Most people don't leave Loom because recording is hard. They leave when the free plan's limits bite — 25 videos per person, five minutes each (checked 2 September 2026) — or when the bill jumps to get AI features, or when they realize recording their own screen is only half the job.
This is an honest list. Zight is ours, and it leads because of one thing no recorder on this page does: it also collects the other person's screen — video, screenshots, files, even browser and log context — through a link that needs no account and no install. The other five are real alternatives with real strengths, including two that are free and open source.
Quick answer: which Loom alternative fits you?
Every tool here records a screen and most produce a shareable link. The differences show up in the free plan's ceiling, what the paid tiers actually add, and whether the tool works in both directions.
- Choose Zight if you send explanations and need them back too — support, IT, and customer-facing teams that ask people to show, not describe.
- Choose Cap if open source matters and you want a Loom-style recorder you can self-host.
- Choose OBS Studio if you want full control over the capture and don't need share links at all.
- Choose ScreenPal if you mainly need a low-cost recorder with a built-in editor.
- Choose Snagit if screenshots are the main event and you prefer paying once over subscribing.
- Choose Vidyard if the videos are sales outreach and need to live next to your CRM.
Why teams look for a Loom alternative
Three reasons come up again and again. First, the free plan's caps: 25 videos per person and five minutes per recording, which a support team can exhaust in a week. Second, the pricing ladder: unlimited recording starts at $18 per user per month on Business, and the AI features — summaries, chapters, filler-word removal — sit in a separate Business + AI tier at $24 (prices checked 2 September 2026). Third, direction: Loom is built for pushing video out. If half your problem is getting context in — a customer's bug, a teammate's setup, a candidate's walkthrough — a push-only recorder solves half your problem.
What to look for in a replacement
Judge an alternative on the workflow, not the record button — every tool here has a record button.
- Free plan you can actually live on: how many recordings, how long each one can run, and whether the viewer needs an account.
- What the link does: does it play in a browser on any device, and can you see whether it was watched?
- Two-way capture: can you request a recording from someone outside your company without making them sign up or install anything?
- Where AI sits on the price ladder — bundled, add-on, or top tier only.
- The editing you need: trim and annotate, or a full timeline editor.
1. Zight — records your screen, and collects screens back
Zight is a visual communication platform: screen and webcam recording, screenshots with annotation, GIFs, and AI that turns a recording into a document with a transcript and chapters. Everything you capture becomes one link that plays in any browser — the person watching needs no account and no install. The free Share plan includes video recording, screenshot sharing, 15-second GIFs, and workspace storage, with no credit card to start. Paid plans start at $12.95 per user per month for unlimited uploads and recording time. The differentiator is the reverse direction: a Video Request is a link you send to anyone — a customer, a teammate, a candidate — that lets them record their screen and send it back, no account, no install. The free plan includes five requests a month. If you're comparing recorders, that's the feature no recorder has: Loom, and everything below, only pushes video out.
2. Cap — the open-source pick
Cap is an open-source screen recorder built deliberately in Loom's image: record, get a shareable link, done. Because the code is open, you can self-host it and own the storage — the reason 'open source Loom alternative' is its own search. It's a younger tool with a smaller feature surface, so check that the specifics your team relies on — viewer analytics, team libraries, integrations — exist before moving everyone over.
3. OBS Studio — free, powerful, manual
OBS Studio is free, open source, and the standard for streaming-grade capture: scenes, sources, overlays, and complete control over resolution and encoding. The trade is workflow. OBS produces a file, not a link — sharing means uploading somewhere, and there are no view counts, no comments, no library. It's the right tool for polished capture and the wrong tool for quick explanations at work.
4. ScreenPal — the budget recorder-editor
ScreenPal (formerly Screencast-O-Matic) pairs a recorder with a genuine video editor at prices well under Loom's paid tiers. If your recordings need cutting, captions, and polish before anyone sees them, it earns its place. The sharing side is more conventional — links and channels exist, but the collaboration layer is thinner than a dedicated async-video tool's.
5. Snagit — screenshots first, one payment
Snagit is TechSmith's capture tool: the strongest screenshot and markup workflow on this list, with solid screen recording attached, sold as a perpetual license instead of a subscription. If your team explains things mostly in annotated images and occasionally in video, paying once is attractive. It's desktop software at heart — the instant-link, watch-in-browser loop is not the center of gravity.
6. Vidyard — video for sales pipelines
Vidyard is built for revenue teams: record prospecting videos, embed them in email sequences, and track engagement inside your CRM. If that's the job, it's the specialist. If you need general-purpose team communication — support explanations, internal how-tos, bug reports — its sales framing and pricing are more tool than you need.
The free Loom alternatives, specifically
If 'free' is the requirement, compare ceilings rather than checkboxes. Loom's Starter stops at 25 videos per person, five minutes each. Zight's Share plan is free with recording, screenshots, GIFs, workspace storage — and five Video Requests a month, which no free recorder matches. Cap and OBS are free and open source: Cap gets you the record-to-link loop with self-hosting as the payoff, and OBS gets you unlimited local recording with no sharing loop at all.
How to choose in five minutes
Ask what happens the day after you switch.
- Mostly explaining things to customers or teammates, and tired of typing it twice? Zight — and use a Video Request the next time someone says 'it's broken but I can't explain it.'
- Security team wants the code and the storage? Cap, self-hosted.
- Recording a course or a stream with exact control? OBS Studio.
- Need an editor more than a workspace? ScreenPal.
- Annotated screenshots all day, video sometimes? Snagit.
- Sending video to prospects and tracking it in the CRM? Vidyard.