For replacing a meeting with a recording, ScreenPal’s free plan is the one I send people to first: a 15-minute cap, no watermark, free forever. Loom is the bigger name, but its free Starter plan caps every recording at 5 minutes, limits you to 25 saved videos, and keeps Loom’s own branding on the clip until you pay $18 a month.
Takeaways
- Loom’s free Starter plan caps recordings at 5 minutes and 25 saved videos, confirmed on Loom’s pricing page as of October 2026.
- ScreenPal’s free plan allows 15-minute recordings with no watermark, which is why it fits a quick async update better than Loom’s free tier.
- Cap’s free plan has no time limit on local recordings and never shows a watermark, but its own cloud links are capped at 5 minutes unless you pay $12 a user a month for Cap Pro.
- Tella and Screen Studio both dropped free tiers entirely, so budget at least $13 a user a month for Tella Pro or $9 a month billed annually for Screen Studio before recording anything.
- None of the six tools give away AI-generated summaries or chapters for free; Tella Pro is the cheapest paid plan that includes them, at $13 a user a month.
| Loom free cap | 5 min, 25 videos |
|---|---|
| ScreenPal free cap | 15 min, no watermark |
| Cap free cap | Unlimited local, 5-min cloud link |
| Cheapest AI plan | Tella Pro, $13/user/mo |
What’s the best completely free screen recording software?
ScreenPal is the best completely free screen recording software for most people: no watermark and a 15-minute cap per recording, confirmed on ScreenPal’s own pricing page as of October 2026. Loom’s free Starter plan is the more familiar name, but it caps every recording at 5 minutes and keeps Loom’s own branding on the clip until you pay, per Loom’s pricing page. Cap goes further for one specific case: local recordings have no time limit and no watermark at all, per Cap’s pricing page, because Cap treats local-only recording as permanently free. That freedom narrows fast once you need to share a link instead of a file: Cap’s own cloud links cap out at 5 minutes on the free plan, the same length as Loom’s entire free recording.
What are some free screen recorders similar to Loom?
The closest free alternatives to Loom, built for the same job of recording a short video and sending a link, are ScreenPal, Cap and Vimeo Record. ScreenPal matches Loom’s simplicity with a longer 15-minute cap and no watermark, per ScreenPal’s pricing page. Cap works the same way for recordings kept locally, with no cap at all, per Cap’s pricing page. Vimeo Record allows 30 free minutes per video, per Vimeo’s screen recorder page, but stamps a visible watermark on free recordings once embedded, per the same page. Tella and Screen Studio chase the same use case but skipped the free tier: Tella offers a 7-day trial of its full Pro plan instead, per Tella’s pricing page, and Screen Studio has no free plan or trial at all, confirmed directly on Screen Studio’s own site.
Can I record a Loom video for free, and what are the limits?
Yes, Loom’s free Starter plan records and shares video at no cost, but two limits show up immediately. Loom’s own pricing page states Starter caps each recording at 5 minutes and caps your account at 25 saved videos. The plan also keeps Loom’s own branding on every clip; removing it requires the Business plan at $18 a user a month, per the same page. For one quick update under 5 minutes, free Loom does the job well. For a longer walkthrough, or if a manager is skeptical about trading a live meeting for a recording at all, that trust conversation is worth having directly, something I wrote about in how to explain AI-assisted work to a boss who doesn’t trust it.
What does the Loom free tier include, and what are its recording limits?
Loom’s free tier, called Starter, includes recording and sharing only; it does not include AI summaries, chapters, or editing beyond a GIF thumbnail, per Loom’s pricing page. The recording limit is 5 minutes per video, with a 25-video cap per person and room for up to 50 members in a shared workspace. Transcription is included on the free tier, but it is plain speech-to-text, not the AI-generated summaries and chapters that only ship on the Business + AI plan at $24 a user a month. Loom works on Mac, Windows, in Chrome, and on iOS and Android, per Loom’s screen recorder page, so the limits are about length and seats, not platform.
Which free recorder has no time limit?
