COMPARE
Digital signage software, compared with the receipts attached.
LiveSign next to Yodeck, ScreenCloud, OptiSigns and Rise Vision on the three things a signage purchase is actually decided on: the technology it runs on, the features it ships, and what it costs. Every competitor figure was read from that vendor’s own published page, on a date printed under the table.
- 5
- Platforms in the table, ours included
- 0/4
- Rivals selling a perpetual licence
- $8-20
- Their published per-screen range
- 13
- Software rows, sourced and dated
START HERE
Most signage comparisons are written to be won, not read.
Comparing digital signage software means answering four questions in the right order: whether you can ever stop paying, whether it runs on the screens you already own, where the CMS actually lives, and what it costs at your real screen count rather than at one. Feature checklists rarely decide anything. Those four always do.
So this page is a table rather than an argument. Five platforms, thirteen rows, every competitor figure read from that vendor’s own published pricing and platform pages on 7 September 2026. Where a rival does something LiveSign does not, the row says so instead of going quiet.
Every row is software: the licence model, the hosting model, the players it runs on, the capabilities each vendor publishes, and the price against each. Nothing in the table is marketing footprint, because a signage estate runs on players and licences rather than on badges, and because a row you cannot act on is a row worth deleting.
HOW TO READ THE TABLE
- Prices are entry rates
- The lowest published figure at each vendor, not the tier most networks end up on. Multiply by your screen count before comparing anything.
- “Not published” means not published
- It does not mean the platform cannot do it. It means the vendor does not say so publicly, and we will not say it for them.
- Free tiers are real, and capped
- Yodeck’s free screen and OptiSigns’ three free screens are genuinely useful, and both are limited in ways their own pricing pages set out.
- Software only
- Licensing, hosting, players, published features and published prices. What each vendor runs on and what it costs, not how loud any of us are.
- Nothing is scored
- No points, no winner, no ticks against us and crosses against them. The rows are facts; which of them matters is your call.
SIDE BY SIDE
Five platforms, thirteen rows, one date.
Competitor figures read from their own published pages on 7 September 2026. The sources are named directly under the table.
| WHAT YOU ARE COMPARING | LiveSignTHIS SITE | Yodeck | ScreenCloud | OptiSigns | Rise Vision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest published pricePer screen, per month | $12 | Free for 1 screen, then $8 | $20 | Free for 3 screens, then $9 | $11 (K-12 rate) |
| Licence modelRent the software, or buy the licence outright | Subscription or perpetual | Subscription only | Subscription only | Subscription only | Subscription only |
| Self-hostingRun the CMS on your own infrastructure | Yes, supported on Enterprise | No | No | No | No |
| Linux playerA real dedicated player, not a browser tab | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Samsung Tizen & LG webOSRuns on the screen itself, no box needed | Both | Both | Both | Both | Neither |
| BrightSignThe commercial-grade player estates standardise on | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Series 5 and newer |
| Video wall outputOne image spanning several screens | Yes, Windows and BrightSign | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Delivery to desktopsThe same content on staff PCs, not only on screens | Yes, LiveView for Windows | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| SAML single sign-onSign in with the identity provider you already run | Yes, Business and Enterprise | Not published | Yes | Not published | Not published |
| Vendor-supplied hardwareA player you can buy alongside the software | ProDVX Android player from $345 | Raspberry Pi player, free on annual plans | PIXI $95, ScreenCloud OS $199 | Not published | Own media player |
| Published white-label priceShip the CMS under your own brand | $2,100 per brand | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Published partner tiersReseller terms you can read before you call anyone | Three tiers, $5k / $10k / $25k | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Free trialBefore you pay anything | 14 days, 2 players | 30 days, up to 5 screens | 14 days | 14 days | 30-day money-back |
Sources: each vendor’s own published pricing, platform and security pages, read on 7 September 2026and recorded in full in this project’s competitor evidence file. Prices and player lists in this category change often, so check the vendor’s own page before you decide, and tell us if a row has gone stale.
THE ROW THAT CHANGES THE TOTAL
Per-screen pricing is compared at one screen and paid at fifty, for years.
Take fifty screens and five years, which is an ordinary corridor network on ordinary hardware, and run each published entry rate through it. ScreenCloud at $20 a screen is$60,000. LiveSign at $12 is $36,000. Rise Vision at its $11 K-12 rate is $33,000. OptiSigns at $9 is $27,000. Yodeck at $8 is $24,000. On the subscription row alone, we are in the middle of that list and say so.
The difference is what happens in year six. Every one of those four numbers keeps going, because Yodeck, ScreenCloud, OptiSigns and Rise Vision sell a subscription and nothing else, at any tier. LiveSign also sells the licence outright, priced by sales on the Enterprise plan, and a perpetual licence has a year in which the software stops costing anything. That is the row worth doing arithmetic on, not the headline rate.
The same applies to the hosting row underneath it. Self-hosting is not a discount, it is a different answer to where the CMS and your content live, and it is not something you can retrofit onto a cloud-only platform later. Both rows are on the pricing page with real numbers against them.
WHAT ACTUALLY DECIDES IT
Six questions worth more than any feature list.
Ask every vendor on your shortlist these six. The answers separate platforms far faster than comparing content editors does.
Whether you can ever stop paying
Almost every platform in this category sells one model: a fee per screen, per month, for as long as the screen is on the wall. A perpetual licence asks a different question entirely. Not "is it cheaper this year" but "does this cost ever end". Work out your break-even before you compare monthly rates.
