Livestreaming has exploded in popularity in recent years thanks to platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming. With so many people streaming their gameplay, art streams, podcasts, and more to audiences across the globe, streamers need robust software to power their broadcasts. When it comes to open source streaming software, two options stand out from the crowd: OBS Studio and Streamlabs.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the history, features, strengths and weaknesses of both OBS Studio and Streamlabs. By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to decide which platform is best for your next stream.
A Brief History of OBS Studio and Streamlabs
OBS Studio stands for Open Broadcaster Software Studio. First launched in 2012 as simply “Open Broadcaster Software”, OBS Studio is free, open source software maintained by an active community of developers and volunteers.
OBS Studio provides video capturing and advanced live streaming capabilities. It quickly became a favorite platform among streamers thanks to its robust feature set and completely free model.
Streamlabs emerged in 2014 under the original name TwitchAlerts. Built to function as a companion service to Twitch for managing donations and notifications, Streamlabs has expanded over the years to offer a suite of tools tailored specifically for streamers including chatbots, tipping, merch stores and more.
While Streamlabs is not open source, the core streaming functionality is based on OBS Studio and makes use of many open source components. In 2016, Streamlabs desktop debuted as an alternative to OBS Studio, offering a beginner friendly interface packed with additional features like themes, overlays and widgets.
Now that we’ve covered a bit of background history on both platforms, let’s explore exactly how they compare across essential functionality for streamers.
Head-to-Head Comparison
Here’s a high level overview of how core features stack up between OBS Studio vs Streamlabs:
| Feature | OBS Studio | Streamlabs |
|---|---|---|
| User Interface | Steeper learning curve; focused on customization options for advanced users | More beginner-friendly UI with drag and drop simplicity |
| System Resource Usage | Lower overhead and resource usage | Uses more CPU and memory due to added features |
| Third Party Integrations | Extensive integrations and plugin ecosystem | Very limited support for adding third party tools |
| Customization Options | Nearly endless customization through scenes, sources, plugins and scripts | Library of pre-made themes and overlays for easier personalization |
| Community Support | Large open source community provides abundant help resources | Smaller set of help resources and guides |
| Pricing | 100% free and open source | Freemium model with free streaming tools and paid subscription for premium features |
| Mobile Support | No official mobile app but third party options available | Fully functional mobile apps for iOS and Android |
As you can see at a glance, OBS Studio shines when it comes to customization options, performance, and community support due to its open source nature. Streamlabs simplifies the process through more pre-built tools and options aimed at new streamers.
But there’s more to the story. Keep reading for a deeper dive into the notable differences users should understand when evaluating OBS Studio vs Streamlabs.
Key Differences Between OBS Studio and Streamlabs
Beyond the high level feature comparison, understanding the core differences under the hood will help reveal the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms. Let’s analyze some of the most important contrasts.
Flexibility and Customization
One of the starkest differences between OBS and Streamlabs comes down to flexibility.
OBS Studio delivers an exceptional level of control when it comes to customizing your stream. Through utilizing scenes with layered sources, filters, custom plug-ins and scripts, you can fine tune a stream to meet your exact specifications. This does require comfort diving into advanced settings panes to tweak every encoding parameter – so the additional flexibility comes with a steeper learning curve.
Streamlabs uses OBS under the hood but hides away most advanced configuration in favor of presets and drag-and-drop widgets. Switching between scenes containing different layouts, overlays and text elements can be done with just a few clicks. Easy to install themes make it simple to customize aesthetics of your stream. For users who value simplicity over deep control, Streamlabs makes personalizing your stream a breeze.
So while OBS Studio offers nearly endless customization opportunities through its modular plugin architecture, Streamlabs trades away some of that power in favor of beginner accessibility through themes and templates.
Performance and Resource Usage
When it comes to efficiently using system resources, OBS generally maintains a lead over Streamlabs.
OBS uses a lighter weight rendering pipeline that minimizes CPU and GPU usage even when dealing with multiple video sources and outputs. The development team is focused intently on optimization. This means that OBS Studio can deliver flawless performance even on lower spec hardware.
Streamlabs taxed system resources harder in testing, which is understandable given the additional widgets like chat boxes and notifications that are layered into scenes. However, it’s worth noting that Streamlabs performanced aligned closely with vanilla OBS when we stripped away those additional tools and tested just core capturing and streaming pipeline – so the overhead seems tied to enabling those convenience features.
For the best possible performance, OBS Studio is tough to beat, especially if you have an older or budget system. But for many streamers, the amount of extra resources used by Streamlabs integrations may prove perfectly acceptable, even on mid-range PCs. If you do experience lag or choppy framerates with Streamlabs, try disabling some widgets.
Support and Documentation
When it comes to finding help online, OBS Studio’s open source community foundation provides an advantage over the younger Streamlabs platform.
OBS Studio has cultivated an impressively supportive community over the past decade. An active forum populated by advanced users provides tips for newcomers. The public GitHub repository documents detailed issues and resolutions around OBS, and there’s no shortage of guides on YouTube and various streaming sites to help solve common problems.
Streamlabs digital community is growing but still smaller by comparison. There is an online knowledge base that continues to expand, but lacks the public issue tracking or exchanges between power users you’ll see around OBS in forums and social platforms. Paid tiers of Streamlabs plans do feature more responsive one-on-one customer support however.
The vibrant ecosystem and volunteer spirit around ongoing development makes troubleshooting or mastering advanced techniques easier with OBS, especially for users inclined to engage in forums. But Streamlabs still offers ample documentation that may suffice for less complex issues.
Integration and Extensibility
The modular architecture of OBS lends itself incredibly well to expanding core capabilities through community created plugins, scripts, and extensions. Streamlabs on the other hand delivers a more walled garden experience focused heavily on its own suite of tools.
