responsive HTML5
• Provides share functionality built into the player
• Platform use enables playlist functionality and playlist players which can be customized or versioned for specific uses
• Videos uploaded to the JW Platform automatically provide multiple image frame options for selecting video thumbnail

Incentivized

• I would like the ability to set a higher minimum playing resolution so that videos aren't blurry at the start.
• Coming from Vimeo I would like to see a Chrome extension or Windows application to record my screen similar to what Loom has.
• I would like to see sub folder in playlists within collections. Currently I can only have top level playlists.

• Definitely missing the ability (in and easy way) to have clickable links in the video.
• Analytics is a little cumbersome and not very user-friendly.

Incentivized

I’d rate our likelihood to renew at a clear 10, because Gumlet has become such an integral part of how we deliver, protect and scale our video content. The platform consistently performs without issues, the playback quality is excellent, and the security features give us peace of mind that no other tool matched. Beyond reliability, Gumlet keeps adding meaningful improvements such as AI subtitles, interactive elements, and better analytics, which continue to streamline our workflow and increase engagement without extra effort from our team. At this point, switching to anything else would feel like a step backwards, both in efficiency and overall video experience.

Just made the decision to renew given demonstrated improvements being made to the platform to expand compatibility for its player use on devices such as Apple TV, as well as improvements made recently to its JW Platform Dashboard

Incentivized

The dashboard is simple to navigate. It's easy to view my videos and organize them. It just makes sense. I don't have to guess where to find anything. I also love the import tool and the ability to set up players based on my collections. This type of customization will save me time!

Reliability and compatibility on a majority of platforms. Would have received a 10 except recent versions of browsers such as Firefox are now defaulting against Flash components and thus prompting approval from users BEFORE loading which is a HUGE obstacle to an effective user experience thus creating concerns by end-users unnecessarily and risking that they will NOT accept the prompts, thus leaving unable to view video content hosted using the JW Player. Assurances by JW support suggest they will resolve this, so we'll see...

Incentivized

The support is not so responsive as compared to other software, sometimes 1 day, sometimes 2-3 days, depending on their staff. I would say it's below average in terms of their support

Incentivized

Support is reasonable. I from time to time have made suggestions on improvements that would be nice to see (like the ability to have a clickable link within the video - that is easy to create, without tons of coding) and it seems as though I never see it happen or get much response to "suggestions" to upgrade the software. The good news, other than a few things as I mentioned above, overall, I don't have many "technical issues" in the platform, which is a good thing. On occasion, I have seen some "issues" with the delivery of the video, but it has been pretty scarce. So it is dependable.

Incentivized

It was quick and easy. We found that the import from Vimeo wasn't pulling in the highest original quality so we manually uploaded our clips.

One of the primary features promoted by JW Platform is its SEO definition. However, there did not seem to be a way to integrate that data to our platform if selected thus only leaving the benefits of that data to be established on the individual video page hosted by JW Platform, which isn't useful in the end to the client value we are trying to deliver for our VideoproFile.net solution

Incentivized

They have all the same features and keep adding more, generating landing pages for video share was huge for us. Ease of use, no ads. cost, it really doesn't compete. We're very happy with the outputted quality of the video exports and the ability to manage DRM for video protection was built into the app. A huge bang for the buck here. Can't wait to update or try out more new features. The biggest thing I love is that they listen to their customers and work to implement suggestions from the community.

Incentivized

JW had more player options, a better/more intuitive user interface, was altogether faster both in rendering the uploaded videos and in time to load on the web page. The integration with OpenX for pre-roll was faster and easier than with Brightcove, and lastly, they offered a great price for service.

Incentivized

• Gumlet compared has no higher costs associated
• Faster page load times improved user experience
• High-quality video content without buffering improves conversion rates for businesses
• Smoother viewing experience increases user engagement and retention.
• Reduction of unnecessary data usage leads to lower bandwidth costs
• Integrated analytics can provide insights into viewer behavior

Incentivized

• JW Player has was less expensive (without sacrificing quality) than our previous video platform so the ROI was instant.
• We were easily able to add a variety of video advertising options including pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll.
• The quality and consistancy of the look of the video has enabled us to grow our video views by well over 100% since starting with JW.

Incentivized