# Recordly

> Free, open-source screen recorder with auto-zoom and cursor effects

Recordly is a free, open-source desktop app for recording the screen and turning the result into a polished demo or walkthrough. It suggests zooms from cursor activity, smooths the cursor, places the recording in a styled frame and adds a webcam bubble, all on a drag-and-drop timeline. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, exports MP4 or GIF, and is licensed under AGPL 3.0.

- **Category:** Screen Recording & Video
- **Made by:** webadderall
- **Website:** https://recordly.dev
- **Runs on:** macOS, Windows, Linux
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

Recordly is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **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.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Recordly | $0 | The complete desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, as a prebuilt release from GitHub or built from source. |

Read from https://recordly.dev/ on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Recordly before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

**Tags:** Screen recording, Video editing, Open source

## Alternatives

- [Screen Studio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/screen-studio): Mac screen recorder with automatic zooms and cursor smoothing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/recordly-vs-screen-studio)
- [Cap](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cap): Open-source screen recorder with instant share links and an editor. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cap-vs-recordly)
- [FocuSee](https://toolgpa.com/tools/focusee): Screen recorder that adds zooms and cursor effects automatically. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/focusee-vs-recordly)
- [Cursorful](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cursorful): Screen recorder that adds zooms and pans automatically. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cursorful-vs-recordly)
- [Tella](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tella): Screen recorder with a built-in editor, layouts and 4K export. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/recordly-vs-tella)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://recordly.dev/
- https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/webadderall/Recordly/main/README.md

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/recordly
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).