Looking for the best webcam in 2023? We’ve got you covered with options across a number of use-cases, including streaming, work, and more.
Do you remember the first time you used a webcam, and how it completely changed everything? You could see your friends on the other end of the screen, in real-time. You could upload a video talking about nothing to YouTube. Lego stop motion became a harsh reality that animation is actually way harder than it looks, too.
Then the mobile phone came, and with it, the webcam sort of took a back seat. Who needed a PC when FaceTime is just as easy, and built into this computer that you carry around all day?
Over the last couple of years, the webcam has made a comeback. With work-from-home becoming more popular, families still unable to properly see each other, and the uptick in people wanting to get into streaming, there’s no better time to invest in a webcam.
Depending on what you need to do with one, will probably dictate what you need. Someone calling into a work meeting at 12 pm every day won’t need a Razer Kiyo with its ring light, nor will someone streaming want to settle for something below a certain resolution. Here’s what we recommend based on what you’re doing on the world wide web.
Best webcam for streaming: Logitech Streamcam
For streaming, as long as you have the right lighting, the Logitech Streamcam is our favorite webcam for streaming. It offers not only a 1080p image but up to 60FPS so that all your sources are the same going out to Twitch or YouTube.
As you won’t be streaming in 4K to the services just yet, the 1080p image quality that it provides, and when placed into a face-cam setup, is by far one of the best options you can get.
Additional accessories for Twitch streaming with a webcam
As lighting is a major factor with webcams to keep their framerate, we fully recommend grabbing a lamp at the very least. If you’re just starting your streaming journey, it might be best to look into a BenQ lightbar.
It sits along the top of your monitor and can be slightly swiveled to get the best light on you.
If you have any RGB lights or LED lights in your workflow, we also recommend putting these behind the webcam for the best results.
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Best webcam for work: Insta360 Link
While a lot of people will probably rely on their laptop’s webcams for something like working from home (we do too), there’s something great about having a dedicated device on your person.
Not only do you no longer have to worry about the poor quality, or people staring at either your face looking down, or your chin, but you can take advantage of movement for meetings.
The Insta360 Link offers a 4K image, which while overkill for most, is superb for the abundance of features this comes with. It can track you as you walk around the room and zoom into particular segments of the image (perfect for teachers). As it is effectively a PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) camera, placing it wherever you want is also a cinch.
If you’re looking to liven up, and have better support for movement or focus in your meetings, the Insta360 Link is the one for you.
Top alternative for work and streaming: Logitech C920X HD Pro
The Logitech C920X HD was the top webcam for a long time. There’s a reason for it too, the image was superb for the price it was asking for. Currently sat at just under $70, it’s the perfect choice for pretty much any situation.
A major downside to this webcam is that it only manages to output 30FPS. While this might go missed on some streams, be sure to check your audio and video syncing when pushing this to Twitch and the like. For meetings over Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meetings, this will almost always default to 30FPS anyway.
Best budget webcam: Logitech C270 HD
The world is chock full of bad webcams. Those awful-looking, $20 ones you find in the bottom of a bin at Walmart, or “4K webcams” off of Amazon. Either way, these are mostly, entirely bad. If you’re after a relatively cheap webcam that won’t either die on you suddenly or give you six frames per second, then we recommend you look at the Logitech C270 HD webcam.
This webcam is fairly basic, and won’t revolutionize anything in terms of the quality it outputs. However, at the current price of $24, it offers a solid 720p image that’s ideal for smaller face cams (with additional lighting) and is perfect for any meetings you might have.
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