How to Stream on Kick in 2026: Ingest URL, OBS Settings, and Channel Setup

Quick answer: Open your Kick creator dashboard, go to Channel, then Stream URL and Key. Copy the server URL and the stream key into OBS under Settings, Stream, with Service set to Custom. Kick accepts H.264 up to 1920x1080 at 60 fps, CBR only, 1,000 to 8,000 kbps, 2 second keyframe interval, stereo audio at 48 kHz. Set your stream title and category in the dashboard before you hit Start Streaming, because the stream may not start correctly without them.

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What is ingest on Kick?

Ingest is the first hop. It is the server that accepts the upload from your encoder, before Kick transcodes anything or sends a single frame to a viewer. Everything downstream depends on that handshake working: if the ingest connection is wrong, nothing else you configure matters.

Two things make up a working ingest connection. The server URL, which is the address your encoder dials, and the stream key, which is the credential that tells Kick which channel the incoming video belongs to. Both live in the same place: creator dashboard, Channel, Stream URL and Key. Kick also links that page directly at dashboard.kick.com/channel/stream and kick.com/settings/stream.

The stream key is a password. Anyone holding it can push video to your channel. Do not put it in a screenshot, a config file you share, a Docker compose you commit, or a support ticket. If it leaks, hit Reset on the Streamer Dashboard and update every encoder that uses it, because the old key stops working the moment you reset.

The Kick ingest URL

Kick publishes one ingest address in its own help articles, in the setup instructions for Castr, Restreamer, Streamlabs Mobile and LiveU Studio:

rtmps://fa723fc1b171.global-contribute.live-video.net:443/app

Some tools want the protocol, host, port, path and key all in one string. Restreamer is the example Kick documents, and the format there is:

fa723fc1b171.global-contribute.live-video.net:443/app/YOUR_STREAM_KEY

Your dashboard is the authority. If the Server field on your Stream URL and Key page shows something different from the address above, use the dashboard value. Guides that hardcode a hostname go stale, and this one will too eventually. Copy, do not retype.

Kick ingest servers: one address, no region to pick

This is the part people expect to be harder than it is. There is no published list of Kick ingest servers by city, and there is no region dropdown to get wrong.

Kick hands out a single global contribute hostname. A DNS lookup on it comes back with a set of addresses that also answer to regional contribute names, which is how the routing actually happens: the name resolution puts you on a nearby entry point rather than making you choose one. That is why every Kick help article gives the same URL regardless of where the streamer is.

The practical consequence is that "picking a closer ingest server" is not a lever you have on Kick, unlike platforms that publish a server list. If your route to ingest is bad, the fixes are on your side: a wired connection instead of WiFi, a lower bitrate, or relaying through a machine with a better path than your home line. That last one is the reason people run a Kick streaming VPS as a relay.

Why it is RTMPS on port 443

Note the protocol and the port in that URL. It is rtmps, TLS wrapped RTMP, on 443, not plain rtmp on 1935. Two things follow from that.

First, firewall rules. If you are streaming from a locked down network, an office, a university, a hotel, or a VPS with a restrictive outbound policy, the port you need open outbound is 443/TCP. Old advice about opening 1935 does not apply to this endpoint.

Second, the path. The URL ends in /app. Encoders that split server and key expect the path to be part of the server field, and leaving it off is one of the most common reasons a connection is refused. LiveU Studio users in particular have to append :443/app manually, which Kick calls out explicitly.

What Kick ingest will and will not accept

These are the limits Kick documents. Going outside them does not degrade the stream gracefully, it usually fails or shows up as a misconfigured session.

On a Mac, pick the x264 encoder, since that is what exposes CBR. Apple's hardware encoder path does not give you the rate control Kick requires.

Ingest errors and what they actually mean

Session Health lives in the creator dashboard and is the fastest read on whether the problem is you or the network. It reports Healthy, Unstable, Misconfigured, Error, or Offline. Unstable means Kick is not receiving enough data, which is a bitrate or upload problem. Misconfigured means the stream is arriving but your encoder settings are outside what Kick accepts.

