Bigo Live Clone vs Custom Streaming App: What’s Best for Your Startup?

The live-streaming industry has reached new heights, with a global market valued at around $100 billion in 2024 and projected to soar to $345 billion by 2030, while approximately 28.5% of internet users worldwide tune in to live streams every week

Thinking about starting your own live-streaming business, but can’t decide between a Bigo Live clone or a fully custom app?

No worries! In this blog, we’ll explore both options, highlight their pros and cons, and guide you to choose the best approach for your startup

🤔Understanding the Two Options

Before deciding, it’s important to understand both options, so let’s review them one by one.

What is a Bigo Live clone?

A Bigo Live clone is a ready-made app that replicates the core functionality of the popular live-streaming platform, Bigo Live. It allows users to broadcast live streams while offering built-in features such as real-time chat, virtual gifts, and interactive engagement tools.

For entrepreneurs, a Bigo Live clone script provides the flexibility to customize the app according to their business needs. Since the core features are already developed, it significantly reduces both development time and cost, enabling startups to launch their app quickly and efficiently

Helpful Hint: Trioangle offers a feature-rich Bigo live clone at an affordable price, with full support for future upgrades as your platform grows.

Benefits of Using the Bigo Live Clone

There are numerous benefits to using a Bigo Live clone app, and in this section, we’ll take a quick look at the key advantages.

Cost-Effective Solution:

• Using a clone script eliminates the high development costs associated with building a custom app, making it a budget-friendly option.

Global Reach:

• With a Bigo Live clone, you can launch your app quickly and have the potential to reach a global audience without any delays.

Proven Business Model: 

• The clone is built on a proven business model, minimizing investment risks and providing a dependable route to success.

Reduced Development Risk: 

• Since the app has already been developed and tested, it comes with fewer bugs or functional issues compared to a custom-built app, ensuring a smoother launch.

Drawbacks of Using the Bigo Live Clone

Every coin has two sides, one positive and one negative. We’ve already explored the advantages, so now it’s time to take a closer look at the Drawbacks of a clone app.

Limited Customization: 

• Since the features in a clone app are pre-built, there’s limited room for customization. Adding advanced or unique functionalities can be challenging compared to a fully custom-built app.

Impact on Brand Identity:

• Using a clone app can make it harder to stand out. With limited uniqueness, your platform may look similar to existing apps, which can affect your brand identity.

Lack of Scalability:

• Many entrepreneurs worry about scalability. However, if you choose the right Bigo Live clone app, you won’t have to be concerned about it.

Okay, now you understand what Bigo Live clone script is and its benefits, and the drawbacks.

🤔When Should Startups Choose a Bigo Live Clone?

1. Limited Budget:

• If you have a limited budget, you don’t need to take a big leap. You can quickly launch a clone script, as it is ready-made and much more cost-effective.

2. Minimum viable product:

• The clone script allows you to create the minimum viable product, and it is useful for testing the features and getting user feedback 

3. Fast market Entry:

• If you want to enter the market quickly, a clone script is your best choice. It’s ready to launch, follows a proven model, and helps you attract users easily.

4. Limited Customization:

• The clone scripts work well if the standard features meet the business needs and if you don’t require heavy customization.

5. Low Risk:

• If you want to test the market and user engagement with minimal financial risk, choosing a clone script is the ideal option for your startup.

The Bigo Live clone is best for startups if they want a cost-effective, fast, and low-risk way to enter the booming live streaming market.

Also Read: How to build a Bigo Live clone app: Step by Step Guide

What is a Custom Live Streaming App?

Building a Custom live Streaming App means creating your platform from scratch, from designing the interface to adding features, testing, and fine-tuning every detail.

Sure, it takes more time to launch because there’s a lot involved: planning, development, testing, and making sure everything works perfectly. 

And since you’re starting from zero, it also requires a bigger investment and more development time than using a ready-made clone.

Now that we understand what a custom-built app is, let’s dive into the benefits and drawbacks of choosing this approach.

Benefits of Using the Custom Live Streaming App

Now, let’s take a look at the benefits of using a custom Live streaming app.

Full Control Over UX Design: 

• With a custom app, you can tailor the workflow and design to your business needs, creating a unique and non-generic user experience.

Fully Scalable: 

• A custom-built app allows you to add new features easily and handle large volumes of user data without performance issues or downtime.

Unique Brand Identity: 

• A custom app helps establish a strong and distinctive brand identity for your business, rather than imitating other brands.

Competitive Advantage:

• Incorporating unique features into your custom app enables your brand to differentiate itself from competitors.

These are the benefits of using the Custom app development 

Drawbacks of Using the Custom Streaming App

It’s time to see the drawbacks of using the custom Streaming app.

Higher Development Cost:

• Building a custom app requires a significantly larger budget because developers must design, code, test, and refine every feature entirely from scratch.

Longer Development Time:

• Creating an app from scratch often takes many months or even years, as every component requires careful planning, development, testing, and optimization before launch.

Delayed  Market Entry:

• Since the app is built from the ground up, development takes longer, resulting in delays in bringing the product to market.

I believe you now have a clear understanding of what a custom streaming app is, along with its key benefits and potential drawbacks.

🤔When Should Startups Build a Custom Streaming App?

1. Unique Idea:

•  If you want features or functionality that go beyond the standard options of a clone app, a custom streaming app is the better choice, allowing you to create something truly unique.

2. Long-Term Growth:

• This option is perfect for startups aiming for large-scale operations and long-term expansion, as a custom app can grow and adapt with your business over time.

