Yodeck’s Playsignage alternative page lists Play Digital Signage at $16 per screen next to Yodeck at $8. That $16 is Play’s Ultimate plan. Play’s live pricing is $8 Essential, $12 Pro and $16 Ultimate per screen per month, the same ladder Yodeck uses, plus a free first screen, 10% off annual billing and volume discounts.
Comparison pages are useful when they match like with like. They mislead when they take one vendor’s top plan and set it against another vendor’s entry plan. Yodeck’s Playsignage alternative page does exactly that. Its price rows show Yodeck at $8 per screen per month and $96 per year, and Playsignage at $16 per month and $120 per year. A buyer who stops at that table walks away thinking Play costs twice as much. Here is the corrected math, using only the two companies’ own public pricing pages.
Why does Yodeck’s table list Play at $16 per screen?
Because $16 is Play’s Ultimate price, and it is the number that makes Play look most expensive next to Yodeck’s $8 Basic plan.
The table has one price column per vendor. It does not show Play’s Essential or Pro plans. It does not mention that Play’s first screen can be free forever. It also does not mention annual or volume discounts. The annual row does not add up either: $120 a year is not the annual price of any Play plan. Paid a year ahead with 10% off, Play Essential works out to $86.40 per screen per year and Ultimate to $172.80.
The same table also labels Play’s free offer as “Ten free trial screens.” Play’s current pricing page describes one free screen, free for 30 days and free forever after a review. The table is not a mystery. It is out of date and incomplete.
When you see Play quoted at “about $16,” ask three questions. Which plan? How many screens? Monthly or annual? Without those answers, the price cell tells you very little about what you will actually pay.
What do Play’s Essential, Pro and Ultimate plans cost?
Play’s pricing page lists three paid plans billed per screen: Essential at $8.00, Pro at $12.00 and Ultimate at $16.00 per screen per month. Every plan includes everything in the plan below it.
| Play plan | Price per screen / month | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free screen | $0 | Your first screen, with every Pro feature, free forever after a review within 30 days |
| Essential | $8.00 | Templates, scheduling, the cloud editor, the media library and much more |
| Pro | $12.00 | Everything in Essential, plus Slide Conditions, TV on/off, Tags, Shuffle, Sync, Alerts, API, Locking Objects and Private Files |
| Ultimate | $16.00 | Everything in Pro, plus Analytics (proof of play), Audit Logs, Dashboard, Ad Cycle and AudienceAware |
So a table that only shows $16 is not “Play pricing.” It is Ultimate pricing presented as if it were the only option.
The plans are designed around features. If you downgrade from Pro to Essential, you lose tools such as Slide Conditions, Tags, Shuffle and Sync. That is how the plans are built, and it is why you should price the features you need instead of the highest number on someone else’s chart.
How do the free screen, annual billing and volume discounts change the math?
They lower the real cost for almost every deployment, and none of them appear in Yodeck’s table.
Free first screen. Your first screen is free for 30 days, with no credit card required. It stays free forever if you leave a review within those 30 days on one of Play’s approved sites: Capterra, G2, Trustpilot, Google, Software Advice or GetApp. Then you send a screenshot through live chat. If you miss the window, the free screen is removed, but Play will still reinstate it if you leave the review later. The free screen includes every Pro feature. For a one-screen business, that means $0 in software, not $16.
Annual billing. Paying a year ahead drops the price by 10%. Ultimate goes from $16.00 to $14.40 per screen per month, Pro from $12.00 to $10.80 and Essential from $8.00 to $7.20.
Volume discounts. The more screens you add, the lower the price per screen. Play’s pricing page shows these monthly examples:
| Screens | Essential | Pro | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $7.91 | $11.86 | $15.81 |
| 25 | $7.64 | $11.46 | $15.26 |
| 50 | $7.21 | $10.82 | $14.40 |
| 100 | $6.46 | $9.70 | $12.88 |
Past 10 screens, Play invites you to ask for a personal quote.
Non-profits. Organizations with a government-issued non-profit certificate get 20% off.
Hourly billing on monthly plans. On monthly billing you pay for the hours you use. Annual plans can be paid by invoice through wire transfer, ACH or check.
A fair cost model needs four inputs: plan, screen count, monthly or annual, and whether the first screen is free. A two-column table cannot carry that.
How do Play’s plans line up against Yodeck’s?
