Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover live streaming. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| OBS Studio | StreamYard | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $44.99 |
| Pricing model | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | One-time purchase | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | 7 days |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux | Web |
| Covers | Screen Recording, Live Streaming | Live Streaming, Video Hosting |
| Works with | YouTube, Twitch | YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, Facebook |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | 1 |
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.
Only on this side
Go live to several places from a browser tab
StreamYard runs a live show from a browser with no software to install, which is why it is the default for interview streams and for guests who will not download anything. Multistreaming to several destinations is the feature people pay for. Anybody who wants scenes, plugins and local capture is describing OBS instead.
Only on this side
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.