Streamlabs. The Pros And Cons
What is it?
Being the bridge between streamer and the viewer, Streamlabs is a live streaming software that integrates Open Broadcaster Software with viewer interactions, chat management, and tip donations. Streamlabs distributes their users content over platforms such as Twitch, YouTube Live, and Facebook Live.
The Pros
The user interface is simple, yet packed with features and designs that can be added with a couple of mouse clicks. After you install Streamlabs OBS, you connect instantly to your Streamlabs account and run a starter setup to help find the best settings for your stream based on your computers hardware, This helps reduce the impact the stream has on your computer, possibly losing out on frames and PC performance.
Another great feature is the Studio and Live tabs. In the Live tab, the interface is already designed to help you with a clean dashboard showing your Recent Events such as donations, followers, subscribers, Chat messages, Scenes, Mixer for audio, and a Live Preview of your gameplay.
If that was not enough, Streamlabs OBS also comes with a Store Tab. This tab holds plenty of useful applications for your stream, there are some free applications and some you can choose to purchase but there are a lot to choose from
The Cons
Of course with all the positives Streamlabs has, we have to talk about the cons. For a newer streamer, all of these features are fantastic to have and use. But with all of this, it comes at a cost of using more CPU usage. Which if you are a newer streamer you may not be running PC’s built for such strain.
If you already have your theme and design for your stream. The store and themes available to use become unnecessary and pointless. Taking away a huge selling point to getting the application in the first place.
All of this built-in functionality could also be a con. If you run a minimalistic stream set up and don’t plan to use it all, then it does nothing more than take up screen space and PC power.
Is It Worth Getting?
Coming from a streamer myself, yes it is! There are numerous choices you can make to your streams to personalize them in your own unique way. You can choose whether you want to pay for their prime membership which accesses hundreds of overlays and sounds to give your stream more of an eye appeal. The free version’s only difference is you will need to have your own overlays to import them across but you still get access to hundreds of sounds and ways to manage notifications, donations, merch, loyalty rewards and even mobile streaming. You simply need to login via your streaming platform, authorize the website and you are good to go. Simplicity at its finest.
