We Migrated the Same Vimeo Library to 5 Platforms. Here’s Who Did It Best

Every list of Vimeo alternatives tells you which platform has the best player, the best security or the best price. But almost none tell you what happens to your library when you actually move it. So we tested it.

We took the same Vimeo library of 10 MP4 videos (35.5 GB on a Vimeo Standard plan), migrated it to Gumlet, Mux, FrameRate and Kinescope, ran a 2-video sample on Livid, and recorded what came through and what broke.

This guide covers what we found: migration time, folder preservation, metadata (titles, descriptions, thumbnails, captions, chapters, tags), password-protected videos, video quality checked with MediaInfo, and the failures we hit along the way.

TL;DR: which Vimeo alternative migrates cleanly?

FYI, This test was done in October 2026. Migration tools change often, so check each platform's current import options before you plan your move.

• Gumlet came out on top. Using Gumlet's free Vimeo migration tool, Gumlet moved all 10 videos in 1 hour with no failures and kept 8 of our 9 library checks: titles, descriptions, thumbnails, folders, captions, chapters, video edits, and every public and password-protected video. Quality was recorded as the same as the source.
• Only platform to move every public and password-protected video: Gumlet moved all 10 videos, public and password-protected, with no failures. FrameRate failed on private and password-protected videos, and Kinescope, Mux and Livid moved those videos but did not keep the password setting. For paid courses, client work or internal training, that means re-applying protection by hand on every video.
• Direct Vimeo import matters more than any feature list. Platforms that pull from your Vimeo account (Gumlet, Kinescope, Mux) let you close the browser. FrameRate and Livid download every video to your laptop first, and you cannot close the app.
• Kinescope came closest to Gumlet on metadata (7 of 9), keeping thumbnails, captions and chapters, but took 146 minutes.
• Mux finished in 72 minutes but kept only titles and video edits (2 of 9). No folders, descriptions, thumbnails, captions or chapters.
• FrameRate kept folders, descriptions and tags but took 4 hours 15 minutes, and private and password-protected videos failed to migrate.
• Livid kept quality and folders but its only route is LOVE, a desktop app you have to download and keep open while it downloads every video and reuploads it.
• No platform migrated Vimeo player settings, end screen CTAs, Vimeo AI features or past view analytics. Plan to rebuild those.
• "Quality loss" was mostly a measurement mistake. MediaInfo showed FrameRate's file was unchanged, and Kinescope kept 2560 x 1440 at about 23% lower bitrate with no obvious visible difference.

Vimeo migration comparison table

The 9 checks: title, description, thumbnail, folders, captions, chapters, tags, video edits, and public plus password-protected videos.

How we tested

We used one Vimeo Standard account holding 10 MP4 videos, 35.5 GB in total, organized into 2 to 3 levels of folders. Before migrating, we added the things a real business library carries: titles, descriptions, custom thumbnails, captions, chapters, tags, video edits, player settings, end screen CTAs, Vimeo AI features and theme settings. We also had public and password-protected videos.

For each platform we recorded:

1. The setup steps required before migration starts
2. Whether all videos move together or one by one
3. Total time until all videos were on the destination platform
4. Whether the browser or app can be closed while migration runs
5. Whether folders and each metadata field carried over
6. Whether quality stayed the same, checked with MediaInfo where it looked different
7. Any migration failures

What to keep in mind when reading the results:

• Livid: its only route is downloading every video and reuploading it through the LOVE tool, which is slow. We migrated 2 videos (2K, 3.39 GB each). Where we show a 10-video figure, it is an extrapolation and labeled as such.
• Muvi: migration to Muvi requires assistance from their support team and cannot be started from their website, so we did not test it.
• Timings are single runs on one library. Your numbers will vary with library size, file sizes and network.

Platform by platform results

Gumlet

Gumlet is an all-in-one video hosting platform, and it includes a free Vimeo migration tool. We ran it on the same 10-video library and the same checklist as every other platform.

Verdict: Gumlet delivered the best overall migration in our test. It was the fastest platform to move the full library with folders, captions and chapters intact (1 hour, against 146 minutes for Kinescope, the only other platform that kept captions and chapters), it kept the most items (8 of 9), it was the only platform to bring over every public and password-protected video, and it had zero failures, with no local download and no app to babysit.
Best for: teams leaving Vimeo that want the whole library moved fast and landed organized, then add DRM, lead capture and analytics on the same platform.

