When comparing Streamlabs OBS vs ShadowPlay, the Slant community recommends ShadowPlay for most people. In the question“What are the best software tools for live streaming?” ShadowPlay is ranked 5th while Streamlabs OBS is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose ShadowPlay is:
If you want to record 1080p 60fps, this will get you there. If you were having performance issues using CPU encoding before, Shadowplay will most likely work 10x better that you swear that it doesn't appear to be recording at all.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro GPU accelerated encoding
If you want to record 1080p 60fps, this will get you there. If you were having performance issues using CPU encoding before, Shadowplay will most likely work 10x better that you swear that it doesn't appear to be recording at all.
Pro Allow recording video after the fact
ShadowPlay can set up a recording buffer and only save to a local file if needed.
Cons
Con Resource issues
Due to the way that Streamlabs is coded, resources aren't freed up on the fly. And because of its OBS base, you have the resources usually taken by OBS, but then more resources clogged up by Streamlabs.
For example, if OBS is using about 30% of your CPU/RAM, it's quite likely Streamlabs is using another 30-40%.
Con Walled garden
Streamlabs is an entirely separate system to OBS, but using all the core (open source) OBS files. This means that Streamlabs doesn't overlay OBS - it replaces it, meaning plug-ins, functionality, theme access and many advanced features aren't as easy to find or integrate as OBS alone.
Con Nvidia cards only
Only works with Nvidia cards, so those with AMD cards will not be able to use this app.