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Sunshine vs Shadow: catalog facts
Sunshine	Shadow
Free Free and open source under the GPL 3.0, from the LizardByte project.	Paid Paid subscription; the homepage showed a discount offer.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Web
Works with AMD, Intel and NVIDIA hardware encoders, not just NVIDIA Configured and paired from a web interface in any browser	Full Windows PC, so any launcher, mod or app can be installed Clients for most desktop and mobile platforms plus a browser
macOS hosts cannot emulate gamepads at all Encoder support varies a lot by platform and graphics vendor	Ongoing subscription cost Needs a fast, stable internet connection
Downloadable app	Downloadable app, Web application, Hosted service
Open source	Closed source
License: GPL-3.0	License not stated
No account needed	Account needed
Works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.