Question 1

What is Vortexia?

Accepted Answer

Vortexia is a free, browser-based, GPU-accelerated audio-reactive visual engine for live streamers and DJs. It generates real-time fractal visuals — Mandelbrot-derived shapes that pulse, morph, and react to your music's bass, mid, and treble frequencies. You add it to OBS as a single browser-source URL. No download, no install, no plugin.

Question 2

Is Vortexia free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The free tier is forever free: 720p at 30 fps with a small Vortexia watermark, on one streaming platform at a time. Paid tiers — Plus ($4.99/month or $49.99/year), Pro ($14.99/month or $119.99/year), and Lifetime ($149 one-time, until 31 December 2026) — remove the watermark, unlock 1080p/60 and 4K/60, all eight engines including the two 3D ones, and multi-platform event triggers. No credit card required to start on the free tier.

Question 3

How does Vortexia work with OBS?

Accepted Answer

Add Vortexia as a Browser Source in OBS Studio. Copy your token-authenticated viewer URL from the Vortexia dashboard, paste it into OBS's Browser Source URL field, set the resolution to match your canvas (typically 1920×1080), and enable audio capture if you want the visuals to react to your stream. Visuals appear instantly and stay in sync via server-sent events whenever you change presets in the dashboard.

Question 4

Does Vortexia work with Twitch, Kick, YouTube Live, and TikTok Live?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Vortexia is platform-agnostic — it works with any streaming software that supports a Browser Source (OBS Studio, Streamlabs, OBS-bsd forks). Once it's in your scene, the same visuals stream to whatever platform OBS is broadcasting to: Twitch, Kick, YouTube Live, TikTok Live, Trovo, Facebook Gaming, or any RTMP destination.

Question 5

Does Vortexia require an account or download?

Accepted Answer

There is nothing to download, no plugin to install, and no app to update. An account is required only to save presets and copy your OBS Browser Source URL. Vortexia runs entirely in your browser via WebGL 2.0 — Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Brave are all supported. Sign-in is via Google or email.

Question 6

Does Vortexia react to Twitch events, or only to audio?

Accepted Answer

Both. Most visualizers only analyse sound, which cannot tell them that someone just raided you. Vortexia subscribes to Twitch EventSub and gives six events their own distinct treatment: a raid pulls the camera back and sweeps a bright band outward, a hype train runs a slow sustained swirl, a donation shakes the frame with a golden ring, a sub twists the whole frame, bits sparkle without distortion, and a follow sends a soft ripple. YouTube Super Chats and new members work the same way, and so do Kick follows, subs, gifted subs and Kicks. TikTok and Facebook events are not read automatically, so you fire those yourself with a button, a keyboard shortcut or a trigger link from a Stream Deck.

Question 7

Can Vortexia render vertical visuals for TikTok or a dual-format stream?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with no separate setting. Vortexia renders at whatever size the browser source is, so setting an OBS Browser Source to 1080x1920 gives you a true vertical render rather than a cropped widescreen one. That means one Vortexia URL can serve a horizontal Twitch output and a vertical TikTok or Twitch-vertical output at the same time. The dashboard also records 15-second vertical clips at 1080x1920 for posting to TikTok, Reels or Shorts.

Question 8

What visual styles or presets does Vortexia have?

Accepted Answer

Thirteen presets across eight engines, each a complete look in one tap. Cyberpunk Neon, Lava Flow and Deep Ocean work on the free plan. Plus ($4.99/month) adds Aurora Veil for calm curtains of light, Plasma Drift for smooth lo-fi colour, Hyperwarp for travelling starlight, Caustics for light through moving water, Liquid Neon, Bass Tunnel which lands on the kick drum for DJ sets, Mandala for symmetrical geometry, Void Spike for something darker, and two raymarched 3D engines, Mandelbulb and Menger Temple. Every preset is a starting point: colour, symmetry and depth stay adjustable afterwards, so no two setups have to look alike.

Question 9

What audio sources can Vortexia react to?

Accepted Answer

Vortexia reads audio in real time via the browser's Web Audio API. You can capture your microphone, your stream's music, your gameplay audio, or any system audio routed through a virtual cable. The engine analyzes the FFT spectrum and separates bass (0–250 Hz), mid (250–4000 Hz), and treble (4000–20000 Hz) bands, then maps each to different visual parameters — zoom, color shift, iteration depth, and motion.

Question 10

Can I trigger effects from a Stream Deck?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Trigger Links in the dashboard and create your private link, then paste one URL per effect into a Stream Deck key (the free API Ninja or API Request plugin), a Touch Portal button, Bitfocus Companion, or a Streamer.bot Fetch URL sub-action. TikFinity can call the same link when a TikTok gift arrives, so gifts fire effects automatically. Trigger links are included on every plan, and the dashboard also has trigger buttons and Shift+Alt+1 to 6 shortcuts.

How Vortexia Compares to Other Visual Tools

Comparisons