Head to head
Gumlet vs TrackPlay
One hosts your video cheaply and fires the ad pixels most cheap hosts skip; the other proves which paid traffic actually bought. The pick turns on whether you need branded hosting or a finished conversion job.
You are down to two, and on paper they look close: both host your video, both put a marketing pixel on the page, both can drop a call to action into the player. But they are built for different jobs. Gumlet is a branded video host that ships the ad-platform hooks most cheap hosts leave out, on the lowest sticker price on this site. TrackPlay is a paid-traffic VSL player built to prove which traffic, which edit and which second of the pitch actually made the sale. The real question is not which hosts video better. It is whether you need cheap branded hosting or a finished conversion job.
This site judges video tools through one lens: does the player move a cold viewer past the pitch, and can you prove which paid traffic actually bought. On that test the two split cleanly. Gumlet fires a Meta and Google pixel on the page and gives you custom viewer analytics, but it stops there. There is no split test scored on sales, no per-second retention heatmap split by who bought, and no revenue attribution back to the play. A page-load pixel tells you a page loaded, not which video edit earned the money. TrackPlay is built for nothing else.
Where Gumlet answers back is price and breadth. It has a genuine Free Forever tier, and Creator is $6 a month billed annually, which already removes the branding and switches on the pixels. Above that it adds CRM integrations, VAST ad tags, dynamic watermarks and studio-grade Widevine and FairPlay DRM, plus fast adaptive 4K and HDR delivery, image optimization and live streaming. For a course, an e-commerce catalogue or an app that wants managed video hosting with marketing hooks and strong piracy protection, that is a lot of tool for the money.
Below we put the two side by side on price, the player, testing and attribution, then say plainly who each one is for. One caution rides on TrackPlay throughout, and it is about age rather than capability: it launched in 2026 with almost no independent track record, so it is a pilot, not a foundation, until its own numbers check out against yours.
Quick answer
Pick Gumlet if you want the cheapest branded video host that still fires Meta and Google pixels and locks content down with Widevine and FairPlay DRM, and you do not need to prove which traffic bought; pick TrackPlay if you buy traffic to a video sales letter and need to prove which traffic, which edit and which second of the pitch actually made the sale, with per-second retention split by buyer, split tests decided on the cart-verified sale, and server-side conversion tracking to Meta, TikTok and GA4, and you will pilot it on one funnel first because it is new.
- Gumlet. The cheapest branded host here, with the ad-platform hooks most budget hosts skip. A Free Forever tier, then Creator at $6 a month billed annually removes the branding and turns on Google and Meta pixel tracking; higher tiers add CRM integrations, VAST ad tags and dynamic watermarks. It protects paid content well with Widevine and FairPlay DRM (a $99 a month add-on), geo and domain locks and expiring tokens, and delivers fast 4K and HDR on a global CDN, with image optimization and live streaming on top. What it does not do is the direct-response job: no sales-scored A/B test, no per-second retention heatmap, no revenue attribution. A January 2025 update also knocked embedded videos offline for many accounts for 12 hours or more, and its review base is thin and aging.
- TrackPlay. A paid-traffic VSL player and attribution platform built for one job: proving which traffic bought. It holds a cold viewer with sound-first autoplay, timed CTAs and watch gates, draws per-second retention split into buyers and non-buyers, and decides split tests on the cart-verified sale with a p-value and confidence interval. Its focus is attribution: the cart posts the purchase back onto the play that earned it, server-to-server from seven direct-response carts, and TrackPlay fires that conversion server-side to Meta, TikTok and GA4. Every feature ships on every plan, billing is by plays, and there is a no-card free plan plus a 14-day trial, from $29 a month. The catch is age, not capability: it launched in 2026 with almost no outside proof, so pilot it before a proven offer.
Gumlet vs TrackPlay at a glance
Prices and plan features checked on the vendors' own pages on 27 September 2026.
