Internet Radio Hosting | SHOUTcast & Icecast Servers

Q: Is the free plan really free?

Yes, with one honest asterisk: there is a $5 one-time activation charge, and after that the plan costs nothing, every month, for as long as you use it. There is no trial period, no card on file, and no monthly bill. The $5 is not refundable.

Q: How many people can listen at once?

Up to 1,000 at the same time, on every plan including the free one. Streaming hours and bandwidth are not metered. Above 1,000 we quote you rather than sell you a box that will not fit.

Q: Where is my station hosted?

On one of our own audio servers in New York. That is the only place we sell radio, so there is no region to choose and no surprise about where your listeners are served from. Most stations opened before August 2026 still run from our Bucharest machine; we do not move a station that is already on air, because that would change its stream address. We own the hardware in both rooms and announce our own network, AS19624.

Internet radio hosting for anyone with something to say

More than twelve thousand stations have started here since 2011 — parish services, community radio, one-person shows, and FM broadcasters sending their signal further than the tower reaches. On servers we own, in New York.

$5 once to open the free plan. Then nothing per month, for as long as you broadcast.

Four kinds of station, and what each one needs

These are not personas we invented. They are the four conversations that come through our chat every week, and each maps onto a different plan for a different reason.

Worship and ministry

A service, a sermon or a prayer line, going out live to a congregation that is not in the room. Speech, so quality is not the constraint — reliability is.

Usually Free · live, 32 Kbps

Community and student radio

A rota of volunteer presenters and a schedule that has to fill itself between them. The station must not go silent at 3am because nobody was rostered.

Usually Premium · Auto DJ, 64 Kbps

Music stations

A library that plays around the clock and listeners who notice when it sounds thin. Two streams so a second channel or a lower-bitrate mobile feed can run alongside.

Usually Platinum · 128 Kbps, two streams

FM stations going online

An existing transmitter and an audience beyond its range. A hardware encoder in the rack feeds us directly, so nothing depends on a PC staying awake.

Depends on the feed · talk to us

Three plans. The free one is genuinely free.

Every plan carries the same thousand listener slots, the same unmetered streaming and the same https:// URL. You are choosing audio quality, and whether the station can play without you.

Free

Talk, preaching and podcasts, going out live.

$0_{a month, forever}

Plus $5 once to activate. That is the only invoice you will ever see.

One live stream at 32 Kbps
Up to 1,000 listeners at once
An https:// listen URL you can switch on
SHOUTcast or Icecast — your choice
Ad-free player, and a page to put it on
Centova Cast control panel
No Auto DJ, and no space to upload music — you broadcast live from your own computer

Start free→

The $5 is a one-time activation and is not refundable.

Where most land

Premium

Music stations that need to keep playing when you log off.

$39_{a month}

Or $228 a year — saves $240, 51% off.

One stream at 64 Kbps
Up to 1,000 listeners at once
Auto DJ with 3 GB for your library
Scheduled shows and playlists
An https:// listen URL you can switch on
Live chat and phone support

Get Premium→

Three-day refund.

Platinum

Full-quality music, two streams, and a library with no ceiling.

$79_{a month}

Or $708 a year — saves $240, 25% off.

Two streams at 128 Kbps
Up to 1,000 listeners at once
Auto DJ with unlimited storage
Streams on port 80, for locked-down networks
An https:// listen URL you can switch on
Live chat and phone support

Get Platinum→

Three-day refund.

Enterprise

More than 1,000 at once, or listeners on more than one continent.

Quoted_{to the audience}

Because the honest number depends on how many are listening and which continents they are on.

Any bitrate, any number of streams
More than 1,000 simultaneous listeners
Your stream mirrored across several of our servers
A named engineer who knows your station

Talk to us→

Or open the chat — staffed around the clock.

Three steps, and the longest is the download

Open the account

Pick a plan, pay the $5 if it is the free one, and the station is provisioned automatically. Minutes, not days.

Copy four settings

Centova Cast gives you a server, a port, a mount and a source password. They go into your encoder exactly as printed.

Press connect

You are on air. Put the player on your site, hand out the https:// link, and list the station in the directories you want to be in.

If it does not connect first time, that is what the chat is for — it is staffed at 3am and it is people, not a bot queue. Most stuck streams are one wrong field, and we can read the server from our side while you are still typing.

