Amazon Interactive Video Service

aws.amazon.com

From $0.07/mo Free plan WebiOSAndroidAPI

Spec score 9.2 #4 of 169 in Live TV streaming services

What it is

Amazon Interactive Video Service is a paid managed service for delivering live video through low-latency or real-time streams. AWS lists real-time latency below 300 milliseconds and low-latency delivery at 3–5 seconds. Real-time streaming accepts RTMPS and WHIP input with WebRTC output; low-latency streaming accepts RTMPS and SRT input with HLS output. Chat and timed-metadata APIs support features such as polls, graphics, and synchronized elements. A stage allows multiple hosts to exchange audio and video, then broadcast to an IVS channel. Standard and advanced channels can transcode video into multiple resolutions and bitrates. Streams can be recorded to customer-owned Amazon S3 for archiving and on-demand playback, with MediaConvert support. AWS says channels can serve millions of concurrent viewers. SDKs cover web, iOS, and Android. Listed input plans start at $0.20 a month, and a Free Tier is available for new AWS customers.

Spec sheet

What it does: Amazon IVS is a managed service for delivering low-latency and real-time live video without customers operating streaming infrastructure.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Free plan: NoRead 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Security: AWS describes IVS security as a shared responsibility, with AWS responsible for cloud infrastructure and customers responsible for security in the cloud according to their service use and requirements.Read 30 Sep 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Founded: 2006Read 28 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Maker: Amazon Web Services says it launched in 2006 and is part of Amazon.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Adaptive bitrate: Standard and advanced channels create multiple renditions so playback can adapt to device and network conditions.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Adaptive playback: For standard or advanced channels, IVS can transcode incoming video into multiple resolutions and bitrates for different devices and network conditions.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
API and documentation: AWS publishes Low-Latency, Real-Time and Chat user guides plus control-plane and data-plane API references and SDK documentation for Android, iOS, web and JavaScript.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Broadcast SDKs: Broadcast SDKs let iOS, Android and browser applications publish live video using cameras, microphones, screens or custom sources.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Collaboration: A stage lets multiple hosts exchange audio and video in real time and can be broadcast to an IVS channel for a larger audience.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Collaborative stages: Stage resources combine audio and video from multiple hosts and can be broadcast to a larger low-latency channel audience.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Company size and founding: AWS's LinkedIn page lists Seattle headquarters, 10,001-plus employees and a 2006 founding year.Read 14 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Developer resources: AWS provides user guides and API references for real-time streaming, low-latency streaming, and the chat feature, along with AWS re:Post resources.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Encryption limitation: IVS playback uses HTTPS and ingest can use RTMPS, but AWS states streams are not end-to-end encrypted internally and IVS does not provide DRM or stream-content encryption.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Interactive features: The service provides chat APIs and timed metadata APIs that applications can use for chat rooms, polls, graphics, and synchronized elements.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Latency: AWS lists real-time streaming latency as under 300 milliseconds and low-latency streaming as 3–5 seconds.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Latency modes: The feature comparison lists real-time latency below 300 milliseconds and low-latency streaming at about 3–5 seconds.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Launch news: AWS announced general availability of Amazon IVS on July 15, 2020, describing Twitch-based technology, sub-three-second latency and pay-as-you-go input/output billing.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Legal entity and owner: AWS legal pages identify Amazon Web Services, Inc. at 410 Terry Avenue North in Seattle and describe it as wholly owned by Amazon.com, Inc.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Licence: The Web Broadcast SDK page states Amazon copyright and AWS Customer Agreement terms; it is not presented as open-source software, although bundled libraries have separate Apache-2.0, BSD or MIT licenses.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.github.io
Limit: browser and interactivity gaps: An Ex Machina review reported higher and variable latency on iOS Safari, lack of low-latency support in some third-party players, and one-way metadata without built-in poll result handling.Read 14 Oct 2026 · medium.com
Limit: cost complaints: Reddit users reported unexpectedly high test bills and said IVS streaming costs prompted consideration of building or using another stack.Read 14 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Mobile requirements: The Player SDK supports Android 6.0 and later and iOS 14 or later.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Network requirements: Broadcasting requires accessible IVS_LOW_LATENCY subnets globally, regardless of the selected AWS control-plane region.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Notable update: On September 10, 2025 AWS announced PrivateLink interface VPC endpoints for private RTMP(S) ingest from VPC or on-premises networks in selected regions.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Outage history: StatusGator reports monitoring Amazon IVS since March 2015 and collecting more than 2,214 outage records.Read 14 Oct 2026 · statusgator.com
Player SDK: The Player SDK supports web, iOS and Android playback, integrates with Video.js on the web, and provides adaptive-bitrate switching.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Praise: customer simplicity: ChannelPro reported Blackboard saying it integrated IVS in one day and that the service handled most backend work.Read 14 Oct 2026 · channelpronetwork.com
Praise: managed operation: Metal Toad describes IVS as fully managed, with automatic transcoding, managed delivery, player SDKs and built-in interactive capabilities.Read 14 Oct 2026 · metaltoad.com
Pricing model: IVS is pay-as-you-go: low-latency streaming is charged by video input and output, real-time streaming by participant hours, and chat by messages sent and delivered.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Protocols: Real-time streaming uses RTMPS and WHIP input with WebRTC output; low-latency streaming uses RTMPS and SRT input with HLS output.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Quotas: The general reference lists defaults of 5,000 channels, 100 concurrent streams and 15,000 concurrent views per region for low-latency streaming.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Rating on SourceForge: Amazon Interactive Video Service is shown as 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews, with SourceForge saying the software has not yet been reviewed.Read 14 Oct 2026 · sourceforge.net
Recording and VOD: Low-latency streams can be recorded to Amazon S3 for archiving, MediaConvert processing or direct video-on-demand playback.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Recording integration: IVS can record live video to Amazon S3 for archiving and on-demand playback, and the recordings can be used with AWS Elemental MediaConvert.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Regional control plane: IVS control-plane resources are regional, while video ingest and delivery use a global data plane; resources in different regions are independent.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Scale: AWS says IVS channels can scale to streams watched by millions of concurrent viewers.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
SDK platforms: Broadcast SDKs support iOS, Android, and web, while the Player SDK supports playback on web, iOS, and Android.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Security model: AWS documents shared-responsibility controls, IAM policies, CloudTrail logging, monitoring, incident response, resilience and infrastructure security for IVS.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Stream chat: IVS provides chat APIs for building chat rooms alongside live video, with usage billed by messages sent and delivered.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Stream duration limit: A single IVS stream is terminated after 48 hours, after which reconnecting starts a new streaming session.Read 14 Oct 2026 · docs.aws.amazon.com
Streaming protocols: Real-time streaming accepts RTMPS and WHIP with WebRTC output, while low-latency streaming accepts RTMPS and SRT with HLS output.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Timed metadata: A REST interface can inject timed metadata and player events can use it for synchronized graphics, polls, sports scores or commerce elements.Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com
Usage limits: Basic channels accept input up to 1.5 Mbps at 480p or 3.5 Mbps at 720p or 1080p; standard and advanced channels accept up to 8.5 Mbps and 1080p.Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Plans and prices

