TL;DR — when each one wins
Pick ScreenCloud if your organisation runs on Microsoft 365, you want a polished cloud CMS with native Teams integration and a long app marketplace, and your IT team already has hardware preferences and an internal install/AV crew. ScreenCloud is genuinely the strongest software-only product in the category for corporate office and meeting-room signage.
Pick CrownTV if you're operating a customer-facing brand across multiple locations, you don't have an in-house AV team in every market, and you'd rather pay one provider to ship the displays, send the installers, and own the SLA than coordinate ScreenCloud, a hardware vendor, and a local installer per site.
Consider both if you've standardised on ScreenCloud for office screens and you're rolling out customer-facing displays where install consistency matters more than CMS flexibility. Plenty of organisations run ScreenCloud internally and CrownTV in retail or QSR, and they don't have to fight for the same procurement bucket.
Where ScreenCloud is genuinely the better fit
We don't run a ScreenCloud-bashing operation. ScreenCloud is one of the most polished cloud CMSes in the category — clean UI, deep integrations, and a real product team behind it. There are situations where they beat us cleanly. If any of these describe you, check ScreenCloud's current pricing — they'll save you procurement friction.
- Your organisation runs on Microsoft 365. ScreenCloud's Teams integration, Power BI dashboards, and SharePoint hooks are best-in-class for corporate office signage. We integrate with all of those too, but ScreenCloud has invested deeper here.
- You already own commercial displays and an install partner. ScreenCloud is software-only. If your screens are on the wall, your IT team handles install, and you just need a CMS, that's their model. (Same for our software-only tier — but if you're cross-shopping pure SaaS for a corporate-office use case, ScreenCloud is the strongest direct alternative.)
- You want maximum CMS flexibility and a long app library. ScreenCloud's marketplace covers 50+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, Looker, and most internal-comms platforms. For internal-comms-heavy use cases, that breadth is a real strength.
- You're an IT team that prefers vendor-neutral hardware. If your procurement guidelines explicitly require multi-vendor hardware (different display brands per region, BYO media players), ScreenCloud's hardware-agnostic approach lets you mix and match. Bundled vendors don't.
If none of that fits — if you're rolling out customer-facing screens across a multi-location brand, you don't have IT staff in every region, and "stitch the CMS, the hardware, and a local installer together" sounds like a project plan you'd rather not own — keep reading.
Where CrownTV is the better ScreenCloud alternative
CrownTV doesn't compete with ScreenCloud on per-screen software cost or app marketplace breadth. We sell the rollout — hardware, install, software, and support — under one contract. Four reasons multi-location operators move from ScreenCloud to us, in order of how often we hear them:
1. Turnkey delivery — one contract, one PM, one number to call
When you sign with us, one project manager owns the entire deployment: site survey, display sizing per location, mount selection, shipping, regional installer dispatch, network configuration, content load, and sign-off. You get one quote, one invoice, and one phone number when something needs attention. ScreenCloud owns the software layer; the rest — display procurement, installer hiring, network setup, content design, ongoing field replacements — sits on you. Manageable for one office. A full-time job for a 50-store rollout. See how our turnkey service works end-to-end.
2. Commercial-grade hardware shipped pre-configured
Every CrownTV deployment ships Samsung commercial displays (QMC for indoor; OM for high-brightness window) rated for 24/7 operation, paired with our own commercial media player. Displays land on site pre-paired to your CrownTV Dashboard tenant — your installer mounts, plugs in power and ethernet, and the screen pulls down your content. ScreenCloud runs on a wide range of consumer and prosumer devices (Chromebox, Android players, Apple TV). That hardware works for office breakroom and meeting-room signage, but it isn't engineered for sustained commercial duty in a kitchen, a sunlit storefront, or a back-of-rack closet that hits 90°F in summer. The most common "screen is dark" pattern we see when migrating customer-facing accounts is consumer hardware that didn't survive the environment.
3. Nationwide install network — same-week scheduling in 50 states
We operate a vetted, licensed, insured installer network across all 50 states. When you book a national rollout, our PM coordinates installer dispatch per market, shares the install playbook, and signs off remotely once each screen is live and visible in the Dashboard. ScreenCloud doesn't sell install. You hire your own AV contractor in each market, brief them, and hope they show up on time. For a 100-location rollout, that's 100 separate contractor relationships and 100 separate sign-off conversations. See our installation service detail.
4. 13 years of operating experience and a blue-chip client roster
CrownTV has been deploying digital signage since 2013. We've shipped 16,000+ screens across the US for brands including Victoria's Secret, L'Occitane en Provence, Bonobos, Janie and Jack, Mercedes-Benz, and Westfield. That history matters when you're handing off a national rollout: we've already solved the field problems your AV team is about to encounter — content sync across timezones, role-based permissions for franchise vs corporate users, mall landlord install rules, RFP procurement workflows, ADA placement requirements. Read recent client deployments.
Pricing — what each one actually costs at scale
We won't restate ScreenCloud's prices on this page because they change. Check screencloud.com/pricing for current numbers — historically they've offered tiered plans roughly in the $20–$36/screen/month range with annual billing. Their pricing model is software-only: license fee × number of screens, with hardware and install on you.
CrownTV pricing has two paths, both published on our pricing page:
- Software-only (apples-to-apples with ScreenCloud's lower tier): $20 per screen per month with annual billing — at the low end of ScreenCloud's range. Same CrownTV Dashboard, 200+ apps and integrations, role-based permissions. You bring your own commercial display and run our software on a compatible player.
