Why Stream Deck Neo is the perfect productivity companion for anyone

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Quick Links

  • Stream Deck vs Stream Deck Neo
  • How does it help increase productivity?

Main Takeaways

  • Elgato's Stream Deck Neo offers a more cost-effective and business-focused alternative to the regular Stream Deck.
  • The Stream Deck Neo includes capacitive touch buttons for navigating pages, maximizing functionality.
  • With its compact, professional design, the Stream Deck Neo offers eight buttons at a competitive price of $99.99.



Whether you’re streaming or working on a spreadsheet, a macro pad can help you in more ways than you can imagine. With the launch of Stream Deck Neo, Elgato is shifting its focus to the world of work. The new Neo could be your perfect productivity companion.


Stream Deck vs Stream Deck Neo

You may be confused about which Stream Deck model to buy, and the decision just got even harder. The Neo is the latest addition to Elgato’s Stream Deck lineup, sitting between the Stream Deck Mini and the regular Stream Deck.

The name “Neo” comes from the company’s new line of affordable products. These products, which are meant to be more accessible to the masses, include a main light, a microphone, and a webcam. But the Stream Deck Neo is something entirely new.

New white control panel on black mouse pad
God's Hand Obaidi / MakeUseOf


The device is larger than the Stream Deck Mini, so it has more features. But it’s also affordable enough to attract new buyers who aren’t regular Twitch users. In my opinion, the Stream Deck Neo is the perfect choice if you’re looking for a large board to boost productivity without having to spend a lot of money.

How does it help increase productivity?

At its core, the Stream Deck Neo is a very regular Stream Deck. You get eight buttons, with individual displays, that you can set to do whatever you want. The Deck also lets you create custom profiles for individual programs.

The core functionality of the Neo is supported by Elgato's Stream Deck app. This means that the Stream Deck Neo, the regular Stream Deck, the Stream Deck Mini, and the Stream Deck XL all work the same way.

Keep in mind that you can still use your regular Stream Deck to help boost your productivity. But the additions that Elgato has added to the Neo may help you even more.


Custom Page Buttons

Unlike other Stream Decks, the Neo has capacitive touch buttons to switch between pages. These pages allow you to create multiple sets of shortcuts or commands, in case you need more than eight.

In older versions of Stream Decks, you had to dedicate at least one or two of the main buttons to navigating between pages. This may not seem like much, but those 15 keys on a regular Stream Deck could run out pretty quickly.

The Stream Deck has eight buttons with individual screens displaying the action associated with them.
God's Hand Obaidi / MakeUseOf

The Stream Deck Neo solves this problem by adding two dedicated capacitive touch buttons for page switching. This frees up the eight buttons to do their actual job. And because the navigation buttons are always in the same place, and are illuminated by individual lights, they’re quick and easy to use.


More buttons

Speaking of buttons, the Stream Deck Neo is the perfect choice with its eight buttons. If you plan to use the Stream Deck only for work and general productivity purposes, 15 buttons on the regular Stream Deck might be overkill, while six buttons on the Stream Deck Mini might be too little.

Since you don't need to assign buttons to switch pages, the Stream Deck Neo has just the right number of buttons.

Information bar

The Stream Deck Neo comes with a small screen called the status bar, between the two page switching buttons, that displays basic useful information. If you’re using a regular Stream Deck and want it to tell you the time or date, you’ll have to dedicate a button to that task. However, the Neo can display this information in its status bar.

A close-up of the lower half of the Stream Deck highlights the clock and date display.
God's Hand Obaidi / MakeUseOf


Sure, the status bar doesn't do much; you can set it to show the page ticker or the system time. But Elgato's design suggests we'll see more options in the future.

One great use of the status bar is to display different content based on the active page. We hope that Elgato will add more utilities to the status bar in the future, which will greatly enhance the functionality of the device.

More business-focused design

The design language of the Stream Deck has remained largely the same since its launch in 2017. For most people, it’s a simple black box with customizable buttons on top. With the Mk 2 version, you can get a white Stream Deck with interchangeable faceplates, but that’s about it.


The Neo takes everything that's good about the Stream Deck's design and packs it into a package that will look as good on an accountant's desk as it does on a Fortnite gamer. The foldable stand on the back gives you two different angles and the option to lay the device flat on your desk.

The Stream Deck has two rows of four buttons and a separate screen below them.
God's Hand Obaidi / MakeUseOf

The overall design is very compact, and the rounded edges give it a sleek, professional look. So the Stream Deck Neo won’t look out of place on your desk at work. The white color scheme is especially suitable for Macs, if you want to increase your productivity on your Mac with the Stream Deck.


competitive price

Last but not least, the Stream Deck Neo retails for a very attractive $99.99. For comparison, the Stream Deck Mk.2 retails for $149.99, while the smaller Stream Deck Mini retails for $59.99. The only other options in the lineup are the massive Stream Deck XL at $249.99 and the Stream Deck+ at $199.99.

The latter two serve two completely different purposes, but if you’re looking for a Stream Deck to boost productivity, the Neo might be the better option for you. It’s not as expensive as the regular Stream Deck, but it retains full functionality and, as far as I’m concerned, is a much better design. The Stream Deck Mini is a good alternative if you’re on a budget, but the six-button limitation might hinder your productivity rather than enhance it.

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