How to Create Custom StreamElements Alerts and Install Them in OBS

One of the easiest ways to instantly level up your stream is by creating custom alerts.

And honestly, this is something a lot of streamers overlook when they first start streaming. People spend a ton of time focusing on webcams, microphones, overlays, graphics cards, lighting setups, and all the big flashy things, but your alerts are part of your stream’s personality too. Every follow, raid, subscription, cheer, or donation is a moment happening live on your channel, and those moments should actually feel connected to your brand.

A lot of beginner streamers end up using the same default alerts everybody else has. Same sound effects. Same animations. Same generic graphics floating across the screen like they escaped from Twitch in 2017.

There’s nothing technically wrong with that, but custom alerts make your stream feel more personal. They make your content feel intentional. When somebody raids your stream or subscribes, it should feel like an event that belongs specifically to your community and your world.

The good news is that creating custom alerts is actually way easier than people think.

You do not need expensive editing software. You do not need After Effects. And honestly, Canva plus StreamElements is more than enough to make really clean, professional-looking alerts if you know how to put things together creatively.

This is personally how I create custom StreamElements alerts and install them into OBS.

Start With Your Stream’s Overall Theme

Before even opening StreamElements, I usually start in Canva and think about the overall look of the stream first.

Your alerts should match the rest of your branding. If your stream already has a specific aesthetic or vibe going on, your alerts should feel like they belong there naturally instead of looking like random add-ons from another universe.

For example, if your stream has dark colors and gothic overlays, your alerts might use smoke, candles, fire effects, or darker animated text. If your stream is more cozy or pastel-themed, maybe your alerts use softer movement, glowing borders, floating flowers, clouds, or cute animated elements.

Some people go for anime aesthetics. Some people like cyberpunk. Some people want luxury branding, retro gaming, horror, fantasy, vaporwave, nightclub visuals, western saloon themes, or clean minimalist designs.

Whatever direction you go in, consistency matters more than complexity.

Typically, most streamers are going to want alerts for:

• follows

• raids

• subscriptions

• bits or cheers

• tips or donations

• 
  

I recommend making all of them feel connected visually. They can have small differences between them, but they should still feel like part of the same package overall.

That cohesion makes your stream feel much more polished.

Creating the Alerts in Canva

Once I know what kind of vibe I want, I head into Canva and start building the alerts themselves.

This is one of the reasons Canva is so good for creators. Even the free version gives you a huge amount of elements you can work with if you get a little creative. You can combine animated graphics, text, particles, lighting effects, GIFs, and layered visuals to create something that looks way more advanced than people expect.

Sometimes the best alerts are actually the simpler ones.

You do not necessarily need giant cinematic animations flying across the screen. A clean animated textbox with nice movement and strong branding can already look incredibly professional.

Personally, I like adding at least a little movement to alerts because motion helps them feel alive. Even subtle animation can make a huge difference. Something slowly glowing, floating upward, fading in smoothly, or gently pulsing already gives the alert energy without making it distracting.

You can also use animated Canva elements directly inside the alert itself. Fire, smoke, crystals, flowers, sparks, particles, neon glows, and similar effects can all add personality depending on your stream’s style.

One thing I strongly recommend, though, is keeping alerts relatively clean and transparent whenever possible.

There’s nothing wrong with full-screen alerts, especially for major events like raids, but in most situations, I think smaller alerts work better for gameplay streams. If somebody follows during a really important gaming moment, you probably do not want a giant video covering the entire screen while something amazing is happening.

Imagine hitting a clutch shot, winning a fight, or having a hilarious moment happen live, and then suddenly a giant alert blocks everything right in the middle of it. That can completely ruin a clip.

Smaller alerts with transparency usually blend into the stream much better while still looking professional and exciting.

So unless you intentionally want a giant cinematic alert, I would recommend removing unnecessary backgrounds and designing with transparency in mind.

Exporting Your Alert Files

Once everything looks the way you want, export your files in the format that makes the most sense for the type of alert you created.

