Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover screen recording. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| OBS Studio | Screen Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $29 |
| Pricing model | Free | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | One-time purchase | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS |
| Covers | Screen Recording, Live Streaming | Screen Recording, Video Editing |
| Works with | YouTube, Twitch | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
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
Every paid streaming tool in this catalog is, in part, selling you an escape from OBS's settings panel. That is a real thing to buy if your time is worth more than the evening. If it is not, OBS does everything they do and costs nothing.
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Screen recordings that zoom themselves
Screen Studio records a screen and then does the editing nobody wants to do: it zooms towards whatever was clicked, smooths the cursor and animates the transitions, so a first take looks edited. Vertical export is built in for short-form. It is macOS only, which decides the question for a lot of people.
Our note
Loom is free and sends a link; this makes a file that looks like somebody edited it. If the recording is going on a sales page or a course, the difference shows immediately.
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.
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