Three things we would rather you heard from us

Every one of these arrives in our chat several times a week from somebody who has already signed up and is now confused or annoyed. Putting them on the page costs us a few sign-ups and saves everyone a bad first week.

If any of it changes how you feel about the plan, that is the point.

The free plan costs $5, once.: Not a trial and not a subscription — a single activation charge, then nothing per month for as long as the station runs. No card kept on file, no renewal date. The $5 is not refundable, which is why it is on the page and not in the checkout.
The free plan cannot run Auto DJ.: It comes with no file storage, so there is nowhere to upload music and nothing for Auto DJ to play. You broadcast live from your own computer with an encoder. If you upload tracks anyway the account goes over its zero quota and the stream stops — which looks like a fault and is not one. Auto DJ starts on Premium, with 3 GB.
Music licensing is yours, not ours.: If you play commercial music to listeners in the United States you owe ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange directly, and those licences are held by you. We do not bundle them into the price. We will tell you plainly what a station your size is likely to owe — including the worship schedule, which is set by average weekly attendance. Royalty fees for internet broadcasters →

The machines your station runs on are ours

Most radio hosting is a reseller account on somebody else's cloud, which is why an outage takes a day to explain. We rent the racks, buy the servers and announce our own IP space. When a stream stops, the person you reach can walk to it.

2004streaming audio since

Twenty-two years. The company is Data Room, Inc.

12,000+stations started here free

Free radio accounts opened on serverroom.net since 2011.

AS19624our own network

We announce our own IP space. We are not reselling somebody else's stream host.

1room your stream runs in

New York, in a building we rent the rack in. Not a region you pick off a map.

What people ask before they sign up

Is the free plan really free?

Yes, with one honest asterisk: there is a $5 one-time activation charge, and after that the plan costs nothing, every month, for as long as you use it. There is no trial period, no card on file, and no monthly bill. The $5 is not refundable.

Does the free plan include Auto DJ?

No. The free plan has no file storage, so there is nowhere to upload music and nothing for Auto DJ to play. You broadcast live from your own computer with an encoder. Auto DJ starts on Premium at $39 a month, which comes with 3 GB for your library. If you upload music to a free account anyway, the account goes over its zero quota and the stream stops — so please do not.

How many people can listen at once?

Up to 1,000 at the same time, on every plan including the free one. Streaming hours and bandwidth are not metered. Above 1,000 we quote you rather than sell you a box that will not fit.

Do I get an https:// stream URL?

You can have one on any plan, but it is not switched on by default — the stream itself is served over plain HTTP until you enable it, per station, from your dashboard. Do it before you embed the player anywhere: a browser on an https:// page silently refuses to play an http:// stream, so the station goes quiet for those listeners with no error to explain why. How SSL radio streaming works →

SHOUTcast or Icecast?

Either — you pick when you order, and we will move you if you change your mind. SHOUTcast is the easier one if you use Windows DJ software; Icecast is the open one and handles more formats. The difference, in detail →

What software do I broadcast with?

Anything that speaks SHOUTcast or Icecast — BUTT, Mixxx, SAM Broadcaster, RadioBoss, Virtual DJ, the SHOUTcast DSP, or a hardware encoder in your rack. We have written setup guides for the common ones and we will do the settings with you on chat if it is easier.

Where is my station hosted?

On one of our own audio servers in New York. That is the only place we sell radio, so there is no region to choose and no surprise about where your listeners are served from. Most stations opened before August 2026 still run from our Bucharest machine; we do not move a station that is already on air, because that would change its stream address. We own the hardware in both rooms and announce our own network, AS19624.

Do I have to pay music royalties?

If you play commercial music to listeners in the United States, yes — to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange, and those are yours to hold, not ours. We do not bundle licensing into the price, and we will tell you plainly what a station your size is likely to owe. Royalty fees for internet broadcasters →

How long until I am on air?

Minutes. The account is provisioned automatically, you get your server, port and source password in the Centova Cast panel, and you type those into your encoder. If something does not connect, chat is staffed around the clock.

Can I put the player on my own website?

Yes. Every account comes with an ad-free player you can embed anywhere, and a hosted page for it if you do not have a website yet.

Internet radio hosting for anyone with something to say