| Feature | Gumlet | TrackPlay |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Branded video hosting with ad pixels and DRM | A paid-traffic VSL player and attribution platform |
| Built for | Cheap branded hosting for courses, shops and apps | Proving which paid traffic bought |
| Starting price | $6/mo (Creator, billed annually) | $29/mo, every feature included |
| Free tier | Free Forever (60 storage mins, branded) | Yes, 1,000 plays/mo, watermarked |
| Player and marketing hooks | In-player CTAs and forms, Meta and Google pixels | Sound-first autoplay, timed CTAs, watch gates |
| Split testing | No | Native, decided on the cart-verified sale |
| Retention analytics | Custom viewer analytics, no per-second buyer split | Per second, buyers vs non-buyers |
| Conversion tracking | Browser pixels (Meta, Google) | Server-side to Meta, TikTok and GA4, deduped |
| Cart postbacks | No | Yes, from seven direct-response carts |
| Revenue attribution | No | Yes, revenue per play |
| Content protection | Widevine/FairPlay DRM ($99/mo add-on), geo and domain lock | Domain-locked hosting, access controls |
| Image optimization | Yes (AVIF, WebP, H.265) | No, video only |
| Live streaming | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | Plan plus per-GB bandwidth and storage overage | Flat plans billed by plays, not bandwidth |
| Independent reviews | Thin and aging (Trustpilot ~78) | Almost none, launched 2026 |
| Best for | Cheap branded hosting with pixels and DRM | Paid-traffic VSLs that must prove the sale |
Strengths and trade-offs
The trade-off here is breadth against depth on one job. Gumlet does a lot for very little: branded hosting, ad pixels, DRM, image optimization and live streaming, all cheap. TrackPlay does one thing Gumlet does not attempt, and does it thoroughly: it ties every play to the cart-verified sale. Read each list against the job the video has to do.
Gumlet: what works, what to watch
What works
- Cheapest branded entry point here: a Free Forever tier, then $6/mo (Creator, billed annually) that removes branding and switches on Google and Meta pixel tracking
- Marketing hooks most cheap hosts skip: Meta and Google pixels, CRM integrations, VAST ad tags, and in-player CTAs and forms
- Strong protection for paid content: Widevine and FairPlay DRM, domain and geo blocking, dynamic watermarks and expiring access tokens
- Fast adaptive 4K and HDR playback on a global CDN, with 3,000 GB of bandwidth included on every paid tier
What to watch
- No direct-response conversion measurement: no sales-scored A/B tests, no watch-depth pixel to prove retention, and no revenue attribution, so a paid-traffic VSL cannot prove which traffic buys
- A January 2025 platform update knocked embedded videos offline for many accounts for 12 hours or more, and support reviews are inconsistent, some calling it days-slow
- DRM is a $99/mo add-on on top of the plan, and bandwidth and storage overages bill per GB, so a high-traffic offer outruns the cheap sticker price
- The dashboard has a learning curve and the WordPress and Elementor integrations are less polished than users want
- The third-party review base is thin and aging (Trustpilot sits at 78 reviews, only a handful in the last year)
TrackPlay: what works, what to watch
What works
- Split-test winners are decided on the sale, with a p-value and confidence interval, and both variants run under one embed so your ad links and campaign learning never reset.
- Server-side pixels fire to Meta and Google Ads at the watch-time milestone you choose, and cart postbacks credit the sale to the play that earned it from ClickBank, BuyGoods, Digistore24, WarriorPlus, JVZoo and Kiwify.
- Retention is drawn second by second and split into buyers versus non-buyers, alongside revenue per play, so you can see the exact seconds costing you the sale.
- Every feature ships on every plan, billing is on plays rather than seats or tiers, and there is a real free plan of 1,000 plays a month with no card. Paid plans start at $29.
What to watch
- It launched in 2026 and has almost no independent track record. The testimonials are all on its own site, with no Reddit or review-site record to check yet, so you are relying on vendor claims until you pilot it.
- It is narrow on purpose: a paid-traffic VSL player, not a general video host or a B2B content library, so it has none of the channels, SEO pages or webinar tooling of a Wistia. If the video's job is content marketing rather than a direct-response sale, it is the wrong tool.
- Billing is by plays, and its own terms count a start, an unmute, a resume and a replay as separate plays, so one viewer can register several. At volume that changes the cost, though you can cap it and usage is live in the dashboard.
- The contract declines to promise a specific uptime percentage despite the 99.99% marketing figure, and the service is provided as is with no revenue warranty.
Pricing, tier by tier
Gumlet is the cheaper host at the door, and it has a genuine free tier. Free Forever gives you 60 minutes of storage with Gumlet branding. Creator is $6 a month billed annually and is the plan most people start on: it removes the branding and turns on Google and Meta pixel tracking. Higher tiers add CRM integrations, VAST ad tags and dynamic watermarks, and every paid tier includes 3,000GB of bandwidth. Two costs scale past the sticker: bandwidth and storage bill per GB once you pass the included allowance, and Widevine and FairPlay DRM is a separate $99 a month add-on, not part of any plan.
TrackPlay prices on plays rather than storage, bandwidth or seats. There is a genuine free plan of 1,000 plays a month, watermarked, with no card and no time limit, plus a 14-day trial of the paid features. Paid plans start at $29 a month, and every feature ships on every plan, including the free one. Plans differ only on how many plays are included and what an extra play costs. Read the play definition first: its own terms count a start, an unmute, a resume and a replay each as a play, so one viewer can register several, and at volume that changes the sum. You can cap it, and usage is live in the dashboard.
