Film this or that when you want pace, and would you rather when you want a reaction. This or that gives two ordinary options and a near-instant pick, so a take runs fast and never stalls. Would you rather gives two bad futures and forces a justification, which is slower and much funnier.
That is the verdict. If you only wanted the answer, you have it. The rest of this is why the two formats behave so differently on camera, and what that means for the group sitting in front of you.
What is the actual difference between them?
Both hand you two options. The difference is what you owe the camera after you pick.
This or that asks for a preference. Pancakes or waffles. Window seat or aisle seat. Text back or call back. You already know your answer; you have known it for years. The job is to say it before you soften it, and the content is the speed.
Would you rather asks you to choose between two things you would rather avoid, and then explain yourself. The game’s rule is the part people forget: answering “neither” or “both” is against the rules, which is precisely what generates the argument that follows. The forced choice is not a quirk of the format. It is the format.
So the structural difference comes down to one thing: this or that is answered, would you rather is defended. Everything else follows from that.
Which one films faster?
This or that, by a distance.
A this or that pair resolves in about two seconds, which means twelve pairs fit comfortably inside a clip short enough that nobody scrolls away. You can keep a rhythm going, and the rhythm is what carries a viewer through to the end. When a ranking clip is built on this or that, the scoring rail earns its place too: you are not really rating the option, you are rating how hard the pick was. “Cereal before milk or after?” scores a 2. “Lose every photo or lose every playlist?” does not.
Would you rather eats time. The pause before an answer is where the value is, and cutting it removes the reason to watch. Six good dilemmas can fill the same clip length that twelve this or that pairs would, and they should, because a rushed would you rather is just a list of unexplained choices.
Pick by what you are short of. If you have two minutes before someone has to leave, film this or that. If you have a group that is already talking over each other, would you rather will give you more usable footage.
Which one works better on a quiet group?
This or that, and it is not close.
A quiet person can answer “sneakers or sandals” without exposing anything about themselves. That is exactly why it works as an opener: it asks for no vulnerability, it cannot be answered wrong, and three or four rounds of it will loosen a person who came in with their arms folded. This is the same reason it is the default icebreaker format for a room of strangers.
Would you rather asks someone to reveal how they think under pressure, in front of a camera, on the record. On a warmed-up group that is a gift. On a cold one it produces shrugs, and a shrug is dead footage.
The practical move is to run both in that order. Open with six this or that pairs to get people talking, then switch to would you rather once the group has forgotten the phone is there. Same clip, two speeds, and the change of pace is itself a reason to keep watching. For two other games compared on how they hold up with a quiet group, see truth or dare vs never have I ever.
Which one gives you better prompts to write?
Would you rather is easier to write badly and harder to write well.
A weak would you rather is one where one option is obviously correct. “Would you rather be rich or be sick” is not a dilemma, it is a question. The prompts that work put two genuinely uncomfortable options at roughly equal weight, so that a reasonable person could pick either: never be embarrassed or never be bored, be the funniest or the kindest in the room, say every thought or keep every secret. If you can guess what the group will pick, cut it. For a themed set built to that standard, see our Halloween would you rather questions.
A weak this or that is one where nobody cares. “Blue or green” is not a pick, it is a color. The ones that work have a small amount of social stake attached: ketchup on eggs or never, pineapple on pizza or absolutely not, share your fries or guard them. You want the option that half the room considers a personal failing.
Both formats break the same way at length. A prompt has to be readable over a face in the second before a reaction, so the working range is about 3 to 12 words. Anything with a setup sentence belongs somewhere other than a prompt bank.
Can you mix them in one clip?
Yes, and mixed clips are usually the strongest ones, as long as the switch is deliberate rather than accidental.
The structure that works is a warm-up block, a hard block, and a finisher. Six fast this or that pairs, then four would you rather dilemmas with room to talk, then one last this or that pair that is funny enough to end on. Ending on the fast format matters, because a clip that ends mid-justification does not loop.
What does not work is alternating one and one. The viewer never settles into a rhythm, and the two formats need different amounts of air between prompts, so the edit feels broken even when nothing is wrong with the answers.
Both banks live here, built for this exact use: 48 pairs in this or that questions, grouped from easy warmups through to the ones that start arguments, and 48 dilemmas in would you rather questions, grouped by how hard they hit. If you want a third gear, hot seat questions is the rapid-fire set, and the full list index has the rest.
The part that is genuinely awkward is reading either bank off a second screen while you film. You lose eye contact, the pace dies, and you have already read the prompt, so the reaction you give is a performance of surprise rather than surprise. Ranking Filter deals the prompts at random and records the note and the 1 to 10 rail into the clip, so you meet the prompt at the same time the camera does. That is the only real advantage it has, and for this format it is the one that matters.
So which should you film tonight?
If you are filming alone, this or that. Solo would you rather is a person talking to themselves about a hypothetical, and it rarely survives the edit.
If there are two of you, would you rather, because the argument is the content and you need someone to argue with.
If there are more than three of you, start with this or that until everyone has spoken at least twice, then move up. The format explainer covers how the rating rail works if you have not filmed a ranking clip before.