A Free Screen Recorder For Mac

  1. Screen Recorder Free Download Mac
  2. Screen Recorder Best For Mac
  3. A Free Screen Recorder For Mac No Watermark

Mac is a great and probably the most stable operating system or platform for computers. It doesn’t matter whether you are a student, businessman or regular internet user, you can definitely start using Mac computer to get the better experience. Let’s assume that you want to record your screen for any reason. For example, you are a writer, and you want to show your readers how to do a particular thing on Mac with a video tutorial. At such moment, you can record your screen using these screen recording apps for Mac. Not all of them are free. However, whatever the price is, that is worth buying.

This free screen recorder is actually a top productivity tool! From task assignment to internal training, ScreenRec helps 90,000+ users communicate faster. QuickTime (Windows, Mac Free) QuickTime is the built-in 4K screen recorder for Mac users with simple recording features. Actually, it works mostly as the media player on Mac. However, you could use its simple recording features to capture screen and movie windows on Mac. Make Annotation While Recording. With this free web-based screen recorder, you don't have to wait until you finish recording to brush up your video. Instead, while still recording, you can add colors, shapes, notes, and different icons like arrows using its toolkit. The result is a high quality video that you can publish to a website immediately.

Best Screen Recording Apps for Mac

1] QuickTime Player

When you have a free tool already installed on your computer, you do not have to search for another third-party tool. From basic to advanced, you can record every kind with the help of QuickTime Player. QuickTime Player is a video player app that you can use to record your screen without any problem. It doesn’t matter whether you want to record your file explorer or browser window or any other app, you can do everything by utilizing this free inbuilt tool. To start using this tool, press Cmd + Space and type QuickTime Player. Open the corresponding result. Therefore, you have to click the File > New Screen Recording.

After that, you will a RECORD button that you need to press. Following that, you should select a region that you want to record. It can be a particular app window, or full screen – whatever you want. After completing the recording, you can find an option to save the video and choose a path where you want to save your recorded video.

2] Snagit

Although Snagit is a paid application for Mac, you can find a lot of features in this tool. In simple words, Snagit is worth buying. This tool is built to capture screenshot. However, you can use it to record your screen as well since it does that job pretty well and without any lag. This is meaningless to mention anything about the resolution since that depends on your monitor’s resolution. Talking about recording, you would be able to record any app window, full screen, browser window or anything else. There is no limit on time, and hence, you can create as long video as you want with the help of Snagit. Regarding compatibility, you should have macOS High Sierra, Sierra, or El Capitan (macOS 10.11 or later).

3] FimoraScrn

Filmora Scrn is another paid software to record Mac screen without any problem. In case you do not like the Snagit app for your Mac or you think that it costs too much, you can definitely buy Filmora Scrn, which is more affordable. Talking about the price, it costs only $19.99 (one-time payment). The available features of this tool are pretty good and handy. You can find an intuitive design, webcam recording, audio recording, etc. in this tool. This is possible to add watermark to your video with the help of this tool. On the other hand, you can find a basic video editing interface, which you can use to apply basic changes. As per the official statement, you can record video up to 120 FPS without any lag. As mentioned earlier, you can record screen and webcam simultaneously.

4] Apowersoft Screen Recorder

Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a free screen recording app for Mac that comes with no time limit. Being said that, you can record as long video as you want. Being compatible with macOS High Sierra, Apowersoft Screen Recorder has gained much popularity among them, who do not want to use QuickTime Player but want to use a free alternative. Talking about features, you can record webcam, computer screen, microphone, system sound (or both), etc. The best thing about this tool is its user interface, which is neat and clean. You can choose a custom resolution to record video, choose a region and do more with the help of this tool. It also comes with a video file explorer that will let you manage all the recorded videos from one panel.

5] Capto

Capto is another paid, but very affordable screen recording software for Mac, which costs around $29.99 and this is available for macOS 10.10.5 or later version. You can record screen up to 60 FPS. Like any other tool, you can record any app including music player, browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, and more. The highlight of this tool is you can find a video editor to give it a professional touch. Being said that, you do not need any other third-party tool for basic editing. Not only a video editor but also you can find an audio editor. This is important when you captured audio alongside your video and want to edit it accordingly. There is a file manager as well that will let you browse all the recorded files. Another essential thing is you can share your recorded video on various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Apart from you can upload video to YouTube, Evernote, Dropbox, etc.