So at the entry level Gumlet wins clearly, free or $6 against TrackPlay's $29, and it is the only one with a no-cost tier that hosts real traffic rather than a watermarked trial. But the two are not paying for the same thing. Gumlet's $6 buys branded hosting and a page pixel; it does not buy a split test scored on sales, a per-second buyer retention curve or revenue attribution, because Gumlet does not offer those at any price. TrackPlay's $29 buys exactly that stack. And if piracy protection is the point, note that Gumlet's DRM is a $99 a month add-on on top of the plan, which changes the cheap-host maths quickly.
There is a cost logic worth stating plainly. Gumlet bills a plan plus per-GB overage, so a viral sales letter costs more as the bill scales with bandwidth. TrackPlay meters plays, so there is no per-GB overage to watch, though the play definition means one viewer can register several. Neither model is a reason to rule the tool out; both are numbers to price against your own traffic before you commit. The deciding question is not the sticker. It is whether you are paying to host the video or paying to prove which traffic it sold to.
The verdict
For this site's core reader, someone buying cold traffic to a video sales letter, TrackPlay is the pick, and it is not close. Gumlet will host that sales letter cheaply, protect it with DRM and fire a Meta and Google pixel on the page, which is more than most budget hosts do. But a page-load pixel tells you a page loaded. It does not tell you which video edit held the viewer to the pitch, or which traffic bought. There is no split test scored on sales, no per-second retention split by buyer, and no revenue attribution. TrackPlay is built for exactly that gap: it decides split tests on the cart-verified sale with a p-value and confidence interval, draws retention to the second split by who bought, and fires the conversion server-side to Meta, TikTok and GA4 with cart postbacks crediting the play that earned the sale. If your whole problem is proving which paid traffic made the money, that is the concrete fix, and it earns TrackPlay the win here.
Two honest cautions ride with that win. The first is age, not capability: TrackPlay launched in 2026 with almost no independent track record. The testimonials are on its own site, there is little third-party review or Reddit footprint to check, and its contract declines to promise a specific uptime figure. So pilot it. Start on the free plan or the 14-day trial, run one non-critical funnel, and reconcile its pixel, attribution and play counts against your own cart and ad accounts before you move a proven offer onto it.
The second is scope. TrackPlay is narrow by design: it is built for paid-traffic VSL conversion, not general video hosting or a B2B content library, so it has none of the channels, SEO pages or webinar tooling of a Wistia, and none of Gumlet's image optimization or live streaming either. It is a poor fit if the video's job is content marketing rather than a direct-response sale. That narrowness is the reason it does the conversion job so well, and it barely bites here, because a reader weighing a conversion player against a host already knows the video has a sale to make. Where it does bite is Gumlet's home turf: if you run a course library, an e-commerce catalogue or an app that needs cheap branded hosting, DRM, image optimization or live streaming, and you do not need to prove the sale, Gumlet is the better and cheaper tool.
So the tie-breaker is the job, not the sticker. If the video has to sell to cold paid traffic and you need to prove which traffic bought, buy TrackPlay, and treat it as a pilot until its own numbers hold up. If you want the cheapest branded host that still ships ad pixels and locks content down, and conversion proof is not the point, use Gumlet.
Our pick
TrackPlay
TrackPlay is the pick for this site's core reader: someone running paid traffic to a video sales letter, whose whole business is the video. It is the only one of these two that even attempts the job this site measures, and it does it thoroughly: split tests decided on the cart-verified sale, per-second retention split into buyers and non-buyers, revenue per play, and server-side conversion tracking with cart postbacks that credit the sale to the play that earned it. Every feature is on every plan and there is a real free tier to start on. The one caveat is age: it launched in 2026 with almost no outside proof, so pilot it on one funnel and reconcile its numbers against your own before you move a proven offer onto it. And if you just want the cheapest branded host with pixels and DRM, and conversion proof is not the point, this is the wrong tool: Gumlet is cheaper and broader at that job.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gumlet or TrackPlay better?
Does Gumlet track conversions for a paid-traffic VSL?
What can TrackPlay do that Gumlet cannot?
What can Gumlet do that TrackPlay cannot?
Which is cheaper, Gumlet or TrackPlay?
Is TrackPlay safe to rely on yet?
Sources
Other sources
8 discussions and reviews read for this page. Quotes are excerpts; open a link to read the original in context.
Related reading
- Our full Gumlet review
- Our full TrackPlay review
- Gumlet vs Spotlightr: cheap branded hosting versus a secure course host
- Vidalytics vs TrackPlay: a proven VSL player versus a new one built to prove the sale
- Bunny Stream vs TrackPlay: the cheapest pipe versus proving the sale
- TrackPlay alternatives, ranked by the job
- The best VSL players and conversion video software
- All head-to-head comparisons