1. Movavi Screen Recorder

- Price
free trial, premium for $44.95/year or $69.95/lifetime
- G2 rating
15 Best Free Screen Recorders for Mac in 2025
Try Movavi Screen Recorder!
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.
Capturing streaming videos, webinars, and online calls: Movavi Screen Recorder
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.
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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.
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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.
1. Movavi Screen Recorder
free trial, premium for $44.95/year or $69.95/lifetime
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
2. QuickTime Player
free
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
3. OBS
free and open-source
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
4. ScreenRec
free
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
5. ScreenPal (Screencast-o-Matic)
free version, premium from $1.65/month
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
6. ActivePresenter
free version, premium from $199
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
7. Icecream Screen Recorder
free version, premium $29.95
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
8. VLC
free
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
9. Peek 360
free
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
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.
1. Screen Capture
free version, premium from $9.95/month or $39.95/year
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
2. Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
free
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
3. Screenapp.io
free, premium from $1.99/month
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
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.
1. Loom
free version, premium from $8/month
4.7 out of 5 stars, 9,995 reviews
6,000,000+
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
2. Screencastify
free version, premium for $49/year
4 out of 5 stars, 11,650 reviews
10,000,000+
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
3. Movavi Screen Recorder for Chrome
free version, premium from $9.95/month or $39.95/year
3 out of 5 stars, 21 reviews
10,000+
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
4. Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder
free version, premium from $6/month
4.6 out of 5 stars, 25,967 reviews
3,000,000+
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
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
Disclaimer: Please be aware that Movavi Screen Recorder does not allow capture of copy-protected video and audio streams. Learn more
Frequently asked questions
Here’re some of the best free screen recorders for Mac:
You can learn more about screen recording options in the article above.
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.
Try capturing your screen with Movavi Screen Recorder:
Yes, there are lots of options for Mac users. Pick one of these:
MacBook owners can use Movavi Screen Recorder to capture videos.
Follow these steps to record your screen with QuickTime Player:
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.
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.
Movavi Screen Recorder is one of the programs that allows users to record on their Mac with audio. Here’s how to do it:
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.
Yes. Here’s our top 3 screen recorders for a 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
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.
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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