Cap

Cap is an open source screen recorder built as a serious alternative to Loom — and after testing it across macOS and Windows, we'd argue it's the best free option in 2026 for anyone who cares about owning their videos. We rate it 86/100 — excellent for indie hackers, developers, and small teams who want a polished recording experience without recurring per-seat fees.

What is Cap?

Cap is a cross-platform screen recording app developed by Cap Software, Inc. and led by founder Richie McIlroy. The project went public on GitHub on November 17, 2023 and shipped its public beta on April 25, 2024. Today it has over 18,400 stars on GitHub, an active release cadence (the latest desktop build is v0.4.84, shipped on April 15, 2026), and an AGPL-3.0 license that lets you self-host the entire stack — desktop app, web dashboard, and share links — if you want to.

The pitch is simple: Loom is convenient but locks your videos behind a SaaS account, charges per seat, and watermarks free recordings after 5 minutes. Cap flips every one of those constraints. Recordings are unlimited and unwatermarked on the free plan, the editor is bundled into the same app instead of being a paid upsell, and Pro users can host shareable links on their own custom domain.

Key Features of Cap

• Two recording modes in one app: Instant Mode works like Loom — start recording, finish, and a shareable link is uploaded automatically. Studio Mode records locally at full quality (up to 4K, 60fps) and drops the file into Cap's editor for trimming, zoom-ins, and animated mouse cursors.
• Built-in editor with auto-zooms: The editor adds smooth animated camera zooms on click events, customizable backgrounds and padding, and webcam framing — the same polish people pay $229 one-off for with Screen Studio.
• Self-hostable share links: Cap Pro users can point a custom domain (e.g. cap.yourcompany.com) at Cap's web dashboard, so shared videos never live on a third-party SaaS URL.
• Built on Tauri + Rust: The desktop app is a Tauri shell with a Rust capture core, which keeps the macOS binary under 150 MB versus Loom's Electron build that pushes 500 MB+.
• Truly open source: The full repo is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0 — you can self-host the entire web stack and get the same instant-share workflow without paying Cap a cent.
• Cross-platform: Native macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows builds; a Linux build is in progress in the public roadmap.

What Users Say About Cap

Sentiment across Hacker News, Reddit, and Product Hunt is consistently positive but not uncritical. On Hacker News, threads about Cap routinely surface comments praising the Tauri-based build size and the fact that it's "actually open source, not source-available." On Reddit's r/macapps, the recurring praise is for the editor's auto-zoom feature, while the most upvoted complaint is that Windows parity lagged macOS for most of 2024–2025 (the team has since closed the gap, and Windows now has system-audio capture without the Stereo Mix workaround). Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch and Dub.co founder Steven Tey both publicly endorse the product on the cap.so testimonial wall — meaningful signal from a community that has access to every paid alternative. The most honest negative we found: Cap is still a young product and a small subset of users on r/screenrecording report occasional crashes when toggling between external displays mid-recording.

Cap Pricing

Plan	Price	What's Included
Free	$0	Unlimited recording, local files, basic editor, 5-minute cloud share cap
Cap Pro	$8.16/month (billed annually) or $9/month	Unlimited cloud sharing, custom domain, password-protected links, analytics, advanced editor
Lifetime	$200 one-time	All Cap Pro features, forever, one user
Commercial / Team	From $58/seat/year	Team workspaces, SSO add-on, priority support

The lifetime tier is the standout: a single $200 payment effectively replaces $192/year of Loom Business or $229 of Screen Studio, and the AGPL self-host route makes even the free tier viable for teams comfortable running a Next.js app.

Who Should Use Cap?

Best for: Indie developers, founders, technical content creators, and small product teams who already record async video walkthroughs. It's a particularly strong fit for anyone who already self-hosts other tools (Plausible, Umami, Mautic) and wants a video layer that fits the same philosophy.

Not ideal for: Large enterprises that need SOC 2 + HIPAA out of the box and Salesforce-style admin tooling — Loom Enterprise still wins there. Also not ideal for users who only need a 30-second screencast a week; in that case, the free tier of Loom or even macOS's built-in Cmd+Shift+5 is enough.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Genuinely open source under AGPL-3.0 — full self-host path is documented and supported
• $200 lifetime tier undercuts every comparable commercial product over a 24-month horizon
• Tauri build keeps the desktop app lightweight (under 150 MB on macOS)
• Editor auto-zooms and webcam framing are on par with Screen Studio at a fraction of the price

Cons:

• Native Linux build is still on the roadmap, not shipped
• Mobile recording / iOS app does not exist (Loom has had this since 2021)
• Enterprise governance features (SSO, SCIM, audit logs) are thinner than Loom's
• Occasional reports of multi-display recording bugs on Windows in 2025 — improving but not yet flawless

Alternatives to Cap

Loom remains the polished, batteries-included default — pick it if your team is already paying for Atlassian and you want zero setup. Screen Studio has the most polished editor on macOS but is paid-only, macOS-only, and not open source. Tella is the closest in vibes to Cap's editor but is fully cloud-based.

Verdict: Is Cap Worth It?

Yes — and increasingly so as the product matures. For solo developers and small teams who care about owning their data and avoiding per-seat SaaS spend, Cap is the most credible Loom alternative on the market in 2026. The free tier is generous enough to serve as a daily driver, the $200 lifetime tier is a no-brainer for anyone who records more than once a month, and the AGPL license means the project will outlive any acquisition or pricing change. Our 86/100 reflects that it's already excellent, but with two notable gaps to close — a shipped Linux build and a mobile app — before it can claim a higher score.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cap free?

Yes, Cap has a fully featured free tier with unlimited local recording and a 5-minute cap on cloud-shared videos. Cap Pro starts at $8.16/month billed annually, and there's a $200 one-time lifetime license.

What platforms does Cap support?

Cap ships native macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows desktop apps. A Linux build is on the public roadmap but not yet released. There is currently no mobile recording app.

How does Cap compare to Loom?

Cap matches Loom's instant-share workflow but adds a built-in editor with auto-zooms, no per-seat pricing, and a $200 lifetime option. Loom still wins on enterprise admin tooling and mobile recording.

Is Cap open source?

Yes. Cap is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and the entire stack — desktop app, web dashboard, and share-link backend — is publicly available at github.com/CapSoftware/Cap.

Can I self-host Cap?

Yes. The repository includes Docker and Railway deployment configs, and the Cap team officially supports self-hosting under the AGPL license.