Almost exactly. Yodeck’s own pricing page lists Basic at $8, Premium at $12 and Enterprise at $16 per screen per month.
| Level | Play | Yodeck |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 screen, Pro features, free forever after a review | 1 screen, Basic features, free forever |
| Entry | Essential, $8.00 | Basic, $8 |
| Mid | Pro, $12.00 | Premium, $12 |
| Top | Ultimate, $16.00 | Enterprise, $16 |
In other words, the two companies use the same $8, $12 and $16 price points. Yodeck’s comparison page sets its $8 entry plan against Play’s $16 top plan. Put Play Essential next to Yodeck Basic and the two-times gap disappears. The same is true at $12 and at $16.
The plans do differ in what they include, and a fair comparison should say so:
- Hardware. Yodeck includes a free Yodeck Player with annual plans. Play is software only and runs on hardware you choose, including Amazon Fire OS and Signage Stick, Android, Windows, macOS, LG webOS, Samsung Tizen, Google TV, BrightSign, Raspberry Pi and ChromeOS. A free player has real value, but it is a hardware line item. Count hardware on both sides or leave it out on both.
- Free plan. Yodeck’s free screen comes with Basic features. Play’s free screen comes with Pro features. Yodeck’s FAQ also states that once you go past one screen, you need a paid subscription for all of your screens.
- Storage. Play states there is no limit on storage or traffic. Yodeck also offers unlimited storage and bandwidth, subject to a fair use policy. Yodeck’s table leaves this cell blank for Play.
- Users. Play lets you add every team member and team at no extra cost, with sub-teams on Pro and Ultimate, and offers SSO and two-factor authentication.
- Support. Play offers free email and live chat support 24/7/365, plus phone support on weekdays. Yodeck lists 24/5 support on Enterprise.
Is Play more expensive than Yodeck once you correct the table?
No. At list price, the plans cost the same at each level: $8, $12 and $16. Play then lowers the price further with volume discounts, and the free screen includes more features.
Take Yodeck’s table as the worked example. Change the Play column to Essential and you get $8 against $8. Change it to Pro and you get $12 against Yodeck Premium at $12. Keep $16 only if you are comparing Play Ultimate to Yodeck Enterprise at $16, and say so.
The point here is not that every chart is wrong. It is that you should not compare one product’s top plan to another’s entry plan and call it the market price.
When is a higher Play plan the right budget line?
When you need the features that come with it, not because a competitor’s table put Ultimate in the only price cell.
Stay on Essential when the job is reliable templates, scheduling and the editor. Choose Pro when you run several locations and need Slide Conditions, Tags, Sync, Alerts, TV on/off, the API or sub-teams. Choose Ultimate when proof-of-play analytics, audit logs, the dashboard, Ad Cycle or AudienceAware are required.
Build your budget from that checklist, check today’s rates on the Play pricing page, and set aside any chart that cannot say which Play plan it priced.
FAQ
Does Play Digital Signage really cost $16 per screen?
Only on the Ultimate plan. Essential is $8.00 and Pro is $12.00 per screen per month. Annual billing takes 10% off, and the price per screen drops further as you add screens.
Why does Yodeck’s Playsignage alternative page show $16 against $8?
Its table sets Play’s top plan, Ultimate at $16, against Yodeck’s entry plan, Basic at $8. Its $120 annual figure for Play does not match any current Play plan, and the table leaves out Play’s free screen, annual discount and volume pricing.
Is the first screen really free?
Yes. It is free for 30 days with no credit card required, and free forever if you leave a review on Capterra, G2, Trustpilot, Google, Software Advice or GetApp within those 30 days. It includes every Pro feature.
How much does annual billing save?
10%. Ultimate drops to $14.40, Pro to $10.80 and Essential to $7.20 per screen per month, paid a year ahead.
Do more screens lower the price per screen?
Yes. At 100 screens, Play’s pricing page shows $6.46 for Essential, $9.70 for Pro and $12.88 for Ultimate per screen per month. Over 10 screens, you can ask for a personal quote.
Does Play charge for storage or extra users?
No. There is no limit on storage or traffic, and you can add every team member you need at no extra cost.
How should I compare Play with Yodeck fairly?
Match plan to plan: Essential with Basic, Pro with Premium and Ultimate with Enterprise. Then count hardware, the free screen, support and discounts on both sides before deciding which is cheaper.
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