Vimeo to WordPress

Move your video catalog, storefront and customer relationships onto a platform you actually own.

This is a practical guide to rebuilding a Vimeo video business on self-hosted WordPress. You can follow it yourself using the free, open-source Video Share VOD plugin, or skip the setup entirely and have us build it for you on managed hosting. Either way the outcome is the same: your catalog on your own domain, your own payment processor, and no platform that can switch it off.

Do It Yourself — Free
Turnkey Setup From $20/mo

Why People Move Off Vimeo

Vimeo On Demand Is Ending
Vimeo is permanently retiring its On Demand storefront product. If you sell through it, you need a replacement before November 20, 2026 — timeline below.

Revenue Share & Plan Limits
Hosted platforms take a cut of sales and cap storage, bandwidth and features by tier. A flat hosting fee scales better once you are actually selling.

You Do Not Own the Customer
Buyer records, email relationships and purchase history sit with the platform. You cannot export a working customer list and you cannot market to it freely.

SEO Built on Someone Else’s Domain
Rankings, backlinks and shares accumulate to the platform, not to you. Move, and you start from zero — unless the pages were yours to begin with.

Vimeo On Demand — Official Shutdown Timeline

The nearest deadline is uploads, not sales

You can still sell on Vimeo On Demand until September 21, 2026 — but you can no longer add new titles after August 22, 2026. If you have anything left to publish, that is the date that matters first.

Milestone Date What It Means for You
New uploads blocked August 22, 2026 You can no longer add titles to your On Demand catalog. Existing titles keep selling.
New purchases & subscriptions blocked September 21, 2026 Your storefront stops converting. No new sales, no new subscribers. This is your revenue cutoff.
Final seller payouts processed October 21, 2026 Last revenue transfer, per the Vimeo Seller Addendum.
Platform fully shut down November 20, 2026 All On Demand pages, storefronts and purchase flows go offline. Viewers lose access to everything they bought or rented.

Dates taken from Vimeo’s official Vimeo On Demand Shutdown Notice, verified August 8, 2026. Several third-party articles circulate different dates — check the official notice if in doubt. Your underlying source videos remain in your Vimeo account subject to your plan’s storage terms; it is the storefront, catalog pages and selling capability that end.

Reading this after the shutdown? Nothing changes.

Most of the work below starts once your files are in hand anyway. Plenty of creators only look for a replacement after the storefront is gone, and plenty arrive from an old link or article pointing at a product that no longer exists. If you already have your master files locally, you are ahead — skip straight to the setup steps.

What Replaces It: The WordPress Stack

Four components. The core one is free and open source on WordPress.org — you can install it today on any WordPress site.

Video Share VOD Free · Core
The catalog, the player, the paywall

The video-on-demand engine: video library and catalog pages, upload with FFmpeg encoding, HLS adaptive streaming, playlists and channels, private videos, and built-in pay-per-view and subscription access control.

Rentals, purchases and time-limited access
Per-title and per-channel access rules
User channels for multi-creator catalogs
Tipping and credits

Download free on WordPress.org

WooCommerce Free · Checkout
Your payments, your merchant account

Standard WordPress e-commerce handles the money: Stripe, PayPal and most regional processors, plus tax handling, coupons, invoices and refunds. Revenue lands in your merchant account — no platform revenue share, no payout schedule set by someone else.

One-off purchase and rental products
Recurring subscriptions and bundles
Regional pricing and multi-currency

Paid Membership / FansPaysite Optional
Recurring creator revenue

If your catalog works better as a subscription than as one-off sales, this adds membership tiers, creator subscriptions, gated content, a token/credit wallet, tips and gifts, and pay-per-content unlocks.

Paid Membership on WordPress.org

Video & Audio Recorder Optional
Native content capture

Record video and audio straight into WordPress posts from the browser — director commentary, behind-the-scenes extras, testimonials, or subscriber-only messages that make a subscription worth keeping.

Webcam Recorder on WordPress.org

The Migration, Step by Step

This is the whole process. Follow it yourself on your own hosting, or have us do steps 2–4 for you.

Step 1 — Export your masters and your records

Download the highest-quality source file for every title from your Vimeo library, and export whatever sales and customer reports Vimeo makes available to sellers. Do this first and do not leave it late — transaction records are tied to a product being wound down, and after November 20, 2026 the storefront data is gone.

Also save, for each title: the description, artwork/thumbnail, cast and credits, release year, category or collection, and the price you charged. You will re-enter these, and having them in a spreadsheet turns the rest of the job into data entry rather than archaeology.

