Streaming Software reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 180 Reddit reviews across 32 subreddits and 60 posts to rank the best Streaming Software brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/Twitch, r/streaming, r/pcmasterrace, r/youtubers, r/lowendgaming. Top-rated brands include OBS (4.6/5), OBS Studio (4.5/5), Streamlabs (3.8/5).

Stats

Reviews180

Subreddits32

Posts60

Brands35

Products8

Top communities

r/Twitch53 r/streaming18 r/pcmasterrace12 r/youtubers11 r/lowendgaming8

180 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

OBS

4.6

(50)

"Use OBS with NVENC or QuickSync encoder, h.265/HEVC codec for optimal quality."

"OBS with Intel QuickSync is probably your best bet as it doesn't take away performance from your CPU or GPU."

"OBS. Open Broadcaster Software."

"OBS. The best to use and not complicated."

"Try OBS"

"OBS studio has been really great."

"Use OBS for streaming, has every feature you'll need."

"OBS + StreamElements for alerts."

"OBS, Stream labs OBS"

"Personally I like obs live through streamelements since it offloads your overlays to the cloud"

OBS Studio

4.5

(45)

"OBS hands down."

"For the average Joe? OBS Studio. Free, powerful, and TONS of tutes:"

"OBS is probthe best FREE software out there. It has a small learning curve to get started."

"Anyway those are the best live streaming software."

"OBS."

"Obs. best of the best."

"OBS is free and really easy to understand."

"OBS Studio for both streaming/recording"

"Honestly only way to go is OBS from conventional free softwares."

"Obs studio is the best except if you like paywalls and worse performance (slobs)."

Streamlabs

3.8

(13)

"I just use Streamlabs and absolutely love it!"

"Streamlabs OBS is great. Very user friendly. I would just stick with that."

"Streamlabs has been working well for me, even has multi streaming."

"Streamlabs has chat (which you can mod yourself), a mini feed showing you recent followers/subs etc."

"I like using stream labs and have not had any issues with it."

"Oh I’m streamlabs all the way."

"Streamlabs OBS works well. So I don't think you will have any issue."

"If you are happy with streamlabs obs, then continue to use it. It has everything needed to have a quality production."

"Streamlabs is built on OBS and has Pradesh templates to."

"Try Streamlabs but you need to have almost 16GB RAM to make it actually run smoothly"

XSplit

3.8

(12)

"I use xsplit."

"OBS is just kind of the go to stream software because it's free."

"I still use Xsplit simply because it's MUCH easier to set up a scene with multiple cropped windows."

"Its a very easy system to use, you can create anything in Photoshop and just put it in."

"Xsplit is better for chroma or colour keys."

"When I went from xsplit to OBS using the same bitrate, my viewers said that xsplit produced slightly higher quality video."

"I think purge uses this too, not 100% sure."

"Unless you specifically need certain features from Xsplit, OBS is preferable in almost every way."

"Have you tried the [2.0 beta version] of XSplit?"

"Xsplit if money is no object( monthly payments), obs otherwise."

vMix

4.6

(10)

"VMix is a much more stable platform and is just rock solid, although the setup and learning curve is a lot steeper."

"VMix - Ridiculously stable - Frequent updates - Remote calling/guest management - UI closer to competing production switcher UIs"

"Honestly vMix is a complete production tool. It has almost everything you could need."

"Vmix is much more powerful and flexible especially if you need to do things that call for multiple outputs, auxes, or audio bussing/routing."

"VMix has an amazing community and amazing support. Also 60 days free to try with no limitations and now if you want $50 per month subscription"

"I've run it on maybe 20 different setups and never had a serious issue. With wirecast I constantly had pegging CPU, or freezes, or poor encoding."

"I use vMix. It caters much more to pro TV broadcast, and has many built in macros to automated tasks that OBS doesn't."

"V-mix is probably the best. I personally use Ecamm Live."

"I've heard good things about vMix. It's similar to OBS but offers more advanced security settings."

"VMix may have a bit deeper feature set but Wirecast is much faster to set up."

Virtual Desktop

4.9

(7)

"Virtual Desktop!!!!"

"Virtual Desktop by a mile."

"VD is a game changer, do it"

"VD all the way, the 20 bucks is totally worth it."

"Virtual Desktop is by far the best. But it's 20 bucks. Its definitely worth it imo but its not my 20 bucks."

"Virtual Desktop."

"Virtual Desktop and Steam link is a close second. VD has more features"

Streamlabs OBS

4.3

(6)

"Streamlabs OBS. I use it when streaming and I stream in VR, and it’s the easiest one I’ve come across so far."

"Stream labs obs is awesome."

"Try Streamlabs OBS with a VPN for added security."

"I use SLOBS but OBS is easier on your CPU"

"Streamlabs OBS I've found to be a much nicer product overall, with everything integrated."

"Streamlabs OBS is easy to set up."

Meld Studio

4.3

(4)

"Meld is my favorite streaming software. Its new, still in beta, doesnt have All the bells and whistles yet but its the most stable software Ive used."

"Meld Studio is in beta, available for Windows and Mac, and is simpler to use than OBS Studio."

"Check out Meld Studio for recording. You can stream and record from it and it's a very smooth software that is extremely user-friendly."

"Meld Studio is well-optimized for Mac and Windows to reduce resource use on your device."

Wirecast

3.2

(5)

"Wirecast 15.1.2 is very stable. There have been quite a few under-the-hood stability improvements."

"Wirecast is great, but not sure if it supports your setup."

"Wirecast was pretty good before vMix was an option but it was never a serious option for complete productions."

"If wirecast does what you need then I’m all for it, but for future growth in the industry I would go vmix."

"I find Wirecast to be flakey and intermittently unreliable. It also drifts out of sync and crashes/doesn't open sometimes."

#10

Parsec

4.5

(2)

"Parsec is probably going to be your top choice."

"Parsec is the best product like that that i used."

#11

LiveReacting

4.0

3.0

(1)

"I see a lot of people using Streamyard, but the free version has the watermark."

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