Top Screen Recording Software Mac

Top screen recorders, though, can upload your screen captures to the cloud in real time and give you a sharing link instantly (much more effective). So, before you set your mind on a free screen recording software, it’s best to evaluate your own recording needs. May 21, 2020  Top 5 Best Game Recording Software for Mac If you want to record a game or whatever happening on your Mac screen, try out with the top five best game recorders on Mac listed below. Jan 11, 2020  Snagit software gives you the complete tool for screen capture and video recording on Windows and Mac. Combine traditional screenshots, video recording, image editing, and file sharing. It’s fast and easy to visually explain anything on your screen.

Top Screen Recording Software Mac

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.

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.

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.

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:

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)

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
FonePaw - Solution - Recorder - Free Screen Recorder No Watermark

There are many screen recorders that can help us to record gameplay, video calls and other screen activities, but you may find that after recording screen with some free screen recorders, there is a watermark in your recorded videos. To record screen without watermark, this guide will introduce to you 6 free screen recorders with no watermark and even no time limit. The no water screen recorders are available for Windows PC and Mac. I am sure that you can find the one you like.

Free Screen Recorder for Windows with No Watermark

I'll first show you 3 screen recorders without watermark for Windows 10, 8, 7 PC.


FonePaw Screen Recorder

FonePaw Screen Recorder is a screen recorder with no watermark. It can not only record full screen of your computer, but also a certain area or an application interface. During the recording, you can record audio and webcam as well. And the screen recorder is equipped with annotation tools, which let you add circle, texts, arrows to your screen videos. Moreover, you can schedule a recording task for the FonePaw Screen Recorder to start and stop screen recording automatically.

It is easy to record screen with this no watermark screen recorder.

  • Run the screen recorder on PC.

  • Click Video Recorder. Select the area that you want to capture screen video.

  • Enable Microphone, System Sound, Webcam if needed.Click Rec button.

  • When you finish recording, click the blue square to stop.You can preview and even clip the recorded video. No watermark is added.

Not only that it can record screen with no watermark, the recorder can also be used to capture screenshots and record audio(system & microphone sound) on Windows PC.

As a well-rounded application, FonePaw Screen Recorder is surprisingly small in size so that it can run smoothly in recording gameplay even on low-end PCs. The recorder is now free to download.

Download

Pros

Full-featured: It can be used to record screen, capture audio, take screenshots;Easy-to-use: It has a clear interface.

No lag: It runs smoothly without lagging even while there is a game running.

Cons

It is a standalone program that needs to be downloaded on your computer.


Windows 10 Game DVR

Do you know that Windows 10 has a free screen recorder without watermark? Game DVR, a feature of Windows Game Bar, can record not only games, but also other screen activities on your computer. As a built-in recorder, Game DVR, of course, won't give watermark to your screen videos.

Simply press Win + G on an active application window. This will activate Game DVR recording, which assumes that there is a game that needs to be recorded. You can then begin to record screen without watermark and time limit with Game DVR.

It is easy-to-use and totally free. However, you can't record desktop or select a specific region to record as Game DVR can only record the screen activity of an active program.

Pros

Free: You don't have to pay for the recorder.

Pre-installed: The application is pre-installed with Windows 10 system so you don't need to download it separately.

Cons

Not for computers running on Windows 8, 7.

Too primitive: It lacks features that are available on third-party screen recorders, such as selecting recording area, record webcam, add annotations.


OBS

Open Broadcaster Software(OBS) is a open source screen recording software that is free to use and can record screen without watermark and time limit. It is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Mac and Linux.

OBS is more than just a screen recorder. It can be used for live streaming, creating live videos with window captures, images, text, webcams. It offers different modes - Display Capture, Window Capture, Game Capture, etc. - for you to record full screen, applications, games on the computer. And it can record screen in high quality at up to 60 FPS. Audio from different sources can be recorded, too.

However, OBS is complicated. Before you are able to use the recorder, you have to figure out elements such as Scene, Source on OBS. And it is large in size and many users complain that OBS slows down their computers when it is running.

Pros

Powerful: Record screen in high quality at 1080p and 60 FPS.

Cons

Difficult: You have to spend some time to figure out how OBS works. It is far more difficult to use than other screen recording programs.

Laggy: OBS tends to be laggy when running on low-end PCs.


Free Screen Recorder for Mac with No Watermark

There are also some free screen recorder without watermark for Mac computer.


FonePaw Mac Screen Recorder

This screen recorder for Mac has everything you need for recording screen videos: select recording area, record screen with audio, add annotation to your videos, capture screenshots, record screen with webcam, start screen recording with hotkeys, etc. And there will be no watermark in the screen videos you make. The screencasts can be shared to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube directly through the recorder.

FonePaw Mac Screen Recorder is available for Macs on Mac OS X 10.9 and above (the latest macOS Mojave is supported).

Download

Pros

A powerful screen recorder to record screencasts in high quality.

Compatible with Macs with different macOS versions.

Cons

The recorded screen videos can only be saved as MP4 files.


QuickTime Screen Recording

QuickTime is not only a video player on Mac, but also a free unlimited screen recorder. You can start screen recording with QuickTime by clicking New Screen Recording on the application. If you need to record yourself in the video, you have to enable New Movie Recording first to activate your webcam. Your sound can be recorded, too, but QuickTime won't record the system sound from the computer.

Moreover, after the recording, QuickTime can trim, split, flip or rotate to screen videos.

Pros

Best Recording Software For Mac

It is a built-in application on the macOS. So it is totally free and has no watermark or time limit.

Cons

Can't record system sound.

Can't annotate your videos.


Apple's Screen Capture Tool for Mojave

Since Mojave, Apple introduce a new screen capture tool that can not only take screenshots, but also record videos of Mac screen. The new tool is simpler than QuickTime. Pressing Command + Shift + 5 button combination will launch the screen capture interface, where you can choose to record the entire screen or a selected area. When you have done recording, the tool also allow you to edit the video, for example, trim the video, add text to the video.

Though there is no watermark, the tool is too simple that it doesn't allow you to record screen with audio or webcam.

Pros

It is the simplest way to record Mac screen. You can access it by a simple keyboard shortcut.

Cons

It is only available on macOS Mojave.


That's the 6 screen recorders to record screen videos without watermark on Windows and Mac. Which one do you like? Leave your comment below.

Rating: 3.9 / 5 (Based on 77 ratings)Thanks for your rating.
Record desktop activites with audios and webcam. You're able to take a note and snapshot when recording.

Screen Recording Software Free

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