A Stream Deck alternative for video editing that lives on your mouse
For editing, the most practical Stream Deck alternative is software on your mouse. A Stream Deck sends hotkeys; in Premiere Pro it relies on your shortcuts and Marketplace profiles, and Elgato's own Adobe plug-in is for Photoshop. mouzeclick puts per-app buttons, gestures and three wheels on any mouse, plus tools that run inside Premiere and After Effects. Stream Deck + is $179.99; mouzeclick starts with a free 3-day trial.
- Stream Deck prices on Elgato's US store, 31 Oct 2026: Neo $99.99 (8 keys), 15-key $149.99, Stream Deck + $179.99 (8 keys, 4 dials)
- Stream Deck Mobile gives you 6 keys on your phone for free
- Premiere Pro on a Stream Deck: your own hotkeys or third-party Marketplace profiles
- mouzeclick: any mouse, eleven slots per button, three wheels, 112-tool Premiere Pro wheel
- One plan, $25 a month or $249 a year, 3 days free with no card
Can you use a Stream Deck for video editing?
Yes. Every key, and every dial on the Stream Deck +, can send a keyboard shortcut, and that is how a Stream Deck drives Premiere Pro and After Effects. Elgato's Adobe page tells Premiere users to assign macros to keys or dials, or to get ready-made profiles from Marketplace.
The Stream Deck app adds five things an editor will use.
- Smart Profiles. The deck switches to a different layout as you move between apps, so Premiere gets its keys and your browser gets others.
- Key Logic. One key can do three things: press, double-press and press-and-hold.
- Multi Actions. A chain of actions on one key.
- Folders and pages. More actions than you have keys; the Stream Deck + takes up to ten pages you swipe through on its touch strip.
- Dial Stacks on the Stream Deck +: several actions on one dial, pushed to cycle between them.
What it doesn't have for Premiere is a first-party plug-in. Elgato's official Adobe integration is for Photoshop. For Premiere, Marketplace lists third-party profiles such as "Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Control Suite" and "Premiere Fastlane"; their pages load only in a browser with scripts, so we couldn't check what's inside them. Either way, the deck ends up pressing Premiere's keyboard shortcuts for you.
How do Stream Deck models compare with a mouse-based alternative?
The Stream Deck is hardware with free software; mouzeclick is software for the mouse already under your hand. Prices as Elgato's US store and mouzeclick's own pages showed them on 31 October 2026.
| Stream Deck Neo | Stream Deck (15-key) | Stream Deck + | mouzeclick | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price as shown | $99.99 | $149.99 | $179.99 | $25 a month or $249 a year |
| Controls | 8 LCD keys | 15 LCD keys | 8 LCD keys, 4 dials, touch strip | Up to 5 mouse buttons plus scroll and tilt, gestures, chords, 3 wheels |
| Windows / Mac | Windows 11+, macOS 13+ | Windows and macOS | Windows 11+, macOS 13+ | Windows 10 and 11, macOS 12+ |
| Software | Free Stream Deck app | Free Stream Deck app | Free Stream Deck app | The plan; 3-day trial, no card |
| Premiere Pro | Your hotkeys, or third-party Marketplace profiles | Your hotkeys, or third-party Marketplace profiles | Your hotkeys, or third-party Marketplace profiles | Ready-made profile, a Premiere shortcut library, and a 112-tool wheel that runs commands inside Premiere through a panel |
| After Effects | Your hotkeys, or Marketplace profiles | Your hotkeys, or Marketplace profiles | Your hotkeys, or Marketplace profiles | Ready-made profile and a 114-tool After Effects wheel |
| Beyond editing | Streaming, OBS, lights, smart home and hundreds of plug-ins | Streaming, OBS, lights, smart home and hundreds of plug-ins | Streaming, OBS, lights, smart home and hundreds of plug-ins | Every app gets its own button profile |
There is also a free way in: Stream Deck Mobile turns your phone into six keys at no cost. If you're curious whether keys suit you, try that before buying anything.
What does a Stream Deck editing setup really cost?
The device price, plus any Marketplace profile you buy, plus the time to build your layout. The Stream Deck app is free, so the hidden cost is the afternoon spent deciding what goes on each key and making the icons readable.
- Device. $99.99 for 8 keys, $149.99 for 15, or $179.99 for 8 keys with 4 dials on Elgato's US store.
- Profiles. Premiere profiles on Marketplace come from third parties. Check each listing for its price and what it covers before you count on one.