If you are stuck in a reconnect loop rather than a hard failure, that is a different diagnosis. We wrote it up separately in OBS disconnecting and reconnecting on Kick.

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How to stream on Kick, start to finish

Six steps, in the order Kick expects them.

1. Create the account. Go to kick.com, sign up with email or a connected account, verify your email, pick your username. That username becomes your channel URL at kick.com/username, and you can only change it once every 60 days, so pick something you can live with.

2. Turn on 2FA. Security, in the dashboard menu. You need 2FA enabled before Kick will let you change your username, and it protects an account that is about to have money attached to it.

3. Get your server URL and stream key. Creator dashboard, Channel, Stream URL and Key.

4. Point your encoder at it. In OBS: File, Settings, Stream, Service set to Custom, paste the Server URL, paste the Stream Key, Apply. Kick supports OBS, Streamlabs Desktop, XSplit and MELD. Streamlabs Desktop has a native Kick connection under Settings, Stream, Connect, which skips the manual URL entirely.

5. Set your title and category. Streamer Dashboard, Edit Stream Info. Title, category, language, and the 18+ toggle if it applies. Skipping this is not cosmetic. Kick warns that a stream without a title and category may not start correctly.

6. Go live. Start Streaming in OBS. When you press Stop Streaming, Kick shows your offline banner and saves the VOD to your channel page.

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OBS settings for Kick

These mirror the recommended settings Kick publishes per encoder. Rescale Output only needs to be enabled if your base canvas is larger than 1920x1080.

x264

Encoder: x264
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 1000 to 8000 kbps
Keyframe Interval: 2
CPU Usage Preset: veryfast
Profile: main
Tune: zerolatency

NVIDIA NVENC H.264 and AMD HW H.264

Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 1000 to 8000 kbps
Keyframe Interval: 2
Preset: P6 (Slower, Better Quality)
Tuning: Ultra Low Latency
Multipass Mode: Single Pass
Profile: main

Video and audio

Base Resolution: 1920x1080
Output Resolution: 1920x1080
FPS: 60, or 30 for slower-paced content

Sample Rate: 48 kHz
Channels: Stereo

If the stream stutters, Kick's own escalation order is to drop the bitrate in 1,000 kbps steps first, then move to a lighter preset: superfast on x264, P3 Fast on NVENC or AMD. Change one thing at a time so you know which one fixed it.

Bitrate by resolution

Kick's ceiling is 8,000 kbps. Below that, match the bitrate to what your upload can hold, not to what looks best on a speed test. A stable 720p60 beats a 1080p60 that keeps dropping frames.

Keep headroom. Your upload should comfortably exceed your total outgoing bitrate, because video is not the only thing your connection is doing. If you want the longer version of this argument, including what happens when you sit right at the ceiling, see Kick bitrate limit and OBS settings.

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Kick audio only mode

Audio only is a playback quality option in the Kick player, not something you enable as a streamer. Viewers pick it from the quality menu, the same menu that holds 1080p, 720p60 and Auto. It strips the video and leaves the audio, which is what people want on mobile data, on a bad connection, or when a stream is effectively background listening.

It shows up in the quality list alongside the other rungs of the ladder. On channels that do not yet have 1080p available, the full list Kick documents is 720p60, 480p, 360p, 160p, Audio only, and Auto.

There is nothing to switch on for it. You do not configure audio only in OBS and you cannot force viewers into it. It appears because Kick transcodes your stream into a ladder, and audio only is the bottom rung.

Two things people confuse with it:

The Go Live app's audio toggle. Kick's mobile app has an audio on/off setting. Off means a silent stream, video with no sound. That is a mute, not audio only.

