Best lighting for streamers and content creators: Top key lights for YouTube, Twitch and more

Good lighting is an essential part of any streaming or content creator setup.

You need dedicated lighting equipment in order to ensure superb video quality that viewers will stick around for, whether you’re looking to show your face or a product – or both – in an appealing way.

There’s no point in spending your hard-earned cash on a fancy camera and other streaming gear, if your lighting is shocking, after all.

Solid quality lighting ensures a consistent webcam feed from your stream, or natural and accurate colours for your b-roll.

Whatever your budget, we’re here to help find the right lighting solution just for you.

Best Streaming Lights: Our Top Picks

Razer Key Light Chroma

1. Best overall keylight

RGB and colour temp adjustment with ease

The Razer Key Light Chroma is superbly bright and capable with loads of tweakable settings. It’s also highly adjustable and easy to use.

Pros

• Enormous key lighting solution
• Incredibly bright
• Massively height adjustable
• Easy to position

If large, bright and highly adjustable key lighting appeals, then the Razer Key Light Chroma is a brilliant option.

This is a large key light which a solid and easily adjustable desk clamp. It comes with a long, height-adjustable pole which you can get into all sorts of positions with ease. The ball head means it’s easy to adjust and manipulate too.

It’s bright and colour adjustable, with 2800 Lumens of brightness and a colour temp from 3,000 to 7,000K. Unlike other lights, this one also has RGB lighting. It’s compatible with Razer Chroma so you can sync it with your favourite Razer peripherals or just bathe yourself with a colourful hue if the mood suits.

All this is controllable via Razer’s Synapse software or an app on your phone. So it’s perfect for streaming but also works wonderfully for capturing b-roll.

Zhiyun Molus G60

2. Powerful and versatile keylighting

A powerful lighting solution

This amazing little unit kicks out some serious light and is compatible with a plethora of fantastic diffusion options. If you want to step up your lighting game, look no further.

Pros

• Extremely bright 60W output
• Loads of diffusion options
• Compact and stylish design
• Can be powered by USB-C PD

Cons

• You’ll need to source your own mount

The Zhiyun Molus G60 is the smallest 60W cob light we’ve ever seen, which makes it perfect to mount as part of a streaming setup.

It’s an extremely versatile bit of kit, and it’s one of the brightest options on our list, which is great if you need to illuminate a larger space or compete with strong natural backlighting.

It can either be powered from the mains, with its included adapter, or it can be powered by a 100W USB-C power bank, if you want to use it out in the field.

Zhiyun has a wide range of diffusion options to choose from, including softboxes and domes, but if you want to take things to the next level, it can also be adapted to use a professional Bowens mount for larger softboxes.

Since this is such a powerful and compact light, it packs a fan to keep things cool, but rest assured it’s very quiet and if you’re running it at a lower output, it won’t kick in at all.

It can be adjusted to match colour temperatures between 2700K and 6500K and has a CRI of 96+, so you can be confident that you’re getting the most accurate colour rendition.

It’s a bit of an investment, but with such a powerful output in a compact and versatile chassis, we think it’s worth every penny.

Elgato Key Light Mini

3. Compact key lighting solution

Small but capable lighting

The Elgato Key Light Mini is brilliantly portable but also incredibly useful. It offers powerful lighting whenever you need it and in a tiny form factor.

Pros

• Tiny and portable
• Lots of battery life
• Easy on the eye

Cons

• Lacks any included stand or mount

If space is at a premium or you just need a light that’s more portable and pocketable then the Elgato Key Light Mini is a great option.

This is a battery-powered key light that has surprisingly good battery life and great controls both via an accompanying app and hardware buttons too.

It’s tiny, but also bright at up to 800 lumens. You can also adjust the colour range between 2,900 and 7,000K which is ideal for footage capture.

It’s magnetic, so will stick to surfaces, but with a standard thread mount, you can also mount it on a camera, tripod or another system to position it where you need it.

The Key Light Mini is brilliantly handy, especially if you just need a small portable light for adding some extra light to a scene, a product shoot or to light up your face as you talk to the camera.

It’s multi-purpose and a great option for the money.

Elgato Key Light Air

4. Excellent key light option

Lighting trusted by many

This light gives you superbly diffused lighting that you can tweak quickly via software or from your phone. It’s not too big, so ideal for streamers.

