Should I Use IceCast or Shoutcast for Open Source Streaming?

What is Shoutcast?

Shoutcast is an open-source audio streaming software first developed in 1999. It is used by radio stations and audio broadcasters worldwide to stream music to a variety of devices including desktop, mobile, and smart home devices.

Shoutcast is fully customizable and server operators can configure the server to use the codec of their choosing or create an automated playlist and schedule of content.

How Much Does Shoutcast Hosting Cost?

The Shoutcast Server software itself has a free and a paid version. The free version of Shoutcast Radio has limited features such as MP3 only streaming, and the paid version is $9.90/server/month.

Here are a few recommended servers for use with Shoutcast:

What are the Shoutcast System Requirements?

In order to run the Shoutcast Server, your server will need:

• Linux or Windows OS
• 1GB of RAM
• 2.0GHz processor
• 120GB SSD (varies depending on how much content you need to stream(
• Shoutcast DNAS Server (latest version is 2.6)
• An input source (e.g. Transcoder or Winamp plus Source DSP plug-in, etc.)
• Live or pre-recorded audio content that you wish to stream to users

Shoutcast is not a resource intensive application and will run on nearly any machine, so our requirements above are largely recommendations based on an optimal Shoutcast experience.

What is Icecast?

Icecast is a collection of tools used to stream audio content to devices. There are three components:

• Icecast: a program that streams audio and video data to listeners
• libshout: a library for communicating with Icecast servers
• IceS: a program that sends audio data to Icecast servers

What are the Icecast System Requirements?

In order to run Icecast, you will need:

• Linux (Most flavors including Redhat and Debian), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris
• Windows: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012
• 1GB of System RAM
• 120GB SSD
• 2.0GHz processor

Similar to Shoutcast, Icecast is not a resource intensive application and will run on nearly any machine, so our requirements above are largely recommendations based on an optimal Icecast experience.

See Also: How to Use Plex For Video Streaming

How Much Does Icecast Hosting Cost?

The Icecast Server software itself is completely free, therefore the only cost is the server you wish to use to host Icecast.

Here are a few recommended servers:

What’s the Difference Between Shoutcast and Icecast?

You may be wondering how Shoutcast vs. Icecast stacks up, since they are both open-source software designed to streaming audio to a radio stream that visitors can listen into live.

Shoutcast

• Self-hosted, or purchase hosting from the company directly.
• Supports AAC, MP3, but no support for Ogg (Only Mp3 support on free server)
• More restricted configuration
• No HTTPS support directly
• Maximum 12,000 listeners
• No listener analytics
• Free and Paid Version

Icecast

• Self-hosted only with no hosting directly from Icecast
• Supports Ogg (Vorbis and Theora), Opus, WebM and MP3 streams.
• More flexible configuration
• Native HTTPS support
• No listener limit
• No listen analytics
• Compeltely Free

Deploy A Shoutcast or Icecast Server Today

If you’re looking to setup Shoutcast hosting or Icecast hosting on your own server, you should consider booking a free server consultation with our team. We have a variety of audio streaming server solutions that can meet the needs and budget of your project, and we have a variety of radio stations throughout the world who count on ServerMania for their audio streaming needs.

Contact us today for a custom quote and experience the ServerMania difference today.