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The 14 Best Twitch Extensions

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When the pandemic hit the world in a big way just over a year ago, people had more time on their hands than they knew what to do with. People started trying new things like cooking for the first time and even investing in the stock market. While many things suffered as a result of COVID-19, one thing that most certainly started booming was Twitch, and streaming in general.

Streamers who were already on the platform started upping their daily streaming hours, people jumped on it to start streaming for the first time, and people found pleasure in watching other people stream. It was a cycle that kept lending itself to growth.

There’s no shame in being new to streaming and though the best time to start was yesterday, the second-best time is today, as they say. If you do intend to start streaming on Twitch sometime soon, you’ll need to know which Twitch extensions are right for you.

What are Twitch extensions?

Developed by third parties and introduced just a few years ago, Twitch extensions are essentially apps that you can download and apply to your stream to enhance your viewers’ experience. There are three kinds of extensions: panel extensions, overlay extensions, and component extensions. Panel extensions get displayed in a box under your stream, and overlay extensions get displayed over the top of the whole stream, and component extensions pop up on the stream, taking up a small portion of the screen.

The best kinds of extensions make it so that you can customize your stream, providing people with a unique experience on a large platform. Some of the other benefits of the better extensions are that they make the stream easier to navigate through and engage with and expand your growth as a streamer.

There are extensions that let people get updated on your social media posts in real time, extensions that let people request what music is played in the background, extensions that help streamers provide viewers with useful reminders about their stream and many, many more.

You can only use 6 extensions (3-panel extensions, 1 overlay extension, and 2 component extensions) at one time, so you’ve got to choose wisely. To make that choice a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of 14 of the best Twitch extensions available right now. In alphabetical order, here they are.

1. Amazon Blacksmith

amazon blacksmith
Twitch

Formerly known as Gear on Amazon, Amazon Blacksmith is a helpful tool that gives your viewers a list of your favorite products that are on, you guessed it, Amazon. If anyone clicks on a product through your stream and purchases it, as long as you’re a part of the Amazon Associates Program, you’ll earn commission on it too. This one gives viewers a look into what kind of things you love, adding some personality to your stream and immediately making it stand out. What’s especially great is when you inevitably get asked what you use as part of your setup, you can just point people to your Amazon list.

2. Crowd Control

crowd control
Twitch

If you play Dark Souls, Fall Guys, Minecraft, Pokémon Red, and Blue, or any of the other games on the list of supported games, Crowd Control will allow viewers to send bits and interact with the game in some interesting ways. Viewers can enable in-game effects like power-ups, extend or lessen your game time and even kill you instantly. Crowd Control takes just 20% of the bits you get.

3. Exclusive Content for Subscribers

exclusive content
Twitch

As the name suggests, this extension allows you to cater directly to your subscribers, giving people an incentive to subscribe to you and making subscribers feel valued. You can post members-only photos, videos, and posts. Every time you post something exclusive, subscribers get notified, and non-subscribers are constantly being reminded that they’re missing out on content as a result of not subscribing.

4. Latest Followers

latest followers
Twitch

This one is a panel and overlay component that lists new followers’ names and profile pictures out as well as telling you and your viewers how many followers you gained that day. It updates in real-time, giving people an incentive to subscribe and see their name and picture on your stream. Plus, if you have a goal of gaining a certain amount of subscribers in a day, this helps you track it.

5. OWN3D Design Panels

own3ed design
OneTwoStream

If you’re starting your streaming adventure on Twitch soon and just want to get going, OWN3D Design Panels are going to be perfect for you. Instead of going out of your way to design your panel and making it its own creative endeavor, you can choose one of the templates offered here to make your stream look more eye-catching. As well as still graphics, you can get animated panels here too.

6. Prime Sub and Loot Reminder

prime sub reminder
Twitch

This is one of the simplest yet most important and effective extensions out there. The Prime Sub and Loot Reminder is an overly on the side of your stream that reminds viewers who have a free Prime subscription that they have a free Prime subscription. This could be the difference between just a little bit of growth and a lot of growth, whether you’re just getting started on Twitch or have been on it for years.

7. Quiz Kit

Screenshot 2021 03 24 at 17.21.46
Quiz Kit

Quizzes are something that boosted in popularity a lot when the pandemic first hit, and people needed new, fun ways to communicate over video chat apps, so the Quiz Kit extension can come especially in handy nowadays. It allows streamers to either make their own quiz or pick from a bunch of ready-made ones and have viewers interact and compete with each other, with a scoreboard being kept. This one builds a sense of community really well.

8. Sound Alerts

sound alerts
Twitch

Sound Alerts is, without a doubt, one of the most essential extensions you can have on your stream. Streamers can apply certain sounds to certain buttons on their stream, and viewers can give bits to have them played. You can upload your own audio clips, so this can make for some pretty funny moments. More good news is that streamers get to keep 80% of the bits received, with 20% going to the extension developer, as per usual, for something of this nature.

9. Streamlabs Leaderboard

streamlabs leaderboard
Twitch

The first of a couple of Streamlabs extensions on this list, Streamlabs Leaderboard essentially allows you to put your biggest supporters on a pedestal and express your gratitude for them by having a list of them in order from the top down. This could breed some friendly competition between viewers and get you more rewards as a streamer in the end.

10. Streamlabs Stream Schedule & Countdown

streamlabs coountdown
Gaming Careers

As long as you set a date and time for this extension, it will always notify people of when your next stream is scheduled to begin. You can also use it more short-term too. Having a long stream and need a short break? Put the Streamlabs Countdown on for 10 minutes to try to help retain some of your viewership while you power up for the next few hours.

11. StreamLegends

streamlegends
Next WZ

This one is a unique one and perhaps the most dynamic of the extensions of this list because it’s basically its own game that viewers can play. You probably don’t want viewers to feel like they’d rather be playing a game than watching your stream, but it’s a great alternative to leaving your stream empty while you’re AFK. The game is an RPG where players can level up their character, kill monsters and build a town together.

12. Spotify Recently Played

recenlty played
Twitch

Admittedly, this one is only useful for streamers who play music from Spotify in their streams, but if you do, then it’s especially useful. As the title implies, it allows viewers to see what music has been played on the stream as of late. This is a helpful tool because it saves you getting the “what song was that?” question over and over again, and it’s a conversational point if viewers have some of the same music taste as you.

13. Suggestion Box

suggestion box
Twitch

As great of a streamer, as you can be, there are always ways to improve and you can never please everyone. But a step towards helping to make your stream appeal to more people can be taking constructive criticism from viewers and that’s where the Suggestion Box extension comes in. Not only will you be able to see the suggestion, but other viewers can see them too and react to them with different emotes. If you get a suggestion and everyone agrees with it, implementing it is a no-brainer and can only be good for you moving forward.

14. Twitch AFK Arcade

Screenshot 2021 03 24 at 17.32.37
Twitch

Like StreamLegends, this one provides your viewers with entertainment while you’re AFK. The Twitch AFK Arcade extension provides a selection of mini-games all designed by real game makers, so it’s a great way to retain viewership if anything pops up from you and you need to step away from your computer for a short while.

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