Recordly vs Tella
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
Tella
Screen recorder with a built-in editor, layouts and 4K export
Where they differ
- Recordly is free. Tella starts at $13 per user / month, billed yearly ($26 billed monthly).
- Recordly has a free plan. Tella does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Recordly lists a Linux app.
- Only Tella lists a web app.
- Only Tella lists a browser extension.
- Recordly is open source, according to its own site.
- Tella also covers transcription and noise cancellation.
At a glance
| Recordly | Tella | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $13 per user / month, billed yearly ($26 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 | 7-day free trial of Pro, no credit card required; owners can extend it once by 7 days |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | webadderall | Tella HQ Inc. |
| Price read from | recordly.dev | tella.com |
| 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
Tella
- Product demos and tutorials that need more polish than a raw screen capture
- People who want to record in the browser without installing an app
- Teams that want hosted video links with viewer analytics
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.
Tella
- There is no free plan: once the trial ends, existing videos can be viewed and shared, but recording, editing and export need a subscription.
- Monthly billing costs about twice the yearly rate: $26 versus $13 per user / month on Pro.
- There is no mobile app, and editing is desktop-only; phones and tablets can record quick camera videos in the browser.
- Custom domains, branding removal, advanced analytics and 60 FPS export beyond 5 minutes need Premium.
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.
Tella
- Separate screen and camera tracks
- Screen and camera are recorded as separate tracks, so you can change the layout, resize the camera or hide either source afterwards.
- Editor with layouts and zooms
- Trim and split clips, switch between side-by-side, picture-in-picture and full-screen layouts, and add zoom effects and backgrounds.
- Transcript-based editing
- Remove mistakes and filler words by deleting them from the transcript. Transcription covers 106 languages and can be shown as captions.
- AI assistance
- AI generates titles, chapters and automatic layouts from the transcript, and can turn a video into a summary or document.
- Link sharing and analytics
- Share a video by link or embed it and track viewers. Paid plans have no storage or bandwidth limits and no cap on video count.
- API, webhooks and MCP server
- A public REST API, webhooks and an MCP server for assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT are included on every plan.
Plans
Recordly
Recordly$0
The complete desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, as a prebuilt release from GitHub or built from source.
Tella
Pro$13
per user / month, billed yearly ($26 monthly)
Unlimited recordings up to 6 hours per clip, unlimited storage, the full editor, 4K export, sharing and analytics.
Premium$19
per user / month, billed yearly ($39 monthly)
Adds a custom domain, domain restriction for embeds, Tella branding removal, 60 FPS export at any length and advanced analytics.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Premium plus SSO and SCIM, a shared Slack channel, personalized onboarding and volume discounts.
Ways to pay less
Recordly
No public discounts listed.
Tella
- Annual discount
About 50% off with yearly billing
Pro is $13 per user per month billed yearly versus $26 billed monthly, and Premium is $19 versus $39. Tella's pricing page labels the annual option as 50% off.
- Education
Tella for Education: 6 months free
Teachers, professors and students at accredited institutions can get Tella Pro free for 6 months, then 50% off for as long as they qualify. The free term covers one user per workspace.
- Nonprofit
50% off for verified nonprofits
Verified nonprofits, including US 501(c)(3) organizations and registered charities elsewhere, get 50% off Pro or Premium with no expiry while their status holds.
