The best screen recorders for Mac

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

Price: free trial, premium for $37.95/year or $52.95/lifetime

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 41 good reviews out of 44

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:

• Multifunctional
• Fast and easy to use
• User-friendly interface
• High-quality output
• Supports saving files in many formats, including all HDs
• Fully featured free version

Cons:

• Watermark in the free version

Best for: simple screen recording on Mac

Price: free

MacUpdate rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars, 38 good reviews out of 164

QuickTime Player is designed specifically 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 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

Download QuickTime Player

Best for: making professional video clips

Price: free

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars, 40 good reviews out of 43

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, we would not recommend it for beginners because they may find it challenging to work with the complex settings.

Pros:

• Free installation
• Wide variety of video editing tools
• Advanced audio settings
• Support for plugins to customize settings

Cons:

• Interface is challenging to understand

Download OBS

Best for: boosting your work self-efficiency

Price: free

Trustpilot rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars, 31 good reviews out of 42

Another free 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

Download ScreenRec

Best for: business use

Price: free version, premium from $1.65/month

G2 rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars, 34 good reviews out of 38

This is one of the best-known programs, 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.

Screencast-o-Matic 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

Download Screencast-o-Matic

Best for: eLearning

Price: free version, premium from $199

Capterra rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars, 25 good reviews out of 25

If you work in the elearning industry, you may prefer ActivePresenter to other 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 macOS
• Watermark is embedded in output files

Download ActivePresenter

Best for: recording computer games

Price: free version, premium $29.95

G2 rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars, 18 good reviews out of 21

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.

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

Download Icecream Screen Recorder

Best for: recording the entire screen without audio

Price: free

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars, 396 good reviews out of 405

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

Download VLC

Best for: making fast recordings on-the-go

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

Trustpilot rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars, 45 good reviews out of 48

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 it. 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

Go to Screen Capture website

Best for: editing videos during online recording

Price: free

Techradar rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars

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

Go to Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder website

Best for: sending work video messages

Price: free version, premium from $8/month

Google Web Store rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars, 9,700 good reviews out of 10,067

Users: 4 000 000+

Loom is a good tool 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

Download Loom

Best for: drawing on videos

Price: free version, premium for $49/year

Google web store rating: 4 out of 5 stars, 8,264 good reviews out of 11,463

Users: 10 000 000+

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

Download Screencastify

Best for: screen recording on Google Chrome

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

Google web store rating: 5 out of 5 stars, 7 reviews

Users: 400+

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

Download Movavi Screen Recorder for Chrome

Best for: sharing content in one click

Price: free version, premium from $6/month

Google web store rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars, 19,800 good reviews out of 23,102

Users: 1 000 000+

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 the free version 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

Download Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder