Ascended vs Speedrun.com

Ascended is a gaming social platform for connecting through voice, communities, clips, parties, progression and live game activity. Its feed includes clips, photos, LFG listings and posts, while persistent communities provide channels and events. Users can join voice rooms and parties that carry across games, and livestream to friends with chat, reactions and party watch. The Windows desktop companion advertises automatic game detection, screenshots, an in-game overlay and a 30-second instant replay buffer. Clips and screenshots are captured on the PC; clips stay there unless users choose to share them to the cloud. The download page lists a Windows desktop app and browser-based home-screen installation instructions for iPhone, iPad and Android. Ascended says Windows 10 and 11 are supported, with macOS and Linux coming soon. The free plan allows up to three communities or groups and 720p streaming and uploads. Ascended Plus costs $4.99 per month for up to 10 communities or groups and bigger upload limits. Its privacy policy is labeled a private-beta placeholder, some moderation tools are placeholders, and beta account deletion requires a manual support request.

Speedrun.com hosts communities for thousands of games, bringing together leaderboards, rules, moderators, and participants. Runners can use rankings to track progress, while fans can follow communities. Listed tools include game customization, news, forums, guides, resources, videos, streaming, moderation features, profiles, messages, and notifications. The site also provides a public API and supports account creation with Discord, Twitch, or Google. Speedrun.com lists 20 million yearly visitors, 6.4 million speedruns, 3 million registered users, and 54.6 thousand game communities. Core community features are available on the free plan. Supporter benefits include ad-free browsing, beta features, a supporters-only forum, username animation, an extra badge, and Boosts. A Boost gives three members of a game community 30 days of ad-free access; monthly subscribers receive one every 30 days and annual subscribers receive two. Supporter does not provide speedrunning or game-community management advantages. The API may be revised or discontinued without notice.