Both licence models, pricedWhether it runs on the screens you already own
The most expensive mistake in a signage purchase is picking software that needs different hardware. If your estate is Samsung or LG panels, a platform with no Tizen or webOS player means buying a box for every screen. If it is industrial PCs, you need a real Windows or Linux player.
The six playersWhere the CMS and the content actually live
Cloud-hosted is the default and it suits most networks. It stops suiting them the moment procurement, a regulator or an air-gapped site says the data cannot leave your infrastructure. Ask before you shortlist, because retrofitting self-hosting onto a cloud-only platform is not a configuration change.
Hosting and security, in fullWhat it costs at YOUR screen count, not at one
Per-screen pricing is designed to be compared at one screen and paid at fifty. Multiply the advertised rate by the real number of displays, then by the number of years those screens will be on the wall. That figure is the comparison. The headline rate is not.
Run it against our figuresWhether the software can carry your brand, not ours
If you are reselling signage, or running it for tenants, franchisees or client sites, the question is whether the CMS can ship under your own name and what that costs. LiveSign publishes both: white-label from $2,100 per brand, and three reseller tiers with their fees written down. Most platforms in this category answer that one only on a call.
White label and reseller termsWhat you own if you stop paying
Ask every vendor what happens to your layouts, schedules and media if the subscription ends, and whether the player licences you bought are yours or theirs. On a subscription-only platform the answer is that the screens go dark. On a perpetual licence the software you bought keeps running. It is rarely on a pricing page, and it is the difference between switching platforms and rebuilding a network from scratch.
Perpetual and subscription, side by sideHEAD TO HEAD
Written out in full.
A table row cannot explain a free tier or a hardware bundle. These go through it properly, including the parts that favour the other side.
COMPARISON
LiveSign vs. Yodeck
Yodeck is cloud-only and subscription-only at every tier. LiveSign sells a perpetual licence, supports self-hosting, and ships a Linux player. Prices, players and features compared.
Read the comparisonSOMEONE ELSE
Comparing us with a platform that is not here?
Send the platform name, or the quote you have been given. You will get a straight answer on where each one is stronger, including the cases where the honest answer is that theirs fits you better than ours.
Ask us directlyComparing digital signage software: common questions
Which digital signage software is best?
There is no single best one, and any vendor answering otherwise is selling. The category splits on four software decisions: whether you rent the licence forever or buy it outright, whether it runs on the screens you already own, whether the CMS can live on your own infrastructure, and what the total comes to at your real screen count over the years those screens will be up. LiveSign is the stronger answer when owning the licence, self-hosting, a Linux player, video wall output or delivery to staff desktops matters. Yodeck, ScreenCloud, OptiSigns and Rise Vision are all credible platforms and each of them wins rows in the table above, on entry price, free tiers, trial length and bundled hardware.
Is LiveSign cheaper than Yodeck, OptiSigns or ScreenCloud?
Not at the headline rate in every case. LiveSign starts at $12 per display per month; Yodeck starts at $8 and gives one screen free forever, OptiSigns starts around $9 with three screens free, and ScreenCloud starts at $20. The comparison changes over time rather than at signup: LiveSign also sells a perpetual licence, so a network kept for several years can stop paying for the licence, which none of those three offer at any tier. Run the multiplication for your own screen count and time horizon before deciding which is cheaper.
Which digital signage platforms offer a perpetual licence?
Very few. Of the four mainstream SMB and mid-market platforms compared on this page, Yodeck, ScreenCloud, OptiSigns and Rise Vision, none sells a perpetual licence or supports self-hosting at any tier; all four are subscription and cloud-only. LiveSign sells both a subscription and a perpetual licence, and supports self-hosting with dedicated support on the Enterprise plan. If owning the software rather than renting it is a requirement, that single row shortens most shortlists to one.
Which digital signage software supports Linux?
A dedicated Linux player is one of the rarer capabilities in this category. LiveSign, OptiSigns and Rise Vision publish one. Yodeck and ScreenCloud do not, though Yodeck offers its own Raspberry Pi player instead. If your estate runs Linux thin clients or industrial PCs, this single row narrows a shortlist faster than any feature list will.
What can LiveSign do that a cloud-only platform cannot?
Four things, and they are all architectural rather than cosmetic. It can run on your own infrastructure instead of ours, so content and CMS stay inside your network. It can be bought as a perpetual licence instead of rented monthly. It runs a dedicated Linux player alongside Windows, Android, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS and BrightSign, which is six players from one CMS. And it drives video wall output on the Windows player, plus delivery to staff desktops through LiveView for Windows. SAML single sign-on is on the Business and Enterprise plans. None of that is a reason to rule out a cloud-only platform, and all of it is impossible to retrofit onto one later.
How current are the figures on this page?
Every competitor figure here was read from that vendor's own published pricing and platform pages on 7 September 2026, and the sources are recorded in this project's competitor evidence file. Pricing in this category changes often. If you are reading this well after that date, check the vendor's page before you decide, and tell us if we are out of date. A wrong figure about a competitor is our problem to fix.
Can I switch to LiveSign from another platform?
Yes, and the practical questions are hardware and content rather than software. If your screens are Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, BrightSign, Android, Windows or Linux, a LiveSign player exists for them, so the displays usually stay where they are. Layouts and schedules have to be rebuilt, because no signage platform imports another one's content. Talk to sales with your screen count and platform mix and you will get a real estimate of the move rather than a promise that it is effortless.
SETTLE IT PROPERLY
The fastest way to compare two platforms is to run both.
Fourteen days, two players of your choice, your own content on your own screens. Nothing to uninstall first, and no card.
Already running another platform? Sales will price the move before you commit.