Vimeo was the video-sharing site founded in November 2004, before YouTube.
Vimeo began as a side project of CollegeHumor developers Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein. Unlike YouTube’s later mass-market approach, Vimeo developed a reputation for emphasizing creative filmmakers, polished production, and creator-focused tools.
YouTube was registered in February 2005, with its first video uploaded on April 23. That makes Vimeo older by several months, although neither site was the first online video service. Earlier platforms and video-hosting experiments already existed.
A common mix-up is Veoh, Metacafe, or Dailymotion. All were important competitors in online video, but they do not fit the specific November 2004 founding date. Vimeo’s name comes from a combination of “video” and “me.”