Basic channel input $0.20 a month Pay-as-you-go Low-latency streaming video input Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Advanced SD channel input $0.50 a month Pay-as-you-go Low-latency streaming video input Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Advanced HD channel input $0.85 a month Pay-as-you-go Low-latency streaming video input Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Standard channel input $2 a month Pay-as-you-go Low-latency streaming video input Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Real-Time Streaming participant hours $0.07 a month North America, first 10,000 participant hours per month 10,000 participant hours per month Read 20 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Free Tier Free Monthly for first 12 months for new AWS customers 5 basic-channel input hours · 100 audio-only/SD output hours · 20 participant-hours · 5 server-side composition hours · 13,500 messages sent · 270,000 messages delivered Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Basic channel input Priced on request Per hour of video input Basic channel · maximum input 1.5 Mbps at 480p or 3.5 Mbps at 720p/1080p Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Advanced SD input Priced on request Per hour of video input Advanced SD channel Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Standard Multitrack input Priced on request Per hour of video input Standard channel with Multitrack Video Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Advanced HD input Priced on request Per hour of video input Advanced HD channel Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Standard channel input Priced on request Per hour of video input Standard channel · input metered to the nearest minute Read 14 Oct 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Pay-as-you-go Price not published Usage-based; charged for video input and output, participant hours, chat messages, and optional encoding, with rates varying by service, resolution, region, and usage tier. Standard channel input: $2.00/hour ($0.50/hour with Multitrack Video) · Advanced HD: $0.85/hour · Advanced SD: $0.50/hour · Basic: $0.20/hour · Other usage rates vary Read 30 Sep 2026 · aws.amazon.com

Every Amazon Interactive Video Service plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

Real-time latency listed below 300 milliseconds
Supports web, iOS, and Android SDKs
Provides chat and timed metadata APIs
Records streams to customer-owned Amazon S3
Free Tier available for new AWS customers

Limits

Paid usage varies by service, region, and tier
Basic channel input has stated bitrate limits
Customers share responsibility for cloud security

Who it suits

IVS suits developers building live, interactive video services across web and mobile platforms. It also fits applications needing chat, host collaboration, recording, or adaptive playback.

Verdict

IVS offers distinct real-time and low-latency delivery paths with APIs and SDKs for interactive applications. Pricing includes pay-as-you-go input plans from $0.20 a month plus a listed Free Tier.