- Setup. With 15 keys per page you'll want folders or pages for anything beyond your core cuts, and that's where most of the afternoon goes.
mouzeclick has no device cost. The plan is $25 a month or $249 a year, and a creator or friend code takes 10% off a new customer's first 30-day or 1-year payment. The setup is shorter because Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve and CapCut come with ready-made profiles, and the first run builds the settings page around the buttons your mouse actually has. Current prices are in the pricing section.
A fair caveat: a Stream Deck is yours once paid for. If all you want is keys for a few apps for years, that can cost less than any subscription.
Is a Stream Deck alternative better on the mouse or on the desk?
On the mouse, if most of your work is cutting; on the desk, if you like seeing labelled keys. A Stream Deck shows an icon on every key, which is great while you learn a layout. The cost is hand travel: to press a key, a hand leaves the mouse or the keyboard, and your eyes usually follow it down.
A mouse-based setup keeps your hand where it already is. You press a side button, hold it and move, or hold the right button and the Tool wheel opens over Premiere with the tool names on screen; each tool confirms what it did with a short note by the pointer. Your eyes stay on the timeline.
Icons help most in the first week, while you learn a layout. Once the layout is in your hand, you stop looking down. If your edits are long talking-head or podcast cuts, the mouse is the more comfortable place for them. If you also stream, switch scenes or run lights, a deck is the better tool for that part of the job.
How does a mouse work as a Stream Deck alternative?
By giving each Stream Deck idea a mouse-side equivalent: buttons for keys, gestures for Key Logic, wheels for folders and pages. The table lines them up.
| On a Stream Deck | On the mouse with mouzeclick |
|---|---|
| A key with a hotkey | A button, or one of its eleven slots: tap, hold and move up, down, left or right, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll |
| Smart Profiles | Per-app profiles that switch the moment you change apps; Mouse 4 can cut in Premiere and switch tabs in Chrome |
| Key Logic (press, double-press, hold) | Tap, hold-and-move gestures and chords |
| Multi Actions | Macros: keys, clicks, waits and typed text, recorded once |
| Folders and pages | The Options wheel: 48 favourites per app on three rings of 12, 16 and 20 |
| A dial | Hold a side button and scroll, or scroll and tilt on their own |
| App launcher keys | The Orbit switch: up to 12 open apps on one ring, and each app's windows or browser tabs |
| Marketplace profile | Share a setup as a link; shortcut libraries for Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve and CapCut, next to 309 built-in shortcuts |
For a ready list of which Premiere keys to place where, the Premiere Pro mouse shortcuts guide has a table with Windows and Mac defaults.
What can a mouse do inside Premiere Pro that a Stream Deck key can't?
Run jobs Premiere has no shortcut for. Without a Premiere plug-in, a Stream Deck key can only press shortcuts Premiere already has. mouzeclick's Tool wheel works through a small panel inside Premiere Pro, so one flick can run a job made of many steps.
- Unnest. Premiere has no Unnest command. Unnest takes nests, multicam clips and merged clips apart in one press, and if Premiere refuses a step half-way, it puts everything back. The Premiere Pro unnest guide covers it.
- Spread and Close synced for lining up camera and recorder audio around Premiere's own Clip › Synchronize.
- All sixteen label colours and all eight marker colours. mouzeclick writes the label shortcuts into Premiere's own shortcut file for you, with a backup.
- Fill frame, Fit frame, Fill width, Fill height and Punch in or out.
- Search effects. Type part of an effect's name, Enter applies it, Shift+Enter applies it and pins it to the wheel.
The same plan adds the Studio panel, with a silence remover that cuts every pause in one press, plus captions and Retakes on Windows, and 8 Premiere Pro extensions. The full list is on the Premiere Pro tools page. After Effects gets its own 114-tool wheel, covered in the After Effects radial menu guide.
Where is a Stream Deck the better pick?
When you do more than edit, or when you want to see every action as a labelled key. Five cases stand out.
- Streaming and studio control. Elgato's Marketplace has hundreds of plug-ins, from streaming and podcasting to smart home control.
- Visible labels. LCD icons help on shared machines and with rarely used commands.
- Dials for levels. Audio volume, brightness and other values you turn rather than press.
- No subscription. The hardware is paid once and the app is free.
- Offline. mouzeclick needs an internet connection while it runs; if it drops, the shortcuts pause and the mouse behaves normally.
