The free OBS tools every streamer should install: noise removal, chat control, and a second canvas
By Elan Harpaz · Published 2026-10-27
Seven free programs that sit next to OBS and fix the things OBS does not: NVIDIA Broadcast, VoiceMeeter, Streamer.bot, Firebot, Touch Portal, Aitum Vertical and VDO.Ninja. What each does and the catch.
Your encoder tops out at 1080p30. A higher-end encoder would go further.
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| Component | Pick | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camera | Logitech C920 The webcam that launched a thousand streams. Old but cheap, reliable, and good enough. Buy on Amazon | $67.90 | Buy on Amazon |
| Audio | FIFINE USB/XLR Dynamic Hugely popular budget dynamic that rejects room noise and keyboard clatter. Buy on Amazon | $56.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| Control Deck | Elgato Stream Deck Neo Eight keys and a page indicator for less than the MK.2. Enough for scenes, mute and a BRB. Buy on Amazon | $78.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| Software | OBS Studio Free, open-source broadcast software. On a PC it is also your encoder, up to 4K with a decent GPU. Learn more | Free | Learn more |
OBS Studio is free and complete as an encoder, and almost everything streamers pay Streamlabs Ultra for is available free as a program that runs beside it. NVIDIA Broadcast removes keyboard and room noise on any RTX card. VoiceMeeter Banana gives you separate stream and headphone mixes. Streamer.bot or Firebot turn chat commands and channel points into OBS actions. Touch Portal makes a phone into a Stream Deck. Aitum Vertical adds a portrait canvas for TikTok. VDO.Ninja puts a phone camera into a scene over the internet. None of them cost anything, and each one replaces a subscription.
Audio: the two that matter most
Feeds OBS a virtual mic with keyboard, fan and room noise removed, plus a virtual camera with background blur. Needs an RTX card and costs a few frames.
The virtual mixer: game, Discord, music and mic on separate faders, sent to OBS as separate tracks so a VOD can drop the music. Confusing for a day, essential after.
Chat and automation
The automation engine: a chat command or a Stream Deck press triggers scene changes, sounds, API calls and anything else. Build your own triggers.
The friendlier bot. Channel point redemptions, commands and OBS control with a visual builder instead of a script.
A full local bot for Twitch, YouTube and Trovo with giveaways and overlay widgets. Offline whenever your PC is.
Control and cameras
A phone or tablet becomes a button grid that fires OBS scenes. Free for a small grid, a one-time purchase for the rest, and far cheaper than a second Stream Deck.
Open a link on the phone, add it as a browser source, and the phone camera is in OBS with no server. The free remote camera and remote guest tool.
A second portrait canvas inside OBS, so one PC streams landscape to Twitch and vertical to TikTok. Doubles the encoding and upload load.
What is still worth paying for
Elgato Wave Link is free but wants Elgato hardware. XSplit VCam removes a background better than Broadcast without an RTX card, for a small monthly fee. Lumia Stream links smart lights to alerts. Everything else on this page is free forever, which is the point.
Set up OBS itself firstEncoder, bitrate and scenesEvery program we trackBroadcasters and tools, by costFrequently asked
What free software do streamers use besides OBS?
NVIDIA Broadcast for noise removal, VoiceMeeter Banana for audio routing, Streamer.bot or Firebot for chat-driven automation, Touch Portal for phone control, and VDO.Ninja for remote cameras. All free.
Is Streamlabs Ultra worth it over OBS?
For most people, no. OBS plus the free tools on this page cover overlays, alerts, noise removal and multistreaming; Ultra mainly bundles them with themes for a monthly fee.
How do I stream vertical and horizontal at once?
The Aitum Vertical plugin adds a portrait canvas to OBS with its own output. Budget the upload for two streams, not one.
About this guide. Written by Elan Harpaz. We do not lab-test hardware. Every quality verdict on this page is a planning budget computed from a published model, and every price is a tracked estimate rather than a live one. How the numbers are derived: methodology. How picks are chosen: editorial policy.
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