Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about ByteMate
Quick answers to the questions streamers ask most often before getting started.
Is ByteMate really free?
Yes. The ByteMate bot and dashboard are free to use. Sign in with your Twitch account at bytemate.me and you are ready to go. Optional Premium and Premium Plus subscriptions exist for advanced features but are not required.
Which Twitch bots does ByteMate replace?
ByteMate takes over the job of chat bots like Nightbot, Fossabot or Moobot, plus much of what streamers otherwise use StreamElements or Streamlabs Cloudbot for: alerts, giveaways, overlays, donations and statistics. Watchtime can be imported from StreamElements, so your viewers keep their hours when you switch. Side-by-side comparisons with Nightbot and StreamElements are on bytemike.de.
Do I need technical knowledge to use ByteMate?
No. Everything is configured in the web dashboard. There is nothing to install on your computer. The only technical step is dragging a browser-source URL into OBS for overlays.
How do I connect ByteMate with OBS?
ByteMate provides browser-source URLs for its overlays (chat overlay with 7TV/BTTV/FFZ emotes, giveaway wheel, bingo, poll results, subathon timer, …). Add the URL as a Browser Source in OBS and the overlay shows up in your scene. With the Overlay Builder you can also combine several of them into one scene and add that as a single browser source.
Can I build my own overlay with ByteMate?
Yes, in the Overlay Builder. Drag alerts, live values, countdowns, chat, the giveaway wheel, your donation goal and your own images, videos and sounds onto a canvas and place them where you want them. Scenes, widgets and templates are unlimited and free; Premium only raises the storage for your own files from 50 MB to 1 GB. The builder is currently in beta.
Can I give my moderators access to the dashboard?
Yes. Each moderator signs in with their own Twitch account, and you decide which areas they can use – commands, giveaways, filters, and more. Sensitive things like billing stay with you, the channel owner.
Is there a ByteMate app for my phone?
Yes. You install ByteMate straight from your browser – no app store needed – on Android, iPhone, or your PC. The app opens into the Cockpit, where everything you need during a live stream sits on one page: emergency switches for bot and alerts, Shield Mode, stream title and category, clips, your next ad break, subathon, counters, your Twitch chat with quick moderation, and the live activity feed. The Cockpit is free.
Does ByteMate support 7TV, BetterTTV, and FFZ emotes?
Yes. The ByteMate chat overlay renders Twitch chat with native support for 7TV, BetterTTV, and FrankerFaceZ emotes, so your stream chat looks the same as it does for viewers.
Is my Twitch account safe with ByteMate?
Yes. ByteMate uses the official Twitch OAuth flow. You never share your password – Twitch grants ByteMate scoped access tokens that you can revoke anytime in your Twitch settings.
Where is ByteMate hosted, and what about data protection?
ByteMate is developed in Germany and runs on servers of the German hosting provider netcup in Vienna, Austria – inside the EU, so the GDPR applies. There are no ads, and your data is never sold. Statistics stay off until you switch them on, and you can delete your account at any time.
What do Premium and Premium Plus unlock?
Premium tiers are optional. With Premium, the bot writes in chat under your own Twitch name or through a separate bot account you link. It also adds the Mod Tool for multi-channel moderation, auto-shoutout after raids, YouTube alerts in Discord, styling/donation integrations for the Subathon timer, and 1 GB instead of 50 MB for your own overlay media. Premium Plus on top of that unlocks ByteMate AI – chat replies with a configurable personality and the $(ai …) variable inside commands, timers, alerts, and triggers. The free tier already covers commands, alerts, watchtime, giveaways, polls, bingo, statistics, donations, multiviewer, filters, basic Discord, the chat overlay, and the Overlay Builder.
Why does ByteMate charge for Premium and take a fee on donations?
To cover the real cost of running it — servers, databases, payment processing — fairly. ByteMate refuses to fund itself with ads or by selling your data, so a free core, an optional Premium for advanced features, and a 5% fee on ByteMate's own donations keep it online and independent. There's no base fee and no plan you have to buy before you can accept tips. There's a full explanation on the “Why Premium” page.
Where can I find the documentation?
The full documentation lives at docs.bytemate.me in English and German. It covers every dashboard feature, every chat alert, every bot variable, and step-by-step setup guides.
Can I delete my ByteMate account at any time?
Yes. Account deletion is built into the dashboard. Personal data in your own channels is removed completely; only data tied to other channels where you were just a moderator stays with those channels.