6] Camtasia

If you need a professional video editor alongside a screen recording app, you should not think twice and opt for Camtasia 2018 edition. Although this tool is quite expensive, you do not have to download any other tool after using this one. Talking about the price, it costs around $249 for one license. On the other hand, you should have macOS 10.10 or later version to install it on your computer. When you would try to record your screen, you can find a lot of options like range selection, cursor visibility, system sound recorder, microphone support and more others. The user interface of this tool is pretty good, and you should not get any issue while starting the recorder or editing the video. Also, it renders the video quite fast. Therefore, you do not have to consume a lot of time to export the video from the editor.

There are no shortage of free screen recording programs for Windows, but when it comes to macOS, most screen recording apps are paid. Yes, you can use the in-built QuickTime to record your screen (which is what I was using so far) but if you do a lot of screen recording than QuickTime is not the most efficient way to go about it. Why? Well, to start with, there is no keyboard shortcut, no video editor, and no auto saved. Sometimes QuickTime just doesn’t work unless you restart it.

In short, if you do a lot of screen recording on your macOS, you need a third-party screen recording software. So, here are some alternatives to QuickTime to record a screencast on Mac for free.

Related: Best Video Editing Software for YouTube — A YouTuber Perspective

Best Screen Recorder For Mac

1. Apowersoft Screen Recorder

Apowersoft Screen Recorder is one of the popular free screen recording tools on any platform. Once installed on your mac, select a region and start recording. In the screen recording frame, you can click on the drop-down option to pick up a resolution like 720p, 1080p, iPhone, iPad etc. This free app allows unlimited screen recording with no watermark, however, the paid version has a Video Converter and Video Editor. You can set the recording quality from 15-60 fps, depending on whether you want to use on the web or make a professional video.

Apowersoft also offers a web-based screencast software which means you can record your screen without downloading any software, you need to install a launcher though if it’s the first time.

Verdict:

Apowersoft screen recorder is a free app for unlimited screen recording, no watermark or time restriction. However, once you stop the recording, it asked where you want to save it (just like QuickTime), so depending on the situation it might be a bit time-consuming. However, the app does not support taking or editing screenshot neither can it automatically upload to cloud. In my opinion, it’s a decent screen recorder but, there are better options available.

2. Screen Recorder Robot Lite

Screen recorder robot lite is a bit more powerful than Apowersoft screen recorder.

Screen Recorder Free Download Mac

The unique thing about this screen recorder is, once you stop your recording it opens that clip in the built-in video editor, where you can trim, crop, rotate, change the playback speed etc. From here you can either edit your video in the video editor or just close the window and the recording will be saved in your Pictures folder on your Mac.

The only issue with this video recorder is – every time you stop the recording, it shows a pop saying the lite version only records for 600s (or 5 mins), and to get rid of it, you need to click cancel each time.

Screen Recorder Best For Mac

The apps support keyboard shortcut for – start, stop, pause the recording and can also capture screenshots.

Verdict:

Screen recorder robot lite is definitely one of the best feature-rich screencasting apps out there. If you need a build in video editor with your screen recorder then look no further. However, the only limitation to the app is – 5 mins of free recording, if you want more than that, its $7.99 for the full version.

3. Recordit: Instant Screencasts & GIFs

This app is not for everyone. Unlike all the other screen recording app in the list, which saves the recording to the local drive of your computer, Recordit uploads the video to the cloud storage. It’s meant for sharing videos quickly with remote co-workers.

So, here is how it works, once installed, you’ll see a tiny Recordit icon on the top menu bar of your macOS, click on that to record any area of your screen and when once done, click the stop button, seconds after that, you’ll get a link to share your screencast.

Once the video is uploaded it automatically copy the link of that video to your clipboard, and store it on the server for the unknown amount of time. so you can always go back and find the link by right-clicking on the app. however, there is no naming, so you’ll have to rely on time date stamp.

