Cap

Cap is an open-source, local-first screen recorder for macOS and Windows that aims to replace Loom for product demos, async updates, and quick bug reports. We rate it 84/100 — the most polished open-source Loom alternative on the market in 2026, provided you can live with a young-but-fast-moving cloud backend and a Pro plan that still feels early compared to Loom's mature sharing features.

What is Cap?

Cap is a screen-recording and video-messaging tool built by Cap Software, Inc., founded by Richie McIlroy — a serial micro-SaaS builder out of Liverpool, UK who raised a pre-seed round to turn Cap from a side project into a company. The project lives at github.com/CapSoftware/Cap with 18,300+ GitHub stars, a Rust + Tauri desktop app, a Next.js web app, and a dual MIT/AGPLv3 license. The latest public release at time of writing is v0.4.84, shipped on April 15, 2026.

The pitch is simple: record your screen at up to 4K/60fps, get an instant shareable link or a full Studio editor, and choose whether your video lives on Cap's cloud, your own S3 bucket, or your own self-hosted Cap server. Nothing is forced through somebody else's SaaS — that is the entire point.

Key Features of Cap

• Three recording modes: Instant uploads as you record and gives you a link the second you stop; Studio opens a full editor with trim, padding, camera picture-in-picture, zooms and custom backgrounds; Screenshot is a classic capture tool.
• Built-in AI layer (Pro): Cap automatically generates titles, chapter markers, full transcripts and summaries — the same AI UX Loom started shipping at $18/month, but baked into a $8.16/month plan.
• Bring-your-own-storage: point Cap at your own S3 bucket or a self-hosted instance; the desktop app speaks to either. Useful for regulated industries who cannot send screen-captures to a third-party SaaS.
• Self-hosting in one command: docker compose up -d on any VPS gives you a full Cap server. Railway and Coolify one-click templates are official.
• 4K/60fps capture, low overhead: the capture stack is Rust (scap) and uses native OS APIs, so even long recordings stay small and CPU-light compared to Electron-based competitors.
• Loom video importer: Pro and Enterprise plans can bulk-import existing Loom libraries, which is how the team is poaching teams from Atlassian-era Loom.
• Custom domain: on Pro you can serve videos from cap.yourdomain.com, which matters if you send recordings to customers.

What Users Say About Cap

Public sentiment is unusually warm for a v0.x open-source app. On the Cap GitHub repo, bug reports get triaged in hours — multiple users on r/opensource and r/macapps describe reporting a bug and receiving a signed build within the same day. Testimonials pulled from the public landing page include “hands down one of the best OSS I’ve used, so much so I’ve uninstalled Loom and Screen Studio” and “that UI is so polished — between the open source code, self-hosted vids, editing features and price point, gonna give Loom some competition.”

The recurring critical notes are honest ones: the cloud dashboard is still catching up to Loom on commenting, viewer analytics, and folder management, and the Windows build trails the Mac build by a release or two on new features. None of these are blockers if you mainly care about capture quality and ownership.

Cap Pricing

Plan	Price	Key Limits
Free	$0	Unlimited local recordings, shareable links up to 5 minutes, community support
Desktop License	$58 lifetime or $29/year	Commercial rights, full Studio editor, MP4/GIF export, 5-minute share links
Cap Pro	$8.16/user/month (annual) or $12/user/month (monthly)	Unlimited cloud storage and link length, AI titles/transcripts/chapters/summaries, custom domain, shared team spaces, Loom importer
Enterprise	Custom	SAML SSO, managed self-hosting, bulk discounts, SLAs, priority support

Against Loom's $18/month Business plan, Pro is roughly 55% cheaper per seat annually — and that is before you factor in the one-time Desktop License, which has no Loom equivalent.

Who Should Use Cap?

Best for: solo developers, indie founders, small engineering and design teams who already pay for Loom and resent the Atlassian-era price hikes; privacy-conscious consultants who need to keep client recordings on their own S3; and anyone building inside a regulated company that bans third-party video SaaS.

Not ideal for: large sales or CS teams that depend on Loom's viewer analytics, engagement reports, and deep Slack/Salesforce integrations — Cap's cloud is catching up but is not there yet. Also not ideal for pure Linux-only shops: there is no first-party Linux desktop build at the time of writing.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Genuinely open source under AGPLv3 with an MIT-licensed capture core, not just "source-available"
• Desktop app is Rust + Tauri — recordings stay CPU-light even at 4K/60fps
• Self-hosting is a one-command Docker Compose, with official Railway and Coolify templates
• Pro AI features (titles, transcripts, chapters, summaries) at roughly half of Loom's price
• Fastest shipping cadence we have seen in this space — a new desktop version nearly every week

Cons:

• Windows build lags the Mac build on new Studio features by 1–2 releases
• Viewer analytics, commenting and folder management are still thinner than Loom's
• No native Linux desktop app yet — Linux users are limited to the self-hosted web player
• MySQL-only backend is an odd choice for a product pitched to self-hosters (MariaDB is only partially supported)

Alternatives to Cap

Loom remains the incumbent and still has the best collaboration layer, but it is now an Atlassian product and costs $18/user/month. Screen Studio is a beautiful Mac-only editor with no cloud layer and a $229 lifetime price. tl;dv focuses on meeting recording with AI, not ad-hoc loom-style videos. If you want open source and can live without a polished desktop app, Windmill-style self-hosters sometimes pair OBS with a homegrown web player — it works, but it is not this pleasant.

Verdict: Is Cap Worth It?

If you already pay for Loom and you don't depend on its enterprise analytics, Cap is the easiest switch we have recommended in 2026: same core workflow, better capture quality on Mac, half the price, and the option to self-host when compliance asks. If you are a greenfield team that just needs to send product demos to customers or async updates to your team, start with the free Desktop License, upgrade to Pro when you need AI features, and keep the self-host escape hatch in your back pocket. Rating: 84/100.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cap free?

Yes. Cap has a permanent free plan that includes unlimited local recordings and shareable links up to 5 minutes. Paid plans start at a one-time $58 Desktop License or $8.16/user/month on Cap Pro (billed annually).

What platforms does Cap support?

Cap ships native desktop apps for macOS and Windows. There is no first-party Linux desktop app, but the self-hosted web player works on any modern browser. The codebase is open source at github.com/CapSoftware/Cap.

How does Cap compare to Loom?

Cap is roughly half the price of Loom (Pro is $8.16/user/month vs Loom Business at $18), is open source under AGPLv3, and lets you self-host or bring your own S3 bucket. Loom has a more mature cloud dashboard with better viewer analytics, commenting, and Slack/Salesforce integrations.

Is Cap open source?

Yes. The capture crates (cap-camera* and scap-*) are MIT-licensed and the rest of the project is AGPLv3. The full source is at github.com/CapSoftware/Cap, and self-hosting is a single docker compose up -d command.

Can I use my own storage with Cap?

Yes. Cap Pro and self-hosted Cap both support pointing the app at a custom S3-compatible bucket, so recordings never leave your infrastructure unless you want them to.