StreamElements and Streamlabs gate the good stuff — premium themes, watermark removal, extras — behind paid tiers like Streamlabs Ultra at $19/mo ($149/yr). Overlayr is a self-hosted overlay suite: countdown timers, goal bars, tickers, starting-soon scenes and alerts, each a tokenized URL you drop into an OBS Browser Source, updated live over WebSocket from your own server. $24 once, no watermark, no cloud lag.
If you've searched for a StreamElements alternative, Overlayr is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Overlayr is $24, one time, and covers the same core job StreamElements charges $19/mo (Streamlabs Ultra) for.
What makes Overlayr the pick for 2026
- Countdown timer — Target datetime or duration mode, pause/resume/reset from the dashboard, custom end message, optional end sound.
- Goal bar — Animated fill, +1/+5/+10 dashboard buttons, milestone flash on target — also settable via webhook.
- Rotating ticker — A list of messages with fade/slide transitions or a scrolling marquee mode.
- Starting-soon scene — Full-screen headline + sub-text + embedded countdown, optional background image and looping audio.
- Alert box + webhook — Fire alerts from a dashboard button or POST /hook/:token — wire it to Streamer.bot, Zapier, or anything that can make an HTTP request.
Overlayr vs StreamElements, at a glance
| Overlayr | StreamElements | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24 once | Streamlabs Ultra $19/mo ($149/yr) · OWN3D Pro $12.99/mo |
| Self-hosted, own your data | Yes | Cloud only |
| Watermark / branding | None | On free tiers |
| Webhook-triggered alerts | Built in | Paid tier |
| Timer survives OBS reconnects | Yes — server-authoritative | Varies |
| Themes | 5 presets + full overrides | Marketplace |
| Cost over 3 years | $24 | $447+ (Ultra annual) |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
Streamlabs Ultra is $149/yr. Overlayr pays for itself in about 5 weeks — and saves you roughly $423 over 3 years.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the full source is MIT at github.com/bensblueprints/overlayr-mvp. The $24 buys the packaged installer, guided VPS deploy and lifetime updates instead of running npm and docker yourself.
Isn't StreamElements free?
The core is, and it's genuinely good — that's the honest answer. But the polished themes, extras and watermark removal live in paid tiers (Streamlabs Ultra is $19/mo, OWN3D Pro $12.99/mo), and your overlays live on their cloud either way. Overlayr is for streamers who want to own the whole stack and never see a "premium" upsell again.
Does it do follower/sub alerts from Twitch automatically?
Not natively — alerts fire from the dashboard or a webhook (POST /hook/:token). If you already run Streamer.bot or any EventSub relay, point it at the webhook and platform events flow through. If you want zero-setup native platform alerts, StreamElements still does that out of the box.
The bottom line
Overlayr won't out-feature StreamElements on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $24 once against $19/mo (Streamlabs Ultra) forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Overlayr is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Overlayr — $24, once
Self-hosted stream overlays — countdowns, goal bars, tickers, alerts — each just a URL in an OBS Browser Source.