Brightcove vs. JW Player

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Brightcove
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Brightcove Video is a video hosting and publishing solution. The company also provides a cloud media processing product called Zencoder.N/A
JW Player
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
JW Player (or JWP) is a video platform boasting 40,000 broadcasters, publishers, and other video-driven brands whose business relies on video as users. It provides these companies with a way to accelerate and scale their video strategy and is a video platform that can be used to stream video, engage audiences on any screen, and monetize content.N/A
Pricing
BrightcoveJW Player
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrightcoveJW Player
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BrightcoveJW Player
Considered Both Products
Brightcove

No answer on this topic

JW Player
Chose JW Player
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 …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
BrightcoveJW Player
Video Marketing
Comparison of Video Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Brightcove
-
Ratings
JW Player
8.6
2 Ratings
18% above category average
Support for advertisements00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
Video SEO00 Ratings8.12 Ratings
Video Security
Comparison of Video Security features of Product A and Product B
Brightcove
-
Ratings
JW Player
7.8
3 Ratings
11% below category average
Video access controls00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
User management00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Video link sharing00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
External video00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Video Player
Comparison of Video Player features of Product A and Product B
Brightcove
-
Ratings
JW Player
7.0
3 Ratings
18% below category average
Player customization00 Ratings2.03 Ratings
Embedded videos00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Video quality / Bandwidth controls00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Mobile compatibility00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Video Analytics
Comparison of Video Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Brightcove
-
Ratings
JW Player
1.0
3 Ratings
153% below category average
Per viewer tracking00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Per video tracking00 Ratings1.02 Ratings
Video analytics dashboard00 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Video Hosting, Management & Storage
Comparison of Video Hosting, Management & Storage features of Product A and Product B
Brightcove
-
Ratings
JW Player
8.6
3 Ratings
1% above category average
On-Demand video00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Live streaming00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Video upload & format support00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Video library / File management00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
Video portal00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrightcoveJW Player
Small Businesses
Vimeo
Vimeo
Score 7.9 out of 10
Wistia
Wistia
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Vimeo
Vimeo
Score 7.9 out of 10
Flipgrid
Flipgrid
Score 1.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Kaltura
Kaltura
Score 8.0 out of 10
Panopto
Panopto
Score 7.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BrightcoveJW Player
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(16 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(13 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
4.0
(2 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrightcoveJW Player
Likelihood to Recommend
Brightcove
It works very nicely for our company site because it can easily and seamlessly embed into the site and email HTML pages. It also has picture in picture, sharing, closed captioning (CC) as basic functions. It will also show the time of the video. Because these are short-term-use videos or might get updated frequently and also are just targeting a specific audience, being able to hide or not able to show the number of views or date published (unlike YouTube) actually helps us.
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JW Player
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.
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Pros
Brightcove
  • Ability to easily output a JSON response for requested video data. This makes it easy to work with Brightcove as partner.
  • The read APIs are very flexible and can the output can be easily customized using cgi args. This provides great customization of the output and sorting and filtering mechanisms to find the videos you're looking for.
  • The ability to add captions to videos is good, especially with the regulations requiring video captioning. DFXP support works great as long as the player is given the exact XML format it is looking for.
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JW Player
  • 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
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Cons
Brightcove
  • The code for customizing the video player can be made easier, I think it still uses BEML code.
  • Easily accessible ready made code will help users like me to implement a cool looking player.
  • I would love to implement Brightcove video cloud on most of the projects that I work on and I see we could use it in so many different ways but pricing is not easily available on the website.
  • Again if I could work with someone to price for small, medium and large businesses that would be great.
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JW Player
  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
Brightcove
It took quite some time to upload and organize our video library. The amount of time it would require to relocate all this information outweighs any negative aspect I personally have with the experience. They have been pretty good to work with and from speaking with my Brightcove rep, I know some of the issues I have listed are currently being addressed and tested for future releases.
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JW Player
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
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Usability
Brightcove
Very usable! I don't see any major flaws
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JW Player
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...
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Support Rating
Brightcove
We are notified often of downtime, and I have not heard from a support rep for over a year. It really makes it hard to learn what new things are coming out and how we can take our video to the next level when there is no contact from the team on a regular cadence.
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JW Player
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.
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Implementation Rating
Brightcove
No answers on this topic
JW Player
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
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Alternatives Considered
Brightcove
Marketing department favors it because EVERYONE uses YouTube. Overall, YouTube offers decent features and functionality. But Brightcove offers the ability to brand and style players, and control what our users see (and so much more) and YouTube does not. For instance, on YouTube, users are presented with other videos (which could contain competitor videos).
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JW Player
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.
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Return on Investment
Brightcove
  • Again, there has been a huge cost savings which significantly improved our ROI
  • There has also been less time spent on learning new technologies and training additional staff on maintaining a video server.
  • Less time spent on the previous two points has allowed me to focus on other areas within the department that needed improvement.
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JW Player
  • 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.
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ScreenShots

Brightcove Screenshots

Screenshot of Go beyond tracking plays and impressions and fuel your programs with video engagement data that signals who is getting the most value from your content.Screenshot of Deliver interactive video on-demand and live experiences - chat, polls, click to purchase, sentiment, quizzes, branching journeys, and more - that increase engagement, provide more data on your audiences, and turn viewers from passive observers to active participants.Screenshot of Deliver live and on-demand video experiences that are easy to create and manage from a single platform. Orchestrate rich, beautiful experiences that promote your brand and your content and keep audiences engaged with interactive elements.Screenshot of Start to think of your video content as your greatest asset for connecting with every audience on any device, whether it's web, mobile, or connected TVs. Reach all your audiences, including customers, prospects, partners, teams, anyone and everyone!Screenshot of Understand audience engagement to inform content strategies and audience preferences to ensure you’re delivering the best streaming video experiences possible.