Pros

• Bright and easily adjustable lighting
• Nicely diffused and easy on the eye
• Solid stand system

Cons

• You need two for best results

Elgato’s Key Light Air LED panels are a great solution for streamers. These are snazzy little light panels that can top out at 1400 lumens and manage a cool to warm-colour range from 2,900 to 7000K.

Better still you can control these lights from software on your PC, an app on your phone or an Elgato Stream Deck.

They’re simple to set up, easy to manage and adjustable too – with a tiltable head and height adjustable pole that helps you easily get them into the right place, no matter what you’re doing.

The best thing about these key lights is they’re filtered through multiple layers of diffusers, meaning you have a soft and gentle light on your face that isn’t painfully blinding you while you play.

There’s a reason why streamers trust Elgato’s lighting solutions and the key light air is a perfect example in our mind.

Logitech Litra Glow

5. Another excellent compact light

Bright lighting in a tiny package

We love this one for its compact design and the fact it can run simply off a USB port. It’s simple to use and doesn’t break the bank, so that’s a bonus too.

Pros

• Small and easy to use
• Powered by USB and doesn’t need mains power
• Easily tweakable lighting

Cons

• The stand doesn’t sit well on curved monitors

If you’re looking for something more affordable but still able to deliver great diffused lighting then Logitech’s Litra Glow is a great offering.

This is a compact, monitor-mountable diffused lighting solution aimed at creators. Especially those looking to start upping their streaming quality but with a limited budget and space.

It includes “True Soft” technology that gives you radiant, but easy-on-the-eye lighting that’s flattering and easy to tweak. You can easily change brightness levels and colour temps from the light itself or from the Logitech G Hub software and this light plugs straight into your PC making life much easier as there’s no need for an extra wall socket.

Elgato Ring Light

6. Flattering ring light

An excellent ring lighting option

Ring lights come in all shapes and sizes but often lack quality. Elgato’s option is high-quality and has a lot more to offer than most too.

Pros

• Complimentary lighting
• Highly adjustable mount

Cons

• Can be fiddly to get into the right position

Ring lights are great for content creators who need close-up and personal lighting that’s flattering and satisfying.

Elgato’s Ring Light is great for a number of reasons. Firstly it’s supplied with a sturdy desk stand, height-adjustable pole and ball head system. Secondly, it also has a camera mount right in the middle, so you can easily place your camera where it’s most useful.

This ring light is highly adjustable via the Elgato Control Center app and from buttons on the ring itself. More importantly, it also has an edge-lit design so it’s not harsh on your eyes.

Large, solid and sturdy it’s a great lighting solution for those who need to be on-camera regularly and want to look great doing it.

How to choose a lighting solution

There are obviously a lot of considerations when purchasing a lighting solution for your recording setup. Lighting is a big part of creating good-quality video content. So it is worth investing a good amount of money in high-quality products. The last thing you want is to buy a cheap lighting kit only to find that there’s a lot of LED flicker or other problems picked up by your camera.

Why diffusion matters for streamers

When purchasing a key light for your recording setup it’s important to buy one with good diffusion. Without sufficient diffusion, you might find that there are a lot of reflections in your video footage or that the lighting is too harsh and overexposes the shot.

For key lights and ring lights where you’ll be using the lights to highlight your face, you need diffusion to stop the light from hurting your eyes. Especially if you’re going to be in front of the camera for long periods of time. Light diffusion can also help prevent harsh shadows from spoiling your footage.

Colour temperature adjustment

Another thing to look out for when buying a lighting solution is the colour temperature adjustment options. To get the best results it’s often useful to match your camera’s white balance to the settings of your lighting and vice versa. Different colour temperatures can also give a different look to your footage. This can help with how you look on camera or how the scene looks and feels.

If the light you buy has limited colour options or no options at all then this can really limit how effective it is. So it’s worth shopping for lights with adjustable colour temperatures and checking the range to make sure it matches your camera’s settings.

Lighting controls for streaming

The other thing to watch out for is lighting controls. It’s handy to have an app or remote control to be able to adjust your lighting settings on the fly. This is important if you’re a streamer or content creator and you’re going on camera for hours, when natural light starts to fail and the light around you changes. Being able to push a button on an Elgato Stream Deck, tap a control on an app or use an included remote control can be really useful.

How much room do you have?

The more expensive and premium lighting rigs can take up a lot of space. Professional lights need large stands and large diffusion boxes to help make the most of your lighting. They also take up a lot of space though. If space is limited then flat panel LED lighting solutions can be preferable. These are often mounted to your desk with a clamp but are still easy to adjust and reposition when you need to.