Cap is the only tool here with no time limit on its free plan, and only for recordings kept locally. Cap’s pricing page states the desktop app is free for personal use with no cap on local recording length, because Cap is open source and treats local-only recording as permanently free. The limit appears only when you share through Cap’s own cloud link, capped at 5 minutes on the free plan; anything longer needs Cap Pro at $12 a user a month, or $8.16 a month billed annually. Every other recorder here caps the free recording itself: Loom at 5 minutes, ScreenPal at 15 minutes, Vimeo Record at 30 minutes. If replacing a meeting means keeping the file rather than sharing a hosted link, Cap will not interrupt you mid-recording.
Which free screen recorders work best in India, on Windows and Mac?
ScreenPal and Cap are the easiest free starting points in India because both run natively on Windows, still the more common laptop OS in Indian offices, as well as Mac, per ScreenPal’s site and Cap’s site. ScreenPal’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026, displayed its paid plans directly in Indian rupees: ₹392 a month for Deluxe and ₹1,000 a month for Max, both billed annually, per ScreenPal’s plans page. The same page also lists dollar prices ($4 Deluxe, $10 Max), so treat the rupee figure as the India display of the same plans rather than a separate India plan. Loom, Tella and Vimeo Record all work in India but publish pricing only in dollars, per their own pricing pages. Screen Studio needs a Mac, confirmed on its own site, which narrows it out for anyone on a Windows laptop.
How do the six compare side by side?
Here is what each vendor’s own pricing page showed when checked in October 2026, lined up side by side.
| Dimension | Loom | Tella | Screen Studio | ScreenPal | Cap | Vimeo Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan cap | 5 minutes per video, 25 videos | No free plan; 7-day trial of full Pro | No free plan or trial | 15 minutes per video, no watermark | No cap on local recordings; cloud links capped at 5 minutes | 30 minutes per video, 1GB storage |
| AI summary and chapters | None free; Business + AI adds it at $24/user/mo | Included on Pro at $13/user/mo, title, description and chapters | None free; AI zoom and audio enhancement on its one paid plan | None free; Max plan adds ScreenPal AI | None free; Cap Pro adds auto titles, summaries and chapters at $12/user/mo | None free; script generator and teleprompter from Standard at $26/mo |
| Watermark | Yes on free plan | None, on any plan | No free plan to watermark | None, even free | None stated on any plan | Yes on free plan, when embedded |
| Editing | GIF thumbnail only, free | Full timeline editor, paid plans only | Full timeline and auto-zoom editor, paid only | Basic editor free: text, shapes, crop, resize | Full Studio Mode editor, free for local use | Trim and split clips, even on free plan |
| Price | $18 to $24/user/mo | $13 to $19/user/mo | $9 to $29/mo | ₹392 to ₹1,000/mo (vendor shows INR) | $12/user/mo, or $8.16/mo annual | $13 to $76/mo |
The six free plans, ranked by what they cap
Ranked from the most generous free plan to the least, based on recording length, watermark and cost, here is where each of the six lands.
- Cap, no time limit on local recordings and no watermark at all.
- ScreenPal, a 15-minute cap with no watermark.
- Vimeo Record, a 30-minute cap but a visible watermark once embedded.
- Loom, a 5-minute cap, a 25-video limit, and Loom’s own branding stays on the clip.
- Tella, no free plan at all, only a 7-day trial of the paid Pro tier.
- Screen Studio, no free plan or trial, and Mac only.
Knowing which of these auto-generates a title or chapter list, and which do not, is a small but genuine part of the AI fluency employers now expect in a resume or interview, a trend I wrote about in why employers now require AI skills.
When does this verdict flip?
The ScreenPal-first verdict flips in a few clear cases. If your team already lives in Slack or Notion and values integrations and viewer analytics more than the free-plan cap, Loom’s Business plan at $18 a user a month is worth paying for. If you want the recording to write its own title and chapters, Tella’s Pro plan does that from $13 a user a month, cheaper than Loom’s $24-a-month AI tier. If you are on a Mac and recording a sales demo rather than a quick update, Screen Studio’s editing is worth $9 to $29 a month, even without a free trial to test first. And if the meeting was really just about everyone having notes afterward, a recording is the wrong fix entirely; an AI notetaker might solve it faster, which I compared in Otter, Fireflies, Fathom or Granola: which notetaker to trust.
