Recordly vs Screen Studio
We give Recordly a 3.6 GPA and Screen Studio a 2.2, out of 4.0. Recordly grades higher on value for money, the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Recordly
Free, open-source screen recorder with auto-zoom and cursor effects
Free
Screen Studio
Mac screen recorder with automatic zooms and cursor smoothing
From $9/mo
How we grade them
| 3.6GPARecordlyExcellent | 2.2GPAScreen StudioFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AIt costs nothing. The whole app is free and open source under AGPL 3.0, and the site says that allows commercial use. The developer takes tips through Ko-fi, and that's the only money involved. | B$9 a month billed yearly, with every feature included: export up to 4K at 60 fps, shareable links and cloud transcripts. That's around the going rate here, a little under. Pay month to month and it's $29, more than three times as much. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe complete desktop app is free on macOS, Windows and Linux, with what the site calls no paywalls or hidden limits. There's no paid plan to be nudged towards. | FNothing free on record. The site doesn't mention a free plan or a free trial, and the terms say fees are non-refundable. One-time licenses aren't sold any more either, so it's subscribe or nothing. |
| Features | AZooms suggested from your cursor activity, cursor smoothing with motion blur and click bounce, styled frames and backgrounds, a webcam bubble, and a drag-and-drop timeline for trims, speed changes and annotations. It exports MP4 or GIF. That's the whole polished-demo job, and extensions add more. | AZooms added automatically as you record, cursor smoothing with motion blur and click effects, iPhone and iPad recording inside a device mockup, webcam layouts, captions, and export as MP4 at up to 4K or as a GIF. Shareable links run at 1080p for videos up to 30 minutes. The whole demo job. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating is on record to go by, so a B. You grab a prebuilt release from GitHub, and the zooms are suggested for you. Linux is rougher: the real cursor can't be hidden, and system audio usually needs PipeWire. | BNo rating is on record to go by, so a B. The polish is automatic: zooms and cursor smoothing are applied for you, and you can edit them, add your own or turn them off afterwards. |
| Platforms and integrations | BmacOS, Windows and Linux. It needs macOS 14.0 or later, or Windows 10 build 19041 or later. There's no phone or web version, and the listing shows no integrations with other tools. | DMac only, needing macOS Ventura 13.1 or later, and the vendor says there are no near-future plans for Windows. It can record an iPhone or iPad screen, but the app itself lives on the Mac. No integrations are listed. |
| Best for | polished demo recordings for free | polished product demos on a Mac |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Recordly and Screen Studio. How we grade
Where they differ
- Recordly is free. Screen Studio starts at $9 per month, billed yearly ($29 billed monthly).
- Recordly has a free plan. Screen Studio does not.
- Only Recordly lists Windows and Linux apps.
- Recordly is open source, according to its own site.
- Screen Studio also covers transcription.
In commonmacOSScreen recordingVideo editing
At a glance
| Recordly | Screen Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| Starts at | Free | $9 per month, billed yearly ($29 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | The whole app is free and open source under AGPL 3.0, which the site describes as having no paywalls or hidden limits. The developer accepts tips through Ko-fi. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | webadderall | Timpler Adam Pietrasiak |
| Price read from | recordly.dev | screen.studio |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Recordly
- Product demos and walkthroughs with automatic zooms
- People who want this style of recorder at no cost on Windows or Linux
- Developers who want to inspect, extend or build the app themselves
Screen Studio
- Product demos and launch videos recorded on a Mac
- Makers who want zooms and cursor polish without manual editing
- Developers showing iPhone or iPad apps inside device frames
Worth knowing
Recordly
- It needs macOS 14.0 or later, or Windows 10 build 19041 or later for the native capture helper.
- On Linux the real cursor cannot be hidden, so exports may show both it and the styled cursor, and system audio usually needs PipeWire.
- Support is through GitHub issues; there is no paid plan or support contract.
- The source is under AGPL 3.0, which the site says allows commercial use.
Screen Studio
- macOS only, requiring Ventura 13.1 or later. The vendor says there are no near-future plans for Windows.
- Subscription only: one-time licenses are no longer sold, though earlier purchases remain valid.
- Paying monthly costs $29 per month, more than three times the $9 per month yearly rate.
- The site does not mention a free trial, and the terms state that fees are non-refundable.
Key features
Recordly
- Auto-zoom and cursor polish
- Suggests zooms from cursor activity and renders a cursor overlay with smoothing, motion blur, click bounce and a loop mode for cleaner looping exports.
- Frame styling and backgrounds
- Places the recording inside a frame with built-in wallpapers, uploaded images, solid colors or gradients, plus padding, rounded corners, blur and drop shadows.
- Webcam bubble overlay
- Adds webcam footage as a bubble with preset or custom positions, mirroring, roundness and shadow controls, and optional scaling that reacts to zooms.
- Timeline editing
- Drag-and-drop regions set trims, zooms, speed changes, text and image annotations and extra audio. Work is saved as a .recordly project file and reopened later.
- MP4 and GIF export
- Exports MP4 or GIF with a choice of quality, aspect ratio and output size, and for GIFs the frame rate, looping and size presets.
- Extensions and marketplace
- A community extension system adds things such as cursor click sounds, device frames, browser mockups and wallpapers, installed from the Recordly Marketplace.
Screen Studio
- Automatic zoom
- Zooms are added automatically as you record and can be edited, added by hand or turned off afterwards.
- Smooth cursor movement
- Cursor motion is smoothed and given motion blur and click effects, and the cursor can be hidden in chosen sections.
- iPhone and iPad recording
- Record an iPhone or iPad screen and present the footage inside a device mockup.
- Webcam layouts
- Camera footage can appear fullscreen, in a split screen, as an overlay or as a cutout.
- Captions and transcripts
- Generates a transcript of the recording and adds automatic captions.
- Export and shareable links
- Export MP4 at up to 4K and 60 fps or a GIF, or publish a shareable link at 1080p and 60 fps for videos up to 30 minutes.
Plans
Recordly
Recordly$0
The complete desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, as a prebuilt release from GitHub or built from source.
Screen Studio
Yearly$9
per month, billed yearly
All features: export up to 4K at 60 fps, shareable links, cloud transcript and project sharing.
Monthly$29
per month, billed monthly
The same features as the yearly plan, paid month to month.
Ways to pay less
Recordly
No public discounts listed.
Screen Studio
- Annual discount
Save 69% with yearly billing
Screen Studio lists the yearly plan at $9 per month, which it labels a 69% saving over the $29 monthly plan.
- Education
40% off for students and educators
Students and educators get 40% off by using an email address from an educational institution or sending proof of student status.
