The Best Screen Recorders: Free and Paid

Are you overwhelmed by the number of screen recorders to choose from?

The number of screen recording apps is growing, with increased demand for remote work, online learning, and social media. This review covers forty of the newest alternatives.

Screen capture tools are essential for short explainer videos, long-form tutorial videos, or YouTube videos. Specialties include sharing knowledge, multi-track editors, and 4K gameplay.  Understanding these categories will help you make the right choice.

Snagit: Best screen capture software for knowledge sharing

Ideal use cases for Snagit include personalized tutorial videos

Use knowledge-sharing screen recorders to train coworkers, show software steps, and give visual feedback. The benefits are fewer unnecessary meetings, increased institutional knowledge, and improved customer experience. 

• Great use cases include illustrating a presentation or creating casual video communication.
• Snagit is also ideal for technical documentation, quick software demos, and personalized tutorial videos.

These tools are efficient. They autogenerate a video with a shareable link, providing simple MP4 video editing tools. 

• This streamlined workflow eliminates both the need and the possibility for rich editing, making it ideal for content with a short shelf life.
  

Video message use case

This type of tool is perfect for video messaging within virtual teams. Simply 1) click record, 2) explain what you see on your screen, and 3) share the link provided. 

• The best tools provide more features for 4) content creation and 5) content management.

Snagit features include AI and secure sharing

Snagit includes the following features:

1. Click
   • Start screen recorder from quick capture shortcuts, hotkeys, and presets
   • 60 FPS and 4K resolution HD video recordings 
   • HDR image capture
   • Isolate system sound to record online meetings and YouTube videos
   • Inter-operable screen recorder for Windows or Mac
2. Explain
   • Record any combination of screen, system audio, microphone, and webcam 
   • Full screen or a specific area of your screen
   • Scrolling and Panoramic image capture
   • Hide cursor or animate mouse to grab attention
   • Annotate in real-time with Screen Draw
   • Switch picture-in-picture design in real-time 
   • AI background noise removal (coming in 2025)
3. Share
   • Automatic generation of a shareable video 
   • Instant link generation with default cloud integration
   • Secure Sharing with Slack, MS Teams, OneDrive, Google Drive, and more
   • Save as locally
   • Enterprise configuration of Snagit’s ShareLink  (coming in 2025)
4. Create
   • Video trimming and stitching
   • Video from Images
   • Powerful AI image editing features, including SmartMove and text-grab OCR
   • Automatic generation of step-by-step documentation (coming in 2025)
5. Manage
   • Ability to find captures in an integrated library 
   • Automatic content tagging, such as application URL

Snagit operates securely on the desktop. Optional online functionality includes: 

• AI image generation
• AI video summaries
• expanded asset library
• speech-to-text captioning
• ADA caption editor
• collaborative image markup
• video review

Snagit is the top-ranked screen and video capture tool with the largest market share. Only Snagit provides all the features listed. Loom, a great alternative, is much more expensive than Snagit and lacks a full feature set for knowledge-sharing.

Table 1 provides a complete list of screen recording apps that enable quick link sharing. Additional options like Camtasia and ClipChamp support cloud sharing with manual effort.

Camtasia: Best video recording software for multi-track

Ideal use cases for Camtasia include tutorial videos and demos

Multi-track screen recorders are perfect for long-form tutorials, software training demos, and engaging presentations. They clarify complex information and showcase products and services.

• Most customers use Camtasia to create professional videos for education, corporate training, and marketing.  

Multi-track recorders enable precision editing of screen recordings. The video content is highly customizable and maintainable. 

• These tools integrate a screen recording tool with non-linear video editing software. 
• They allow content creators to record audio and video sources on separate editing tracks.  

Snagit and Loom lack these benefits 

Multi-track content is modular and malleable, unlike instant link content. This gives control that improves professionalism, creativity, and efficiency. 

