Description
The managed WordPress video hosting plugin — adaptive HLS streaming without the Vimeo bill.
Stop paying Vimeo to host videos on your WordPress site. VideoFlowEngine gives you upload, encoding, CDN delivery, and analytics — all built into WordPress, all on flat-rate pricing with no per-view fees.
Upload from the WordPress dashboard. Videos auto-encode to adaptive HLS (360p / 720p / 1080p) and stream instantly via Cloudflare CDN. Drop into any page, post, or LMS lesson with [vfhls_player id="123"] or the Gutenberg block. Five minutes from install to live HLS stream.
🎯 Built for:
- Course creators on LearnDash, Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, LearnPress — replace Vimeo without rebuilding your lessons
- Membership sites that don’t want YouTube recommendations pulling members away mid-lesson
- Agencies managing video for multiple client sites from a single WordPress dashboard
- SaaS / marketing sites that need a clean, branded, ad-free video player
🚀 WordPress video hosting that actually works:
- Upload videos directly from the WordPress dashboard
- Automatic multi-resolution HLS encoding — 360p, 720p, 1080p adaptive
- Fast global delivery via Cloudflare CDN — streams like Netflix, not like a raw MP4 file
- Drop into any page, post, or LMS lesson via shortcode or Gutenberg block
- Built-in analytics: views, watch time, drop-off — right inside WordPress admin
- No ads, no external branding, no “watch on Vimeo” recommendations
🔥 Features
- Direct-to-cloud uploads (no server transcoding, no PHP upload size limits)
- Adaptive HLS streaming — quality switches automatically based on the viewer’s connection
[vfhls_player id="123"]shortcode for single videos[vfhls_gallery columns="3"]shortcode for video grids- Gutenberg block for the block editor
- Drag & drop upload with real-time encoding progress
- Built-in analytics dashboard — views, watch time, drop-off, device breakdown
- Free tier — no credit card required
🎬 Hero Add-On — Instant-Play Premium Video
Homepage hero videos, course intros, and featured testimonials should play instantly — no buffer wheel, no loading delay, no LCP penalty. The Hero add-on marks any one video as your Hero for full-HD instant-play delivery.
Use [vfhls_player id="123" hero] to embed it. Switch which video is your Hero anytime from Settings.
- Instant playback — plays on first tap, no buffer wheel, even on slow mobile connections
- Faster page load — adaptive HLS, no full-file pre-download before playback starts
- Full HD 1080p for the designated hero video
- One-click switch — reassign the Hero to a different video anytime
Perfect for: homepage hero sections, course intro lessons, sales-page testimonials, product demo reels.
🎓 Works with your LMS:
Drop the shortcode or block into any LMS lesson editor. Compatible with:
- LearnDash — lessons, topics, quizzes, Focus Mode
- Tutor LMS — lesson video blocks, course builder
- LifterLMS — lesson and course content
- LearnPress — lesson content
- Any LMS that accepts standard WordPress shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks
❓ Why VideoFlowEngine instead of Vimeo?
- No per-view charges — flat plan pricing, never metered per play
- No ads or platform branding — your player, your domain, your look
- No YouTube-style recommendations pulling viewers out of your paid course
- Analytics inside WordPress — views, watch time, drop-off without a separate dashboard
- Private by default — videos are not surfaced on any public platform
🔐 Security & Privacy
- WordPress capability checks on every admin action
- Pre-signed upload URLs — video files never publicly exposed during upload
- No data leaves your site until the admin explicitly clicks “Connect”
- Visitor analytics are opt-in — disabled by default, toggled from Settings
- Viewer IP used only for 1-hour view deduplication, not stored long-term
How it works:
- Install and activate the plugin
- Go to VideoFlowEngine Settings click Connect to VideoFlowEngine (a consent screen shows exactly which data is sent before you confirm)
- Upload from the VideoFlowEngine menu — drag & drop, then wait a few minutes for HLS encoding
- Paste
[vfhls_player id="123"]into any page, post, or LMS lesson — or use the Gutenberg block
External Services
This plugin connects to VideoFlowEngine API (api.videoflowengine.com) to process, store, and deliver videos. This service is required for the plugin to function. No data is sent until the site admin explicitly clicks “Connect to VideoFlowEngine” and reviews the consent screen.
API endpoint: https://api.videoflowengine.com
Data sent may include:
- Video files (uploaded directly to cloud storage via pre-signed URLs)
- Site URL, site name, admin email (for API key provisioning)
- WordPress version, PHP version, plugin version
- API key (for authentication on all subsequent requests)
- Playback analytics when enabled — view counts, watch time, playback quality, viewer IP for deduplication (opt-in, disabled by default)
Service Provider: VideoFlowEngine
Website: https://videoflowengine.com
API: https://api.videoflowengine.com
Terms of Service: https://videoflowengine.com/terms
Privacy Policy: https://videoflowengine.com/privacy
Third Party Libraries
- hls.js — HLS video playback in browsers. Included file:
assets/js/hls.min.js(minified production build). Source code: https://github.com/video-dev/hls.js. License: Apache License 2.0 (GPL-compatible).
Privacy
No data leaves your site until the admin explicitly connects via Settings. Visitor analytics are opt-in and disabled by default. The admin can enable or disable analytics at any time from VideoFlowEngine Settings. Full details: https://videoflowengine.com/privacy.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
videoflowengine-hls-streamingfolder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install directly via the WordPress plugin directory - Activate through the Plugins screen in WordPress
- Go to VideoFlowEngine Settings and click Connect to VideoFlowEngine (a consent screen lists exactly which data is sent to the API)
- Upload your first video from the VideoFlowEngine menu
FAQ
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Is VideoFlowEngine free?
