The global streaming industry continues to grow exponentially, even in 2021. In fact, just last year, it grew to almost double its 2019 volume. This was calculated in terms of total hours watched by all viewers across the entire platform. Of course, a certain global pandemic phenomenon may have something to do with this additional view count. Even so, it is undeniable that the industry at large still continues to expand for various internal reasons.
Thus, due to the sheer amount of traffic that goes to considerably popular channels nowadays, it is technically impossible to deal with each member of your audience personally. This is where the convenient hand of chatbots enters the picture. If you think streaming platforms with chatbots are strange, then this article about how a twitch chatbot can enhance your streaming experience might change your mind.
What Exactly is a Twitch Chatbot?
While typical chatbots are designed to interact one-on-one with human users within an information-based setting, “chatbots for Twitch” don’t exactly have such features as their core functions. Instead, it is simply part of a suite of features. Hence, the more officially used term “Twitch bots.” The focus then for its particular department is stream enhancement and handling a single chat line occupied by thousands of different users.
Typically, the end goal of this handling is moderation and customization. That is, the chatbot portion of the platform tries to filter out messages on the chat line for various preservation purposes while allowing users and audiences alike to use customized commands. If you have a troll spamming meaningless chat during your stream, the Twitch chatbot can promptly kick the user. If some other sub-event needs to be initiated during a stream, the Twitch chatbot can immediately execute the command by telling it to do so.
Other virtual responsibilities of a Twitch chatbot include:
- Timing out users violating chat agreements
- Responding to specific chat commands sent by a user
- Executing these commands as per the streamer’s intended design
- Organizing interactive events that lets the crowd engage each other
… and many others.
Twitch Chatbot Recommendations Short List
(in no particular order)
- StreamElements
- Streamlabs
- Moobot
- Wizebot
- Phantombot
- Deepbot
- Nightbot
StreamElements
Universally known and practically recommended by many streaming enthusiasts worldwide, StreamElements provides the base template of features that we are to see in many Twitch chatbots on this list. Setting chat-type moderation levels, setting up convenient commands for your streamers to use, spam filtering. Those kinds of automation stuff.
For StreamElements in particular, however, the idea is to gamify the interactive experience with the streamer. For example, its loyalty system allows viewers to compete for rank on a leaderboard simply by being very active on each stream that the user creates. This is supported further by automated chat generation via triggers fulfilled, and the set of viewer data to be shown in the chat.
As for setup, though not as “plug-and-play” as other Twitch chatbots, it is still quite easy to use. At the very least, the Overlay Manager can be set up in a minute or two like most other streaming platforms.
Streamlabs (Cloudbot)
Formerly known as Ankhbot, Streamlabs is a multi-platform program that combines moderation features with entertainment elements, which are then designed to be initiated (frequently used) by the user’s viewers. As such, it has an array of interactivity and gamification options, which greatly helps pump the excitement for very long extended hours of continuous streaming.
For example, quotes can be saved on a convenient list for late reference. Hotkey-based sound effects can also be typed on the fly. Of course, several of these commands can also be used simultaneously using macro setups. You can even create a virtual currency system as part of the viewer rewards features, including other interactive elements that your chatbot can track and use to save data.
But perhaps the main reason why Streamlabs is massively popular is due to it having all of the aforementioned features at no extra cost at all. So yes, Streamlabs can directly compete with other entries here as the most beginner-friendly Twitch chatbots that you can have.
Moobot
If you want another easy-to-use Twitch chatbot that requires only linear instructions to set up, Moobot is the option for you. In fact, it is so convenient to use that you can simply build up your customizations over time, adapting slowly to your additional streaming session needs as your audience and experience grow.
Moobot also enhances the theme of modern chatbots, as it is more accessible to less tech-savvy users, which are supposed to be the majority of streamers nowadays. Even its main dashboard opens with this very simple interface that keeps access straightforward enough without making it feel patronizing.
Feature-wise, you get most of the familiar stuff: automated chat moderation, track request systems, (timed) custom messages, specialized notifications, built-in text commands, and standard gamification perks. More specifically for Moobot, a quick polling feature can seamlessly collate votes to show graphically as part of your stream’s presentation.
Wizebot
Most of the features offered by Wizebot are technically less complicated variations of typical chatbot services. Of course, as a software program for enhancing your streaming experience, the normal feature cocktail of custom overlays animation commands is still there. But, at its heart, it remains better known for its gaming-related interactive elements (video games, not gamification, though it also has those features as well).
Perhaps the more traditional chatbot-related tool that Wizebot has is its analytics. Combined with live audience statistics, it can be a very powerful tool in assessing the engagement level of your streaming sessions. This then allows you to know which ideas work, and which features within the chat command suite are best suited to whatever is happening to your game session.
Wizebot is mostly free to use. However, its development team plans to introduce a premium account feature that will offer additional services, initially exclusive to its subscribers, but will eventually be rolled out to free account users. A “lite” premium account is even offered for a limited capacity.
Phantombot
Phantombot stands out quite a bit from the competition, not because it is special or anything, but because it is one of the popular chatbots for Twitch that is open source. As some of you may have already guessed with this intro, it’s based on Java. It is mainly aimed at building a strong bridge between you, your game streams, and your viewers.
You can also pretty much guess that Phantombot essentially becomes the “Linux” type Twitch bot because of this. A lot of customization options are available at a more granular level, but in exchange, being able to fully master these features will definitely take some time. It is recommended that you already have a good amount of experience handling bots in general so that you can optimize what it can offer.
Oh, and Phantombot is also free. No premium perks, no exclusive anything. Just forever free. All of its language customizations, editing options, and automation features are at the streamer’s fingertips. As a Twitch bot you still get most of the screen element enhancements, gamification tools, chat filtering, and moderation tools to spice up your whole-day streaming sessions.
Deepbot
No, this isn’t some super high-tech AI-muscle-powered Twitch bot that uses some form of deep learning. Comparatively, Deepbot is actually pretty mundane, all features considered. But, it remains one of the most popular Twitch chatbots simply because it is efficient and convenient enough to integrate.
That said, not all of its moderation, action automation, and gamification tools are available by default. There is a sort of “unlocking fee,” to be paid at least once before a specific feature becomes available on a single account. The cost isn’t that much, of course, but it is important to know beforehand if you intend to use any of the higher-tier commands available on the platform.
More interestingly, for those game streamers out there, is that Deepbot is natively compatible with Discord. Discord, as many of you already know, is pretty much THE current most popular communication platform for different gaming communities. This means that the customization features it offers (at least some of it) may also be integrated into other bots created for the Discord platform.
Nightbot
“Convenience of use” due to the interface itself being easy to understand is one thing. Having cross-platform support that doesn’t require relearning the software is yet another layer of user-friendliness that Nightbot can offer as a chatbot for Twitch.
With both attributes combined, the software offers very solid chat automation features that are sprinkled with the usual moderation options. Additionally, Nightbot also provides equally convenient SoundCloud integration for quick access to sound bites. This adds yet another level of entertainment that you can provide as an all-around streamer.
As a bonus, its custom dashboard also provides a sort of “analytics” data in the form of segregated chat records, which you can freely search and access. Not too different from your average chat history on other Twitch-based software, but the hassle-free search system makes all the difference when settling certain audience disputes.