These types of products offer benefits that Snagit and Loom do not: 

• Experimenting with visual effects for comprehension and engagement
• Making future required revisions efficiently
• Repurposing videos for different platforms and audiences (e.g., vertical video)

Camtasia features include the ability to record keystrokes and cursor:

• Capture everything you need
  • Screen, webcam, microphone, and system sounds in separate tracks
  • Mouse movement, edit cursor path, and add cursor effects
  • Display shortcut keystrokes
  • Background noise removal
  • Suppress an application from appearing in the screen recording. (coming in 2025)
• Rich editing for screen content
  • Effects designed for screen content, such as zoom & pan
  • 60 FPS and 4K resolution video recording and editing
  • Unlimited speech-to-text transcription
  • Dynamic captions and ADA subtitle editor
  • Template-based designs, including split screen or picture-in-picture, via Camtasia Rev
  • Advanced video editing (e.g., drag and drop animations, transitions, and an integrated assets library)

Camtasia’s optional advanced features include: 

• AI translation
• AI script generation
• AI text-to-voice, AI image generation
• AI audio editing
• video collaboration
• video review and markup
• expanded asset library

Camtasia, the top-ranked video editor in this category, has the largest market share for instructional video. Hundreds of customers in each of the Fortune 500, top higher education, and social media influencer markets use Camtasia.

Only Camtasia provides all the features listed above. Camtasia offers additional features for editing your videos. While products like Adobe Premiere may be better for professional video editing, they lack a built-in screen recorder. 

See Table 2 for a complete list of multi-track screen recorders. 

OBS Studio: Best game recorder without editing tools

Recording gameplay is technically challenging. The screen recording software must capture high-motion video graphics and operate with minimal system performance impact. 

Game recorders focus on providing a smooth experience while capturing at high frame rates and resolution.

Features of OBS Studio include live streaming

• Screen recording with audio
• Webcam recording
• 60 FPS and 4K resolution video recording
• GPU Acceleration
• Minimal or low performance impact
• Live streaming

OBS Studio, an excellent recording option, does not provide editing tools. It requires video editing software for 60 FPS/4K screen recordings, like Camtasia. The Windows Xbox game bar is another option for lower resolutions.

Refer to Table 3 to learn more about all the best gameplay recorders. 

Best free screen recording software 

Budget-conscious users have lots of options. Many operating systems and online video editors offer free built-in screen recording. 

Features of free recorders include capturing your screen with audio 

• They all offer screen recording with audio and an optional webcam.

Advanced features to consider:

• Mouse: Producing instructional videos or product demonstrations sometimes requires the ability to hide or show cursor movements. 
• System Sounds: You need to record system audio without recording the microphone to record online meetings or YouTube videos.
• Time Limits: If there is a recording time limit, it’s less ideal for training or gameplay.  
• Audio Quality: With free screen recording, you may need another product to suppress background noise.
• Video Editing: Most lack editing capabilities, requiring additional tools for polished content.
• Online screen recorders provide easy access but produce lower-quality content. For high-definition recordings, use a screen recorder for PC or Mac. 
• Most free recorders lack security and privacy standards, making them unsuitable for sensitive content.

Free without time limits and watermarks

The most powerful free screen recorder is OBS.  TechSmith Capture is more limited but provides optional free integrated cloud storage. 

Review the list of the best free recorders in Table 4. None of these have trial time limits, recording limits, or watermarks.

What is best for you?

Choosing the best screen recorder depends on your use cases. Categories include daily communication, software demos, or gaming. Unfortunately, no single option serves all uses well.

These rank as top choices in third-party reviews:

• Snagit excels in quick-share and image editing, making it ideal for casual video and formal documentation. 
• Camtasia offers multi-track recording with cursor and keystroke capture, along with advanced features for video editing. Use cases include training, education, and tech marketing demos.
• Free OBS Studio provides game recording with minimum system impact.  

To see all the options, refer to this comprehensive list.