3. Brand Differentiation:

• With a custom app, you can fully customize design and features, creating a unique brand identity that helps your platform stand out from competitors.

If you want a unique idea, a strong brand identity, and long-term growth, choosing a custom streaming app is the best option.

🎯Bigo Live Clone Vs Custom Streaming App

In this section, we are going to compare the factors between the Bigo Live clone and the Custom streaming app.

1. Development Cost:

Using a clone app requires a lower investment because it already includes pre-built features, which helps save both development time and costs.

Building a custom app requires a higher investment compared to a clone app, since every feature and functionality has to be created entirely from scratch

2. Development Time:

Developing a clone app usually takes 3 to 10 months and includes design, frontend and backend development, thorough testing, and quality assurance to ensure smooth performance.

Developing a custom app typically requires 3 to 12+ months, including careful planning, design, full development, testing, and ongoing maintenance for long-term stability and performance.

3. Feature Flexibility:

Using the Bigo Live clone app, you can customize the brand identity, such as the logo and name; however, the features are pre-built, limiting your ability to add unique functionalities. There is a lack of feature customization.

With a custom streaming app, you can easily add unique or complex features without complications, fully tailoring the app according to your specific business needs and goals

4. Maintenance and Updates:

In a clone app, maintenance and updates are minimal because the provider handles any issues or platform updates, making it easier for the app owner to manage.

In a custom app, you are fully responsible for maintenance, including fixing bugs, performing updates, and ensuring smooth operation. This often requires a dedicated technical team, making maintenance more complex and time-consuming.

5. Technology Flexibility:

The Bigo Live clone is a ready-made app, so the technology stack is fixed, meaning you cannot change or customize the base technology.

In a custom streaming app, you can choose any technology stack initially and even change or upgrade it later according to your evolving business needs.

These are the differences between the Bigo Live clone and the custom streaming app, which helps you to make the desired decision.

💸Bigo Live Clone vs Custom App: A Cost Breakdown

The cost is an important factor when choosing the app. It depends on your budget for developing the app.

Cost Category	Bigo Live clone	Custom build app
Basic	$40,000- $60,000	$40,000- $120,000
Moderate	$60,000- $120,000	$120,000- $250,000
Advanced	$120,000- $200,000+	$250,000+

The cost of developing a live-streaming app varies across basic, moderate, and advanced versions, depending on the features, functionality, and overall complexity included in each level.

Basic App:

• This version offers essential live-streaming features, including simple user registration, live broadcasting, user commenting, and profile management, providing a foundational platform suitable for beginners and basic streaming needs.

Moderate App:

• This version enhances the streaming experience with multi-host sessions, interactive in-app gifting, a secure wallet system, admin tools, and all core features, delivering a more engaging and monetizable platform for users.

Advanced App:

• This fully developed version includes advanced capabilities such as detailed data analytics, AR-powered video enhancements, secure payment integration, and comprehensive content moderation, offering a high-performance, scalable live-streaming solution.

This is a cost breakdown for both custom and clone app development. It differs in basic and moderate, and advanced features. 

💰ROI Analysis: Which one brings better options

I understand that every entrepreneur is curious about how these different options can generate ROI for their business. Let me break it down clearly in this section.

1. Earning Capacity of the Bigo Live clone app

By choosing this option, you can launch your app quickly without any delays because the core features are already available, so you don’t need to build everything from scratch.

 It also comes with pre-built monetization features such as coins, gifts, and ads, and you can further customize features if you select the right provider.

Maintenance and updates are easier since the framework is already developed. Compared to custom apps, maintenance issues are rare, and the provider will assist in resolving any problems.

Another advantage is the proven business model. There’s minimal risk in investing in a Bigo Live clone script, and it benefits from attracting a loyal user base similar to the existing platform. This helps entrepreneurs invest less and gain moderate long-term ROI.

2. Earning Capacity of Custom live streaming app

A custom app requires a higher investment and a longer time to launch since every feature must be built from the ground up. You can, however, customize monetization features to suit your business needs.

Maintenance and updates demand more resources, and a technical expert is usually needed to resolve issues. On the positive side, you can tailor the UI/UX design for your target audience, which helps drive higher engagement. This approach supports long-term growth for entrepreneurs willing to invest time and resources.

ROI Metric	Bigo Live clone	Custom Live streaming App
Cost and Benefit	Low initial Cost and moderate long-term ROI	Higher initial cost and high long-term ROI
Monetization Potential	Standard Options: Features come ready-made but can be customized depending on the provider.	Flexible Options: You can fully customize the features to meet your specific business needs.
Operational efficiency	Low Maintenance & Scalable: Maintenance is minimal, and scalability depends on the Bigo Live clone you choose.	High Maintenance & Highly Scalable: Requires more maintenance but offers greater scalability potential.
Best for	Quick Launch & Low Budget: Allows you to get your app to market rapidly with minimal investment.	Long-Term Growth & Higher ROI: Supports sustained growth and maximizes returns over time.

The ROI differs for both options: a Bigo Live clone offers moderate long-term ROI, while a custom app provides high long-term ROI

Final Thoughts:

In this blog, we explored the key differences between a Bigo Live clone and a custom streaming app, along with their benefits, drawbacks, costs, and ROI.

Each option fits different startup goals. If you want a fast launch and low cost, the clone is ideal. If you’re aiming for long-term growth and uniqueness, a custom app is the better choice.