Conjuly vs OBS for Screen Region Capture on Mac
OBS Studio is the gold standard for live streaming and broadcast production. Conjuly is a focused screen region capture tool built natively for macOS. Both can capture areas of your screen, but they are designed for very different workflows. Here is an honest comparison to help you choose the right tool.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Conjuly | OBS Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Screen region capture and sharing | Live streaming and broadcast production |
| Platform | macOS native (Apple Silicon optimized) | Cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux) |
| Setup time | Instant — draw a region, start sharing | Requires scene, source, and output configuration |
| Multi-region capture | Built-in with Grid Mirror compositing | Possible with multiple display capture sources |
| Virtual camera | Built-in, one click | Built-in (added in OBS 26+) |
| Webcam overlay | Built-in with background blur | Requires video capture device source setup |
| Region drawing | Click-and-drag region selection | Crop/pad filter with manual pixel values |
| Live streaming | No | Yes — Twitch, YouTube, RTMP, and more |
| Plugin ecosystem | No | Extensive — hundreds of community plugins |
| Scene management | Mirror Remote for layout switching | Full scene/source management system |
| Recording output | Video and GIF export | Video (MP4, MKV, FLV, etc.) |
| Privacy tools | Real-time blur, Blocked Apps | Manual filter configuration per source |
| Learning curve | Minimal — designed for immediate use | Steep — designed for power users |
| Price | Free tier; Pro from $12.99 one-time | Free and open source |
Where OBS Excels
OBS Studio is an exceptional tool for what it was built to do: live streaming and broadcast production. If your workflow involves streaming to Twitch, YouTube, or a custom RTMP endpoint, OBS is the right choice. It handles encoding, bitrate management, stream key configuration, and multi-platform output with a level of control that no other free tool matches.
The plugin ecosystem is another major strength. Hundreds of community-built plugins extend OBS with features like browser overlays, chat integration, audio processing, NDI support, and advanced scene transitions. If you need to build a custom production pipeline, OBS gives you the building blocks.
OBS also supports cross-platform workflows. If you work across macOS, Windows, and Linux, OBS provides a consistent experience and compatible project files across all three platforms.
For full broadcast production — with scene switching, audio mixing, stream management, and plugin-based extensibility — OBS is the better tool. It is free, open source, and battle-tested by millions of streamers.
Where Conjuly Excels
Conjuly is purpose-built for screen region capture and sharing on macOS. If your primary need is sharing specific parts of your screen in video calls, recording focused screen areas, or compositing multiple regions into a clean output — without setting up a full streaming pipeline — Conjuly is the faster and simpler path.
Instant Setup
With OBS, capturing a specific screen region requires creating a scene, adding a display capture source, applying a crop/pad filter, and manually entering pixel coordinates for the crop area. If you need to adjust the region, you go back into the filter settings and change the values. With Conjuly, you click and drag to draw a region. The mirror window appears immediately. There is no scene configuration, no source management, and no filter chain to set up.
Native macOS Experience
Conjuly is a native macOS application optimized for Apple Silicon. It uses the system's screen capture frameworks directly, integrates with macOS accessibility features, and follows macOS design conventions. OBS on macOS is a cross-platform application compiled for the platform — it works, but it does not feel like a native Mac app, and its macOS-specific performance optimizations are limited compared to a purpose-built native application.
Built-In Privacy Tools
Conjuly includes real-time blur for sensitive areas and Blocked Apps to automatically hide specified applications from capture regions. In OBS, achieving similar results requires manual filter configuration per source — typically a combination of crop filters, color source overlays, and careful layering. It is possible, but it takes significantly more effort to set up and maintain.
No Streaming Pipeline
OBS is built around a streaming pipeline: sources feed into scenes, scenes feed into an encoder, and the encoder outputs to a stream or file. Every feature — including simple screen capture — passes through this pipeline. Conjuly has no streaming pipeline. Capture regions connect directly to mirror windows, the virtual camera, or the recording engine. This architectural simplicity means less configuration, lower resource usage, and fewer things that can go wrong during a call or recording session.
When to Choose Which Tool
Choose OBS if you need:
- Live streaming to Twitch, YouTube, or RTMP
- Advanced scene transitions and audio mixing
- Plugin-based extensibility (NDI, browser sources, etc.)
- Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, Linux)
- Full broadcast production with multiple camera inputs
- Custom encoding settings and bitrate control
Choose Conjuly if you need:
- Quick screen region capture without setup
- Sharing specific areas in Zoom, Teams, or Meet
- Multi-region compositing with Grid Mirror
- Virtual camera output from screen regions
- Ultrawide monitor support for video calls
- Privacy features (blur, Blocked Apps) built in
- GIF export for documentation and pull requests
- A native macOS experience on Apple Silicon
Can You Use Both?
Yes. Some users run both tools for different parts of their workflow. OBS handles their streaming setup when they go live on Twitch, and Conjuly handles day-to-day screen region sharing in work calls and quick recording tasks. The two tools do not conflict — they can run simultaneously on the same Mac.
If you are currently using OBS solely for screen region capture in video calls — without live streaming — switching to Conjuly will simplify your workflow significantly. You can keep OBS installed for the occasional stream while using Conjuly for everything else.
Pricing Comparison
OBS Studio is free and open source. There is no cost to use it, and the full feature set is available to everyone. This is one of OBS's greatest strengths.
Conjuly has a free tier that includes core capture and mirror window features — enough to share screen regions in video calls and create basic captures. Pro features including Grid Mirror, video and GIF recording, webcam overlay with background blur, real-time blur, and Blocked Apps are available with a one-time purchase: Pro Single at $12.99 (one Mac) or Pro Multi at $17.99 (up to three Macs).
There is no subscription required for Conjuly Pro. You pay once and own it.
Try Conjuly Free
Download Conjuly from the Mac App Store and see if it fits your workflow. The free tier is fully functional for basic screen region capture and sharing — no time limits, no watermarks.
Download on the Mac App Store