Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most teams in the United States, start with StreamYard as your online training platform: you get browser-based hosting, cloud + local recordings, and easy branding without heavy setup. Use OBS locally when you need fine-grained encoder control and are comfortable managing your own files and hardware.

Summary

• Use StreamYard when you want live or recorded training with simple guest access, strong audio/video quality, and built‑in branding.
• Lean on local per‑participant recordings in StreamYard for high‑quality course assets you can repurpose later. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Consider OBS if you want a free, desktop-only option and are willing to handle scenes, encoders, and storage yourself. (OBS Help)
• Focus on learner outcomes: clarity, reliability, and engagement matter more than squeezing out the last 1% of technical control.

What does “online training platform” really mean today?

When people search for “online training platform,” they usually aren’t shopping for a learning management system first. They are looking for a practical way to record or deliver training sessions on video, then share those sessions with employees, clients, or students.

In real workflows that looks like:

• Live onboarding calls you want recorded for future hires.
• Screen-share walkthroughs for a new piece of software.
• Expert interviews turned into course lessons.
• Webinars that double as both events and evergreen training.

That means your first decision isn’t, “Which LMS?” but, “How do we capture great training video reliably, without making my team miserable?” The capture and delivery layer is where StreamYard (and tools like OBS) come in.

Why is StreamYard a strong default for online training?

Most training teams care about three things: quality, ease of use, and branding.

StreamYard is built as a browser-based studio, which means hosts and guests join from a modern browser—no installs, no drivers, no plugins. From there, you can run a live training session or record in a “recording-only” mode, then download your files afterwards. (StreamYard pricing)

Key advantages for training workflows:

• High-quality masters: StreamYard supports 4K local recordings, so you can create high-fidelity source files suitable for professional post-production and course platforms. (StreamYard pricing)
• Clean audio for learning: Each participant can be captured as uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio, which keeps voices clear and consistent for learners, and gives editors more headroom for cleanup.
• Per‑participant local tracks: Local recording creates separate audio and video files on each participant’s device, so a bad internet connection doesn’t permanently ruin the lesson. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Branding and visual polish: You can add custom overlays, backgrounds, and use color presets and grading controls to keep your training library visually consistent with your brand standards.

For most teams, this combination—strong quality, simple access, and built‑in branding—covers 90% of training scenarios with much less friction than configuring a complex desktop stack.

How does StreamYard handle recording and storage for training libraries?

If you’re building a serious training library, you need confidence that every session is captured and easy to retrieve.

On StreamYard, you have two layers of capture:

1. Cloud recording – Your sessions are stored directly in your account. On paid plans, live streams are recorded automatically so you always have a replay to download. (StreamYard Help Center)
2. Local per‑participant recording – Each participant’s track is recorded on their own device and uploaded after the session, giving you higher-quality masters and more editing flexibility. (StreamYard Help Center)

Storage is managed at the account level, with:

• Around 5 hours of cloud storage on the free tier, intended for lighter use.
• Around 50 hours of cloud storage on paid plans, suitable for growing training libraries before you archive or move assets to an LMS or drive. (StreamYard Help Center)

For long trainings, paid plans record broadcasts in HD for up to 10 hours per stream, which comfortably covers most workshops, certification prep sessions, and full‑day internal trainings. (StreamYard Help Center)

In practice, a common workflow looks like this:

1. Host runs a live training session in StreamYard.
2. The session is recorded to the cloud and to local tracks.
3. The team downloads the high‑quality files, trims or lightly edits, then uploads the final version into their LMS or shared drive.

This lets you keep the production workflow lean while still ending up with course‑ready assets.

How StreamYard and OBS compare for recording online course videos

OBS Studio is a powerful desktop application for live streaming and local recording. It is free, open source, and gives you deep control over scenes, sources, and hardware encoders like NVENC, QuickSync, or AMD options. (OBS overview)

Where OBS can make sense for training:

• You want a free tool and are comfortable managing all files locally.
• You need detailed control over encoder presets, bitrates, and formats.
• You’re recording solo screen tutorials on a high‑powered PC.

However, there are important trade‑offs compared to StreamYard:

• Guest onboarding: OBS assumes everything is on your machine; bringing in multiple remote instructors or panelists usually involves extra tools and routing. StreamYard handles this natively with simple browser links.
• Cloud safety net: OBS records only to your local drive; if something fails, your training session may be lost. StreamYard adds cloud recordings plus local backups for resilience.
• Complexity vs. outcomes: OBS expects you to configure scenes, audio routing, and encoder settings. Many training teams care more about predictable, repeatable sessions than squeezing out maximum encoder efficiency.

A practical rule of thumb:

• If your priority is running smooth, branded sessions with multiple people and minimal tech overhead, StreamYard is the better default.
• If your priority is fine‑tuning encoding on a single machine and you enjoy that control, OBS is a reasonable alternative.

How do AI clips and editing fit into an online training stack?

Once you start recording real training content, editing time can become the bottleneck.

At StreamYard, we focus AI on speed and leverage, not on replacing full editing suites:

• AI Clips lets you identify and generate highlight moments via prompts, which is useful for pulling out recap clips, teaser trailers, or short refreshers from longer trainings.
• For deep editorial work—multitrack audio mastering, structural changes to the curriculum, frame-level clean‑up—we recommend pairing your StreamYard recordings with dedicated editors rather than trying to do everything in the browser.

This approach keeps your training stack focused:

• Capture and live delivery in StreamYard.
• Quick repurposing with AI Clips.
• Heavy editing in your preferred NLE.

Many teams find this modular setup simpler and more sustainable than asking one tool to do everything.

What about pricing and getting started for U.S. teams?

Budget matters, especially if you’re rolling out training across a whole organization.

For StreamYard:

• There is a free plan suitable for testing workflows and light use.
• New users in the U.S. can start on paid plans at $20/month and $39/month (billed annually for the first year), with a 7‑day free trial and frequent special offers.

OBS, by contrast, has no paid tiers—there are no hidden fees, subscriptions, or premium versions—but you are responsible for your own hardware, storage, backups, and configuration. (OBS Help)

Many teams conclude that the time saved on setup, guest coordination, and troubleshooting with a browser-based studio offsets the subscription cost, especially once training becomes a recurring, business‑critical capability.

What we recommend

• Default choice: Use StreamYard as your main online training platform for live and recorded sessions, especially when multiple instructors or guests are involved.
• Recording strategy: Turn on both cloud and local per‑participant recording to protect against network issues and keep high‑quality masters for editing.
• Stack design: Pair StreamYard with your LMS or course platform for distribution, and reserve OBS or other desktop tools for niche cases where advanced encoder control is essential.
• Next step: Pilot one real training series in StreamYard, review the recordings with your team, and then standardize your internal playbook based on what worked best.