⚡ Quick Answer
The best employee onboarding software for creating async training videos is Zight. Zight is a screen recording, screenshot, and async video tool that lets you record your screen, webcam, and voiceover in one click — then instantly share a link, no file uploads or video editing required. For teams that need to onboard new hires without scheduling endless live calls, Zight eliminates the bottleneck by turning any workflow walkthrough into a reusable onboarding video in under 60 seconds.
Here’s the reality most companies refuse to admit: their onboarding is broken. New hires sit through three weeks of disorganized Zoom calls, get dumped into a Google Drive graveyard of outdated PDFs, and then Slack their manager the same question 14 other people already asked. It’s slow, expensive, and it doesn’t scale.
The fix isn’t another HRIS platform with a checklist module bolted on. What actually moves the needle is employee onboarding software that helps you show people how things work — asynchronously, on their own time, in a format they can rewatch. That means screen recording for onboarding: short, focused videos that walk a new hire through your tools, processes, and culture without requiring a single live meeting.
In this guide, we break down the 7 best tools to create onboarding videos and build a scalable, async onboarding program in 2025. We evaluated each tool on ease of recording, sharing and organization features, team collaboration, pricing, and how well it fits into a real onboarding workflow — not just a feature checklist.
Let’s get into it.
1. Zight — Best Employee Onboarding Software for Async Video at Scale

Zight (formerly CloudApp) is a screen recording, screenshot, GIF maker, and async video tool built for teams that communicate visually. It runs natively on Mac, Windows, and Chrome, and it’s purpose-built for the exact problem most onboarding programs face: how do you explain a process once and make it available to every future hire, forever?
With Zight, you record your screen (with or without your webcam and microphone), and the moment you stop recording, you get an instantly shareable link. No rendering wait times. No uploading to YouTube. No attaching a 400 MB file to an email. You paste the link into your onboarding doc, Notion page, or Slack channel, and the new hire watches it at their own pace.
Why Zight Wins for Onboarding
Most employee onboarding software focuses on managing onboarding — checklists, task assignments, compliance forms. Zight focuses on the part that actually teaches people: the content. Here’s what makes it different:
- Record in under 60 seconds: Open Zight, hit record, walk through the workflow, stop. Link is on your clipboard. The friction is so low that anyone on your team — not just L&D — can create onboarding content.
- Screen + webcam + annotations: Show your screen while your face appears in a bubble overlay. Add arrows, highlights, and text annotations to call attention to specific UI elements. This is critical for screen recording for onboarding because context matters.
- Instant shareable links: Every recording is hosted in the cloud and accessible via link. Embed in Notion, Confluence, your LMS, or just paste into Slack. No file management headaches.
- Collections for organization: Group onboarding videos into folders (Collections) by team, role, or week. New engineering hire? Here’s the “Week 1 — Engineering” collection with 12 walkthroughs.
- Team workspace: Zight for Teams lets managers see all team recordings, control branding, and manage permissions — so your onboarding library doesn’t become another disorganized mess.
- GIFs and screenshots too: Not everything needs to be a video. Quick GIF of a two-step process? Screenshot with annotations? Zight handles all three formats, so you can match the content to the complexity.
- Analytics: See who viewed your recording and for how long — useful for confirming new hires actually watched the training material.
Who It’s Best For
Remote and hybrid SaaS teams, startups scaling fast, customer success teams onboarding both employees and customers, product managers documenting workflows, and any company tired of repeating the same Zoom walkthrough for every new hire. Explore all the use cases Zight supports.
Pros
- Fastest path from “I need to explain this” to “here’s the link” — genuinely under 60 seconds
- Works across Mac, Windows, and Chrome (no OS lock-in)
- Screen recording, GIFs, screenshots, and annotations in one tool
- Team workspace with collections, permissions, and branding
- View tracking and analytics
- No video editing required for most onboarding use cases
- Generous free tier to get started
Cons
- Not a full HRIS — doesn’t handle compliance forms, payroll, or task checklists (but that’s not the point)
- Advanced video editing (multi-track, transitions) requires a separate tool
- Viewer analytics could be more granular for enterprise compliance needs
Pricing
Free plan available. Pro plans start at $9/month per user. Team plans with shared workspace, custom branding, and admin controls available. Enterprise pricing on request.
