The Best Elgato Stream Deck Alternatives

If you’re a successful streamer, the chances are good that your personal youtube channel is growing more and more every day as people continue to tune in to what you do. There’s just one problem. As the number of people who follow you trends up, so does the complexity of what you’re sharing. That’s why I created this best Elgato Stream Deck alternative list, so you can find what you’re looking for.

You might have specific people you want to thank, lower-third graphics you want others to see, and camera angles and additional scenes you want people to watch.

You have grand plans and big ideas, and it’s almost impossible to accomplish them while you’re alt-tabbing the time away remembering keyboard combos you’ve created on the streaming apps.

This is where the Elgato StreamDeck comes into play.

Elgato’s Stream Deck is a simple and straightforward idea, and the concept behind it is executed very well. It features three rows of five buttons on its surface, each also behaving like a small screen of its own. The stream deck software for the Stream Deck is exceptionally robust, letting you assign a specific command to each of the 15 keys.

You have the ability to assign commands like launching a predetermined program or a single hotkey combo for when you are live streaming. Elgato Streamdeck does a great job of providing flawless integration with the programs streamers use on a daily basis.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the only game on the block. There are a few Elgato Stream Deck alternative options to Elgato’s Stream Deck. Here you will find a good stream deck alternative to get you started

Contour Shuttle Pro V2

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The ShuttlePro V2 is made by Contour Design and is an excellent streaming peripheral, popular with others in the same industry. This device, like Stream Deck, is a programmable controller that you can use with a wide variety of applications for all the gamers.

From a hardware perspective, the Shuttle Pro has a spring-loaded wheel in its center that lets you scroll and smoothly wind through footage. In the middle of the shuttle wheel is a smaller shuttle that allows you more precise and controlled navigation. This would be helpful if you wanted to provide a frame-by-frame window shot to your followers.

There are fifteen buttons available to customize as you see fit, with some of the covers on the keys able to be removed so you can attach labels to them for quick and easy identification. If you think you’ll use the keys for multiple applications, you might want to leave them blank, so you don’t have to worry about swapping out labels all the time.

Setting up the Shuttle is smooth, intuitive, and flexible enough to support all types of working styles and any necessary requirements you may have. Additionally, the Shuttle comes with a lot of app presets, like Adobe Creative Cloud suite, although if you’re more into streaming, this may not be something you need.

When using the Shuttle, you can switch back and forth between applications and settings as needed, making it a great alternative to Stream Deck.

Razer Orbweaver

To give you any indication of how well-received Razer’s Orbweaver is, many users echo the phrase “I’ll never go back.” The Orbweaver does everything it can to improve on previous iterations of other devices by updating certain design elements and making necessary adjustments to the hand shape and programmable controls. With these programmable controls, you are able to customize them, so they fit your style or play or usage.

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The Orbweaver includes a six-foot-long USB cord and is small enough that you can keep it on the corner of your desk if you want to. It has a high palm rest to provide excellent support, but does not, however, offer a digital display.

The base of the Orbweaver comes with large rubberized feet so that once you have it set up where you want it, it’ll stay where you place it. You’ll notice that the Orbweaver consists of three parts, each of which is adjustable. First is a two-piece rest for your wrist, then a keypad with programmable LCD buttons. Last is a joystick for your thumb with two thumb buttons.

Overall, the device is molded and shaped to offer ease of access to your control keys while keeping your palm and wrist as comfortable as possible. This provides you with the ability to use it for hours on end without worrying about wrist strain or other issues that may arise after long periods of use.

The keypad has plenty of buttons you can program, and the center buttons, which are placed right where your fingertips would land, are set to the most commonly used WASD keys by default. These keys are backlit with a bright green light, which can be adjusted based on your preference.

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By adding adjustable modules and buttons, the device has improved on an area that was lacking with previous iterations, but there are still a lot of buttons on the device which could result in confusion if you need to differentiate between them off the cuff.