Prompts you can use
Paste these straight in. Change the parts in square brackets and nothing else.
You are a productivity coach helping me decide whether a recurring meeting on my calendar can be replaced with a short async video update instead. Here is the meeting: [paste meeting title, attendees, length, and agenda]. Ask me clarifying questions first if you need to know whether decisions get made live, whether people need to react in real time, or whether it is mostly status-sharing. Then tell me plainly: can this become a recording, yes or no, and if yes, what should the 5-to-10-minute script cover so nobody needs to ask a follow-up question. If no, tell me exactly why live discussion is required.
Swap in your actual meeting details; the answer is only as good as how honestly you describe what really happens in that meeting.
I need to record a screen-share update instead of running a live meeting. Act as an editor who cuts ruthlessly. Here is what I need to cover: [list the points, any screens I'll show, and who will watch this]. Write me a script I can read almost verbatim in under 5 minutes, ordered so the most important decision or ask comes in the first 60 seconds, not the last. Flag anything in my list that is not essential and could be cut or sent as text instead of recorded.
Paste your real talking points; a list of placeholders will get you a generic script back.
I am choosing between Loom, ScreenPal, Cap, Tella, Screen Studio and Vimeo Record for recording short work updates. Here is my situation: [operating system, whether I need to share by link or send a file, roughly how long my recordings run, and whether a watermark is a dealbreaker]. Based only on what I tell you, tell me which one free plan fits without upgrading, and name the first limit I will hit if my usage grows. Ask me anything you need first.
This only works well if you’re specific about your OS and whether you truly need link sharing versus a saved file; vague input gets a vague recommendation.
Questions people actually ask
Is Loom actually free to use?
Yes, Loom’s Starter plan is free, but it caps each recording at 5 minutes, limits you to 25 saved videos, and keeps Loom’s branding on every clip, per Loom’s pricing page. Business plans start at $18 a user a month and remove the branding.
Does ScreenPal put a watermark on free videos?
No. ScreenPal’s own pricing page states the free plan has no watermark, alongside a 15-minute recording cap. That combination, a longer recording window with no branding, is why it is the stronger free pick for a quick async update.
Can I use Cap on Windows, not just Mac?
Yes. Cap ships native apps for Windows 10 and newer, macOS, and Debian or Ubuntu Linux, per Cap’s own site, plus a Chrome extension. That cross-platform support is wider than Screen Studio, which only runs on Mac.
What’s the catch with a free screen recorder?
The catch is always a cap on time, storage, or branding. Loom and Vimeo Record cap recording length and brand your free videos; ScreenPal and Cap drop the watermark but cap cloud sharing instead. None of the six give AI summaries or chapters for free.
Which free recorder works best for a quick work update?
For a single update under 15 minutes, ScreenPal’s free plan covers it without a watermark. For anything you plan to keep and never share by link, Cap’s free local recording has no time limit at all.
Sources
- ScreenPal’s free planscreenpal.com
- Loom’s pricing pageloom.com
- Cap’s pricing pagecap.so
- Vimeo’s screen recorder pagevimeo.com
- Tella’s pricing pagetella.com
- Screen Studio’s own sitescreen.studio
- Loom’s screen recorder pageloom.com
- ScreenPal’s sitescreenpal.com
- Cap’s sitecap.so
What happens next
Watch whether ScreenPal or Cap add paid AI chapters to their free tiers the way Tella already has, since that is the next feature line vendors are likely to compete on. If you start replacing more meetings with recordings, check whether your team’s video volume will outgrow Loom’s 25-video cap before you commit to it for work.
Take this further
Act as a blunt hiring manager who has read ten thousand resumes, not a career coach. I will paste my full resume and the job description I want. Rewrite the whole resume for that role, section by section, in this order: summary, experience, skills, education. Rules: every experience line leads with impact, not duty. Use bracketed placeholders like [8 percent] for any number I did not give you, and list at the end every placeholder I need to replace with a real figure. Keep it to one page of text. Plain formatting only, no tables or columns, so screening software can parse it. After the rewrite, tell me the three weakest claims that need evidence before I send this anywhere. My resume: [paste resume]. The role: [paste job description].