2. Loom — Popular Screen Recording for Onboarding Teams
Loom is one of the most well-known async video tools and a frequent choice for teams that want to create onboarding videos quickly. It offers screen + webcam recording, automatic transcription, and a clean viewer experience. Loom’s strength is brand recognition and a polished viewing page.
Pros
- Clean, professional video viewing pages
- Auto-generated transcripts and captions
- AI-generated summaries and chapters (Business plan)
- Large user base — new hires may already be familiar with the interface
- Integrations with Slack, Notion, and most SaaS tools
Cons
- Free plan limited to 25 videos of 5 minutes each — restrictive for onboarding libraries
- No GIF or screenshot capabilities — you still need another tool for quick visual communication
- Pricing jumped significantly after Atlassian acquisition; Business plan is $12.50/user/month
- Limited annotation tools compared to Zight
- Mac/Windows app can feel resource-heavy
Pricing
Free (limited). Business: $18/user/month. Enterprise: custom pricing.
Best For
Teams already in the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, Confluence) who want tight integrations and don’t need screenshot/GIF functionality.
3. BambooHR — Best Full-Suite HR Onboarding Platform
BambooHR is an HRIS (Human Resource Information System) that includes onboarding as one module within a broader HR platform. It handles offer letters, e-signatures, new hire checklists, and employee data management. It’s the traditional approach to employee onboarding software.
Pros
- Full HR suite: onboarding, payroll, time tracking, performance management
- Pre-built onboarding checklists and task templates
- Electronic signature for offer letters and compliance forms
- New hire portal with company info and welcome messaging
- Strong reporting for HR teams tracking onboarding completion rates
Cons
- No screen recording or video creation capabilities — you can’t create onboarding videos in BambooHR
- Focused on HR administration, not knowledge transfer or training content
- Pricing is opaque (no public pricing; starts around $6–$8/employee/month based on reports)
- Overkill if your primary need is creating and sharing training content
- Better for mid-market (50–1,000 employees) than small startups
Pricing
Custom pricing only. Estimated $6–$8/employee/month for core plan based on industry reports (2025).
Best For
Mid-market HR teams that need a full HRIS with onboarding checklists, compliance tracking, and employee data management. Pair it with Zight for the actual training content.
4. Scribe — Best for Auto-Generated Step-by-Step Guides
Scribe automatically captures your clicks and keystrokes as you walk through a process, then generates a step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots. It’s not a video tool — it’s a documentation tool. But it’s incredibly useful for onboarding because it turns any workflow into a written guide without manual effort.
Pros
- Auto-captures screenshots and written steps as you click through a process
- Zero editing required for simple walkthroughs
- Guides are easy to embed in wikis, Notion, or Confluence
- Great for documenting repetitive SaaS workflows
Cons
- No video or audio — can’t explain nuance, tone, or context the way screen recording can
- Generated guides can be overly literal (captures every single click, even mistakes)
- Pro plan is $23/user/month — expensive for what it does
- Not ideal for complex, non-linear processes
Pricing
Free (limited). Pro: $23/user/month. Enterprise: custom pricing.
Best For
Operations teams documenting highly repetitive, click-by-click SaaS processes (e.g., “How to create an invoice in NetSuite”). Best used alongside a video tool like Zight for richer content.
5. Trainual — Best for Building a Structured Onboarding Playbook
Trainual is a training and documentation platform that helps you organize your company’s processes, SOPs, and role-specific knowledge into a structured playbook. It’s designed specifically for small businesses (10–500 employees) that want to systematize how they onboard and train.
Pros
- Built-in content structure: subjects, topics, steps — forces organization
- Role-based content assignment (show marketing hires only marketing playbooks)
- Completion tracking and simple quizzes
- Embed videos from external sources (like Zight links)
- Clean, modern interface
Cons
- No native screen recording — you need a separate tool to create onboarding videos
- Starts at $249/month for up to 50 seats — expensive for small teams
- Can feel rigid if your onboarding is still evolving
- Search functionality could be better
Pricing
Starts at $249/month (up to 50 seats). Scale and Enterprise plans available.
