Camtasia vs. OBS Studio

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Camtasia
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Camtasia is a video editor and screen recorder. Camtasia offers a range of plans designed to meet varying video creation needs, and enables users to produce professional-looking videos. Its features include Camtasia Rev, script generation, text-to-speech, translations, and avatar videos, to streamline the video creation process. The editions available are Free, Essentials, Create, or the Pro plan.
$198
per year per seat
OBS Studio
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
OBS Studio is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming, featuring real time video/audio capturing and mixing. Users can create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, and capture cards.N/A
Pricing
CamtasiaOBS Studio
Editions & Modules
Camtasia Business
$198
per year per seat
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CamtasiaOBS Studio
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*Discounts available for purchases supporting a large volume of users.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CamtasiaOBS Studio
TrustRadius Insights
CamtasiaOBS Studio
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Camtasia and OBS Studio are both screen capture and video recording tools. OBS Studio is designed primarily for live-streamed video, giving users the ability to send their video to sites like YouTube or Twitch as it’s recorded. Camtasia, on the other hand, is aimed at users who want to create training videos and other pre-recorded content, and includes tools for editing videos after they’re recorded. Camtasia is simple to use and has a reasonable price point, which is likely why it’s popular with businesses of all sizes. OBS Studio is most popular with small businesses, likely because it’s open-source and free.

Features

Although both Camtasia and OBS Studio allow users to record their screen and create videos, they also differ significantly in their feature set and user experience.

OBS Studio helps users create both live-streamed and pre-recorded video content. Every audio, video, and text element in OBS Studio can be customized in a variety of ways. Users can lay out collections of pre-customized audio and video elements and switch between them at will with dynamic transitions. Its open-source format means users can take advantage of an expansive library of community-created plugins, transitions, filters, and other options. And, like other open-source software, OBS Studio is free for anyone to use.

Camtasia, by contrast, is designed for pre-recorded videos. Its interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy to get new users up and running quickly. A pre-loaded asset library gives users a starting point to make videos with a cohesive theme. It also includes post-production video editing tools to add effects, insert transitions, and make other modifications to recordings. 

Limitations

OBS Studio and Camtasia are each powerful tools in their own right, but they also have important limitations to consider before you choose one or the other.

Camtasia does include post-production features, but these features aren’t as robust as one might find in other video editing software. For example, users report that Camtasia’s audio processing, color correction, and color keying functions are very basic, and that they have had to resort to other post-processing tools for their needs. Camtasia doesn’t allow users to live-stream video, making it useful only for pre-recorded content. Some users also consider Camtasia’s price point a bit high, especially when compared to other free options such as OBS Studio.

However, OBS Studio can be costly in other ways. New users often find OBS Studio daunting and unintuitive. Newcomers to the software should expect a significant learning curve, as they’ll likely need to search the internet for examples, tutorials, and other support. OBS Studio also doesn’t include post-production tools; if you want to add effects, images, or other modifications to pre-recorded videos, you’ll need to use other video editing software. Finally, like many other open-source projects, the software may suffer from bugs and be taxing on computer resources.

Pricing

OBS Studio is open-source and can be downloaded for free. Camtasia uses a per-license pricing model with discounts for education, non-profit, and government customers. For individuals and for-profit businesses, each license is a one-time fee of $249.99. For government and non-profit organizations, each license is a one-time fee of $223.99. For educational organizations, each license is a one-time fee of $169.99. Bulk discount pricing is available for purchases of 5 or more licenses. For bulk pricing details, refer to the vendor’s pricing page.