One thing to keep in mind is – you need to have a good upload speed if you are planning to use this. I recorded a 3 min full-screen video on my 5k iMac and it took the app 4 minutes to upload it to the server. I’ve 8 Mb/s upload speed. And the final size of the video was 35 MB, so it’s safe to assume they are compressing the video footage.

Recordit also has a video to gif option on their website. So, if you want to quickly share a small screencast on Reddit, this will make it a lot easier.

Verdict

Recordit is for people who want to quickly share their screencast with other people. The recordings are limited to 5 mins only in the free version. And there is no paid version of this app.

However, there is one major problem with the app – it doesn’t keep a local copy of your recording, which means if the internet goes down for some reason, the video’ won’t be uploaded and you have to start all over.

Overall it’s perfect for sharing an image or video quickly. But not if you want to use the screen recording in some other video.

4. OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)

It’s hard to figure out how to install and use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) at first. But after bit Google search, I was able to figure out how it works.

Once installed, the app gives you auto configuration pop-up, asking you whether you want to configure it, go for 1080p, etc. It’s basically meant for streaming, but if you want to use it not for streaming then you can configure it in the start pop page.

Verdict:

OBS is a popular screen recording software among YouTuber gaming channel. It’s free, open source and highly customizable. However, it’s difficult to setup and use. If you are not a geek, you might have a difficult time to set it up and the given that better version is available, I guess you should skip this one.

5. Monosnap

This is one of the best screen recording software available out there for free. Just after using this software for 5 minutes, I know my search for best screen recording app for Mac has ended.

A Free Screen Recorder For Mac No Watermark

Like every other software in this list, it lets you capture full screen or just part of the screen. But on top of that, it also lets you capture a particular window with a webcam in Picture-in-Picture mode.

Although, there is no video editor for screen recording. Monosnap does provide an image editor for your screenshot where you can add arrows, annotation, text etc. and once you are done you can either save your video in the local storage or upload it cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote. However, these services are paid for $8 in-app purchases. You can upload it for free on Amazon s3 or R0emote FTP server though.

But the feature that really blown my mind is – the built-in image editor (mini photoshop) i.e. say, you have screenshot that you want to quickly edit or a picture that you find on the Internet, then you can just copy that picture to your clipboard and then right-click on Monosnap in toolbar and select open in the clipboard, this will open the image directly in Monosnap editor.

There is also an option to convert your video to gif.

Verdict:

Recorder

Overall, if you are looking for an advanced screen recorder for Mac, then look no further. Monosnap is best you can get for free. It can do everything a paid screen recorder does. The only limitation is – you can not edit your video.

Comparison table

Best Screen Recording Software For macOS

Apowersoft Screen RecorderScreen Recorder Robot LiteRecordit:MonosnapOpen Broadcaster Software
RecordRegion, Full Screen or Web CameraRegion, Fullscreen Region,

Fullscreen

Region, Full Screen with PIP Face CamRegion, Fullscreen
Record Audio From External SourceYesYesNoYesYes, with audio mixer
Keyboard ShortcutsYesYesNoYesYes
Recording QualityLow to High

(15-60 fps)

Low to High

(1-30 fps)

Decent video quality for web uploadLow to High

(1-30 fps)

Low to High

(1-30 fps)

Also added to the line-up are Gadget versions of Korg’s own M1 and ARP Odyssey emulations (both of which are very impressive), with a version of the iWavestation to follow. Gadget for mac. The audio Gadgets are free to all users, but on iOS the latter three require purchase of their corresponding standalone apps to unlock the Gadget versions.The other major difference is that, as well as offering the sounds within this self-contained suite, the software also includes every Gadget as a standalone VST/AU/AAX plugin. Most notable are two designed for recording and importing audio. New Gadgets are now available across all versions. While audio handling is fairly limited - you can only adjust start and end points or gain level - these do offer studio- and stompbox-inspired effects.

Edit VideoNoYesNoNoNo
Capture Screenshot NoYesNoYes

(support basic image editing)

Yes
Cloud BackupNoNoYes, upload video to Recordit serverYesYes
PriceFree – no watermark or time limitFreemium,

Free for 5 mins,

Free for 5 mins only, no paid versionMostly free, except Cloud Backup Free and Open source