Best For
Small businesses and franchises that need a structured, role-based training system. Pair with Zight to actually create the video content that lives inside Trainual.
6. Notion — Best Free-Form Employee Onboarding Software for Startups
Notion isn’t onboarding software per se — it’s a workspace tool. But thousands of startups use Notion as their de facto onboarding hub by building wiki-style onboarding pages with embedded videos, checklists, and documentation. It’s infinitely flexible, which is both its strength and its weakness.
Pros
- Incredibly flexible — build any onboarding structure you want
- Embed Zight recordings, Loom videos, and any external content
- Free for small teams (up to 10 guests on free plan)
- Database-driven: track onboarding progress with Kanban boards or tables
- Your team probably already uses it
Cons
- No native screen recording, video creation, or annotation
- No completion tracking or quizzes without third-party integrations
- Requires significant setup effort — blank canvas syndrome is real
- Can become disorganized fast without strict information architecture
Pricing
Free plan available. Plus: $8/user/month. Business: $15/user/month.
Best For
Early-stage startups and small teams that want a flexible, low-cost onboarding hub. Combine Notion for structure with Zight for content creation — it’s one of the most popular pairings we see.
7. Tango — Best for Quick How-To Walkthroughs
Tango is similar to Scribe: it auto-captures your workflow and produces a step-by-step guide with screenshots. It’s a Chrome extension that’s lightweight and fast for simple browser-based walkthroughs. It recently added AI-powered descriptions and video recording in beta.
Pros
- Very fast auto-capture of browser-based workflows
- Clean visual output with numbered steps and annotated screenshots
- Generous free tier (unlimited guides)
- Easy to share and embed
Cons
- Chrome-only (no desktop app support for non-browser workflows)
- Video recording is new and limited compared to dedicated tools like Zight
- No webcam overlay, GIFs, or rich annotation
- Pro plan ($16/user/month) required for custom branding and blur
Pricing
Free (generous). Pro: $16/user/month. Enterprise: custom.
Best For
Teams that primarily work in browser-based tools and need quick, auto-generated step-by-step guides. Not a replacement for full screen recording for onboarding.
Employee Onboarding Software Comparison Table (2026)
| Tool | Screen Recording | Screenshots / GIFs | Auto-Generated Guides | HR / Checklist Features | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zight | ✅ Full (screen + webcam) | ✅ Both | ❌ | ❌ | Free / $9/user/mo | Async onboarding video at scale |
| Loom | ✅ Full (screen + webcam) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Free / $18/user/mo | Polished async video |
| BambooHR | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Full HRIS | ~$6–8/employee/mo | HR administration |
| Scribe | ❌ | ✅ Auto-screenshots | ✅ | ❌ | Free / $23/user/mo | SOP documentation |
| Trainual | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Training playbooks | $249/mo (50 seats) | Structured training systems |
| Notion | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ DIY with databases | Free / $8/user/mo | Flexible onboarding wikis |
| Tango | ⚠️ Beta | ✅ Auto-screenshots | ✅ | ❌ | Free / $16/user/mo | Browser-based walkthroughs |
How to Create Onboarding Videos With Screen Recording (Step-by-Step)
Choosing the right tool is step one. But the real leverage comes from having a repeatable process to create onboarding videos that new hires actually find useful. Here’s the framework we recommend using Zight:
Step 1: Map Your Onboarding by Role and Week
Before you record anything, list every process a new hire in a specific role needs to learn in their first 30 days. Group them by week. Week 1 might be “set up your dev environment” and “navigate Jira.” Week 3 might be “how we do sprint retros.” This prevents you from recording 40 random videos with no structure.
Step 2: Record Short, Focused Screen Recordings
Open Zight’s screen recorder, select the area of your screen you want to capture, enable your webcam for a personal touch, and walk through one single process. Keep each video under 5 minutes. If it’s longer, split it into two. The goal of screen recording for onboarding is clarity, not comprehensiveness.