It would be nice if the Orbweaver included some distinction between the often used WASD keys and all the other surrounding buttons. There is a small raised nub at the bottom of these keys, but that’s not quite enough when you’re distracted by other things going on. It would be nice if there were a way to distinguish between the WASD keys and the other LCD buttons thoroughly.

The Orbweaver has improved the thumb controls since its previous version, the Nostromo. While the Nostromo had a thumb pad, the Orbweaver has a smaller and more sensitive joystick with two thumb buttons to make it more thumb-friendly. The joystick is positioned in such a way that the shape of the head can be used comfortably.

The bottom button is mapped to the spacebar, so you can use jump commands, and the lever design with a mechanical switch gives you the perfect amount of force, so you can click it easily. However, it is firm enough to prevent accidental clicks. The Orbweaver sports superior thumb controls compared to other gaming keypads.

The Orbweaver also has several new features. It has more adjustable parts than its predecessor, like a two-piece palm rest that you can adjust and angle it to your comfort level. The thumb controls can also be repositioned independently for comfort, so the device fits hands of all sizes.

The Razer Synapse 2.0’s dashboard lets you program the buttons to your specific needs, remap keys, make multiple profiles, and choose from eight customizable keymaps. You can configure every detail when you set up the Orbweaver, so it matches your hand and your gaming library. You can also sync all of your Razer products with the same dashboard without needing several different programs to do it.

XK-60

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With the latest MacroWorks 3.1 and standard Xkey functions, the XK-60 provides easily customizable programming options, layouts, and legending. It has sixty relegendable keys with red and blue backlighting and the keyboard, mouse, and joystick are supported by the hardware mode.

By sending keystrokes to any application or operating system that recognizes a USB keyboard, you can use the XK-60 with any hardware or software you already have. The internal memory allows you to program the keyboard once, and then transfer that programming to any other computer. Other computers can recognize the custom layout via Plug and Play programming.

The XK-60 has clear key lenses, so you can print or hand write your own legends and secure them in place to protect them from the wear or your fingers. This also makes them easy to update. The adjustable intensity on the backlighting and the detachable feet improve visibility and let you customize the viewing angle.

You can use the MacroWorks 3.1 software for simple programming, opening files, launching applications, or accessing directories. This programming allows you to insert foreign language letters or other special characters or symbols as Unicode text strings and then assign them to any key.

PI Engineering offers new PI3 firmware with capabilities that allow the developer to install flash updates, joystick or mouse emulation, and the new Reflector Mode. With Reflector Mode, you can send outbound messages from your computer to the Xkeys, and then reflect a mouse, keyboard, or joystick data stream back to the operating system.

Some additional features and benefits of the XK-60 include:

• Workstation optimization – The XK-60 uses Xkeys to enable single keystrokes instead of multiple keystrokes, so it requires less finger movement to perform many repetitive tasks. These keyboard shortcuts reduce the workload on your fingers and stress on your hands, wrists, and arms.
• High-quality membrane keyswitches – These membrane keyswitches work to reduce errors, allowing for precise entry of all data and reliable performance.
• Programmable keyboard – With two-layer programming, you have access to 118 different functions. You can store these on your computer or on the internal memory of the keypad.
• Orientation optimization – You can place the keypad in either portrait or landscape mode. The enables further customization of the programmed keys and geography of the keypad. It improves the layout of your workstation and addresses any limitations.
• Reduced pronation – The detachable feet allow you to increase your comfort by elevating or reducing the elevation of the keypad. You can tent it up to seven degrees, reducing pronation.
• Easy to read – By tenting the keypad using the wedge-shaped feet, you can make the legends easier to read.

The XK-60 is applicable for artists, graphic designers, engineers, video editors, gamers, programmers, and many other occupations. If you type frequently or do data entry as part of your everyday work, you may find that the Xkeys on the XK-60 give you access to the macros, hotkeys, and functions you need.

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