15 Best Free Screen Recorders for Mac in 2024

Try Movavi Screen Recorder!

  • Capture webinars and online calls
  • Record video instructions and tutorials
  • Grab streaming videos and online events
Edited by Ben Jacklin
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A screen recorder for a Mac can be essential for recording business meetings, lectures, and so much more. This guide will help you find the perfect free screen recorder for Mac, covering 15+ different Mac screen capture tools.

Making fast recordings on the go: Screen Capture

Sending work video messages: Loom

Special pick: Movavi Screen Recorder

Our special pick from this list of video capture software for a Mac is Movavi Screen Recorder. Fully compatible with Mac devices (including Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, and others), this simple and effective screen recorder tool can help you capture a video and record your screen on a Mac in a single click. It's very useful for things like video instructions, streaming videos, and online events, allowing you to adjust the recording parameters with ease and even featuring its own built-in editor tools for trimming of your recorded files.

At Movavi, we’re committed to providing you with verified information only. Here’s what we do to ensure this:

  • When selecting products to include in our reviews, we research both demand and popularity.

  • All products mentioned in this article have been tested by Movavi Content Team.

  • When testing, we aim to highlight the best features of a product and what it’s best suited for.

  • We study user reviews from popular review platforms and make use of this information when writing our product reviews.

  • We collect feedback from our users and analyze their opinions of Movavi software as well as products from other companies.

Best Mac screen recorders for free

A macOS screen recorder is a good choice for bloggers, teachers, program developers, and designers who need high-quality output. Here is the definitive list of the best Mac screen recorders, according to our research.

Best for: capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls

1. Movavi Screen Recorder

Features:

Movavi Screen Recorder is a screen recording software for your Mac. It captures video and audio simultaneously or separately. You can grab your voice with a mic, capture your face with a webcam, and record internal sound with the system audio. It’s the perfect tool for creating screencasts, podcasts and video tutorials.

You can record separate streams, schedule recordings, take a photo via the webcam, screenshot video, demonstrate keystrokes and add mouse effects. After you’re done with capturing, you can edit the video, save it in any popular format, and share the file via social networks.

Pros:

  • Easy to set up and grab from screen or webcam in 4K1

  • Capture on-screen activity to improve efficiency with simple, lightweight recordings

  • Take meaningful screenshots: capture a single window, a full page, or just part of it

Cons:

  • Choose a subscription plan to unleash your creativity

Best for: simple video screen capture on Mac

2. QuickTime Player

  • Recording your screen activities

  • Taking screenshots

  • Recording sound via a microphone

QuickTime Player is designed as a screen recorder for MacBook. The majority of macOS users have it on their laptops by default. That’s why the program is so popular – there’s no need to install any software. And even if you don’t have it by default, you can download it for free.

Though the program can be considered a competent MacBook screen recorder, it has significant disadvantages for those who care about sound recording. The issue is that QuickTime doesn’t capture internal system sounds. You can only record external live sounds using the built-in microphone or headphones.

Pros:

  • Easy-to-use interface

  • Free for Mac users

  • No installation or payment required

Cons:

  • Poor functionality

  • Large file size

  • Lack of file format support options for saving

  • Low-quality sound recording

Best for: making professional video clips

3. OBS

  • Recording screen with webcam and overlays

  • Streaming to Twitch, YouTube, and other websites

  • Plenty of useful integrations

OBS is a free video recorder. It offers many settings that enable you to create professional video clips. You can compose scenes from different media formats, edit sound with advanced audio mixing, add transitions, and much more.

If you’re good at program development, you may like that OBS has a powerful API, so you can customize functionality yourself.

Though the program is one of the best video recording software, we would not recommend it for beginners because they may find it challenging to work with the complex settings2.