Step 3: Annotate Key Moments
Use Zight’s annotation tools to highlight buttons, add arrows, or circle important UI elements. New hires are seeing your tools for the first time — don’t assume they know where to look.
Step 4: Organize Into Collections
Group your recordings into Zight Collections: “Engineering Onboarding — Week 1,” “Sales Onboarding — CRM Setup,” “Company Culture & Values.” Share the collection link, and the new hire has a Netflix-style menu of everything they need.
Step 5: Embed Everywhere
Paste Zight links into your Notion onboarding pages, Confluence spaces, Slack channels, or LMS. The videos auto-expand into rich previews. No downloads, no logins, no friction.
Step 6: Iterate Based on Questions
Every time a new hire asks a question that should’ve been covered in onboarding, record the answer with Zight and add it to the collection. Your onboarding library gets better with every hire. Within 3–4 onboarding cycles, you’ll have a comprehensive, async training program that runs itself.
Why Async Screen Recording Beats Live Onboarding Calls
Let’s address the objection: “We prefer live onboarding because it’s more personal.” We get it. But consider the math:
- A live 1-hour onboarding call costs 1 hour of the trainer’s time per new hire. If you hire 50 people this year, that’s 50 hours — just for one session.
- A 5-minute Zight recording costs 6 minutes to make (including setup), serves unlimited hires forever, and the new hire can rewatch it when they actually need the information — not during an info-dump on day one when they’ll forget 90% of it.
Async doesn’t mean impersonal. When you record with your webcam on, new hires see your face and hear your voice. It feels personal. It just doesn’t require you to be there live, every time, repeating yourself.
The best onboarding programs in 2025 use a hybrid approach: async video for process and tool walkthroughs, live calls for relationship-building and Q&A. Screen recording for onboarding handles the 80% that’s repeatable, so you can invest live time in the 20% that’s uniquely human.
7 Best Employee Onboarding Software Tools to Create Training Videos at Scale (2025)
⚡ Quick Answer
The best employee onboarding software for creating async training videos is Zight. Zight is a screen recording, screenshot, and async video tool that lets you record your screen, webcam, and voiceover in one click — then instantly share a link, no file uploads or video editing required. For teams that need to onboard new hires without scheduling endless live calls, Zight eliminates the bottleneck by turning any workflow walkthrough into a reusable onboarding video in under 60 seconds.
Here’s the reality most companies refuse to admit: their onboarding is broken. New hires sit through three weeks of disorganized Zoom calls, get dumped into a Google Drive graveyard of outdated PDFs, and then Slack their manager the same question 14 other people already asked. It’s slow, expensive, and it doesn’t scale.
The fix isn’t another HRIS platform with a checklist module bolted on. What actually moves the needle is employee onboarding software that helps you show people how things work — asynchronously, on their own time, in a format they can rewatch. That means screen recording for onboarding: short, focused videos that walk a new hire through your tools, processes, and culture without requiring a single live meeting.
In this guide, we break down the 7 best tools to create onboarding videos and build a scalable, async onboarding program in 2025. We evaluated each tool on ease of recording, sharing and organization features, team collaboration, pricing, and how well it fits into a real onboarding workflow — not just a feature checklist.
Let’s get into it.
1. Zight — Best Employee Onboarding Software for Async Video at Scale

Zight (formerly CloudApp) is a screen recording, screenshot, GIF maker, and async video tool built for teams that communicate visually. It runs natively on Mac, Windows, and Chrome, and it’s purpose-built for the exact problem most onboarding programs face: how do you explain a process once and make it available to every future hire, forever?
With Zight, you record your screen (with or without your webcam and microphone), and the moment you stop recording, you get an instantly shareable link. No rendering wait times. No uploading to YouTube. No attaching a 400 MB file to an email. You paste the link into your onboarding doc, Notion page, or Slack channel, and the new hire watches it at their own pace.