• Setup: connect your Vimeo account, select videos, folders or everything, and start the import. No API keys, no access tokens, no desktop app.
• Runs in the background? Yes, the browser can be closed.
• Time: 1 hour for all 10 videos, with about 25 seconds of processing per video after upload and status visible throughout. Gumlet reports 30% faster processing, with more than 75% of videos ready in less time than their own duration.
• Carried over: title, description, thumbnail, folders (2 to 3 levels), captions, chapters, video edits, and all public and password-protected videos. Gumlet supports multi-level nested folders, live since January 2026.
• Did not carry over in our run: tags, plus, like every platform here, Vimeo player settings, end screen CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings and past view analytics.
• Quality and failures: quality recorded as the same as the source, no failures.
• At scale: Ethos Watches migrated 5,000+ videos in 3 hours.
• Routes: Vimeo to Gumlet and Vimeo to Local Disk are live. Other destinations (Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Cloud Storage) and Mux and Wistia sources are coming soon.

Kinescope

Verdict: Kinescope kept 7 of 9 checks, one behind Gumlet, ran entirely server-side, and preserved the original 2560 x 1440 resolution at a lower bitrate, but it took 146 minutes, about 2.4 times as long as Gumlet.
Best for: teams that want captions, chapters and custom thumbnails carried over through a fully server-side import, and are fine waiting a couple of hours.

• Setup: create an app and generate an API key on Vimeo, then start the migration in Kinescope.
• Runs in the background? Migration continued on Kinescope's servers. We closed the laptop, browser and website without interrupting it. No desktop app and no local storage were needed.
• Time: 146 minutes for all 10 videos, with status visible throughout.
• Carried over: title, description, thumbnail, folders (2 to 3 levels), captions, chapters, video edits.
• Did not carry over: public vs password-protected settings, tags, player settings, end screen CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings, registration form, cards, rating, copyright, categories and past view analytics.
• Failures: none.
• Quality: covered in detail in the quality section below. Short version: same resolution, about 23% lower bitrate on the top rendition, no obvious visible difference.

Mux

Verdict: Mux imported all 10 videos in 72 minutes, but kept only 2 of 9 checks (titles and video edits), so plan to rebuild every other piece of metadata yourself.
Best for: engineering teams that want API-first video infrastructure and will manage metadata, folders and players in their own product.

• Setup: create an app and generate access tokens on both Vimeo and Mux, then migrate.
• Runs in the background? Yes, the browser can be closed.
• Time: 72 minutes for all 10 videos (1.2x Gumlet's 1 hour).
• Carried over: title and a video edit (a background change we added).
• Did not carry over: folders, description, thumbnail, captions, chapters, tags, public vs password-protected settings, player settings, CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings, and analytics.
• Failures: none. Our log records quality as unchanged.

One correction from our own testing: an early version of our log marked Mux folders as preserved. We rechecked, and the folders were not recreated in the same structure as Vimeo.

FrameRate

Verdict: FrameRate kept folders, descriptions and tags with no measurable quality change, but it needs your laptop for over four hours and failed on private and password-protected videos.
Best for: small, public-only libraries where tags and folder structure matter more than captions or chapters.

• Setup: install the FrameRate desktop app. It temporarily downloads every selected video to your laptop's local storage, then uploads it to FrameRate. Large libraries need enough free disk space.
• Runs in the background? No. The app has to stay open.
• Time: 4 hours 15 minutes until all videos were visible, with about 25 seconds of processing per video after upload and status visible throughout.
• Carried over: title, description, folders (2 to 3 levels), tags, video edits.
• Did not carry over: thumbnail, captions, chapters, player settings, CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings, registration form, cards, rating, copyright, categories and analytics.
• Failures: only public videos migrated. Private and password-protected videos failed.
• Quality: unchanged on a like-for-like check (see below).

Livid

Verdict: Livid kept quality, thumbnails and folders on the videos we moved, but its download and reupload route is slow and failed twice before it worked.
Best for: small libraries where someone can keep a machine running through the whole migration.

• Setup: download and install Livid's LOVE desktop app, then select videos. It is not a web app.
• Runs in the background? No. The tool has to stay open.
• Time: about 15 minutes to upload one 3.39 GB video, first video available after 18 minutes, about 30 minutes for both videos. At that pace, 10 videos would take roughly 150 minutes. That figure is our extrapolation, not a measured run.
• Carried over: title, thumbnail, folders, video edits.
• Did not carry over: description, captions, chapters, public vs password-protected settings, player settings, CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings, tags and analytics.
• Failures: migration failed twice at the start.
• Quality: recorded as unchanged.

If you are looking at this platform specifically, check our detailed evaluation on Livid.

Muvi

Verdict: not tested. Muvi migration has to go through their support team and cannot be started from the website.
Best for: we cannot say from this test.

Did video quality drop after migration? What MediaInfo showed

Our first pass flagged quality loss on two platforms. Both turned out to be comparison mistakes, and they are the most useful lesson in this test: compare the same rendition, not library totals.

