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Screenly alternative and Screenly competitors compared on price per screen, SSO and proof of play

A Screenly alternative makes sense when you have outgrown Starter's five screens, when SSO is a requirement but 25 Enterprise licenses are not, or when buying a 219 USD player for every new screen no longer adds up. Screenly is a well built, security minded platform at 15, 24 and 38 USD per screen a month on the yearly rate. Displayer runs in the browser on displays you already own from 9 USD per screen on the yearly rate, puts SSO on Network at 24 USD with no 25 screen floor, and on Professional keeps a stored, exportable history of timestamped screenshots next to every play record.

Get started Try the screen builder

Try the player before you compare plans

The builder below is the same player a paired screen runs. Type a venue name and three messages, pick a layout, and it plays in your browser with a live clock. Nothing to install, no device to order and no sales call first.

Venue

Orientation

Layout

Put this on a screen
Weekly schedule
  • Venue: restaurant, retail store, clinic, gym, office, school, plant floor, church, senior living or real estate office
  • Orientation: landscape 16:9 or portrait 9:16
  • Layout: full bleed, main plus sidebar, or a menu board in three columns
  • Content: your business name and three short lines, prefilled for the venue you picked

The schedule strip underneath shows the same playlist placed on a weekly grid, which is exactly what the schedule view does inside the product.

Why people look for a Screenly alternative

Screenly has real strengths, and most people who leave it are not unhappy with the software. They leave because of where the plan boundaries fall once the network grows.

The first trigger is the Starter ceiling. Starter covers 1 to 5 screens and two users. Screen number six, or a third person who needs to edit, moves the whole account to Business at 24 USD per screen, billed from five screens. A café group opening its second site often hits both limits in the same month.

The second is single sign-on. SAML SSO, audit logs and an SLA live on Enterprise at 38 USD per screen a month, billed yearly only and from 25 screens. A 10 screen team whose IT policy requires SSO pays for 25 screens: 11,400 USD a year at the minimum.

The third is hardware. Screenly supports bring your own device on Android, ChromeOS, Samsung Tizen and the Amazon Signage Stick, but its recommended route is the Screenly Player at 219 USD, or the 4K Player Max at 699 USD, one per screen. For a notice board or a menu, a player that costs a third of the TV is hard to justify when the TV's own browser can play the content.

Screenly competitors compared

Published US list prices per screen per month, read at each vendor's pricing page in September 2026. Screenly publishes its yearly rate; third parties report monthly billing at about 16.90 and 26.60 USD for Starter and Business.

Screenly Yodeck NoviSign Displayer
Entry price per screen Starter, 15 USD yearly, 1 to 5 screens Basic, 8 USD Business, 14 USD yearly, 1 user Essential, 9 USD yearly, 19 USD monthly
Screen minimum 5 on Business, 25 on Enterprise None None 3 on Essential
Where SSO starts Enterprise, 38 USD, 25 screen minimum Enterprise Premium, 25 USD, no minimum Network, 24 USD yearly, no 25 screen floor
Hardware Screenly Player 219 USD, or your own device Player included on the annual plan Your own device Your own device, or the TV browser
Screen visibility Live screenshot on the Screens page Playback Reports from Premium Proof of play from Business Plus Play record plus a stored history of screenshots on Professional
API Every plan Not compared here Premium Network
Strongest at Security, API, 4K player assembled in the US Lowest price, player in the box Templates and ad serving Multi-site scheduling and visual proof

Reading that table honestly

Screenly is ahead of us in two places. Its API is on every plan, where ours starts on Network, and its live screen view is a good feature that many platforms lack. If you run a small, developer led deployment on Screenly hardware and need the API from day one, stay. The case for moving is price at the SSO tier, a player you would rather not buy per screen, and the need for a screenshot history you can export and hand to someone, rather than a live view of what is on the screen now.

What each Screenly alternative costs at 25 screens

Twenty five screens for one year, software only, on each vendor's yearly rate. The Screenly Player line assumes one player per screen, which is Screenly's recommended setup but optional.

Platform and tier Per screen a month 25 screens, one year
Screenly Business 24 USD 7,200 USD
Screenly Enterprise, SSO 38 USD 11,400 USD
Screenly Players, one time 219 USD each 5,475 USD
Yodeck Premium 12 USD 3,600 USD
NoviSign Business Plus 17 USD 5,100 USD
NoviSign Premium, SSO 25 USD 7,500 USD
Displayer Essential 9 USD 2,700 USD
Displayer Professional 14 USD 4,200 USD
Displayer Network, SSO 24 USD 7,200 USD

What the numbers say

At 25 screens Displayer Professional is 3,000 USD a year under Screenly Business, and Displayer Network, the tier with SAML SSO and an audit log, costs the same as Screenly Business and 4,200 USD a year less than Screenly Enterprise. The gap is widest for small teams that need SSO: at 10 screens, Displayer Network is 2,880 USD a year and NoviSign Premium 3,000 USD, while Screenly Enterprise bills 25 screens whatever you run. Yodeck is still the cheapest route to a playback log. Every Screenly rate, minimum and player price is in our Screenly pricing guide, and every Displayer plan is on the pricing page.