Why Zight Wins for Onboarding
Most employee onboarding software focuses on managing onboarding — checklists, task assignments, compliance forms. Zight focuses on the part that actually teaches people: the content. Here’s what makes it different:
- Record in under 60 seconds: Open Zight, hit record, walk through the workflow, stop. Link is on your clipboard. The friction is so low that anyone on your team — not just L&D — can create onboarding content.
- Screen + webcam + annotations: Show your screen while your face appears in a bubble overlay. Add arrows, highlights, and text annotations to call attention to specific UI elements. This is critical for screen recording for onboarding because context matters.
- Instant shareable links: Every recording is hosted in the cloud and accessible via link. Embed in Notion, Confluence, your LMS, or just paste into Slack. No file management headaches.
- Collections for organization: Group onboarding videos into folders (Collections) by team, role, or week. New engineering hire? Here’s the “Week 1 — Engineering” collection with 12 walkthroughs.
- Team workspace: Zight for Teams lets managers see all team recordings, control branding, and manage permissions — so your onboarding library doesn’t become another disorganized mess.
- GIFs and screenshots too: Not everything needs to be a video. Quick GIF of a two-step process? Screenshot with annotations? Zight handles all three formats, so you can match the content to the complexity.
- Analytics: See who viewed your recording and for how long — useful for confirming new hires actually watched the training material.
Who It’s Best For
Remote and hybrid SaaS teams, startups scaling fast, customer success teams onboarding both employees and customers, product managers documenting workflows, and any company tired of repeating the same Zoom walkthrough for every new hire. Explore all the use cases Zight supports.
Pros
- Fastest path from “I need to explain this” to “here’s the link” — genuinely under 60 seconds
- Works across Mac, Windows, and Chrome (no OS lock-in)
- Screen recording, GIFs, screenshots, and annotations in one tool
- Team workspace with collections, permissions, and branding
- View tracking and analytics
- No video editing required for most onboarding use cases
- Generous free tier to get started
Cons
- Not a full HRIS — doesn’t handle compliance forms, payroll, or task checklists (but that’s not the point)
- Advanced video editing (multi-track, transitions) requires a separate tool
- Viewer analytics could be more granular for enterprise compliance needs
Pricing
Free plan available. Pro plans start at $9/month per user. Team plans with shared workspace, custom branding, and admin controls available. Enterprise pricing on request.
2. Loom — Popular Screen Recording for Onboarding Teams
Loom is one of the most well-known async video tools and a frequent choice for teams that want to create onboarding videos quickly. It offers screen + webcam recording, automatic transcription, and a clean viewer experience. Loom’s strength is brand recognition and a polished viewing page.
Pros
- Clean, professional video viewing pages
- Auto-generated transcripts and captions
- AI-generated summaries and chapters (Business plan)
- Large user base — new hires may already be familiar with the interface
- Integrations with Slack, Notion, and most SaaS tools
Cons
- Free plan limited to 25 videos of 5 minutes each — restrictive for onboarding libraries
- No GIF or screenshot capabilities — you still need another tool for quick visual communication
- Pricing jumped significantly after Atlassian acquisition; Business plan is $12.50/user/month
- Limited annotation tools compared to Zight
- Mac/Windows app can feel resource-heavy
Pricing
Free (limited). Business: $18/user/month. Enterprise: custom pricing.
Best For
Teams already in the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, Confluence) who want tight integrations and don’t need screenshot/GIF functionality.
3. BambooHR — Best Full-Suite HR Onboarding Platform
BambooHR is an HRIS (Human Resource Information System) that includes onboarding as one module within a broader HR platform. It handles offer letters, e-signatures, new hire checklists, and employee data management. It’s the traditional approach to employee onboarding software.
Pros
- Full HR suite: onboarding, payroll, time tracking, performance management
- Pre-built onboarding checklists and task templates
- Electronic signature for offer letters and compliance forms
- New hire portal with company info and welcome messaging
- Strong reporting for HR teams tracking onboarding completion rates
Cons
- No screen recording or video creation capabilities — you can’t create onboarding videos in BambooHR
- Focused on HR administration, not knowledge transfer or training content
- Pricing is opaque (no public pricing; starts around $6–$8/employee/month based on reports)
- Overkill if your primary need is creating and sharing training content
- Better for mid-market (50–1,000 employees) than small startups
Pricing
Custom pricing only. Estimated $6–$8/employee/month for core plan based on industry reports (2025).
