Bandicam vs OBS Studio Comparison 2026
Bandicam does one thing, recording, and charges for it: $33.26 a year for one PC, or $53.90 for a version you own outright. OBS Studio is free, open source and handles scenes, sources, a real audio mixer and both streaming and recording, on Windows, Mac and Linux, funded by sponsors rather than a price tag. Bandicam asks for money instead of time. OBS asks for an evening of settings with no guidance attached, instead of money.
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Bandicam | OBS Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $33.26 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | One-time purchase |
| Free trial | None | None |
| API |
Bandicam
A recorder sold as a licence
Bandicam records the screen, a game at high frame rates or an external capture device, and it is one of the few recorders still sold outright rather than rented. The free download records with a watermark and a time limit on each clip. A licence removes both, and the perpetual one keeps working on the version it was bought for.
Our note
OBS Studio does most of this for nothing and is the better default. Bandicam earns its money on the game-capture path, and for anybody who would rather buy software once than subscribe to it.
OBS Studio
Free and open source streaming and recording
OBS is what most of the streams you watch are running, and it costs nothing because it is a volunteer project rather than a business with a free tier. Scenes, sources, filters and a real audio mixer are all there, along with plugin support. Nothing about it is friendly on the first evening, and the settings that decide whether your stream looks good are the ones with no explanation next to them.
Our note
Why people weigh these two
- OBS Studio instead of Bandicam
- Free and open source streaming and recording; costs nothing where Bandicam charges $33.26 to lift the watermark and per-clip time limit.
- Bandicam instead of OBS Studio
- Bandicam is a paid licence with a simpler interface than OBS, aimed at somebody who wants a recorder to just work rather than a mixer to configure.
Which one should you pick
Pick Bandicam if you would rather pay $33.26 a year, or buy a version outright for $53.90, than spend an evening learning OBS's settings panel. Its high frame rate game capture is genuinely easier to point and use, though it only records: no streaming, no scenes, no audio mixer. Anybody on Linux cannot run it at all, since Bandicam covers Windows and macOS only.
Pick OBS Studio if your time is worth less than the money, or if you are on Linux, where Bandicam does not run at all. It streams and records, mixes audio properly and costs nothing forever, but the bitrate, encoder and resolution settings that decide whether the result looks good are exposed with no explanation attached.
Common questions
- Is OBS Studio really free, with no paid tier at all?
- Yes. There is no subscription, no watermark and nothing held back behind an upgrade, funded instead by sponsors and contributors. Bandicam's free version does exist but records with a watermark and a time limit on every clip, so it works as a trial rather than a permanent free tier.
- Which is easier to learn, Bandicam or OBS Studio?
- Bandicam. It records the screen or a game and stops there, with little to configure. OBS Studio does much more, streaming, scenes, a full audio mixer, but its settings are exposed without guidance, and getting the bitrate and encoder wrong is the usual reason a first attempt looks worse than expected.
- Does Bandicam run on Linux like OBS Studio does?
- No. Bandicam supports Windows and macOS only. OBS Studio is the only tool in this comparison that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, which makes it the sole option for a Linux creator.
- Can OBS Studio do everything Bandicam does?
- For recording, yes, at no cost at all. OBS captures the screen and games and adds streaming, scenes and a real audio mixer that Bandicam does not have. What Bandicam offers instead is a simpler tool with no settings panel to learn, and a licence you can own outright rather than rent.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.