OBS.Live vs SLOBS – Stream Elements vs StreamLabs
Recently I made a video comparing OBS to the fairly new StreamLabs OBS version, which you guys loved – so with that in mind I thought since I’ve recently done an overview of Stream Element’s OBS plugin – OBS.Live, I thought I’d compare the two!
So lets run you through the differences, and some thoughts on each – first I need to point out that OBS.Live is just a plugin for your existing, standard OBS installation, whereas streamlabs OBS is a full standalone version of OBS. Now, this isn’t really a massive issue, as when you set up SLOBS it lets you import pretty much everything from your scenes to your stream settings – although you will want to double check everything before you next go live.
Right, so now you understand that, let’s talk overlays, one of the key features of both platforms. Now on the Stream Elements side of things, this is all done in the cloud, nothing is done locally, except adding a browser source to OBS and pasting the link they give you and that’s it. That means that you get less CPU usage while streaming, but means it’s more of a faff to adjust anything mid-stream. It is simpler to set up, overall, and does seem to have a couple more options of things to add to your overlay, but again potentially more of a pain in the long run.
On the streamlabs side, it’s all done locally, so you do get a bit of extra CPU usage going to that, but the benefit is you can adjust anything, add anything, all in OBS. Want to move your webcam because it’s blocking something in a new game? Just select your webcam and frame and drag away. Want to hide your username/social handles for a bit, just hide them in OBS. Really simple. It is also a bit more intuitive as everything is just there, rather than having to go to a website, add stuff, then go back to OBS to see how it looks and so forth.
Both platforms do have animated overlays, and overlay templates that you can get started with straight away.
Alright, enough about overlays, what about a chat bot? Well, both have it. I’ll spare you the details as both chatbots do basically the same thing, although it seems anything the Stream Elements bot can do, StreamLabs can do it, and often more. Both have modules you can install for interacting with chat in stuff like roulette for example, and both have a loyalty program for your viewers, but on most counts, StreamLabs has a more detailed and more optioned version – at least from what I’ve seen.
On the donations front, both let you receive donations, neither take a cut, and both tie in donations through them to alerts and messages – ie if you donate through their links, you get to have a message display on screen. Both have text to speech too.
And finally, I want to cover any extra features these platforms have. Starting with Stream Elements and OBS.Live, you have a music request feature built into OBS, where you can create a premade list of YouTube videos you want to play on stream. You can have them displayed on screen, or hidden and playing in the background, and the nice thing is you can have your viewers request videos to add to the playlist if they want you to watch a certain video, or hear a specific song while you are gaming.
On the StreamLabs side, they have an app store where you can pay monthly for apps that can help improve your stream. One of the music apps has a media request feature built in, for example, although that is $5 per month – like a number of the other apps on there, although it can be less. You also seem to always get a free trial of all of the apps so you can test them out before you have to pay. There are actually a fair number of apps now, including ones like Apex and Fortnite game stat trackers, overlay creation tools and a load more.
So, conclusion time then. For me, StreamLabs and SLOBS seem to do almost everything Stream Elements does, but often has more options, or is generally an easier user experience. Having everything in OBS, for me anyway, is so much better than having it separated and having to basically guess how I want my overlays and stuff set up that I just couldn’t see myself using them over StreamLabs.
With that said, both are free, so I’ve left links to both below so you can download them and give them a try and see how it goes.
StreamLabs: http://techteamgb.co.uk/slobs
StreamElements/OBS.Live: http://p.strms.net/techteamlp
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TechteamGB assumes no liability for damage, misuse or misunderstanding of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. TechteamGB cannot guarantee any particular result from the information contained in this video, and all information was presented as correct as of filming. TechteamGB accepts no liability for information being proven incorrect after the creation of the video, and all information should be taken as opinion and guidance, not fact. This video was not sponsored by anyone, and TechteamGB does not accept monetary – or non-monetary – benefits to alter opinions or results.