Sometimes a PNG is enough if the alert is mostly static. Other times you might want a GIF or MP4 if the alert has more animation and movement involved. Most of the time, I personally prefer MP4 files for animated alerts because they tend to look cleaner overall and usually perform better visually than GIFs.

After exporting your files, save them somewhere organized on your computer. Trust me, this matters more than people think.

At some point you are probably going to redesign your stream, update your overlays, change your branding, or create seasonal themes. Having all your alerts neatly organized makes swapping everything later way easier.

Connecting StreamElements to Twitch

Before building anything inside StreamElements, make sure you are logged into the correct Twitch account.

This sounds obvious, but if you manage multiple channels or creator accounts, StreamElements can sometimes automatically connect to whichever Twitch account is currently active in your browser.

So before doing anything else, open Twitch first and double-check that you are signed into the correct channel.

After that, open StreamElements and authorize it with Twitch if necessary.

Once StreamElements is connected properly, you are ready to start building your overlay.

Creating the Alert Overlay in StreamElements

Inside StreamElements, head over to the Overlay section and create a new overlay.

When choosing your resolution, I usually recommend either 1920x1080 or at minimum 1280x720.

Realistically, alerts do not need absurdly high resolutions to look good. They just need to look clean. If your computer struggles a little with performance, using slightly smaller files can actually help things run more smoothly overall.

Once the overlay is created, click:

• Add Widget

• Alerts

• Alert Box

That will add the alert system to your overlay workspace.

From there, StreamElements will give you all the individual alert categories you can customize separately, including follows, raids, subscriptions, cheers, and more.

Replacing the Default StreamElements Alerts

This is one of the biggest things people forget to do.

When you click into each alert category, StreamElements already has default media installed. Most people replace the main alert but forget about the variation alerts hidden underneath.

That becomes a problem later because different events can trigger different default animations.

For example, one gifted sub might trigger one animation while five gifted subs trigger something completely different. If you leave the defaults installed, random StreamElements graphics can suddenly appear in the middle of your stream and completely break your branding.

So go through each category carefully and remove all the default media before uploading your own files.

Once your custom alert is uploaded, you can start adjusting the details:

• text placement

• font size

• alert timing

• positioning

• animation behavior

• styling

This is where you really shape how the alert feels inside your stream.

Testing Everything Inside OBS

Once your alerts are installed, copy the overlay link from StreamElements and add it into OBS as a Browser Source.

Make sure the browser source resolution matches whatever resolution you chose for the overlay itself. So if your overlay was built at 1920x1080, your browser source should also be 1920x1080.

One workflow tip I strongly recommend is keeping OBS open while you work.

Inside StreamElements, there’s an Emulate feature that lets you simulate follows, raids, subscriptions, donations, and other events. When you trigger those test events, OBS will immediately show you exactly how the alerts look live on stream.

This is incredibly useful because you can instantly catch problems like:

• alerts being too large

• text placement looking awkward

• animations covering gameplay

• colors clashing with your overlays

• alerts feeling distracting

Testing in real time saves a ridiculous amount of frustration later.

One Last Thing Before You Go Crazy With Browser Sources

Custom alerts are awesome, but you still want to be aware of how many browser sources you are stacking inside OBS.

Browser sources can become surprisingly heavy if you overload your scenes with too many animated elements, overlays, widgets, alerts, chat boxes, and web integrations all running at the same time.

If your stream starts lagging, stuttering, dropping frames, or freezing, sometimes the issue is not OBS itself. Sometimes it is simply too many browser-based elements running simultaneously.

A decent computer should handle custom alerts just fine, but optimization still matters.

Clean and efficient almost always performs better than trying to turn your stream into a flying Las Vegas billboard. 😭

Making Your Stream Feel Like Your Stream

At the end of the day, custom alerts are really about identity.

Anybody can download a random alert pack and throw it onto a stream. But when your alerts actually match your overlays, your colors, your personality, and your overall aesthetic, your stream starts feeling much more cohesive and memorable. And once you understand how the process works, you can keep evolving things whenever your branding changes.

New overlay package? New stream era? Holiday theme? Special event stream?

Swap the alerts too.

It keeps your content feeling fresh, and viewers absolutely notice that level of detail more than people realize.

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