Show, don’t tell. It’s simple enough advice, and screen recording software makes it easier to follow.
Screen capture apps record what’s happening on your screen, including the movement of your cursor, so you can deliver instructions, describe problems, or share knowledge. Writing out descriptions of such things takes significantly longer than just showing someone your screen, but you’re usually not standing next to the person or people who need to see your screen. Video capture apps solve that problem.
We evaluated more than 30 screen recording apps, and here we’ll present the six best.
The 6 best video capture apps
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Loom for quickly recording and sharing on the desktop
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Screencast-O-Matic for mobile screen recording
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Camtasia for advanced video editing
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OBS for advanced recording tools and live streaming
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Movavi Screen Recorder for screen capture when you’re away from your desk
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Zappy for quickly sharing screen recordings from a Mac
What makes for great screen recording software?
Screen capture software makes it really easy to show how things work—or, if you’re filing a support ticket, how they don’t work. But different people are going to be looking for different things. In our research, we tested around 30 apps, ranging from minimalistic three-button windows to complex apps overflowing with tools. The options are priced from free all the way up to several hundreds of dollars. Each of our picks offers a unique feature, but they all meet some basic criteria:
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The ability to record your whole screen, one window, or a specific area
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The option to superimpose a webcam feed over the screen capture
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Simultaneous microphone and system audio recording
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Built-in video sharing and/or convenient exporting tools
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An intuitive, friendly user interface
Of course, the process doesn’t end with the screen recording. The quality of the final product can make or break user engagement, so we also considered the post-capture editing features. Here’s what we found.
Best screen recording software for quickly recording and sharing on desktop
Loom (Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone/iPad, Chrome)
If you want to quickly record something and share a link, give Loom a chance. Loom isn’t overly complicated when it’s time to record: you can choose whether you want to record just your screen, your screen with webcam video, or just your webcam. Once you finish, your video will be uploaded to Loom. You can do some basic editing in the browser, if you want, or you can copy the link to share the video. It’s all very quick.
With the free version of Loom, you can store up to 25 videos of up to five minutes each. It’s limited, sure, but great for quickly showing something to a collaborator, coworker, and/or archenemy. And you can always download your videos and store them somewhere else if you’re getting close to that 25 video threshold.
Having said that, Loom isn’t perfect. The desktop app works well, but we found the mobile apps limited in confusing ways. The Android version, for example, requires users to enter their Google password in order to log in instead of using the built-in Android support for Google accounts, which is odd. The iPhone and iPad apps can’t combine video with screencasting.
Still, Loom will get the job done without a lot of fuss for most users.
Loom pricing: Free for 25 videos of up to five minutes. Business plans start at $8/month with unlimited uploads.