Kinescope vs Vimeo, measured with MediaInfo: both 2560 x 1440, video bitrate 10.6 Mbps on Vimeo vs 8.2 Mbps on Kinescope, file size 4.57 GiB vs 3.55 GiB, no obvious visual difference at 25:00.

Kinescope: same resolution, lower bitrate. Kinescope showed 8.95 GB for a video that was much smaller on Vimeo, which looked like a large file size increase. MediaInfo explained it:

• The 8.95 GB is five quality renditions (1440p down to 360p), not one file.
• The Vimeo original is 4.57 GiB at 2560 x 1440 and a video bitrate of 10.6 Mbps.
• The Kinescope 1440p rendition is 3.55 GiB at the same resolution and 8.2 Mbps, about 23% lower.
• Vimeo labels the top quality "2K" and Kinescope labels it "1440p". Both are 2560 x 1440.
• In a side-by-side frame at 25:00, both set to their top quality, we saw no obvious quality difference.

FrameRate vs Vimeo, measured with MediaInfo: both files 1280 x 720, 1.261 Mbps, 1 minute 45 seconds, 18.3 MiB. No measurable change after migration.

FrameRate: no change at all. Vimeo's library listed the video at 143.4 MB and FrameRate showed 19.2 MB, which looked like heavy compression. But Vimeo's library figure covers all of its stored quality versions. The original upload was already 720p, and the Vimeo 720p download and the FrameRate file are both 1280 x 720, 1.261 Mbps, 1 minute 45 seconds and 18.3 MiB.

Takeaway: before you blame a platform for quality loss, check the resolution and bitrate of the same rendition with a tool like MediaInfo, and grab a frame at the same timestamp on both.

How to choose a Vimeo alternative for migration

Most "best Vimeo alternatives" roundups rank platforms on use case, security, SSO and permissions, DRM and pricing. Those matter. But they rarely check the criteria that decide how painful the switch is. Score every shortlisted platform on both.

Migration criteria (what we tested):

1. Direct Vimeo import. Does the platform pull from your Vimeo account, or do you download and reupload? Direct import (Gumlet, Kinescope, Mux) avoids local storage limits.
2. Background migration. Can you close the browser? With FrameRate and Livid, you cannot.
3. Folder preservation. Does your 2 to 3 level folder structure come across? Mux did not recreate it.
4. Metadata fidelity. Check titles, descriptions, thumbnails, captions, chapters and tags field by field. Results ranged from 2 of 9 checks (Mux) to 8 of 9 (Gumlet).
5. Private and password-protected videos. Gumlet moved all of them. FrameRate failed on these. Include them in any pilot.
6. Quality. Verify resolution and bitrate of the same rendition, not file size totals.
7. Time and reliability. Total time and failures. Gumlet finished in 1 hour with none; Livid failed twice at the start.

Platform criteria (what buyers weigh):

• Use case fit: marketing, internal communications, online courses, or video inside your own product.
• Access controls: SSO, roles and permissions that replicate your current user groups.
• Security: DRM, watermarking and domain restrictions if your content is paid or confidential.
• Total cost: storage, bandwidth and add-ons, not just the headline plan. Our Vimeo cost guide breaks down what you pay today.

Best for, at a glance:

If you are coming from a larger enterprise platform rather than Vimeo, our guides to migrating from Brightcove, Kaltura and Vimeo and Brightcove alternatives cover those routes.

Vimeo migration checklist

1. Inventory the library: video count, total size, folder depth, and which videos carry captions, chapters, custom thumbnails, tags or password protection.
2. Map access: list SSO settings, roles and user groups so the new platform can replicate them.
3. Export what never migrates: no platform we tested moved past view analytics, player settings, end screen CTAs or Vimeo AI features. Record them before you cancel Vimeo.
4. Pick the route: direct Vimeo import, or download and reupload. If it is download and reupload, confirm free disk space and keep the machine on.
5. Run a pilot: 10 videos that include a private video, a password-protected video, and videos with captions and chapters.
6. Verify field by field: check every metadata field and the folder tree against Vimeo.
7. Verify quality like for like: compare the same rendition's resolution and bitrate in MediaInfo, plus one frame at the same timestamp.
8. Rebuild the player: branding, CTAs, lead forms and protection settings on the new platform.
9. Swap embeds: replace Vimeo embed codes and links on your site, then spot check playback.
10. Keep Vimeo until sign-off: cancel only after the full library is verified.

If you're considering Gumlet

How Gumlet stacks up on the numbers:

• Speed with full fidelity: 1 hour vs 146 minutes on Kinescope, the next closest at 7 of 9. That is less than half the time.
• Items kept: 8 of 9, ahead of Kinescope (7), FrameRate (5), Livid (4) and Mux (2).
• Password-protected videos: all moved on Gumlet. FrameRate failed on them, and Kinescope, Mux and Livid did not keep the password setting.
• Reliability: zero failures, same as Kinescope and Mux, while FrameRate and Livid both failed.
• Hands-off: direct Vimeo import that runs with the browser closed, like Kinescope and Mux, unlike FrameRate and Livid.