OBS enjoys a thriving ecosystem of third party plugins that unlock all sorts of additional functionality using languages like JavaScript and Python. Install extensions to add new sources types, augment the UI, integrate external APIs, customize encoding settings further, and far more. The community develops and maintains hundreds of freely available plugins. There are also paid plugins and tools like StreamFX that add capabilities like real-time visual effect filters and transitions.
Streamlabs does not support installing external plugins or leverage open languages for extensibility however. While the platform does offer some integrations with services like Streamlabs Chatbot (their proprietary chat management companion service), by and large all of the capabilities are centralized fully within Streamlabs apps and services. This curated approach certainly contributes to its ease of use as everything is designed specifically with beginners in mind.
So while OBS provides nearly limitless opportunity to tack on new functionality through community efforts, Streamlabs delivers a far more purpose-built, opinionated stack already pre-equipped with the common tools a novice streamer needs.
Licensing and Business Models
One final difference between the two platforms worth noting is how they operate from legal and funding models.
OBS is licensed under the extremely permissive GPL license and will always remain 100% free software focused on community ownership. Current funding to sustain ongoing development comes from Patreon and Open Collective crowdfunding campaigns, along with partnerships focused on sponsoring specific features and requirements by various companies.
Streamlabs leverages a proprietary freemium approach. Core live streaming tools are and will remain free, while more advanced functionality like prime access to support staff and additional cloud capabilities require purchase of premium subscription plans. Additional revenue comes from tips and transaction feeds associated with monetization options (like dono goals and sticker packs) directly within Streamlabs tools.
So in summary, OBS will always be free thanks to its open source model while Streamlabs employs a blended model offering both free and paid plans depending on needs. Worth noting however that all core baseline functionality remains freely accessible.
Side-by-Side Pros and Cons Breakdown
Now that we’ve explored some of the most significant areas where OBS and Streamlabs differ, let’s summarize the overall pros and cons of both platforms at a glance:
OBS Studio Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Completely free and open source | Steep learning curve for new streamers |
| Extremely customizable via plugins / scripts | Less out-of-box guidance so requires self teaching |
| Lower resource usage | Reliant on community forums for finding help |
| Massive third party plugin ecosystem | |
| Lightning fast performance | |
| Available across Windows, Mac, Linux |
Streamlabs Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Beginner friendly drag and drop UI | Uses more system resources than OBS |
| Tons of overlays, alerts and tools built-in | Very limited in extensibility / plugins |
| Mobile streaming apps available | Partial functionality tucked behind premium paywall |
| Simpler personalization with themes | Smaller knowledge base and support ecosystem |
| Cloud sync and backup of settings | |
| Deep integrations with monetization options |
As we can see above, both options come with distinct trade-offs. OBS Studio offers more overall capabilities but requires comfort learning through community discussions. Streamlabs simplifies streaming considerably out of the box but cannot match the customizability of OBS power users.
Which is Better for You?
So when considering integrating either OBS Studio or Streamlabs into your workflow as a content creator, how do you choose?
For streamers that value full control over a completely flexible environment even at the cost of a steeper learning curve, OBS is hands-down the way to go. It rewards those willing to invest time mastering its depths with a fully customizable platform ready to tackle any streaming challenge thrown its way. Plugins introduce endless possibilities.
However, if you just want to get a quality stream and interactive tools with your audience up and running as quickly as possible without headaches, Streamlabs delivers a reliable one-stop solution. Prebuilt widgets and a cloud platform enable embedding things like chat, notifications, interactive polls and tip support without any coding.
In summary:
- OBS Studio – Extreme power user customization through open source community and plugins
- Streamlabs – QuickStart streaming with interactive features built-in to boost engagement
And luckily, since Streamlabs derives from OBS Studio technology you can actually leverage both if you choose by starting off with Streamlabs and then graduating over time into OBS customization at your own pace. No need to choose only one if elements of both suit your goals!
FAQs Around OBS vs Streamlabs
Here are answers to some frequently asked additional questions about OBS Studio and Streamlabs and how they stack up.
Which software is best for beginners?
Without question, Streamlabs offers the most beginner friendly experience given the simpler interface, prebuilt tools and themes that allow completing most tasks with clicks not code.
Do OBS or Streamlabs work for mobile streaming?
Streamlabs offers robust mobile apps for iOS and Android to unleash fully featured streaming from phones or tablets, whereas no official mobile client exists currently for OBS outside some third party workarounds that have limitations.
Can you make money streaming with either option?
Yes! Both platforms make it simple to connect streams to monetization ready platforms like YouTube or Twitch for earning via ad revenue shares, subscriptions, one-time donations and more. Streamlabs in particular offers tools tailored for monetization like merch stores.
Which software uses fewer resources?
In all of our performance testing, OBS maintained a decisive lead pulling less CPU and GPU resources for typical workloads. Streamlabs requires more overhead to power the additional convenience features.
Can you customize OBS or Streamlabs visuals?
Both OBS (via CSS code injection among other methods) and Streamlabs (through installing themes and templates from their marketplace) offer ways to customize visual overlays and widgets to your branding. OBS offers more granular control while Streamlabs makes applying new themes a breeze.
The Final Verdict
Hopefully this detailed comparison has revealed what sets OBS Studio and Streamlabs apart, arming you with the knowledge to determine which platform may be the right fit for your streaming aspirations and experience level.
OBS Studio delivers nearly endless customization potential but requires comfort learning through community guides. Streamlabs simplifies personalization and engagement tools at the cost of relying on some proprietary technologies. Fortunately nothing is forcing you to choose only one option if both hold appeal!
Want to dig deeper into OBS and Streamlabs capabilities? Have a specific question? Let me know in the comments!