Best For
Mid-market HR teams that need a full HRIS with onboarding checklists, compliance tracking, and employee data management. Pair it with Zight for the actual training content.
4. Scribe — Best for Auto-Generated Step-by-Step Guides
Scribe automatically captures your clicks and keystrokes as you walk through a process, then generates a step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots. It’s not a video tool — it’s a documentation tool. But it’s incredibly useful for onboarding because it turns any workflow into a written guide without manual effort.
Pros
- Auto-captures screenshots and written steps as you click through a process
- Zero editing required for simple walkthroughs
- Guides are easy to embed in wikis, Notion, or Confluence
- Great for documenting repetitive SaaS workflows
Cons
- No video or audio — can’t explain nuance, tone, or context the way screen recording can
- Generated guides can be overly literal (captures every single click, even mistakes)
- Pro plan is $23/user/month — expensive for what it does
- Not ideal for complex, non-linear processes
Pricing
Free (limited). Pro: $23/user/month. Enterprise: custom pricing.
Best For
Operations teams documenting highly repetitive, click-by-click SaaS processes (e.g., “How to create an invoice in NetSuite”). Best used alongside a video tool like Zight for richer content.
5. Trainual — Best for Building a Structured Onboarding Playbook
Trainual is a training and documentation platform that helps you organize your company’s processes, SOPs, and role-specific knowledge into a structured playbook. It’s designed specifically for small businesses (10–500 employees) that want to systematize how they onboard and train.
Pros
- Built-in content structure: subjects, topics, steps — forces organization
- Role-based content assignment (show marketing hires only marketing playbooks)
- Completion tracking and simple quizzes
- Embed videos from external sources (like Zight links)
- Clean, modern interface
Cons
- No native screen recording — you need a separate tool to create onboarding videos
- Starts at $249/month for up to 50 seats — expensive for small teams
- Can feel rigid if your onboarding is still evolving
- Search functionality could be better
Pricing
Starts at $249/month (up to 50 seats). Scale and Enterprise plans available.
Best For
Small businesses and franchises that need a structured, role-based training system. Pair with Zight to actually create the video content that lives inside Trainual.
6. Notion — Best Free-Form Employee Onboarding Software for Startups
Notion isn’t onboarding software per se — it’s a workspace tool. But thousands of startups use Notion as their de facto onboarding hub by building wiki-style onboarding pages with embedded videos, checklists, and documentation. It’s infinitely flexible, which is both its strength and its weakness.
Pros
- Incredibly flexible — build any onboarding structure you want
- Embed Zight recordings, Loom videos, and any external content
- Free for small teams (up to 10 guests on free plan)
- Database-driven: track onboarding progress with Kanban boards or tables
- Your team probably already uses it
Cons
- No native screen recording, video creation, or annotation
- No completion tracking or quizzes without third-party integrations
- Requires significant setup effort — blank canvas syndrome is real
- Can become disorganized fast without strict information architecture
Pricing
Free plan available. Plus: $8/user/month. Business: $15/user/month.
Best For
Early-stage startups and small teams that want a flexible, low-cost onboarding hub. Combine Notion for structure with Zight for content creation — it’s one of the most popular pairings we see.
7. Tango — Best for Quick How-To Walkthroughs
Tango is similar to Scribe: it auto-captures your workflow and produces a step-by-step guide with screenshots. It’s a Chrome extension that’s lightweight and fast for simple browser-based walkthroughs. It recently added AI-powered descriptions and video recording in beta.
Pros
- Very fast auto-capture of browser-based workflows
- Clean visual output with numbered steps and annotated screenshots
- Generous free tier (unlimited guides)
- Easy to share and embed
Cons
- Chrome-only (no desktop app support for non-browser workflows)
- Video recording is new and limited compared to dedicated tools like Zight
- No webcam overlay, GIFs, or rich annotation
- Pro plan ($16/user/month) required for custom branding and blur
Pricing
Free (generous). Pro: $16/user/month. Enterprise: custom.