Pros:

  • Completely free to download

  • Wide variety of video editing tools

  • Advanced audio settings

  • Support for plugins to customize settings

Cons:

  • Interface is challenging to understand

Simple video screen capture on Mac

QuickTime Player
Editor's choice

Capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls

Movavi Screen Recorder

Business use

ScreenPal
Best for: boosting your work self-efficiency

4. ScreenRec

  • Recording screen and webcam online and offline

  • Simple sharing to the cloud

  • Comprehensive recording history

Another freeware tool on the list is ScreenRec. Its focus is making your work routine less time-consuming. If you’re tired of writing instructions for your coworkers or explaining the same thing to everyone on the team separately, start recording tutorials and taking informative screenshots with ScreenRec. It will save your time and effort for what’s really important.

Pros:

  • Free, pro version available for those who create an account

  • Recording your screen in two clicks

  • Editing screenshots: adding bubbles, shapes, text, and arrows

  • Simple online sharing

Cons:

  • If you don’t create an account, cloud sharing and recording for more than 5 minutes are unavailable

Best for: business use

5. ScreenPal (Screencast-o-Matic)

  • Editing the recordings in-app

  • Using built-in stock content

  • Taking and editing screenshots

This is one of the best-known programs for screen recording for Mac, with millions of users all over the world. It's a screen recorder and video editor in one. You can also take screenshots and edit images to add arrows, text, highlights and more.

The best aspect is that the company offers cloud hosting, so you can get unlimited ad-free uploads and collaboration tools. Plus, there’s a secure recording backup to online storage, so you’ll never lose your files. But, of course, these options are not available for free.

ScreenPal is appropriate for both personal and business use. You can try a free version with limited functionality or pay a monthly subscription to use the fully featured program.

Pros:

  • Wide range of recording and screenshotting settings

  • Intuitive interface

  • Trusted by millions of people

  • Share and collaboration options with video hosting

  • Secure file backup

Cons:

  • Limited functionality in the free trial version

  • The majority of functions are fee-based

  • No advanced video editing tools

Best for: eLearning

6. ActivePresenter

  • Upgrading your screen recordings to a fully-fledged teaching tool

  • Converting existing presentations into online courses

  • Creating interactive assignments for boosting student engagement

If you work in the elearning industry, you may prefer ActivePresenter to some other Mac screen recording software. Besides the basic screen recording features, you can make guides, elearning games, and quizzes that make educational videos more interactive. You can also export content in HTML or embed your HTML package in the program.

The interface resembles a document editor, which may look a little old-fashioned to some users, but school and university instructors say they find it clearer and more understandable.

You can try ActivePresenter for free, but be aware that the trial version has just a third of the features of the full program.

Pros:

  • Excellent opportunities for creating elearning content

  • Supports saving in multiple formats

  • Convenient file upload to LMS

  • High-quality exported content

Cons:

  • Old-school interface

  • No screenshotting function

  • High price for the full version

  • Some features are not available on Mac OS X

  • Watermark is embedded in output files

Best for: recording computer games

7. Icecream Screen Recorder

  • Recording screen and webcam

  • Schedule your recordings

  • Add logos and watermarks

Icecream Screen Recorder has an easy-to-use interface with only a few buttons, so you won’t get confused by obscure settings. It has all the features you need for simple screen recording on MacBook.

How does this program differ from others? The first thing is a neat feature that lets you quickly select the same recording area that you used last time. Secondly, you can add your branded logo to the output. Thirdly, it is perfectly suited to recording games.

If you use the trial version, you can only capture 5 minutes of footage, and there are many other restrictions, too. The price of the advanced version is a little higher than average.

Pros:

  • Minimalist and easy-to-use interface

  • The ability to take screenshots during recording

  • Ideal for recording computer games

Cons:

  • There are too many limitations in the free version

  • Some chargeable features don't work on Mac

  • Small range of video-editing tools

Best for: recording the entire screen without audio

8. VLC

  • Watching movies, TV shows, and other videos on a Mac

  • Capturing your screen

  • Recording streaming videos

Who doesn’t know VLC? It’s one of the simplest media players around. It works not only as a video and audio player, but also as a converter and screen recorder. And it’s absolutely free to use!

But the program has some disadvantages in the area of screen recording. The first is that you cannot use the microphone to record your voice. Secondly, you cannot adapt the size of the capture area. Finally, if you want a high-resolution video, you’ll have to free up a lot of space on your hard disk because the file is going to be pretty huge.