Step 2 — Stand up WordPress on hosting that can encode video

Video Share VOD transcodes uploads with FFmpeg and serves HLS, so ordinary cheap shared hosting usually will not do. What you need: FFmpeg available on the server, generous storage and monthly transfer, a decent PHP memory limit and long max execution time for encoding jobs, and SSL.

Sizing rule of thumb: roughly 2.5 GB per hour of 1080p source plus the encoded renditions, so a 40-hour catalog wants ~200 GB before you have sold anything. Bandwidth is the other half — every stream is served from your server.

Step 3 — Install and configure the plugins

Install Video Share VOD and WooCommerce from the WordPress plugin directory. Then, in order: connect your payment gateway in WooCommerce; set your encoding presets and storage paths in Video Share VOD; decide your access model (pay-per-view, rental with an expiry window, subscription, or a mix); and set up categories or channels mirroring the collections you had on Vimeo.

Add Paid Membership at this point if you are selling access to the library as a whole rather than title by title.

Step 4 — Upload the catalog and set pricing

Upload your masters — encoding runs automatically — then attach the metadata from your spreadsheet, upload artwork, and create the matching WooCommerce products for each purchase or rental option. Set access rules per title or per channel.

For a few dozen titles this is an afternoon or two. For several hundred, it is worth scripting or having it done as a project.

Step 5 — Handle your existing customers

Vimeo does not hand over a transferable purchase database, so prior buyers cannot be ported automatically. What works in practice: email your audience before the cutoff telling them where the catalog is moving, and issue WooCommerce coupons giving existing buyers free or discounted access on the new site. It converts far better than silence, and it is the moment you finally capture the customer relationship yourself.

Step 6 — Redirects, launch checklist, and the long tail

Update every link you control — your own site, social profiles, press kits, festival listings, email signatures, YouTube descriptions. You cannot redirect from Vimeo’s domain, so anywhere you control a link is the only recoverable traffic. Then check: SSL valid, playback tested on mobile and desktop, checkout tested end to end with a real card, tax settings correct, and analytics installed.

Do It Yourself, or Have It Done

Self-Hosted DIY Free plugin
Your hosting, your time

Video Share VOD is free and open source. If you are comfortable with WordPress and have hosting that meets the requirements in Step 2, you can run the entire migration above without paying us anything.

No licence cost, no revenue share
Full source, community support
You size, configure and maintain the server
You handle FFmpeg, HLS and encoding issues
Free mode carries branding and usage caps

Best for: developers, technical creators, and anyone testing the model before committing a catalog.

Get the free plugin

Hassle-free
Turnkey Managed Setup
From $20/mo — we build it

Point your domain at our hosting and we do steps 2 through 4: server sized for your catalog with FFmpeg and SSL, WordPress installed, Video Share VOD and WooCommerce configured, payments connected, encoding presets tuned, and the whole thing handed over working — usually within a couple of business days.

Full mode — no branding, no user caps
Professional setup and priority support
Automatic plugin updates
Full cPanel, FTP and database access — it is your site
Cancel or migrate away at any time

Best for: creators and studios who want to spend their time on the catalog, not on server configuration.

Free consultation

AI management included on managed plans. Every Site2Stream plan ships with Site Manager Pro and Agentic Optimization Pro — add titles, edit catalog pages and update descriptions by talking to Claude or ChatGPT instead of clicking through WordPress admin. Learn more at promptaur.com →

Hosted Storefront vs. Self-Hosted Platform

Vimeo On Demand (ending) Another Hosted OTT Platform Self-Hosted on WordPress
Who owns the storefront URL Platform Platform (usually a subdomain) You — your own domain
Who owns the customer list Platform Platform You
Payment processing Platform, with revenue share Platform, with revenue share Your own Stripe/PayPal account
Monthly cost model Revenue share Subscription + revenue share Flat hosting fee, or free if you self-host
Risk of discontinuation Realised Same structural risk You control the stack
Custom design & branding Limited templates Limited templates Any WordPress theme
SEO ownership Platform domain Platform domain Your domain, your rankings
Extending with other features Not possible Platform roadmap only 60,000+ WordPress plugins
Infrastructure effort None None Yours — or delegated to a managed plan

Vimeo continues to offer Vimeo OTT as a paid alternative, and it is a legitimate product — particularly if you want zero infrastructure involvement. The trade-off is that it is still a hosted platform where the storefront, catalog pages and customer relationship sit with the vendor. Self-hosting is the option that removes that dependency; it is not the option with the least setup.

Managed VOD Hosting Plans

Sized by catalog. Nothing to install or configure — point your domain and we set the whole platform up.