Best For
Teams that primarily work in browser-based tools and need quick, auto-generated step-by-step guides. Not a replacement for full screen recording for onboarding.
Employee Onboarding Software Comparison Table (2026)
| Tool | Screen Recording | Screenshots / GIFs | Auto-Generated Guides | HR / Checklist Features | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zight | ✅ Full (screen + webcam) | ✅ Both | ❌ | ❌ | Free / $9/user/mo | Async onboarding video at scale |
| Loom | ✅ Full (screen + webcam) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Free / $18/user/mo | Polished async video |
| BambooHR | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Full HRIS | ~$6–8/employee/mo | HR administration |
| Scribe | ❌ | ✅ Auto-screenshots | ✅ | ❌ | Free / $23/user/mo | SOP documentation |
| Trainual | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Training playbooks | $249/mo (50 seats) | Structured training systems |
| Notion | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ DIY with databases | Free / $8/user/mo | Flexible onboarding wikis |
| Tango | ⚠️ Beta | ✅ Auto-screenshots | ✅ | ❌ | Free / $16/user/mo | Browser-based walkthroughs |
How to Create Onboarding Videos With Screen Recording (Step-by-Step)
Choosing the right tool is step one. But the real leverage comes from having a repeatable process to create onboarding videos that new hires actually find useful. Here’s the framework we recommend using Zight:
Step 1: Map Your Onboarding by Role and Week
Before you record anything, list every process a new hire in a specific role needs to learn in their first 30 days. Group them by week. Week 1 might be “set up your dev environment” and “navigate Jira.” Week 3 might be “how we do sprint retros.” This prevents you from recording 40 random videos with no structure.
Step 2: Record Short, Focused Screen Recordings
Open Zight’s screen recorder, select the area of your screen you want to capture, enable your webcam for a personal touch, and walk through one single process. Keep each video under 5 minutes. If it’s longer, split it into two. The goal of screen recording for onboarding is clarity, not comprehensiveness.
Step 3: Annotate Key Moments
Use Zight’s annotation tools to highlight buttons, add arrows, or circle important UI elements. New hires are seeing your tools for the first time — don’t assume they know where to look.
Step 4: Organize Into Collections
Group your recordings into Zight Collections: “Engineering Onboarding — Week 1,” “Sales Onboarding — CRM Setup,” “Company Culture & Values.” Share the collection link, and the new hire has a Netflix-style menu of everything they need.
Step 5: Embed Everywhere
Paste Zight links into your Notion onboarding pages, Confluence spaces, Slack channels, or LMS. The videos auto-expand into rich previews. No downloads, no logins, no friction.
Step 6: Iterate Based on Questions
Every time a new hire asks a question that should’ve been covered in onboarding, record the answer with Zight and add it to the collection. Your onboarding library gets better with every hire. Within 3–4 onboarding cycles, you’ll have a comprehensive, async training program that runs itself.
Why Async Screen Recording Beats Live Onboarding Calls
Let’s address the objection: “We prefer live onboarding because it’s more personal.” We get it. But consider the math:
- A live 1-hour onboarding call costs 1 hour of the trainer’s time per new hire. If you hire 50 people this year, that’s 50 hours — just for one session.
- A 5-minute Zight recording costs 6 minutes to make (including setup), serves unlimited hires forever, and the new hire can rewatch it when they actually need the information — not during an info-dump on day one when they’ll forget 90% of it.
Async doesn’t mean impersonal. When you record with your webcam on, new hires see your face and hear your voice. It feels personal. It just doesn’t require you to be there live, every time, repeating yourself.
The best onboarding programs in 2025 use a hybrid approach: async video for process and tool walkthroughs, live calls for relationship-building and Q&A. Screen recording for onboarding handles the 80% that’s repeatable, so you can invest live time in the 20% that’s uniquely human.










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