For a PC streaming directly to YouTube, the main running cost to calculate is electricity—not cloud egress for delivering the video to viewers. YouTube’s guidance describes your encoder sending a live ingest stream to YouTube, which then transcodes it into formats for viewers. Cloud egress charges are relevant when you operate a separate cloud-based encoding or delivery setup, not simply because your PC sends data over the internet.
Does YouTube charge you for cloud egress?
In a direct PC-to-YouTube setup, your encoder sends an ingest feed to YouTube. YouTube says it transcodes that stream into formats for viewers. That is different from operating your own cloud origin or viewer-delivery service and paying that service to send video to audiences. YouTube’s live encoder guidance describes ingest and recommended settings; it does not turn the amount uploaded from your PC into a cloud viewer-egress bill.
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Cloud delivery charges can matter in a different architecture: for example, if you encode, package, host, or distribute the stream using cloud services you operate. AWS’s example models viewer distribution through CloudFront as part of such a system. It is not a cost estimate for a PC streaming directly to YouTube.
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →How much does it cost to leave a PC streaming 24/7?
Use the PC’s measured average power draw at the wall, its operating hours, and your electricity price:
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Electricity cost = average watts ÷ 1,000 × operating hours × price per kWh
For a full year, 24 hours a day for 365 days is 8,760 hours. If a PC averaged 100 W at the wall, it would use 876 kWh. At the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2025 average residential electricity price of $0.173 per kWh, that illustrative usage would cost $151.55 for the year. This is a calculation from an assumed 100 W draw, not a measured result for a particular PC. The EIA reports substantial geographic variation, so use your own applicable marginal rate. EIA electricity data reports 2025 averages of 17.30¢/kWh for residential customers and 13.63¢/kWh across all customer categories. Its 2025 all-customer figures range from 8.20¢/kWh in North Dakota to 35.72¢/kWh in Hawaii; those state figures are not residential-only rates.
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Measure the actual draw
A plug-in electricity meter can help measure the computer’s wall draw while it is running the stream. Take a representative reading with the encoder and usual background tasks active; include the display and peripherals only if they will stay on for the stream and are connected through the meter. Apply the measured average to the formula above. Do not infer PC wattage from the stream’s bitrate: encoding load, CPU or GPU, other tasks, display use, peripherals, and power settings all affect consumption. No universal PC wattage for 24/7 streaming is established.
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For an estimate of data sent to YouTube, use decimal gigabytes:
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Approximate GB sent = bitrate in Mbps × 0.45 × operating hours
Across 365 days of continuous streaming, that becomes approximately bitrate in Mbps × 10,800 GB per year, before protocol overhead or downtime. For example, a constant 6 Mbps feed sends about 64.8 TB in a year; a 14 Mbps feed sends about 151.2 TB. These are estimates of data sent to YouTube, not cloud egress charges.
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YouTube’s current encoder guidance gives these H.264 recommended ingest examples:
| Resolution and frame rate | Recommended H.264 bitrate |
|---|---|
| 720p at 60 fps | 8 Mbps |
| 1080p at 30 fps | 14 Mbps |
| 1080p at 60 fps | 17 Mbps |
These recommendations are for ingest settings, not estimates of PC power use. Use the bitrate appropriate to your codec, resolution, and frame rate; other YouTube guidance may specify different values for other formats. See YouTube’s current live encoder settings.
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When cloud egress belongs in the comparison
Count cloud viewer-delivery traffic only when your setup actually uses a cloud service to distribute the stream to viewers. AWS’s published example estimates a one-hour event with about 1,000 viewers at $69.74 total, including $67.24 for CloudFront distribution. The example assumes AWS encoding, packaging, viewer traffic, specified bitrate assumptions, U.S. East pricing, and that viewers consume the highest bitrate. It is an architecture-specific illustration, not a general AWS quote and not the cost of sending a PC stream directly to YouTube. AWS’s live-streaming solution guide explains the modeled architecture.
Compare the costs on the same basis
- Identify the path: distinguish direct PC-to-YouTube ingest from a creator-operated cloud encoding, packaging, hosting, or delivery stack.
- Use a matching period: compare monthly costs with monthly costs, or annual with annual.
- Measure rather than guess PC draw: use average wall watts under the actual streaming workload.
- Apply your own electricity rate: a national average is only a benchmark; location and customer category matter.
- Keep data volume separate from energy: bitrate and uptime estimate data sent, but do not determine the PC’s watts or automatically create a cloud-egress charge for direct YouTube ingest.
Or let it run in the cloud
If the goal is to keep uploaded video playing as a 24/7 YouTube stream without leaving a computer running, StreamNeo is a cloud option: upload your recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key, and go live. It loops the uploaded video from the cloud and can recover automatically if YouTube drops the stream.
Quick Recap
- Nothing has to stay powered on at home.
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- Automatic recovery if YouTube drops the stream.
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Monthly pricing: $9.99 per month.
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