A screenshot history, not only a live view

A live screenshot answers "what is on the lobby screen right now". It does not answer "what was on the Denver screen at 2 pm last Thursday", and that is the question a franchisor, an advertiser or a landlord asks weeks later.

Displayer's proof of play records what each screen rendered and when, and on Professional stores periodic, timestamped screenshots of the rendered screen alongside that record. You can export the record as CSV for a campaign report and attach the pictures. When a screen freezes or goes black, the health check emails the site with the last frame, so the problem is found in the panel rather than by a customer.

Keep the screens and devices you already own

Displayer's digital signage player is a web page. The browser inside a recent Samsung, LG or Sony smart TV runs it, as does an Android stick, a Chrome device in kiosk mode or a Windows mini PC your IT team already manages. Pair it with a six digit code, and it downloads the schedule and keeps playing from local storage if the connection drops.

Moving off Screenly usually means the devices can stay. A Tizen or Android screen opens the Displayer player instead of the Screenly app. A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, including the Pi inside a Screenly Player, can open the player in Chromium in kiosk mode; test one first, and keep heavy 4K video for stronger hardware. Device options are laid out on the signage app page, and Windows estates on digital signage software for Windows.

Which Screenly alternative to pick

Choose Yodeck when

You want the lowest price per screen and a player shipped in the box on the annual plan, and a playback log is enough evidence. Yodeck Premium is 12 USD. More on our Yodeck alternative page.

Choose NoviSign when

You want a large template library, ad serving with proof of play through Vistar and Adomni, and SSO on Premium without a minimum. The full rate card is in our NoviSign pricing guide.

Choose OptiSigns when

You want the widest app and dashboard library on devices you buy yourself. The tier ladder and add-ons are compared on our OptiSigns alternative page.

Choose Displayer when

Your screens are spread across several locations, content changes by daypart or promotion, and somebody outside the business may ask what was on screen. You keep the displays you have, pay per active screen with team members free on every plan, get SSO on Network without buying 25 licenses, and on Professional get a screenshot history you can export. Scheduling across sites by tag is covered on cloud digital signage.

Stay on Screenly when

You rely on the API on a small plan, you want a 4K player assembled in the US, or your team already works from Screenly's live screen view and nobody asks for historical evidence. Those are real strengths and none of the platforms here beats all of them.

What is the best alternative to Screenly?

For multi-site business screens the usual shortlist is Yodeck, NoviSign, OptiSigns and Displayer. Yodeck is the cheapest with a bundled player, NoviSign offers SSO with no minimum, OptiSigns has the largest app library, and Displayer adds a stored screenshot history and multi-site scheduling from 9 USD per screen on the yearly rate.

Who are Screenly's competitors?

Screenly competes with Yodeck, OptiSigns, ScreenCloud, Rise Vision, NoviSign, TelemetryTV, Xibo and Displayer in cloud digital signage. On hardware it competes with BrightSign players and with Android and ChromeOS devices, and its open source edition, Anthias, competes with other self-hosted Raspberry Pi signage projects.

How much does Screenly cost per screen?

On the yearly rate Screenly Starter is 15 USD per screen a month for 1 to 5 screens, Business is 24 USD billed from 5 screens, and Enterprise is 38 USD billed from 25 screens, yearly only. The Screenly Player is 219 USD and the Player Max 699 USD, one per screen.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Screenly?

Yes. Yodeck Basic at 8 USD and Displayer Essential at 9 USD on the yearly rate are both below Screenly Starter at 15 USD. At the reporting tier, Displayer Professional at 14 USD and NoviSign Business Plus at 17 USD are below Screenly Business at 24 USD, and none of them requires a dedicated player.

Is there a Screenly alternative for Raspberry Pi?

Yes. Yodeck ships a Raspberry Pi based player, OptiSigns supports the Pi, and Displayer's player is a web page that a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 can open in Chromium in kiosk mode. Test one screen first, because a Pi handles notices and menus well but struggles with heavy 4K video.

Does Screenly have SSO?

Yes, on Enterprise only. SAML SSO, audit logs and an SLA need the Enterprise plan at 38 USD per screen a month, billed yearly from 25 screens, which is 11,400 USD a year at the minimum. Displayer Network includes SAML SSO and an audit log at 24 USD per screen yearly with no 25 screen floor.

Can I use my Screenly Player with another platform?

Often yes. The Screenly Player is Raspberry Pi based, and a Pi running a standard operating system with Chromium can open a browser based player such as Displayer's. Reflashing it removes the Screenly software, so test on one spare unit before you touch the rest.

How do I switch from Screenly to another platform?

Pair one location to the new platform and run both side by side for a week. Re-upload your media, rebuild playlists and schedules against location tags, then move the remaining sites one at a time before your Screenly renewal. Playlists do not transfer between vendors, so plan about an afternoon per site.

Related pages

Put three screens up and compare the record

Pair three screens you already own, run your real schedule for a week, and compare the stored screenshot history with the live view you get in Screenly.

Start with three screens See pricing