Too see your monthly account and bandwidth usage, ensure you are logged in as an Account Owner or Manager. From your Settings page, click "Account Usage." Here, you'll see the usage in your account for the current billing cycle.
This includes your total number of media, archived media, as well as monthly bandwidth.
You can also export an all media report, which includes metadata for all of the media in your account.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the data that gets passed to a viewer when they play a media. So, every time someone presses play on your media, data gets passed from our servers to their browsers, which is counted as bandwidth.
But just pressing play isn’t the only way to use bandwidth. Other things count toward your monthly bandwidth usage as well, such as the player and thumbnail image loading, video thumbnails, the media being loaded and played by your own internal views, and the media being downloaded.
How bandwidth works
When you upload a media to Wistia, we create multiple derivatives to ensure the smoothest playback. We want your media to play in as many environments as possible , which is why we create not only HD files, but SD and Flash derivatives too.
When your excited viewer presses play (usually 640px - 960px wide), it is a waste of bandwidth to show them the HD file. At that size, the difference in picture is nearly imperceptible. HD files are also much much larger, which means the viewer can also have a stuttering playback experience.
Instead, we have smart standard definition defaults (what we call "Smart Encoding") based on your video type (i.e. screencast, action, interview) and that is the version that is shown.
Bandwidth usage
We’ll send you a heads up email if you’re on track to go over your bandwidth for the month, but you can always check on your usage inside of your account. Just make sure you’re logged in as the Account Owner or a Manager.
Head into Account Settings, and select “Account Usage” from the sidebar (or click this handy link).
In addition to your bandwidth usage over the course of your current billing cycle, you can also take a look at your bandwidth usage trends over the last year.
Extra bandwidth pricing
On July 12, 2022, we rolled out plans with a simpler approach to bandwidth. Customers who purchased a Wistia Plus, Pro, or Advanced Plan on or after July 12, 2022 have a bandwidth limit of 1TB per month. You can upgrade to a Premium Plan to get access to additional bandwidth.
For customers on a legacy plan (purchased prior to July 12, 2022 and haven’t migrated to a new plan yet), you will be charged for bandwidth overages. As an example, if your base plan has a default of 200 GB bandwidth, and you end up using 350 GB of bandwidth for the month, here’s what your bill would look like:
$X for the plan
150 GB of additional bandwidth at $0.33/GB = $49.50
This month’s bill: $X + $49.50
If you’re on an annual plan you’ll still be billed monthly for any extra bandwidth costs you incur, since your plan’s bandwidth allotment is a monthly amount. You can always see your receipts in Account Settings.
Still not sure if you’re in the right spot? Talk to us. We’re happy to chat math.
Reducing bandwidth
Constantly hitting or exceeding your bandwidth limits? Here are some tips for avoiding big bandwidth bills.
Minimize your own plays — your plays count toward bandwidth, so try to cut down on your own plays while customizing or testing.
Avoid having videos set to autoplay. Once a video starts autoplaying, it will automatically start using bandwidth. To turn this off head into "Controls" in the Customize panel.
Be mindful of the length and use of video thumbnails. A video thumbnail is essentially an autoplaying video, so the same rules apply.
In the same vein, avoid having your videos set to loop upon finish. Looping autoplay is a major bandwidth suck.
Giving viewers the option to download your video via the share buttons also uses bandwidth. You can cut down on bandwidth by removing the download button entirely, or by changing the configuration. In the Customize panel select the "Share" tab. Next to the "Download" option you’ll see "Configure." Choose the "SD MP4" asset and then click "Done."
Where is bandwidth usage coming from?
At this point, it isn’t possible to gauge which media is causing a hike in bandwidth usage if you’re seeing one, but if you have a media that’s getting a lot of traffic, that’s likely your culprit.
You can always see the sizes of the files we’re delivering from your account. To see a breakdown of all files in your account, export the all media report from your Account Usage page. This includes the file size, as well as total plays. To check this for a specific media, head to any media in your account and select "Download." There you’ll see the size of the original file, and the size of the files Wistia has created for streaming. Click "Analytics" to view total plays for that media.