OBS Studio or Wirecast?
If you want to broadcast from your computer, you'll need to use an app. There are quite a few that work with Facebook Live, but the most popular ones are OBS Studio and Wirecast, but there are others...
- OBS Studio (Mac, PC & Linux, Free, Open Source)
- Wirecast (Mac & PC, from $495)
- XSplit Broadcaster (Windows only, Free version and from $4.17/month)
- Huzza (Interactive live video Web app, free and from $15/mth - multiple guests only available on paid plan)
- BeLive - (web app with guests and multiple camera angles - currently in private beta)
- mimoLive (Mac only - $199/yr for personal use, from $699/yr for commercial)
- BlueJeans onSocial (Web app - initial price $39.95/mth for live meetings with up to 25 guests and live streaming to Facebook)
Then there are some apps and tools that offer video meetings or broadcasts but don't currently integrate with Facebook Live. The good news, you can integrate these with Facebook Live by sharing the window in OBS Studio and Wirecast. Examples include:
- Zoom
- Skype
- GoToMeeting
- Webinar platforms such as GoToWebinar, WebinarJam etc
In this article, I will guide you how to set up the free OBS Studio to broadcast to Facebook Live (to your profile, groups or pages). OBS Studio is incredibly powerful, and it's free!
Both OBS Studio and Wirecast can use many different sources for your live stream including:
- Multiple webcams
- DSLR cameras
- Image and Videos on your computer
- Your phone's camera (via an IP Camera app)
- Your display
- A Window on your computer
They support multiple displays at the same time (including picture-in-picture) and you can easily set up keyboard shortcuts with slick scene transitions. OBS Studio and Wirecast allow you to stream to a plethora of services including Facebook Live and YouTube.
OBS Studio is an amazing piece of kit, however, if you're wanting more power and features, and you want to take things to the next level, then I highly recommend Wirecast. It costs $495, which might be a hefty investment for some, but it's an amazing tool. It does pretty much the same thing as OBS Studio, and although it's perhaps a little more fiddly to use, you have many more features to play with.
For a step by step guide on how to broadcast to Facebook Live using Wirecast, check out my sister article - Click here to view.
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