OBS Studio Pricing, Plans & Alternatives (2026)

Overview

OBS Studio, from the OBS Project, is free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming^[6]. It runs on Windows 10 and 11, macOS 13 or newer (Intel and Apple Silicon) and Linux, and is funded by sponsors and backers rather than licence fees; version 33.0.1 was listed as the latest release when this list was reviewed^[6].

OBS works on a scene-and-source model. A scene can combine window captures, displays, webcams, capture cards, images, text and browser sources, and users switch between an unlimited number of scenes with custom transitions. It includes an audio mixer with per-source filters such as noise gate and noise suppression, VST plug-in support, hotkeys for nearly every action, a Studio Mode for previewing scenes before they go live and a Multiview that monitors eight scenes at once^[6]. An API supports native plug-ins and Lua or Python scripts^[6].

That flexibility explains its popularity with streamers, educators and anyone recording long or complex sessions without a watermark or time limit. The cost is effort: OBS has no built-in editor, no cloud sharing and no team administration, so recordings must be trimmed and distributed with other tools.