Pros:

  • Simple and straightforward interface

  • Free for installation

  • Supports multiple video formats

Cons:

  • Poor audio recording

  • No screenshotting function

  • No customization of the capture area size

  • Large output files

  • Non-intuitive recording settings

Best for: making short, silent screencasts

9. Peek 360

  • Easy access through the Mac menu bar

  • Voice volume regulation

  • Simple cloud sharing

Peek 360 is a screencast-recording app for macOS that lets you capture your desktop session to a high-quality MP4 video. Recordings are created from a user-defined screen area. Additionally, you can also export your video as an LMS package.

Peek 360 isn’t an advanced tool with plenty of extended features but rather a small application that focuses on the single task of making short, silent screencasts of a custom area of the screen.

Pros:

  • Free

  • Extremely lightweight

  • A modern and straightforward interface

Cons:

  • No audio recording option

  • A lack of export formats

Best free online screen recorders for Mac

Editing videos during online recording

Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
Editor's choice

Capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls

Movavi Screen Recorder

Quick and easy tasks

Screenapp.io

When looking for the best screen recorder for Mac, getting an online tool is a viable option. Here are a few online screen recording tools for you to check out.

Best for: making fast recordings on the go

1. Screen Capture

  • No software installation required

  • Can record webcam and microphone

  • Works with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera

Screen Capture is appropriate for anyone who is a fan of rapid recording. No installation, no lengthy setup. You won’t need to spend time learning how to use this video recorder for Mac devices. You just open the web page, hit the Start Recording button and capture your screen.

The grabber has a simple interface that is comfortable to work with. You can record audio and video simultaneously or separately. Webcam recording is also supported.

The biggest disadvantage is the lack of choice in output formats. If you need a specific format, you’ll need to use another program to convert the video after the recording is finished.

The output videos have watermarks. If you want to remove these, you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee, but it’s pretty reasonable.

Pros:

  • Simple interface

  • Multifunctionality

  • No installation

  • No lengthy or complex prerecording settings

  • Export to MP4

Cons:

  • No choice of output formats

  • No video editing tools

  • Watermark on the recordings

Best for: editing videos during online recording

2. Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder

  • Versions for Android and iOS

  • Simple screen capturing

  • Saving videos to the local disk, website (including YouTube), or cloud storage

This web grabber records all types of screen activities – streaming videos, self-demonstrations, online calls, and more. One nice thing is that you can edit your recordings in real time. Many editing tools are included.

Apowersoft supports many formats for exporting files that even desktop programs do not always have. After you’re done with recording, you can upload your video to Vimeo, YouTube, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Considering all these options, we’d say it’s one of the best online solutions you can find.

You may ask what’s the catch. Although Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder works online, you still have to install a specific launcher to use the app. But no worries – it’s quite safe to use.

Pros:

  • Fully featured web capture

  • Wide choice of output formats

  • Variety of customizable settings

  • No watermark

  • Free of charge

Cons:

  • Requires installation of a launcher

  • Not suitable for game recording

Best for: quick and easy tasks

3. Screenapp.io

  • Built-in recordings editor

  • Storing and sharing videos via a teamspace

  • Autotranscribing

If you are looking for some basic web screen recorder for a quick task, Screenapp.io is just what you need. It is an online tool for quick and easy screen capture. What’s more, the personal version is now completely free to use, since the tool is under development. It offers up to 1 hour of recording your screen, 10 maximum recordings, and an automatic cloud folder creation.

Similar to other online tools, Screenapp.io lets you record a browser tab, the content of a selected window, or just the full screen.

Pros:

  • A super intuitive interface

  • Audio recording is available

  • No software downloads

Cons:

  • Safari is not supported

  • No video-editing tools in the free version

Best free macOS screen recorders for browsers

For sending work video messages

Loom
Editor's choice

Capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls

Movavi Screen Recorder

For drawing on videos

Screencastify

If you look at the top-right corner of your browser, you may find an Extensions icon. It’s very useful since there’s plenty of video screen capture software options on the extensions market. Here are some of the best picks.

