How to Private Stream on Twitch in 2025

Last Updated on 12/01/2024 by Dean

This is a comprehensive guide on how to private stream on Twitch.

Do you want to test your audio and video quality before going live in a private Twitch stream? Or maybe you want to set up a private stream only your friends can watch? Or you’re wondering how you can set up a subscriber-only stream?

Great! Let’s answer these questions for you.

In this article you’ll learn:

• How to set up a private Twitch stream
• How to test your Twitch stream with Inspector
• Alternative ways to set up a private stream
• How to set up a subscriber-only Twitch stream

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How to set up a private Twitch stream

Setting up a private stream within Twitch, isn’t actually possible unless you use Inspector (which I will show you later).

There is a workaround though, and that is to simply create an ALT account.

This ALT account won’t have any followers or subscribers so no one will be alerted or aware that you’re streaming.

Here’s how you make your Twitch stream as private as possible:

1. Create an ALT account with an inconspicuous name
2. Start your private Twitch stream with no title, tag, or category
3. Give the link to whoever your want to privately stream to

This may sound like a silly method to pull off a private stream, but it works! No one will find your private stream.

Did you know there are 9 million+ streamers that go live every month? If you don’t put a title, tag, or category, your ‘private’ stream will be buried at the bottom of the Twitch directory, never to be found.

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How to test your Twitch stream with Inspector.twitch.tv

Now if you’re looking to start a private stream for testing purposes, we have a better solution for you: Twitch Inspector!

Inspector.twitch.tv is an application that is created so you can test the bitrate quality of your Twitch stream, before going live.

This is a great way to test your internet connection before going live to ensure that you won’t run into any problems.

You can use this tool before starting your very first stream, whenever you stream from a different location, or simply to improve the quality of your stream.

This tool can also be used to find out why your internet connection feels laggy when streaming.

Using Inspector is completely free and easy to do, here’s how it works:

Once your OBS streamkey is replaced with your streamkey + the inspector key, you want to hit GO LIVE in your OBS software.

Inspector will now receive the data from your stream!

Don’t worry, you won’t actually go live on Twitch once you hit that button. This is a private stream and is used to feed data to Inspector so it can test your connection quality.

Once you’re done testing your Twitch stream, switch back to the recommended settings in your OBS software by clicking the big red button that reads ‘use recommended settings’. When you navigate to Settings > Stream > Stream to custom Ingest.

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Alternative ways to private stream

If you’re looking to set up a private stream for your significant other, friends, or family you can use other private platforms that aren’t Twitch.

After all, a private Twitch stream isn’t really private.

Here are three hassle-free ways you can REALLY go private:

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How to subscriber-only stream on Twitch

Another way to private stream on Twitch is to host a subscriber-only stream. This means that only your loyal subscribers (those that actually pay to see your content) will be able to watch and engage with this stream.

This can be a great way to reward some of your loyal followers with an exclusive stream.

Obviously, you’ll need to be a Twitch Partner or Affiliate in order to host these but that’s not the only requirement Twitch has set…

• You must be either a Twitch Affiliate or Twitch Partner
• You must have streamed for a minimum of 90 unique days
• You cannot have any ToS violations

If you qualify for subscriber-only streams, you’ll have the option in your creator dashboard under Audience.

Once you’ve changed your audience to sub-only, you can go live.

Please note that VIPs and Moderators will be able to view the subscriber-only stream as well, regardless of whether or not they are subscribed. You’ll have to manually revoke their access if you don’t want them to view the stream.

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Now it’s your turn

Well, that should cover all the ways you can privately stream on Twitch! You can use an ALT account (there is no other way to do this) or if you want to test the quality of your stream, you can use Twitch Inspector instead.

If you just want to stream privately to friends and family, you are much better off using discord or YouTube instead as those platforms actually allow you to go completely private.

I leave it up to you to pick your preferred method to private stream.

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