What a death counter really costs

Every death counter is cheap. Most of them cost you an evening. Here's the honest math on Etsy widgets, Streamer.bot add-ons, StreamElements and Kloot — in dollars, hours, and what you can't do with each.

Start your counter — free, no downloadSee the comparison

Streamers who sign up from a page like this one press their first bump a median of 2 minutes later. (Measured, not estimated.)

Prices and requirements checked Oct 5, 2026. Sources linked in the table.

A knight facing a giant in a ruined arena, with the headline "An evening vs 2 minutes" and a +1 key — what a death counter widget really costs.

The part nobody puts on the listing

A $3.49 widget is a bargain until you read the requirements. Here is what each option actually asks of you before the number shows up on stream.

The cost ladder

Bar = setup time (log scale) · tag = up-front price

  1. Kloot Free

    needs a browser tab

    2 min
    $0

  2. StreamElements !death

    needs three mod commands, no overlay

    15 min
    $0

  3. Etsy animated widget

    needs Node.js launcher

    30–60 min
    $3.49

  4. Etsy kill/death widget

    needs a bot for permissions

    30–60 min
    ~$18

  5. Ko-fi add-on

    needs Streamer.bot + 2 plugins + a font

    1–2 h
    $0

  6. StreamUP counter

    needs Streamer.bot + a DLL

    1–2 h
    £5

  7. Streamer.bot DIY

    needs actions you write

    an evening
    $0

  8. OBS forum guide

    needs Python + OCR

    an evening+
    $0
Setup times are estimates from each option's listed steps; Kloot's is the measured median. A range is drawn at its midpoint.

One-time purchases and subscriptions are different things. If you want one counter in one style and nothing else, the widget is cheaper. This table is about everything else.

Death counter widget options compared — price, setup time and what each needs before it works

Receipt card, Etsy widget: animated counter overlay $3.49, plus a Node.js launcher kept running (30 min), plus a Stream Deck, Streamer.bot or hotkeys to bump it. Total: $3.49 plus about an hour.Receipt card, Ko-fi add-on: Advanced Death Counter for Streamer.bot, $0, plus Streamer.bot 0.2.8+ and OBS 31+ (Windows only), plus the Move Transition and ShaderFilter plugins and the Impact font, 1–2 hours. Total: $0 plus an evening.Receipt card, StreamUP counter: per-game death counter, £5, plus Streamer.bot 1.0.4+ and the StreamUP DLL 3.1.0.0 (Windows only), plus a Twitch account for the chat commands, 1–2 hours. Total: £5 plus an evening.Receipt card, StreamElements: !death chat command, $0, plus three custom commands with a mod-only increment (15 minutes), plus no overlay — the number lives in chat, not on screen. Total: $0 plus a counter nobody sees.Receipt card, Streamer.bot DIY: build your own counter, $0, plus the Windows app, OBS WebSocket, a text source and an action you write, plus a trigger (hotkey, chat command or Stream Deck). Total: $0 plus an evening you keep paying.Receipt card, Kloot Free: death counter, overlay and phone bump, $0, plus a browser tab — nothing to install, build or keep running. Total: $0 plus 2 minutes, measured.

Swipe the receipts · every option, every column below

  • Etsy animated widget (Pixel Knight)

    $3.49 (list $4.99)
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    30–60 min
    Needs before it works
    Node.js launcher, OBS, plus Stream Deck / Touch Portal / Streamer.bot or OBS Interact hotkeys
    Mac
    Yes
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    No
    Per-game counters
    No — one style per purchase
    Looks
    One, as bought
    Source: Animated Death Counter Overlay — Etsy

  • Etsy kill/death widget + boss timer

    ~$18
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    30–60 min
    Needs before it works
    OBS; role permissions via your bot
    Mac
    Yes
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    Chat (if you wire a bot)
    Per-game counters
    Yes
    Looks
    One pack
    Source: Twitch Counter Widget — Etsy

  • Ko-fi "Advanced Death Counter"

    $0
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    1–2 h
    Needs before it works
    Streamer.bot 0.2.8+, OBS 31+, Move Transition plugin, ShaderFilter plugin, Impact font
    Mac
    No (Windows)
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    Only if you build it
    Per-game counters
    Only if you build it
    Looks
    Customisable if you edit assets
    Source: ZeMaxi — Ko-fi

  • StreamUP per-game counter

    £5
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    1–2 h
    Needs before it works
    Streamer.bot 1.0.4+, StreamUP DLL 3.1.0.0, Twitch
    Mac
    No (Windows)
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    Yes (chat commands)
    Per-game counters
    Yes
    Looks
    Customisable overlay
    Source: StreamUP

  • StreamElements !death

    $0
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    15 min
    Needs before it works
    Three custom commands at Moderator level
    Mac
    Yes
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    Yes (chat)
    Per-game counters
    Manual via $(count name)
    Looks
    None — chat reply only, no overlay
    Source: StreamElements docs

  • Streamer.bot DIY

    $0
    Ongoing
    your time
    Setup (est.)
    an evening
    Needs before it works
    Windows, OBS WebSocket, actions you write
    Mac
    Experimental (Whisky)
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    If you build it
    Per-game counters
    If you build it
    Looks
    Whatever you build
    Source: Streamer.bot docs

  • OBS forum "automatic" guide

    $0
    Ongoing
    your time
    Setup (est.)
    an evening+
    Needs before it works
    Python 3, Tesseract OCR, Streamer.bot, admin install
    Mac
    Windows
    Bump from phone
    No
    Bump by mods
    n/a
    Per-game counters
    No
    Looks
    Text source
    Source: OBS Forum