Streaming a radio or music channel. If what you actually want is to broadcast audio with no meaningful video, there is no audio only ingest mode. Everything Kick documents on the encoder side is built around an H.264 video track. The normal approach is an OBS scene with a static image, a looping visual, or an audio visualiser, sitting at a low bitrate and low frame rate, with your audio chain doing the real work. Viewers who only want the sound then pick audio only themselves.

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Kick settings: where everything lives

The dashboard menu is the map. Most "where do I change X" questions resolve to one of these.

Two settings that are easy to miss: the pencil icon on the dashboard lets you add, remove and reorder dashboard sections, with a Reset to Default if you make a mess of it. And Edit Stream Info is where the 18+ toggle lives, not in Profile.

Chat settings and moderation

Chat rules are set from Channel Actions on the dashboard, or from chat itself, which is faster mid-stream. Moderators are exempt from every chat mode.

Typing / in chat brings up the available commands, which is quicker than remembering them.

Beyond the modes, Chat Settings holds an account age restriction, a banned words filter, and AI moderation with per category filtering levels plus gibberish and spam filters. The spam filter is the one that actually saves your mods work.

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How to create a Kick stream schedule

Kick has a real streaming calendar. It lives on your channel page, not in the dashboard, which is why people miss it.

To schedule a stream: go to your channel, open the Schedule tab, hit + Schedule stream, then enter the title, pick a category, set the date, start time and duration, and set it to repeat if it is a regular slot. Confirm, and it appears on your calendar immediately.

The rules worth knowing before you plan a run of streams:

• Minimum duration is 30 minutes, maximum is 48 hours.
• The date and time have to be in the future.
• Scheduling works on desktop and mobile web. It is not in the Kick mobile app.
• Only you can schedule, edit or delete entries. Moderators cannot, so do not plan around delegating it.
• You can edit the title and category while live, but not the date or time of a stream that is currently running.
• For recurring streams you can edit or delete one occurrence or all future ones. There is no way to change a handful of specific occurrences in one go.

What the calendar states mean

That 30 minute window is the detail that catches people. Go live more than half an hour late and the entry flips to Passed even though you streamed. Going live early does not flip it to Live either, it waits for the scheduled time.

If you are on Kick within 10 minutes of a scheduled start, a reminder appears with a link to your calendar. Handy, but do not rely on it as your only alarm.

Sharing the schedule

From the Schedule tab, the share icon in the top right shares your full calendar to X, Facebook, or as a plain link. Tapping an individual entry shares just that stream, and for a recurring series the link opens on the next upcoming instance. The link drops people straight onto the calendar entry, which is more useful than a screenshot of your schedule in a Discord announcement.

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How to set up Kick channel branding

Three images do most of the work, and all three are uploaded from Profile in the dashboard menu.

Note the banner is 1280x700, not the wide, short strip other platforms use. Designs ported straight from a Twitch banner template will crop badly. The avatar minimum is 128x128, but upload something larger and square so it stays clean at chat size, where it is rendered small and circular.

Keep anything important away from the banner edges, since the crop changes across devices. Avatars are the same problem in miniature: heavy text and fine detail turn to mush in a chat line.

Bio, panels and social links

Bio is a short description shown on your channel page whether you are live or offline. Social media links take the username only, not the full URL, which is a common cause of dead links on Kick profiles.

Panels are the blocks under your player, and they are edited from a different place than everything else: go to your channel page, click the About tab, then Edit Panels. Add, remove, and drag to reorder. Leaving both the title and description blank gives you an image only panel, which is how people build clean panel rows.

What is actually worth putting there: about me, schedule with the time zone written out, chat rules, socials, Discord invite, gear list if people ask. Panels that state a schedule from six months ago do more damage than no panels at all.

Emotes and sub badges come later. They unlock through Community once you have Affiliate or Verified status, and they follow the same design rule as the avatar: bold shapes, readable at chat size.

Username changes are limited to once every 60 days and require 2FA on the account. Email changes are also capped at once every 60 days.

