twichatIn short
- You stay on the Twitch website: an extension (BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ or 7TV) adds emotes and settings without changing your habits.
- You moderate or follow many chats, without video: Chatterino or Chatty, both older and more complete for moderation.
- You want chat and video in one application, with the three extensions’ emotes and none of them installed: that is what Twichat does.
Side by side
| Tool | Type | Systems | Video | Emotes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twitch website | Website | Any browser | Twitch’s player | Twitch only |
| BetterTTV | Browser extension | Installed from its site | Twitch’s player | Twitch and BetterTTV |
| FrankerFaceZ | Browser extension | Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Pale Moon; Safari as a user script | Twitch’s player | Twitch and FrankerFaceZ; also shows emotes “from other popular extensions”, per its site |
| 7TV | Browser extension | Chrome Web Store; .crx and .xpi files in its releases | The website’s player | Twitch and 7TV; also works on Kick and YouTube |
| Chatterino | Desktop chat client | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD | No built-in player; /streamlink command | Twitch, BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ, 7TV |
| Chatty | Desktop chat client, in Java | Windows as a standalone build; elsewhere with Java 8 or later | Opens the stream in the browser or Streamlink | Twitch, BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ; 7TV is not listed on its site |
| Twichat | Desktop application, chat and video | macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows x64, Linux x64 and ARM64 | Built-in player, floating or in its own window | Twitch, BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ, 7TV, no extension |
| Tool | Moderation | License | Latest release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twitch website | Twitch’s own tools | Proprietary | Online service |
| BetterTTV | Twitch’s own tools, on the website | Own license: source published, no resale or redistribution without permission | 7.7.27, 5 October 2026 |
| FrankerFaceZ | Configurable buttons and shortcuts to moderate faster | Apache 2.0 | No GitHub releases; repository updated 5 October 2026 |
| 7TV | Twitch’s own tools, on the website | Commons Clause condition: no resale | v3.1.6 on GitHub, 4 March 2025 |
| Chatterino | Chat modes, logging and moderator tools | MIT | v2.5.6, 4 October 2026 |
| Chatty | Configurable user dialog, AutoMod, custom commands | GPL 3.0 | v0.28, 19 December 2025 |
| Twichat | No moderation tools | MIT | v0.9.1, 14 September 2026 |
Extensions and clients are not exclusive: nothing stops you keeping BetterTTV or 7TV in the browser and a desktop client next to it.
Where Twichat is behind
- Moderation: Twichat has no chat mode controls, no logging and no moderator tools. To moderate, Chatterino, Chatty or FrankerFaceZ do far more.
- Maturity: Twichat is alpha software, written by one person, and has existed since September 2026. Chatterino and Chatty have years of releases behind them.
- macOS: the builds are neither signed nor notarized by Apple, so the first launch needs a manual approval, and the application does not update itself on a Mac.
- Platforms: Twitch only, desktop only. 7TV also works on Kick and YouTube.
What it does that no other row of the tables combines: video and chat in one application, the three extensions’ emotes without installing any of them, whispers, several accounts and up to a hundred open channels.
Sources and method
Every third-party row comes from the tool’s official page or repository, linked in the tables, checked on 6 October 2026. Version numbers and dates are those of the GitHub releases; an extension store may offer a newer one. The features listed are those each project announces itself: a feature missing from its page is not necessarily missing from the software. Spotted an error or a change? Report it on the repository.