  • Kloot Free

    $0
    Ongoing
    none
    Setup (est.)
    2 min (median, measured)
    Needs before it works
    A browser tab
    Mac
    Yes
    Bump from phone
    Yes
    Bump by mods
    On Pro (share your deck)
    Per-game counters
    1 counter
    Looks
    Default style

  • Kloot Pro

    $9/mo or $79/yr (first 250 members: $49/yr)
    Ongoing
    subscription
    Setup (est.)
    2 min
    Needs before it works
    A browser tab
    Mac
    Yes
    Bump from phone
    Yes
    Bump by mods
    Yes (phone links for mods)
    Per-game counters
    Yes — segments per boss / game
    Looks
    All skins, milestones

Three things to notice:

  1. 1

    The free ones aren't free. The most popular free Streamer.bot counter needs Streamer.bot, OBS 31+, two OBS plugins and a specific font before it draws a single digit. The "automatic" guide with 26,000 views needs Python and an OCR engine.

  2. 2

    The cheap ones are cheap per style. Etsy widgets are sold per look and per game. Three games, three styles, three purchases — and each one is a Node.js launcher you keep running.

  3. 3

    None of them solve the real problem. Your game is fullscreen. Your hands are on the controller. The count has to change the second you die. Every option above makes you alt-tab, buy a Stream Deck, or trust chat not to spam !death.

Nothing to install

Two minutes, start to finish

Kloot runs in a browser tab. There is nothing to install, on Windows, Mac, or a Chromebook.

  1. 1

    Sign up. Your counter is already on your deck when the panel opens — we seed it because you came from a page about counters.

    Illustration: the Kloot panel on first load, with the seeded +1 counter key on the deck.
  2. 2

    Paste one URL into OBS. Add a Browser Source, paste, done. That URL carries every Kloot tool you'll ever add.

    Illustration: the OBS Browser Source dialog with the Kloot overlay URL pasted in.
  3. 3

    Press +1. On the panel, or on your phone — open the same link on your phone and bump from the couch while the game stays fullscreen.

    Illustration: the Kloot deck open on a phone, with the +1 key.
  4. 4

    Go live. Decrement if you mis-pressed, reset between runs.

    Illustration: the live stream view with the death counter in a corner, clear of the gameplay.

Try it — press +1

The real counter renderer on a game frame — the same one that draws on your stream.

Free$0
Deaths7
kloot.gg
Deaths: 7
Pro$9/mo or $79/yr
DeathsMargitPB 47
Margit: 7
Pro$9/mo or $79/yr
Kills12
Deaths$4Assists9
brought to you by Your sponsor· Sponsored
One box · 3 counters

Pro is $9/mo or $79/yr.

What's your counter actually costing you?

3
1
What an hour of your time is worth

With 3 games and your time at $15/h: widgets come to about $58 and 2¼ hours; Streamer.bot about $68 of your time; Kloot Free is $0 and 2 minutes for one counter, Pro $79 and 2 minutes for all of them.

How we calculate
  • Widget route = games × looks × $8 (midpoint of the $3.49–$18 listings) + games × 0.75 h × your hourly rate (per-widget launcher setup, from the listed steps).
  • Streamer.bot route = $0 + 3 h × your hourly rate the first time (from the listed dependencies) + games × 0.5 h × your hourly rate (a new action per game).
  • Kloot Free = $0 + 2 min, one counter.
  • Kloot Pro = $79 + 2 min ($49 for the first 250 members), all games and looks.
  • Rounded to whole dollars and quarter hours.

Who should not use Kloot

If you already run Streamer.bot with custom actions, chat triggers, and a Stream Deck profile you love, your counter is solved and you should keep it. Kloot is for the streamer who hasn't built that — or who has, and doesn't want to maintain one more action tonight. (If that's you: Kloot's counter can be bumped from a Stream Deck or Streamer.bot via a webhook, so it slots in next to your stack rather than replacing it.)

Bump Kloot from a Stream Deck or Streamer.bot

Your first bump is two minutes away.

Free plan, one counter, phone bump included, no card. Pro is $9/mo or $79/yr when you want per-boss segments, skins, milestones and webhook triggers — $49/yr for the first 250 members.

Start your counter — freeTry it in a browser — Free
Have a Stream Deck? See how to bump from it →

Free forever · Pro $9/month or $79/year · Event Pass $5 for 48 hours · Prices + applicable taxes

FAQ

Yes. The Free plan includes one counter with +1 / −1 / reset, phone bump, and the overlay. Pro ($9/mo or $79/yr; the first 250 members get $49/yr) adds per-boss segments, skins, milestones and webhook triggers. The free plan has no time limit, and the first 24 hours of Pro are free (card required).

From our product analytics: between Sep 6 and Oct 5, 2026, 56 streamers signed up after landing on a counter page and bumped a counter; the median gap between signup and first bump was 2 minutes, and three quarters did it within 5. We'll keep this updated.

Yes — it's a browser tab. Streamer.bot's own docs list macOS as experimental and unsupported; most Etsy widgets need a Node.js launcher. Kloot needs neither.

Yes, on Pro — share your deck. Your mod signs in with Google or Twitch and runs your deck from their own Kloot panel, every press signed with their name, and you can remove them any time. We won't let chat do it (StreamElements restricts !death to mods for a reason), so you, your phone and the people you invite are the only things that can change the number.

Yes, through a webhook on Pro. Every key on your deck has a URL, and counter keys take +1, −1 and reset; any tool that can call a URL can press it.

For one game and one look, yes — and if that's all you need, buy the widget. Kloot Free is $0 for one counter. Pro costs about four widgets a year at $79 (three at the founding $49) and covers every game, every style, phone bump, segments and milestones, with nothing to install or keep running.

Prices and requirements checked Oct 5, 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.

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