Live Studio vs OBS, StreamYard, and Restream — How They Compare
An honest comparison of Live Studio against the popular streaming tools — OBS, StreamYard, and Restream. Which one's right for your show, your guests, and your goals?
TL;DR
OBS: best if you're a power user with hardware, time, and a desktop you control. Free, but a learning cliff.
StreamYard: great for guests-and-multistreaming, but no 24/7 channel and limited customization.
Restream: strong multistreaming and chat aggregation, weaker on production polish.
Live Studio (playout.video): a complete cloud platform — Live Studio for guest shows, plus 24/7 Live Channels and a calendar scheduler in the same dashboard.
If you only do guest shows, StreamYard or Live Studio are the realistic picks. If you want guest shows AND a 24/7 channel AND scheduled programming, Live Studio is the only one of the four that does all three.
What Each Tool Actually Is
OBS Studio
A free, open-source desktop application. You install it, configure it, and run it from your computer. Endlessly customizable — every setting, every encoder, every overlay is yours to tune.
Strengths: maximum control, free, plugin ecosystem, no monthly cost. Weaknesses: steep learning curve, runs on your machine (your CPU is the production), guest workflow is painful (you need extra tools or NDI), no scheduling, no 24/7 mode without a server.
StreamYard
A browser-based studio focused on guest shows. Send a link to a guest, build a layout, go live. Originally a Restream company, now part of the same group.
Strengths: clean guest experience, decent layouts, multistreaming, good for podcasts. Weaknesses: no 24/7 channel, no scheduled programming, limited custom layouts, monthly per-feature pricing tiers.
Restream
A multistreaming-first platform. Connect once, broadcast to many. They've added a studio over time, but multistreaming is the heart of it.
Strengths: mature multistreaming, chat aggregation across platforms, broad destination support. Weaknesses: studio feels less polished than competitors, no native 24/7 channel.
Live Studio (playout.video)
A complete cloud streaming platform. Three stream types in one dashboard — Live Channel (24/7 looping), Live Studio (guest shows), and Scheduled Stream (TV-style programming on a calendar).
Strengths: one tool covers live shows, 24/7 channels, and scheduled programming. Browser-based. Multistreams to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok, Kick, LinkedIn, and any RTMP target. Includes a Composition Editor for overlays and a calendar for scheduling. Weaknesses: newer than OBS and StreamYard. Some advanced production tricks (chained scenes, NDI, deep filter chains) are still simpler in OBS.
Feature Comparison
Feature | OBS | StreamYard | Restream | Live Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Browser-based | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Guests via link | Workaround | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scene / layout switching | Yes (custom) | Limited presets | Limited presets | 8 presets + Custom |
RTMP source input | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Screen share | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Multistream | Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Record to file | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (built-in) |
Record-only mode | Yes | Limited | Limited | Yes (one click) |
24/7 looping channel | No | No | No | Yes (Live Channel) |
Calendar scheduling | No | No | No | Yes (Scheduled Stream) |
Overlay editor | Source-by-source | Built-in | Built-in | Composition Editor |
Green screen | Plugin | Limited | Limited | Built-in |
Hardware required | Yes (your PC) | None | None | None |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick OBS if:
You already know OBS and you're happy with it
You produce broadcast-grade shows that need deep filter chains
You're comfortable maintaining your own desktop production rig
Money is the dominant constraint and free matters more than time
Pick StreamYard if:
You only ever do guest shows, never 24/7 or scheduled
You're willing to switch tools if your needs ever expand
The default layout presets are good enough and you don't need a Live Channel
Pick Restream if:
Multistreaming to many platforms is your dominant use case
You like their chat aggregation
You don't need a polished production studio
Pick Live Studio (playout.video) if:
You want one tool that handles guest shows AND 24/7 channels AND scheduled programming
You're a podcaster who wants a 24/7 channel of past episodes between live recordings
You're a church running both Sunday services AND a 24/7 worship music channel
You're a gaming creator who wants a 24/7 highlights channel AND co-stream interviews
You're a business that wants both live webinars AND an always-on demo loop
You'd rather not babysit a desktop running OBS
The Honest Take
If you only ever stream live with guests, StreamYard works fine and so does Live Studio.
The difference shows up the day you want to do something more — re-air your interviews on a 24/7 loop, schedule a recurring class, build a 24/7 channel with live cut-ins. StreamYard and Restream stop. Live Studio keeps going in the same dashboard.
It's also worth noting that Live Studio is part of a single subscription that covers every stream type. You're not stacking three tools to do what one platform does.
Try Live Studio
Run your first guest show in under ten minutes. If you've used StreamYard before, the workflow will feel familiar. If you've used OBS, the relief will feel immediate.