If you want physical dials but not LCD keys, read the TourBox alternative page; if you were looking at a Loupedeck, its sales have ended, and the Loupedeck alternative page explains what's left. Own a Logitech mouse? The Logi Options+ alternative page covers what its app already does.
Which works on Windows and Mac?
Both, with different minimums. The Stream Deck Neo and Stream Deck + specs list Windows 11 or newer and macOS 13 or newer, and the current Stream Deck app (7.4.1) lists Windows 11 as its minimum. mouzeclick runs on Windows 10 and 11 and macOS 12 or newer, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
On a Mac, mouzeclick's buttons, gestures, macros, all three wheels, the Tool wheels and the extensions work; on a MacBook keyboard the Options and Orbit wheels use Fn + F8 and Fn + F9. The two workspaces, auto, styled and Hinglish captions, Retakes, cloud sync and in-app updates are Windows only for now. Apple hasn't notarized the app yet, so you allow it once in Privacy & Security; the Mac install page has the steps.
Put your Stream Deck shortcuts on the mouse you already own, free for 3 days. One plan with everything included, $25 a month, or $249 for a year.
Questions people ask
Is a Stream Deck worth it for Premiere Pro?
It can be, if you like labelled keys and are happy to build or buy a Premiere profile. Out of the box it sends hotkeys; there is no first-party Premiere plug-in from Elgato. If you mainly want your cuts and trims faster, mouse buttons and gestures get you most of the way without a new device.
What is better than a Stream Deck for video editing?
It depends on the job. For colour and scrubbing, a console with dials such as a TourBox or the Stream Deck + itself. For cutting, the mouse you already hold, with per-app buttons, gestures and wheels. For tools inside Premiere and After Effects, software that runs commands in the editor rather than sending keys.
Can I use my phone as a Stream Deck?
Yes. Elgato's Stream Deck Mobile app gives you six keys on your phone for free, with no purchase needed. It's a cheap way to test whether a key layout suits your editing before you buy hardware or try a mouse-based setup instead.
Does a Stream Deck switch profiles when I change apps?
Yes. Elgato calls it Smart Profiles: the deck switches its layout as you move between apps, so Premiere Pro, your browser and OBS can each have their own keys. mouzeclick does the same on the mouse: each app keeps its own buttons, gestures and wheels, and they change the moment you switch.
Can I use a Stream Deck and mouzeclick together?
Yes. The Stream Deck app handles the deck and mouzeclick handles the mouse, so they don't fight over buttons. A sensible split is the deck for streaming, audio and rare commands, and the mouse for cuts, trims and the Tool wheel. If you change a Premiere shortcut, update it in both.
Does mouzeclick need a driver or change my mouse settings?
No driver, and it never touches DPI, polling rate, lighting or firmware. It works with any mouse your computer sees, wired, wireless or Bluetooth, using up to five standard buttons plus scroll and tilt. When your plan ends, the mouse works as a normal mouse again.
How much does mouzeclick cost compared with a Stream Deck?
mouzeclick is one plan with everything included: $25 a month or $249 a year, after 3 free days with no card. A Stream Deck is a one-time purchase, from $99.99 for the Neo to $179.99 for the Stream Deck + on Elgato's US store, and its app is free.
Loupedeck or Stream Deck: which is better now?
If you're buying new, the Stream Deck, because Loupedeck stopped selling its consoles on 28 March 2025 and only retailer stock is left. The real choice now is between a Stream Deck, Logitech's MX Creative Console and other consoles. Existing Loupedeck owners still get warranty and support, and their software 6.x shares a backend with the Creative Console. The Loupedeck alternative page compares the options side by side.
Sources
Checked on 2026-10-31. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.
- Elgato Stream Deck 15-key: $149.99, Key Logic, Multi Actions, Stream Deck Mobile free keys (checked 31 Oct 2026)
- Elgato Stream Deck +: $179.99, 8 keys and 4 dials, touch strip, Smart Profiles, folders, up to ten pages, Dial Stacks, Windows 11+ and macOS 13+
- Elgato Stream Deck Neo: $99.99, 8 keys, Windows 11+ and macOS 13+
- Elgato x Adobe: Photoshop plug-in, Premiere via macros and Marketplace profiles, Smart Profiles, hundreds of Marketplace plug-ins
- Elgato Marketplace: third-party Premiere Pro profile listing
- Elgato downloads: Stream Deck app 7.4.1, minimum Windows 11
- Loupedeck: End of Loupedeck Sales and Future Development Plans (28 Mar 2025), warranty, support and shared 6.0 backend