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Yes. There is a free tier — no credit card required. The free tier includes up to 10 videos, 720p adaptive HLS encoding, 100 GB/month bandwidth, and basic per-video view counts. Paid plans unlock 1080p, more videos, higher storage limits, and the full analytics suite (watch time, drop-off, device breakdown).
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Is this a real Vimeo replacement for WordPress?
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Yes. VideoFlowEngine covers the full Vimeo workflow — upload, encode, embed, analytics — with managed cloud hosting and WordPress-native embeds. There are no per-view fees and no external player branding. To switch: download your source files from Vimeo (Settings Distribution Video File Download), re-upload to VideoFlowEngine, and swap the embed code. Most sites migrate in under an hour.
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Will this work with LearnDash?
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Yes. Add
[vfhls_player id="123"]or the VideoFlowEngine Gutenberg block to any LearnDash lesson, topic, or quiz — the same way you’d add any WordPress content block. The player works in Focus Mode and alongside LearnDash’s quiz and certificate triggers. Full setup guide on our website. -
Will this work with Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, or LearnPress?
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Yes — any LMS that accepts standard WordPress shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks works with VideoFlowEngine. That covers Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, LearnPress, WP Courseware, and most others on the market.
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What is HLS streaming and why does it matter?
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HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) is the adaptive streaming protocol used by Netflix and YouTube. Instead of downloading the entire video file before playback starts, HLS sends short segments and adjusts quality in real time based on the viewer’s connection speed. The result: videos that start instantly and play without buffering on slow mobile connections — and no page-load penalty from a large MP4 file being fetched before a single frame plays.
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How is VideoFlowEngine different from Vimeo?
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The core difference is pricing model. Vimeo charges per-view on many plans and the bill grows with your audience. VideoFlowEngine is flat-rate — the same monthly price whether 5 or 5,000 people watch your videos. Beyond pricing: video is hosted under your domain (not Vimeo’s), there are no ads or “watch on Vimeo” prompts, and analytics live inside WordPress admin rather than a separate Vimeo dashboard.
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Do I need to set up Cloudflare R2 or any CDN myself?
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No. VideoFlowEngine provides the storage, encoding servers, and Cloudflare CDN delivery as part of the managed service. There is nothing to configure. Install, connect, upload.
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Can I migrate existing videos from Vimeo or YouTube?
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Yes, by re-uploading. Download your source files from Vimeo (Settings Distribution Video File Download) or YouTube, then drag and drop them into VideoFlowEngine. Direct import from Vimeo/YouTube is not built in, but the upload-and-encode flow is the same as any new video. For bulk migrations, the migration guide on our website walks through the full process.
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Do I need an API key?
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Yes. After activation, click Connect to VideoFlowEngine in the Settings screen. This provisions a free API key automatically — no separate account registration or credit card needed.
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Does this work without creating an account first?
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Yes. Clicking “Connect to VideoFlowEngine” in the plugin Settings creates your account and provisions a free API key in one step. You will see exactly what data is sent before confirming.
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What video formats are supported for upload?
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MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, WebM, and most other common video formats. Files are transcoded to adaptive HLS regardless of source format.
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Does this work in Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, or other page builders?
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Yes. Any page builder that renders WordPress shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks will display the VideoFlowEngine player — including Elementor, Beaver Builder, Bricks, Divi, GeneratePress, Astra, and Kadence.
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What is the Hero add-on?
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The Hero add-on lets you designate one video as the “Hero” on your site. It gets full-HD 1080p encoding and an instant-play player optimised for homepage hero sections, course intros, and sales-page testimonials. Activate in VideoFlowEngine Settings and embed with
[vfhls_player id="123" hero]. The Hero can be reassigned to any other video at any time (24-hour cooldown between switches). -
Can my homepage hero video autoplay silently?
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Yes. The Hero player handles browser autoplay policies — muted-autoplay-then-unmute is supported out of the box. Use
[vfhls_player id="123" hero]on your homepage. -
Can I switch which video is my hero?
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Yes. Go to VideoFlowEngine Settings Hero card Change video. The new video re-encodes to the hero stream in a few minutes; the previous one reverts to your plan’s standard encoding.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“VideoFlowEngine HLS Streaming” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “VideoFlowEngine HLS Streaming” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.1
- New: Hero add-on — designate one video as your site’s Hero for instant-play full-HD 1080p delivery. Activates from Settings; embed with
[vfhls_player id="X" hero] - New: First-ready toast — after the first video finishes encoding, a prompt appears with the shortcode ready to copy
- New: In-plugin subscription cancel button for Starter and Pro plans
- Improvement: Hero shortcode column in the video list now auto-shows the
[vfhls_player id="X" hero]variant for the assigned Hero video - Improvement: Hero video-chooser modal now uses inline status messages instead of native browser dialogs
- Fix: Stripe checkout no longer redirects the current tab when opening the payment page in a new tab
- Fix: Plugin reactivation now correctly records the analytics consent state and writes the GDPR audit log entry
- Fix: Removed a duplicate analytics line that appeared on plan upgrade pages
- Security: Added a WordPress capability check to the review-prompt dismissal AJAX handler
1.0.0
- Initial release — WordPress video hosting with upload, HLS encoding, CDN delivery, and analytics
- Direct-to-cloud uploads via pre-signed URLs (no server-side transcoding, no PHP upload limits)
- Adaptive HLS encoding to 360p, 720p, and 1080p with automatic quality switching
- Drag & drop upload interface with real-time encoding progress in WordPress admin
[vfhls_player id="123"]shortcode,[vfhls_gallery]shortcode, and Gutenberg block- Built-in analytics: views, watch time, drop-off, device breakdown
- Visitor analytics opt-in — disabled by default, toggled from Settings
- Free tier — no credit card required