Tau vs OBS Studio
Screen recorder / Live streaming tool · Free
prices and features checked October 2026
OBS is the gold standard for live streaming and full-rate screen capture. It was designed for broadcast — not timelapse.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Tau | OBS Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Native timelapse (frame intervals) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screen recording | ✓ | ✓ |
| Camera recording | ✓ | ✓ |
| Screen + camera simultaneously | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in timelapse editor | ✓ | ✗ |
| Timer overlays | ✓ | ~ |
| Export to GIF / WEBM | ✓ | ~ |
| Audio attachment | ✓ | ~ |
| Runs quietly in the background | ✓ | ~ |
| One-time payment | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free | ✗ | ✓ |
| Live streaming | ✗ | ✓ |
Choose Tau if
You want to capture your work as a timelapse — screen, camera, or both — and export something polished in one workflow.
Get Tau →Choose OBS Studio if
You're live streaming to Twitch or YouTube, or you need complex multi-source scene management.
Where OBS Studio excels
- ✓Free and open source
- ✓Excellent multi-source scene management
- ✓Broad platform support including Linux
- ✓Large community and plugin ecosystem
- ✓Great for live streaming to Twitch, YouTube, etc.
Where OBS Studio falls short for timelapse
- ✗No native frame interval recording — timelapse requires FFmpeg post-processing
- ✗No built-in timelapse editor
- ✗No built-in timer overlay (plugins and text sources can add one)
- ✗No GIF export
- ✗Steep learning curve for a simple recording task
- ✗Resource-heavy for background sessions
Ready to make better timelapses?
One-time payment. Free updates. macOS and Windows.
Get Tau — $16.99€14.99