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Adding overlays and alerts

Kick works with the usual overlay services. The flow is the same as anywhere else.

1. Sign up at streamelements.com or streamlabs.com
2. Design your overlay
3. Select Kick as the platform
4. Copy the browser source URL
5. In OBS: Sources, Add, Browser, paste the URL

Alerts fire on follows, subs, gifted subs and KICKs. Keep them under three seconds and keep them quieter than your voice. A loud alert stepping on the moment it is celebrating is the most common overlay mistake.

You do not need all of them. Plenty of large channels run a webcam frame and nothing else.

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Mobile streaming on Kick

The Kick Go Live app

Kick's own app handles front and back camera, screen sharing and IRL. It needs iOS 18.0 or later, or Android 8.0 or later.

What you can adjust: resolution (1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, and 240p on Android), frame rate (30 or 60), bitrate up to 8,000 kbps, stabilisation on iOS, and audio on or off with a microphone gain control. There is no microphone picker yet. The app uses the phone's input, and AirPods are supported as a Bluetooth input while other Bluetooth mics are hit or miss.

Kick's own bitrate guidance for the app is to stay under half your upload speed, which is more conservative than desktop advice and about right for mobile.

For IRL specifically, 720p is the sensible default. It holds up through movement and cell handoffs in a way 1080p does not.

Third-party mobile apps

Streamlabs Mobile, Prism Live Studio, Larix Broadcaster and Moblin all work through custom RTMP. The setup is the same in each: create a custom RTMP destination, paste the Kick server URL, paste your stream key.

One catch that trips everyone up on third-party mobile apps: you still have to set the stream title and category on the Kick website before going live. It cannot be done from inside those apps.

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Multistreaming with Kick

Kick does not require exclusivity, so streaming to Kick and Twitch and YouTube at the same time is normal. There is one rule that costs money if you ignore it, and it applies only to streamers in the KICK Partner Program.

If you are in the KICK Partner Program, you must enable the Multistreaming toggle when you stream to other long-form platforms such as Twitch or YouTube. The toggle sits under Partner Income in the dashboard, or you can use /multi on and /multi off in chat. Streaming to those platforms without it is a breach of the Partner Program terms. When the toggle is on, your payout is reduced by 50% for the duration of that multistreaming session.

You do not need the toggle for short-form or vertical platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok Live or Instagram Live.

If you are not in the Partner Program, none of that applies and you can multistream freely.

Using a restreaming service

Restream and Castr both list Kick as a destination. Add a channel, pick Kick, paste your RTMP URL and stream key. Kick documents both flows in its own help center.

Using a VPS

One upload from your PC, the server fans it out. NGINX RTMP does this in about fifteen lines:

rtmp {
    server {
        listen 1935;

        application live {
            live on;

            # Push to Kick
            push rtmp://YOUR_KICK_SERVER_URL/YOUR_KICK_KEY;

            # Push to Twitch
            push rtmp://live.twitch.tv/app/YOUR_TWITCH_KEY;

            # Push to YouTube
            push rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/YOUR_YT_KEY;
        }
    }
}

One detail: NGINX RTMP's push directive speaks plain RTMP, and Kick's documented endpoint is RTMPS. If your build does not handle the TLS endpoint, relay through FFmpeg for the Kick leg instead of pushing directly. That is the usual reason a multistream setup delivers to Twitch and YouTube but silently fails on Kick.

The full walkthrough is in our multistreaming guide.

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IRL streaming on Kick

Same ingest, different failure mode. Cell networks drop packets in bursts, and RTMP handles that badly.

The standard fix is to send SRT from the phone or encoder to a server you control, and let that server hold the RTMPS connection to Kick. SRT absorbs the jitter, and Kick only ever sees a clean, stable feed from a machine on a fixed line.