Beta — $50/mo
Small catalogs
200 GB storage (~80 hrs), 1080p encoding, 50+ concurrent viewers, subscriptions and user channels.

Most Popular
Startup — $100/mo
Typical film / series catalog
500 GB storage (~200 hrs), 1080p encoding, 100+ concurrent viewers, tipping and credits included.

Pro & Studio — $200–$400/mo
Large libraries
2–4 TB storage (850–1,700 hrs), up to 4K UHD encoding, 200–400+ concurrent viewers.

A $20/mo Dev plan is also available for testing the platform before committing your catalog.

See All VOD Plans & Specifications

Moving the Catalog Across

Self-Migration Included
No extra fee on any plan

Once the platform is running you upload your titles through WordPress admin and set your own prices and access rules, following steps 4–6 above. Encoding is automatic and support is available throughout.

Best for: catalogs up to a few dozen titles, or anyone who wants editorial control over how each title is presented.

Assisted / Custom Migration
Quoted by volume

For large libraries, complex catalog structures or tight deadlines we handle the transfer as a project — bulk transfer and re-encoding, metadata and artwork, catalog structure and collections, customer data where exportable, redirects and a launch checklist.

Priced per project because a 20-title library and a 2,000-title distributor catalog are not the same job.

Best for: distributors, studios and multi-hundred-title libraries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Video Share VOD really free?
Yes — it is published on WordPress.org under the standard GPL licence and you can download and run it on your own hosting at no cost. Free mode carries VideoWhisper branding and some usage caps; full mode (no branding, no caps) is included with every managed Site2Stream plan.

Can I run this on my existing WordPress hosting?
Often yes, if FFmpeg is available and you have enough storage, transfer and PHP execution headroom — see Step 2. Budget shared hosting typically fails on encoding time limits or storage rather than on WordPress itself. If you are unsure, send us your hosting details during a free consultation and we will tell you honestly whether it will work.

When exactly does Vimeo On Demand shut down?
New uploads stop being accepted on August 22, 2026; new purchases and subscriptions stop on September 21, 2026; final seller payouts are processed October 21, 2026; and the platform goes fully offline on November 20, 2026. Note that several third-party articles quote different dates — these are from Vimeo’s own shutdown notice, verified August 8, 2026.

Will I lose my videos?
Your source videos remain in your Vimeo account according to your plan’s storage terms — what disappears on November 20, 2026 is the On Demand storefront, catalog pages, purchase flows and viewer access to anything bought there. Export your masters anyway rather than relying on continued access to a product line being wound down.

What happens to my existing customers?
Vimeo does not provide a transferable purchase database, so buyers cannot be automatically ported. Export whatever customer records you can from your seller reports, email your audience about the move, and offer existing buyers complimentary or discounted access on the new platform via WooCommerce coupons. We can help set up those access rules.

How long does a managed setup take?
Typically a couple of business days after you point your domain at the hosting. Catalog transfer time then depends on how many titles you have and whether you upload them yourself.

Do I need to be technical?
For the DIY route, moderately — you should be comfortable installing plugins and reading hosting requirements. For managed plans, no: we install and configure everything, and day to day you add titles through WordPress admin or by talking to Claude or ChatGPT via the included Site Manager Pro.

How do payments work?
Through WooCommerce with your own Stripe, PayPal or regional payment account. Money goes directly to your merchant account. There is no revenue share on sales — on managed plans you pay a flat monthly hosting fee regardless of how much you sell.

What about adult or sensitive content?
Self-hosting means your content policy is set by your own hosting terms and payment processor rather than a platform’s content team. Tell us what you publish during the consultation and we will confirm what is supportable and which payment processors fit.

Why not just move to Vimeo OTT?
It is a reasonable product and for some creators it is the right call. The trade-off is re-entering the same arrangement: hosted storefront, platform-owned customer relationship, subscription plus revenue share, and no control over whether the product still exists in three years. Self-hosting costs more attention up front and removes that dependency permanently.

Can I move away from you later?
Yes — that is the point. You get full cPanel, FTP and database access, the plugins are open source and listed on WordPress.org, and you can download your entire site and move it to any host at any time. Cancel whenever you like.

Put Your Catalog Somewhere Permanent

Download the free plugin and follow the guide above, or tell us how many titles you have, how you sold them and whether you still have your masters — we will map the fastest route to a storefront you own outright.

Get the Free Plugin
Free Consultation

Related services: VOD Site Plans · WordPress Site Migration · WordPress Site Optimization · Vibe-to-WordPress Migration · WordPress Hosting Plans