Best for: sending work video messages

1. Loom

  • Price

    free version, premium from $8/month

  • Google Web Store rating

    4.7 out of 5 stars, 9,995 reviews

  • Users

    6,000,000+

  • One-click screen capture

  • In-cloud access control system

  • Notifications and statistics on views, reacts, and comments on your videos

Loom is a good Mac free screen recorder for work messaging. You can record your screen in a few seconds, get a shareable link and send it to your colleagues. There’s no need to download the video.

The extension can be integrated with your workspace. For example, you can embed Loom in Gmail, Slack, Jira, and other apps. It’s a good tool for team collaboration.

The free version has some limitations, like recording length, number of videos and screenshots, and number of creators (team members who can create and edit content). If you want to use the full version, you’ll have to buy a subscription.

Pros:

  • Good opportunities for organizing and simplifying work processes

  • Integration with business services

  • Trusted by millions of users

Cons:

  • Limitations in the free version

  • Crashes have occurred during system audio recording

Best for: drawing on videos

2. Screencastify

  • Price

    free version, premium for $49/year

  • Google Web Store rating

    4 out of 5 stars, 11,650 reviews

  • Users

    10,000,000+

  • Trimming and merging recorded videos

  • Adding Interactive Questions for better user engagement

  • Saving videos to GIF and other formats

This is an extension that works like a powerful video and audio recorder. You can record screens, including your browser and desktop. It’s possible to add voice commentary with a microphone and include your webcam image in the recording.

It includes drawing tools that you can use in real time, which may be useful if you want to highlight a particular web page element or just have some fun.

Recorded videos can be published on YouTube or automatically saved to Google Drive. The files can also be exported in MP4, animated GIF, or MP3 formats.

Pros:

  • Drawing and editing online tools

  • No registration for storing or downloading videos

  • Simple to use

Cons:

  • Scans your browser data

  • No customization of the capture area size

Best for: screen recording on Google Chrome

3. Movavi Screen Recorder for Chrome

  • Price

    free version, premium from $9.95/month or $39.95/year

  • Google Web Store rating

    3 out of 5 stars, 21 reviews

  • Users

    10,000+

  • Recording screen, webcam, and sound

  • No time limit on the recordings

  • Unlimited number of recordings

Movavi Screen Recorder for Chrome is a really useful and free-to-use extension for Google Chrome. You can install it directly to the Chrome browser to use across your favorite devices, and it's perfect for recording both video and audio from your screen on a Mac. Very simple and straightforward for new users, this tool can be set up to record any webpage or desktop screen, capture your own voice via a microphone, record system sounds, and even record your webcam feed too. It has strong security to ensure that only you get access to your recordings, and you have an unlimited number of recordings to make.

Pros:

  • Really easy to learn and simple to use for beginners

  • No needs for any extra downloads or launchers

  • Offers lots of features and secure storage of every recording

Cons:

  • You'll need to upgrade to the premium version to get rid of the watermark

  • Only runs on the Chrome browser

Best for: sharing content in one click

4. Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder

  • Price

    free version, premium from $6/month

  • Google Web Store rating

    4.6 out of 5 stars, 25,967 reviews

  • Users

    3,000,000+

  • Recording videos in up to 4K resolution

  • Instant cloud sharing

  • Annotating and editing your recordings

This extension from Awesome has the best user reviews of all the apps. It has all the tools needed for simple screen recording and screenshotting that should satisfy most people’s needs. You can record your desktop, current tab or webcam. There’s even a choice of video dimensions - 720p, 1080p, or 4K. Sharing options like sending files to Jira, Slack, Trello, Asana, and GitHub are also supported.

This extension is often used as a screenshotting tool. It offers different sizes of screenshots and supports copying a screenshot for quick pasting.

You can use this screen recorder for Mac for free with a limited range of opportunities or pay a subscription fee.

