OneTimeYour OBS overlays, your server. No watermarks, no subscription, no desync.
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. $69 once, no watermark, no cloud lag.
Overlayr in 60 seconds
Everything in the box
Self-hosted stream overlays — countdowns, goal bars, tickers, alerts — each just a URL in an OBS Browser Source.
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.
Live editor
Config form on the left, a real iframe of the actual overlay over a transparent checkerboard on the right — exactly what OBS sees, updated instantly.
Server-authoritative timers
OBS reloads Browser Sources constantly; remaining time is computed server-side and resent on every reconnect, so a countdown never resets by accident.
5 built-in themes
Neon, minimal, retro, brutalist, glass — plus per-overlay font, accent color and scale overrides.
Overlayr vs StreamElements
StreamElements charges $19/mo (Streamlabs Ultra). Here's what actually differs.
| Overlayr | StreamElements | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $69 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 | $69 | $447+ (Ultra annual) |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
Streamlabs Ultra is $149/yr. Overlayr pays for itself in about 3.5 months — and saves you roughly $378 over 3 years.
Pick how you pay
Subscriptions if you want them — but the whole point is the lifetime tier.
Up and running in three steps
Buy once on Whop
One-time $69 for the packaged Windows desktop app plus a guided VPS deploy — lifetime updates included.
Create an overlay, copy its URL
Pick a type and theme in the dashboard, tweak it in the live editor, copy the tokenized OBS URL with its recommended Browser Source size.
Paste into OBS and go live
Edits push to the overlay instantly over WebSocket — no refreshing Browser Sources mid-stream. Run the Live Control panel for big one-tap buttons during the session.
Fair questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the full source is MIT at github.com/bensblueprints/overlayr-mvp. The $69 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.
Why don't my timers reset when OBS reloads the source?
Because the server owns the clock. Overlayr stores started_at/ends_at in SQLite and recomputes remaining time on every WebSocket reconnect — scene switches and Browser Source reloads always resync to the correct time.
Do I need a VPS?
No — desktop mode runs the whole server locally and OBS points at 127.0.0.1 URLs. A $5 VPS only matters if you want to control overlays from another machine or keep them up while your PC reboots.
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More about Overlayr
Every page we publish about this app — comparisons, personas, platforms and the problems it solves.
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Stop renting. Own Overlayr.
Self-hosted stream overlays — countdowns, goal bars, tickers, alerts — each just a URL in an OBS Browser Source.
Get Overlayr — $69 forever