Auto-polish on the way in
Smart zoom, cursor smoothing, and silence cuts happen while you record. By the time you stop, the demo is mostly done. No keyframes. No AI gate.
- Smart zoom
- Cursor smoothing
- Silence cuts
Features
Everything Recast records.
A focused recorder for solo founders, indie hackers, and product engineers who'd rather ship than fiddle. Auto-polish for the 80% case, a minimal timeline for the moments you want to control.
- Windows Stable
- macOS Beta
- Linux Beta
Recording profiles + pause / resume
Save capture presets (region, window, camera, mic) and switch with one shortcut. Pause mid-take when the door knocks. Paused spans are trimmed cleanly out.
- Profiles
- Pause and resume
- Multi-source
Local-first, Drive-shareable
Recordings live on your machine until you choose to share. Upload exports straight to your own Google Drive from the export dialog. You own the file, Recast servers never see it.
- Local files
- Drive upload
- Own your data
Side by side
Free here. Paid in the others.
Most of what Recast ships in the free desktop app is either paywalled or missing in the products we get compared to most. The honest version.
Feature
Recast
Loom
Cap
Recording profiles (capture presets)
Built in
Not available
Limited
Hardware-accelerated export
Built in
Cloud render only
Partial
Files stay on your machine
Default
Cloud only
Local first
Share to your own storage (Drive today)
Built in, free
Not supported
Pro only
No account required to record
Never asks
Required
Required
Open source
GPLv3
Closed
AGPL
Per-seat pricing
None
Per seat
Per seat
Comparison is based on the publicly documented tiers of each product. Got a correction? Open an issue on GitHub.
Built in
The full catalog.
Every affordance worth naming, in one grid. All shipping in the free desktop app today.
Smart auto-zoom
Reads clicks and dwell, zooms toward the action. Zero keyframes.
Cursor smoothing
Velocity-aware easing, optional snap-to-target, motion damping.
Silence detection
Finds dead-air spans (quiet audio plus still cursor), offers one-click cuts.
Pause and resume
Pause mid-take and pick up where you left off. Paused spans trim out cleanly.
Recording profiles
Save capture presets for each context. One shortcut to switch between them.
Annotations and blur
Arrows, rectangles, text, privacy blur on the frame. Layers on the timeline.
Camera bubble
Draggable webcam with shape, border, and follow-the-cursor motion.
Smart layouts
Auto padding, gradient backgrounds, aspect framing applied as you record.
Trim, split, replace
Lightweight editor that respects your time. No hidden timeline tax.
Drive uploads
OAuth scoped to files Recast creates. Your account, your storage bill.
Hardware-encoded export
NVENC, AMD, and Intel where available. Seconds, not minutes.
Native capture
Platform APIs end to end. ScreenCaptureKit on macOS, Wayland-native on Linux.
Region and window
Capture a window, region, or full screen. Hot-swap mid-take.
.recast project files
Re-editable artifacts that travel with your repo.
Offline first
Recordings and exports stay on your machine. No account required to record.
No telemetry
The app doesn't phone home. It only contacts servers when you explicitly opt in.
Shortcut-first
Every essential action lives one keystroke away. Mouse optional.
GPLv3 open source
Source on GitHub. Dual licensing available for closed-source redistribution.
v0.2 ready when you are
Skip the editor. Ship the demo.
Free forever. No account. Windows is daily-driver stable, macOS and Linux are in active beta.
See what's in v0.2