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User Ratings
CamtasiaOBS Studio
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CamtasiaOBS Studio
Likelihood to Recommend
Well-suited scenarios Camtasia is an excellent video creation tool if you are new to making/editing videos. Its definitely the easiest application to use and doesn't overcomplicate things. Once you are used to the way things work within Camtasia, coupled with applying some important, basic principles of making videos, you can produce some nice-looking videos. I've had lots of compliments on some of the product promo videos I've created using Camtasia. If you want to create something quick, simple, and eye-catching, you can certainly do that in Camtasia without a ridiculously steep learning curve. Not so well suited scenarios Camtasia wouldn't be my choice of product if I wanted to make a full-length feature film, but that isn't really its intended target audience. There are more powerful applications out there, such as Adobe Premier Pro, or Final Cut Pro (if you're an Apple user) for that type of thing.
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From simple streaming to bigger events, OBS has been able to handle all of it with full confidence from us. Have never questioned if it was going to be unreliable in a specific situation, even with minimal training. Software identified the external input source easily and had no issues setting that up (Blackmagic Mini Recorder), and great for pulling in separate audio from the computer input.
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Pros
  • Very intuitive controls. You don't need to be a pro at video editing
  • Seamless control of assets (separates video from still images)
  • Great library of annotations and gestures
  • Easy to integrate audio/video edits
  • Custom formats that suit my needs (web, mobile, tablets)
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  • Free software for live telecast
  • Open source project for video recording
  • Powerful video recording
  • Written in C and C++
  • Totally virus free and free download
  • Collaborates with Facebook live and YouTube live streaming.
  • Computer screen recording
  • A hub for collectting source and broadcast
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Cons
  • Camtasia takes a lot of training to learn how to integrate and edit video
  • Video editing is not as advanced as most major video editing software products
  • Camtasia does not provide as many pre-made sound themes as they should. The selection is not very diverse.
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  • OBS can be a little clunky sometimes, the lots of features can be a bit overwhelming
  • I can multitask with it, but can't run heavy software like Premiere alongside it
  • No way to make adjustments to file after it's done, have to use After Effects or Premiere for that
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Likelihood to Renew
Each release of Camtasia has added just enough functionality to justify the upgrade to the new version. I like that Camtasia is not a subscription-based product as we have more flexibility and control over our spend on the product. We can also purchase support packages that include the next version when released.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
I haven't used another video recording and editing tools that is as comprehensive and straight-forward as Camtasia. Typically, if you want a user-friendly video editing tools for novice users, you have to compromise on features. Camtasia solves this problem by offering extensive editing features in a simplistic, user-friendly environment. Highly recommend
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Very usable because it is free and has had a lot of people helping to suggest improvements and sponsors have allowed the product to grow in sophistication and suitability across a variety of situations and use needs. It is very logical to use once you get started, although the dashboard can seem intimidating at first.
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Support Rating
With the latest version (Camtasia 2020), I actually had problems with an Imac with HighSierra, but from the first moment they answered and guided me to solve the problem, even before making the purchase (with some doubts I had). And they have support in English and Spanish, I really liked that.
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For a free product, a range of support is available. There are plenty of ways to find out answers to questions, because there are probably thousands of people using the product who are willing to share what they have learned. It usually works as designed, so needs for support are limited.
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Alternatives Considered
My goal was to quickly create a professional-looking course and video in no time with Camtasia. 'Time is money,' as the old saying goes. Because of my lack of time and patience, I didn't bother with other applications. Camtasia is everything I need and more. I just wished I can afford the upgrade.
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Only one reason which is that OBS studio is free and open source and we had team members capable of using it effectively. Other softwares have great prebuilt features which make it super easy to go live for small streams and individual streamers.
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Return on Investment
  • We used to source instructional videos. Now we do them in house, saving us time and money. Not only that, they are of higher production value.
  • We have used Camtasia to produce promotional videos in house. These used to be outsourced.
  • We don't have to wait for an outside firm to find capacity to help us with simple video projects, but can now do them on our timeline.
  • Camtasia has surprising power for the price. Again, don't expect Primiere Pro, but understand you may find you can do a lot with this program. We keep finding more and more use-cases for it.
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  • It was great to have a platform that is free that I can experiment with without having to use our business capital on.
  • It took time to learn, but it helped me understand a lot of things, so it was a great learning experience.
  • It was a great balance of cost and time with the high-quality product we got from it.
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ScreenShots

Camtasia Screenshots

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