- Turnkey, all-in (the model most multi-location brands buy): starts at $3,200 per screen for indoor Samsung QMC 32-inch deployments and scales to $19,600 per screen for QMC 98-inch. High-brightness Samsung OM window displays run $3,850–$14,000 per screen. The all-in number includes the panel, commercial mount, CrownTV media player, professional install, on-site training, network setup, and the first year of CrownTV Dashboard. Multi-store rollouts get volume pricing and we'll match any signed competitive quote.
Honest math: at one office or a small fleet, ScreenCloud's software-only model is comparable to ours. At 20+ locations where you'd otherwise spend the year managing displays, mounts, installers, and content separately, CrownTV's all-in price typically lands at or below the fully-loaded ScreenCloud stack — and you avoid the operating overhead.
How to switch from ScreenCloud to CrownTV
ScreenCloud migrations are routine for us. Here's the actual sequence:
- Discovery call (30 min) — we walk through your current ScreenCloud setup, screen count per location, content library, integrations (Teams, Power BI, others), and what you want to change. No commitment.
- Site survey — remote for simple installs, on-site for window displays or video walls. We size displays per location based on viewing distance, ambient light, and your brand standards.
- Quote — one number covering hardware, mounts, install, training, and Year 1 software. Line-by-line breakdown shared.
- Content rebuild — your existing playlists, schedules, and integrations transfer to the CrownTV Dashboard. Our content team rebuilds zones; the integrations you were running on ScreenCloud (Teams, Power BI, social, weather, BI dashboards) get re-pointed to our equivalents.
- Install — pre-configured displays ship to each location. Our installer dispatch handles 1 store or 100. Most single-location switches go live within 1–2 weeks of contract; multi-location rollouts run on a published cadence with the PM owning timeline.
- Ongoing — your account manager owns the relationship. Hardware failures route through us under Samsung's 3-year onsite warranty; software changes go through our content team or your own admin users in the Dashboard.
You can cancel ScreenCloud at any time once your CrownTV screens are live. We don't charge a migration fee.
Questions we get on procurement calls
Can we keep our existing displays and just switch the CMS?
Yes. If you already own commercial-grade displays (Samsung, LG, NEC), our software-only tier at $20/screen/month runs on most modern commercial panels via our Android-based player. We'll audit your existing fleet first; if any screens are consumer TVs being run 12+ hours a day, we'll flag the ones likely to fail and quote replacements separately so you can decide what to keep.
Does CrownTV have the same Teams / Microsoft 365 integration as ScreenCloud?
We integrate with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Power BI, Outlook calendars, Teams meeting-room dashboards) and most of the platforms ScreenCloud's marketplace covers. ScreenCloud has invested more deeply in native Teams meeting-room hardware integrations specifically — if Teams is your single most important integration and your use case is meeting-room signage, that depth is a real differentiator. For most other internal-comms and customer-facing use cases, we cover the same ground.
What's the lead time on a multi-location rollout?
For 1–10 locations, four to six weeks from signed contract to last screen live. For 50+ locations, we publish a phased rollout calendar, typically 8–14 weeks depending on regional installer availability and your store-opening windows. Same-week installs are possible for single locations when displays are in stock.
Do you offer a free trial like ScreenCloud does?
Not in the same shape. We don't sell a free SaaS tier — our model is built around hardware + install + software bundled. What we offer instead: a paid pilot at one location, fully turnkey, with a written option to expand to your full network at locked-in per-screen pricing if the pilot meets the success criteria you set up front. Operators who'd otherwise want a free trial typically take the pilot path.
What happens if a screen fails in the field?
Samsung commercial displays we ship include a 3-year onsite warranty. If a panel fails, Samsung dispatches a certified tech to your location at no cost — you don't ship anything. For media player or mounting hardware issues, we send a replacement under our SLA (typically 48 hours). Your account manager coordinates the entire loop. With ScreenCloud alone, you'd diagnose whether it's the player, the display, or the network, then call each vendor separately.
Can you handle 100+ locations under one contract?
Yes — multi-location rollouts are the bulk of our business. Recent examples: 150+ L'Occitane en Provence boutiques across the US and Canada, 115+ Janie and Jack stores plus a London flagship, 100+ Victoria's Secret locations. One PM, one master service agreement, per-location work orders. RFP and procurement-friendly.
How do you compare to Yodeck, OptiSigns, and Raydiant?
The short version: Yodeck and OptiSigns are software-only at lower price points than ScreenCloud — different polish, different integration choices. Raydiant is software-first with a hospitality focus post-Displai acquisition. None of them ship hardware or run an installer network. Cross-shop deep-dives: ScreenCloud vs Yodeck, ScreenCloud vs OptiSigns, 8 ScreenCloud alternatives. All our head-to-head comparisons cover every major signage vendor.
Where the turnkey alternative matters most
The ScreenCloud-vs-CrownTV decision tilts hardest in industries where uptime, brand polish, and install consistency drive revenue. We see the strongest fit in multi-store retail (consistent brand presentation across hundreds of stores), restaurants and QSR (24/7 menu boards in kitchen-adjacent heat where consumer hardware fails), and corporate workplaces and lobbies (where ScreenCloud also competes — but executive-grade install standards push customer-facing surfaces toward turnkey). For deeper background, see our digital signage software overview, commercial display options, and media players we ship under the turnkey package.
Talk to a CrownTV PM about your rollout
If software-only isn't getting your stores live the way you need, get a turnkey quote — displays, install, CMS, all under one contract.