Kap
Records a region of the screen to GIF or MP4, and nothing else.
What it does
Kap draws a resizable capture frame on screen, records what happens inside it, and exports to GIF, MP4, WebM or APNG with the frame rate and dimensions set at export rather than at capture. Trimming happens in the export window; there is no timeline and no zoom effects.
Its distinguishing feature is plugins — small npm packages that add export destinations, so a recording can go straight to a file, a clipboard, or a service, without the app itself growing a cloud.
Notes
- Built with Electron, which is why it is much larger on disk than Shottr and heavier while recording.
- Development has been quiet for a while. It works, and it is the free option that produces a usable GIF without a command line.
- For GIF quality, exporting to MP4 and running it through Gifski beats Kap’s own GIF export.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | Freemium | The actively developed open-source recorder, with zoom effects |
| CleanShot X | Paid | Records to GIF directly, and annotates |
| Reframed | Free | Editor built in, native, needs a recent macOS |
⌘⇧5 | Built in | Records fine; converting to GIF is then your problem |
| LICEcap | Open source | The old minimal GIF recorder, still works, looks it |
Install
brew install --cask kap