What matters after the move is the platform you land on. For teams that picked Vimeo alternatives for security or enterprise fit:

• DRM: Widevine and FairPlay DRM as a paid add-on ($99/month on any paid plan, included in Enterprise). Compare options in our guide to the best DRM video hosting platforms.
• Access and compliance: role-based user management, SSO on Enterprise, SOC 2 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications, and GDPR compliance.
• Accessibility: The Gumlet video player is designed to align with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards and covers key criteria under WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
• Getting started: a Free Forever plan to try the platform before committing.

For a full feature comparison, see Gumlet as a Vimeo alternative.

FAQ

What is the best video hosting platform to migrate to from Vimeo Enterprise?

In our migration test (run on a Vimeo Standard account), Gumlet came out on top: it moved the full 10-video library in 1 hour with no failures, kept folders, descriptions, captions, chapters and video edits, and was the only platform to bring over every password-protected video. Gumlet kept 8 of 9 vs Kinescope 7 of 9, and Kinescope took 146 minutes. After migration fidelity, compare SSO, permissions, DRM and total cost; Gumlet offers SSO on Enterprise and DRM as an add-on.

What are the best Vimeo alternatives for businesses?

For businesses, the best Vimeo alternative is the one that matches how you use video (marketing, training, courses or product) and moves your library without losing structure. Of the platforms we migrated, Gumlet did that best: 1 hour, 8 of 9 items kept and zero failures. Kinescope also kept folders, captions and chapters but took 146 minutes, FrameRate kept folders and tags, and Mux kept titles and video edits only. See our full list of Vimeo alternatives.

Can you suggest a Vimeo alternative with serious DRM protection?

Gumlet offers Widevine and FairPlay DRM as a paid add-on ($99/month on any paid plan, included in Enterprise), and Gumlet's free Vimeo migration tool moves your library over for free. We did not test DRM on the other platforms in this migration test. Our guide to the best DRM video hosting platforms compares the options.

Can I migrate from Vimeo without downloading my videos?

Yes, on platforms with a direct Vimeo connection. Gumlet, Kinescope and Mux connect to your Vimeo account, and migration keeps running with the browser closed. Gumlet was the fastest of these to move the full library with folders, captions and chapters intact. FrameRate and Livid download every video to local storage first.

Do folders carry over when migrating from Vimeo?

On some platforms. Gumlet, Kinescope, FrameRate and Livid recreated our 2 to 3 level folder structure. Mux did not.

Do captions and chapters transfer from Vimeo?

Gumlet and Kinescope carried over both captions and chapters, and Gumlet did it in 1 hour against Kinescope's 146 minutes. Mux, FrameRate and Livid carried over neither.

Will video quality drop after migrating from Vimeo?

Not necessarily. FrameRate's file was identical on resolution, bitrate, duration and size. Kinescope kept 2560 x 1440 at about 23% lower bitrate (10.6 to 8.2 Mbps) with no obvious visible difference in a side-by-side frame. Our Gumlet, Mux and Livid runs recorded quality as unchanged.

How long does it take to migrate a Vimeo library?

For our 10-video, 35.5 GB library: 1 hour on Gumlet with folders, captions and chapters kept, 146 minutes on Kinescope, and 4 hours 15 minutes on FrameRate. Mux finished in 72 minutes but kept only titles and video edits. Livid took about 30 minutes for 2 videos, roughly 150 minutes for 10 by extrapolation.

Can I migrate private or password-protected Vimeo videos?

Yes on Gumlet: our run moved all videos, public and password-protected. On FrameRate, only public videos migrated and private and password-protected videos failed. Kinescope, Mux and Livid moved those videos but did not keep the password setting, so protection had to be re-applied by hand. Test it in a pilot whichever platform you choose.

What does not transfer from Vimeo to any platform?

None of the platforms we tested migrated Vimeo player settings, end screen CTAs, Vimeo AI features, theme and appearance settings, or past view analytics.

How much does Vimeo cost, and is switching worth it?

Vimeo pricing depends on your plan and add-ons. Our Vimeo cost guide breaks it down. On the destination side, Gumlet's free Vimeo migration tool removes the cost of moving the library itself.

How do I migrate videos from another host?

Inventory the library, map access controls, pick a direct import where one exists, run a pilot with private videos and captioned videos, verify metadata and quality like for like, then swap embeds. Our video platform migration guide covers Brightcove, Kaltura and Vimeo in detail.