Pros:

  • Screen recorder and screenshotter in one

  • Wide range of shareable options

Cons:

  • To get a shareable link, you need to have an account on the official Awesome Screenshot website

  • There are significant limitations to the free version

How to record screen with audio with our macOS screen recording app for free

Follow the instructions below to learn how to screen-record on your Mac in a few simple steps.

Step 1. Install Movavi Screen Recorder

Download and install Movavi Screen Recorder on your Mac. Simply follow the installation instructions and the whole process should be finished in a matter of minutes.

Step 2. Set the parameters

Next, you'll need to prepare the window or screen you want to record and then load up the program and adjust the parameters. To do this, press the Screen Recording button and then draw the capture frame over the video area you want to record. You may also choose to set a timer via the Settings menu to automatically start and stop recording at set times if you know the timings of the content or event you want to record. You can also adjust the settings to include webcam and audio recordings if desired.

Step 3. Record the screen on your Mac

Once the settings are all set up, you can press the REC button to start recording your screen. You can use the Pause and Stop buttons while the recording is ongoing to pause or end it, and once you're finished, you can download the new file to your device in MKV format. If you want to make any edits or conversions beforehand, follow the next step below.

Step 4. Edit and convert the file (optional)

You may also choose to use Movavi Screen Recorder's built-in editing and conversion options to cut out unwanted sections of your video and save it in a format that suits you. Simply make the necessary changes in the preview window that appears at the end of your recording before exporting it to your device. That’s it! Now you know how to record your screen with Movavi Screen Recorder!

How to choose free screen recording software for Mac

Program

Pros

Cons

Download

Fast and easy to use


Fully featured free version

The free trial version provides limited features

Simple interface. No installation


No lengthy, complex prerecording settings

No choice of output formats

Settings for team collaboration


Integration with business services

Crashes have occurred during system audio recording

Show more

We hope that this article has helped you find some options for MacBook screen recording. If you're not sure how to decide on the best screen recording software for a Mac, take the following factors into consideration:

  • Ease of use: The best software is always easy to use. It shouldn't take much time to get set up, and it shouldn't be too complicated or confusing either, especially if you're a beginner.
  • Features: Check that the screen recorder you're using has the right features to suit your needs, such as webcam recording and audio recording of system sounds, too. You might also need a recorder with a timer feature.
  • Formats: Think about what formats your recorder uses. Some of them will only save files in one specific format, but others can be more versatile and offer different options.
  • User reviews: Users offer unbiased, honest opinions of their experiences with different pieces of software. So it can be wise to read their views and see what they have to say about how a recorder app works in general.
  • Support: Check out what sort of customer support is available, like guides to get you started and email or live chat services if you have any issues.

Conclusion

Now you know how to choose a screen recording app for Mac. So, what is the best Mac screen recorder? Answering this question is up to you. Check out the video-recording apps in this list and see for yourself!

Movavi Screen Recorder

The perfect way to record anything from your screen

Disclaimer: Please be aware that Movavi Screen Recorder does not allow capture of copy-protected video and audio streams. Learn more

Frequently asked questions

What are the best free screen recorders for Mac?

Here’re some of the best free screen recorders for Mac:

  • Movavi Screen Recorder – to capture and annotate online calls, webinars, and meetings.
  • QuickTime – to record your screen with what you already have on your Mac.
  • OBS – for screen recording and streaming with advanced settings.
  • ScreenRec – recording and sharing explanatory videos with colleagues.
  • ScreenPal – to record your screen, annotate, and share via cloud.


You can learn more about screen recording options in the article above.

How can I choose the best screen recorder for my Mac?

Before you download any screen grabber, you should define your goals.

If you need professional videos with high-quality output for your blog or business, it’s better to buy desktop software with a variety of functions and good customer support.

If you want to just grab a single screen, use a free online recorder like Screen Capture or Apowersoft Online Screen Recorder. You don’t need to install anything.

If you often need to make short videos from your browser activities, add an extension to your browser. It will be faster than using a desktop application, but it won’t work without an internet connection.

How do you screen record on your Mac?

