Cap
The open-source answer to Screen Studio, with a hosted tier if you want links.
What it does
Cap records screen and camera and then applies the same treatment the paid recorders do: automatic zoom toward clicks, smoothed cursor motion, a background and rounded corners around the window, and a camera bubble. All of it is adjustable after the fact in the built-in editor, and export is a local MP4 or GIF.
Two modes, and the distinction matters. Studio mode records locally at full quality and edits afterwards. Instant mode uploads while recording and hands back a link as soon as you stop, which is the fast path for “here is what I mean” and the one that involves a server.
Notes
- Local recording and the editor are free and open source. The paid tier is the hosted sharing, and the server can be self-hosted instead.
- Instant mode streams to the cloud as it records — do not use it for anything you would not paste into a public chat.
- Built in Rust and Tauri rather than Electron, so it is noticeably lighter than Kap.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Studio | Paid | More refined output, no free tier, no source |
| Reframed | Free | Native, single developer, no cloud at all |
| Loom | Freemium | The product Instant mode is chasing; browser-based and account-first |
| OBS Studio | Open source | Records anything, compositing and streaming, zero post-processing |
| Kap | Open source | Simpler, older, no zoom effects |
Install
brew install --cask cap