Medal vs OBS Studio

Medal is a gameplay capture and clip-sharing app for Windows PCs, iOS, and Android. On Windows 10 or later, it offers instant replay and multiple recording modes, with capture up to 4K resolution and 144fps; 60fps is enabled by default. Users can choose clip lengths of 15 seconds, 60 seconds, 10 minutes, or an entire session. Recording supports NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPU acceleration, as well as CPU recording. Game, microphone, and Discord audio can be balanced or muted separately, and webcam overlays are supported. Clips receive links for sharing. Medal is free on PC and mobile, with optional Premium features. Premium supports uploads in original quality, including 4K recordings, unlimited cloud storage and clip upload length, auto-generated subtitles, removable watermarks, and an ad-free experience, excluding certain programmatic and platform placements. Premium costs $9.99 per month or $7.99 per month with an annual subscription. Medal states that its recording has a minimal impact of 100–400MB of RAM. The maker is headquartered in Naarden, Netherlands.

OBS Studio is free, open-source software for video recording and live streaming on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It captures and mixes video and audio from windows, images, text, browser windows, webcams, and capture cards. Users can arrange unlimited scenes, switch with customizable transitions, and preview scenes and sources in Studio Mode before going live. Multiview can monitor eight scenes. The audio mixer has per-source filters, with VST plugin support, and hotkeys cover many recording and streaming actions. An API, native plugins, and Lua or Python scripts provide ways to extend the software. OBS supports streaming platforms including Twitch and YouTube, and streams connect directly from a user’s computer to the service. It is distributed under GPLv2 and may be used commercially subject to the license terms. The download page lists Windows 10 and 11 support, macOS 13.0 or newer, and Linux distribution through Flathub or an Ubuntu 24.04-or-newer PPA. The listed plan costs nothing, with no watermarks or usage limitations.