# On the server
srt-live-transmit srt://:9999?mode=listener \
    file://con | \
    ffmpeg -i - -c copy -f flv rtmps://YOUR_KICK_SERVER_URL/YOUR_KEY

Phone, SRT, server, Kick. Full setup in our IRL streaming guide.

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Monetization on Kick

Getting to Partner status

Kick's 95/5 split gets quoted as if it applies from your first minute on the platform. It applies once you can accept subscriptions, and that requires Partner status, which needs 5 total hours streamed. The 5 hours are cumulative, so short sessions across several days count. Once you qualify, an Enable Subscriptions button appears in your Streamer Dashboard. Progress is tracked under Achievements.

That is a low bar compared to most platforms, but it is not zero, and it is worth knowing before you plan around subscription income in week one.

The 95/5 split

Subscriptions are a flat $5 per month. You receive $4.75, and $0.25 is taken as a processing fee. The same 95/5 applies to KICKs, which is Kick's tipping currency.

Compare that to a 50/50 split on the same subscriber count and the gap is roughly double. That is the whole pitch, and it is a real one.

Bounties are the other route: short-form clip campaigns from Kick or brand partners, with the reward set per campaign.

Getting paid

Payouts run through Stripe into your bank account. You need to complete Stripe identity verification, add a bank account in a supported country, and confirm your payout currency. If Stripe does not support payouts where you live, you cannot be paid out yet.

• Verified streamers choose weekly or monthly.
• Everyone else gets monthly.
• US streamers: ACH lands in 2 to 3 business days. International: usually 3 to 7 business days.
• Earnings are tracked in USD, and Stripe converts automatically if your bank uses another currency.

Some countries have their own minimum payout thresholds imposed by local regulation. There is no early or on-demand payout.

The KICK Partner Program

Separate thing, easily confused with Partner status. The KICK Partner Program pays per stream and sits above verification. Kick lists the current metrics as a verified channel, 75 average CCV over 30 days, 30 hours streamed in 30 days, 25 active subscriptions, 250 unique chatters, 3 VODs, 250 followers, a completed About section with social links, and good standing on the platform rules. Meeting them makes you eligible to apply, not accepted. Kick also runs a Fast Track for creators with an established audience elsewhere.

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Kick vs Twitch

When Kick makes sense

• You are starting fresh and want the discovery advantage
• Subscription revenue matters more to you than raw audience size
• You want to multistream without a contract in the way

When to stay on Twitch

• You already have an audience there that will not follow
• You depend on bots and integrations that Kick tooling has not caught up with
• You are in a Partner contract worth keeping

Streaming to both is the common answer. The longer version is in our Kick vs Twitch comparison.

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Common problems and fixes

Stream will not connect

1. Compare your server URL character for character against the dashboard, including the /app path and the port
2. Confirm you are using rtmps://, not rtmp://
3. Reset the stream key in the dashboard and paste the new one everywhere it is used
4. Check outbound 443/TCP is open on the network you are on

Buffering for viewers

1. Drop the bitrate 1,000 kbps and watch the stream health
2. Test your actual upload, not the advertised number, and leave headroom above your total bitrate
3. Go wired. WiFi is the most common cause of the "it was fine yesterday" stream

Audio issues

1. Watch the OBS mixer while you talk. If the meter is flat, OBS is not getting the mic at all
2. Check the mic is not muted at the OS level, and test it in another app
3. Set Sample Rate to 48 kHz and Channels to Stereo. Anything higher gets rejected and can distort
4. Out of sync? Right-click the source, Advanced Audio Properties, adjust Sync Offset. Typical fixes land between 100 and 400 ms
5. Echo means the mic is hearing your speakers. Headphones fix it

1080p is not offered to viewers

Not a bug and not your encoder. Some growing channels only get 720p60, 480p, 360p, 160p, Audio only and Auto in the quality menu. 1080p unlocks automatically once the channel hits Kick's engagement threshold. Keep streaming at 1080p, nothing needs changing on your end. The next milestone Kick names is 75 or more average concurrent viewers, which is also the path toward verification.

