Lightstream vs. Streamlabs

At a glance

Best for

Best for console gamers who want overlays, alerts and guests on an Xbox or PlayStation stream straight from the browser.

Streamlabs

Best for

Best for creators streaming to a live audience who want alerts, overlays and viewer interaction ready to use.

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion	Lightstream	Streamlabs
Starting price	lower value Free; Premium $12 / month Premium is $12 billed monthly, or $9 per month on an annual subscription.	Free; Ultra from $15.75 / month Ultra is $189 billed annually, or $27 billed monthly. Streamlabs Desktop itself is free.
Free trial	Free tier	Free plan; a free trial of Ultra is offered
Output	Live streams in 720p, or 1080p on Premium	Live streams and local recordings
API	Not stated	Yes, a Web API with OAuth 2 and a Socket API, plus a separate API for controlling Streamlabs Desktop
Hosting	Runs in the browser, mixed in the cloud	Installed locally on Windows 10 or newer and macOS 12 or newer
Scenes and sources	Browser studio with webcams, screen share, images, video files, text, banners and cloud capture of Xbox and PlayStation games. Up to 3 scenes live on the free tier and 20 on Premium	Custom scenes built from webcams, game capture, desktop capture, music and microphone input in one application, on the core OBS engine
Multistreaming to several platforms	Yes, up to 5 destinations at once including custom RTMP, on both tiers	Yes, to multiple platforms or custom RTMP at the same time, on Ultra only. Dual Output streams in vertical and horizontal format at once
Overlays and alerts	Stream templates and overlays inside the studio, Twitch alerts, and Xsolla Partner Network alerts and overlays; Premium imports alert and overlay URLs from any third-party service	Hundreds of free overlays, with 1,000+ themes and overlays on Ultra. Alerts for followers, subscribers, tips and cheers, plus widgets such as tip trackers, polls, goals and a chat overlay
Remote guests	Up to 10 guests on Premium, joining from an invite link, with a volume control for each guest's microphone	Collab Cam: 1 guest or camera on the free plan, up to 11 guests or cameras on Ultra. Guests see and hear the host and the chat while streaming
Platform integrations	Twitch, Facebook and YouTube on the free tier; Premium adds Amazon, DLive, Douyu, Huya, Instagram, LinkedIn, Trovo, X, Vimeo, Wowza and custom RTMP	Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Kick, Facebook, Patreon and custom RTMP
Audio mixing	Microphone and guest audio with per-guest volume; music and desktop audio come in through browser screen share with audio	An audio mixer is built into the desktop app
Local recording	No, Lightstream does not record broadcasts; the vendor points to the past-broadcast downloads on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook	Yes, with no watermarks or time limits
Desktop or browser	Browser, with the broadcast rendered in the cloud; a mobile remote for iPhone and Android starts and stops the stream and changes scenes	Desktop, installed on Windows 10 or newer and macOS 12 or newer
API and control	Not stated	A Web API with OAuth 2 for alerts, donations and a real-time Socket API, plus a documented API for remote control of Streamlabs Desktop
Deployment	more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	On-premise
Support	more entries Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum	Email helpdesk, Community forum
Onboarding	more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials	Documentation and knowledge base
Integrations	more entries Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Trovo, Vimeo, Wowza, Xbox, PlayStation, Xsolla Partner Network	Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Kick, Facebook, Patreon

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

Starting price Lightstream Free; Premium $12 / month Streamlabs Free; Ultra from $15.75 / month
Free trial Lightstream Free tier Streamlabs Free plan; a free trial of Ultra is offered
Deployment Lightstream Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Streamlabs On-premise
Hosting Lightstream Runs in the browser, mixed in the cloud Streamlabs Installed locally on Windows 10 or newer and macOS 12 or newer
Support Lightstream Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum Streamlabs Email helpdesk, Community forum

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Lightstream

Strengths

Streams Xbox and PlayStation games without a capture card
Simulcasting to 5 destinations on the free tier
Nothing to install, the studio runs in the browser

Limitations

Broadcasts are not recorded by Lightstream itself
The free tier is limited to 720p, 10 hours per stream and a Lightstream Studio logo
Guests are a Premium feature
Phone cameras cannot be added as a source without an experimental workaround

Streamlabs

Strengths

The desktop app is free, with local recordings free of watermarks and time limits
Alerts, widgets and hundreds of overlays included without plugins
Streams in vertical and horizontal format at the same time

Limitations

Multistreaming and the full theme and app library require Ultra
Only one Collab Cam guest or extra camera on the free plan
No Linux version

Plans

Pricing

Lightstream

Free $0 720p, 10 hours per stream, up to 3 scenes, simulcasting to 5 destinations, Lightstream Studio logo on all streams.
Premium $12 Per month, or $9 per month on an annual subscription. 1080p, 48 hours per stream, up to 20 scenes, 10 guests, logo can be removed.

Visit site

Streamlabs

Starter $0 Free. Limited themes and overlays, 1 Collab Cam guest or camera.
Ultra $27 Per month billed monthly, or $189 per year billed annually. Multistreaming, 1,000+ themes and overlays, the full app library and up to 11 guests or cameras.

Visit site

What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Lightstream

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.

Streamlabs

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.

How we check reviews

Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.

Every review is read by a person before it appears. We require a working email address and use it to come back to the author, so a review has a reachable sender rather than being anonymous. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.

What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on what they tell us, plus the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.

A vendor cannot have a review removed, cannot buy one, and cannot have one changed. Paid placement and a paid listing have no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.

Where this comes from

Lightstream https://golightstream.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-13

Streamlabs https://streamlabs.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-05

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.