Try capturing your screen with Movavi Screen Recorder:

  1. Download and install Movavi Screen Recorder on your Mac.
  2. Choose the Screen recording option.
  3. Select the area you want to capture.
  4. Set the System audio and Microphone according to your needs.
  5. Click REC.
  6. When you’re done, click Stop.
  7. The video will be saved in the MKV format, but you can convert it to MP4 or any other format of your choice.

Is there screen recording software for Mac?

Yes, there are lots of options for Mac users. Pick one of these:

  • Movavi Screen Recorder – for capturing your screen, audio, mic, and annotating.
  • Loom – for a better team collaboration.
  • QuickTime Player – for quick and simple recordings without installing any third-party software.
  • OBS – for advanced recording sessions.
  • Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder – for online screen capturing and editing.

How do I record a video on my MacBook?

MacBook owners can use Movavi Screen Recorder to capture videos.

  1. Download the Movavi screen recording software.
  2. Click Screen recording and select the desired area.
  3. Hit REC to start recording and Stop to end it.
  4. If you want, you can convert the video and share it with others.

How do I record with QuickTime Player?

Follow these steps to record your screen with QuickTime Player:

  1. Launch the player.
  2. Click File and choose New Screen Recording.
  3. In the Options menu tweak the recording parameters (timer, microphone, output location).
  4. Click Record.
  5. To stop recording, click the Stop button in the right upper corner of the screen.

How do you record a video on a Mac?

To record a video on your Mac, try Movavi Screen Recorder. After downloading and installing Movavi Screen Recorder on your Mac, choose Screen recording from the panel, and select the area of the screen you want to capture. Tweak the settings for Webcam, Microphone, and System audio. Hit REC to start the process, Stop to finish recording. That’s it! You’ll find the recording in the output folder.

Where do screen recordings go on Mac?

The output location for your recordings depends on the software you’re using. QuickTime Player typically saves recordings to your Desktop. Other programs, however, might have other default settings. To find your recording, launch the program that it was made with, go to its Settings menu, and see which folder is selected for output files.

How do you screen record on Mac with audio?

Movavi Screen Recorder is one of the programs that allows users to record on their Mac with audio. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Download and install Movavi Screen Recorder on your Mac.
  2. Choose the Screen recording option.
  3. While setting up the recording parameters, make sure the System audio and/or Microphone options are activated (depending on which source you’re going to capture).
  4. Hit the REC button.
  5. Click Stop to end the recording.
  6. Convert the video to your preferred format if you want (the default output format is MKV).

What is the best way to screen record on Mac?

One of the best ways to record your screen on a Mac is with Movavi Screen Recorder. Install the software on your Mac and click the Screen recording button. Set the recording parameters for Webcam, Microphone, System audio, and more. Click the REC button to start screen recording, hit Stop when you’re done. Edit the result and convert it if necessary and share with friends, family, or colleagues.

Is there a screen recorder on a Mac?

Yes. Here’s our top 3 screen recorders for a Mac:

  • Movavi Screen Recorder: for capturing your screen, webcam, system audio, microphone, and annotating on your Mac.
  • Screen Capture: for online screen recordings.
  • Loom: recording and sharing personal video messages.

What is the best screen recording software for Mac?

Movavi Screen Recorder – best for capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls

QuickTime Player – best for simple video screen capture on Mac

OBS – best for making professional video clips

ScreenRec – best for boosting your work self-efficiency

ScreenPal (Screencast-o-Matic) – best for business use

ActivePresenter –best for eLearning

Icecream Screen Recorder – best for recording computer games

Does Mac have a screen recording tool?

Open the Screenshot toolbar, by pressing Shift, Command, and 5 keys together. On the screen you’ll see a toolbar with options for recording the whole screen, recording a selected area of the screen, or capturing a still image of your screen.

How do I record my Mac screen without QuickTime?

There are two main options for recording screen without QuickTime. You can use a built-in screen recorder by pressing Shift + Command + 5 and choosing to record the whole screen or just a part of it. There are also third-party programs such as Movavi Screen Recorder that have more functions and editing capabilities.

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