Black screen on Kick

1. Check the OBS preview first. If it is black there, the problem is the source
2. Try Display Capture instead of Game Capture
3. Run OBS as administrator for games that need it

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Before, during and after

Before going live

• Test stream to confirm settings
• Set the title and category, or the stream may not start correctly
• Check audio levels in the mixer
• Post that you are going live
• Water within reach

During

• Read chat and use names
• Watch Session Health for Unstable or Misconfigured
• Tell people when you are taking a break
• Thank new followers and subs

After

• Watch back part of the VOD for audio and encoding problems
• Cut clips for short-form
• Keep the Discord warm
• Update the schedule for next time

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Growing on Kick

Discoverability

1. Be in the right category. Wrong category is the single most common reason a stream gets no browse traffic
2. Write a real title. "Just vibing" tells nobody anything
3. Keep a schedule and publish it. The calendar exists for this
4. Cross-promote. Discord, X, YouTube shorts, TikTok

Engagement

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Equipment recommendations

Budget setup

Mid-range setup

Higher end

Spend on the microphone first. Viewers forgive a soft picture and leave over bad audio.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Kick ingest URL?

The server URL from your creator dashboard under Channel, Stream URL and Key. The address Kick publishes in its own setup articles is rtmps://fa723fc1b171.global-contribute.live-video.net:443/app. Use the dashboard value if the two differ.

Are there multiple Kick ingest servers to choose from?

No list to choose from. Kick uses one global contribute hostname, and DNS resolution places you on a nearby entry point automatically.

What is the maximum bitrate on Kick?

8,000 kbps, with a documented range of 1,000 to 8,000. Maximum resolution is 1920x1080 and maximum frame rate is 60 fps.

Does Kick support VBR or H.265?

Neither. CBR only, H.264 only.

How do I reset my Kick stream key?

Streamer Dashboard, then Reset on the Stream URL and Key page. Update every encoder afterwards, because the old key stops working immediately.

Can I schedule streams on Kick?

Yes. The Schedule tab on your channel page, on desktop or mobile web. Minimum 30 minutes, maximum 48 hours, and only the channel owner can manage it.

What is audio only mode on Kick?

A quality option viewers pick in the player. It plays the audio without the video. Nothing to enable as a streamer.

Can I stream the same content to Kick and Twitch?

Yes. Kick does not require exclusivity. If you are in the KICK Partner Program, enable the Multistreaming toggle first, and know that it halves your payout for that session.

Does Kick have transcoding?

Yes, but the ladder depends on the channel. Growing channels may only see 720p60 and below until they hit Kick's engagement threshold for 1080p.

How do I get paid from Kick?

Stripe, into a bank account, after identity verification. Verified streamers pick weekly or monthly, everyone else is monthly.

Is Kick safe to use?

Payouts run through Stripe with real identity verification, and earnings are tracked in USD in both your Kick dashboard and your Stripe dashboard. Read Kick's Community Guidelines and the content classification labels before you plan content, because what is allowed differs from Twitch and does change.

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The short version

Get the server URL and stream key from Channel, Stream URL and Key. Service Custom in OBS. H.264, CBR, 2 second keyframes, 48 kHz stereo, at most 1080p60 and 8,000 kbps. Set the title and category. Go live.

Everything after that is refinement: branding sized correctly, a published schedule, chat rules that hold up when the channel grows, and an upload path that does not wobble.

Streaming from a home connection that drops? A streaming VPS takes the ingest connection off your residential line, holds it on a fixed link, and keeps running when your PC is off. It is also what you want in front of a multistream setup, so one upload leaves your house instead of three.

Related guides:

• What is Kick? The platform explained
• Kick streaming server: OBS on a VPS
• Multistreaming to Twitch, Kick and YouTube
• IRL streaming setup guide
• Cloud OBS VPS setup