Best Free Screen Recorders for Mac in 2026: Limits Compared

The best free screen recorder for most Mac users is already installed. Press ⇧⌘5 (Shift-Command-5) to record your whole screen or part of it. There's no watermark, and the only time limit is your free disk space. If you need more, pick the free app whose limit you can live with: no Mac audio, no editing, a watermark, or a short export length.

Quick answer:

• QuickTime Player and ⇧⌘5: best for quick clips with nothing to install and no watermark.
• OBS Studio: best for long recordings with no paid tier, or if you also stream. It's free and open source.
• Recordly: best if you want auto zoom and an editor in a free, open-source app (based on our May 2026 notes).
• Screen Bolt (free version): best for short, polished clips under 3 minutes, or for trying the editor before you buy. Exports are watermarked and capped at 720p.

We make Screen Bolt, so weigh our view accordingly. We've tried to be fair to every app here, and that includes saying where a free tool does the job better than ours.

How we chose: what "free" really means

"Free" covers very different deals. Before you record anything important, check these five things:

• Watermark. Some free versions stamp a logo on every export. This is the most common catch.
• Length limit. A cap can apply to the recording itself or only to what you can export.
• Resolution limit. Some free tiers clamp exports to 720p, which looks soft on a Retina screen.
• Mac audio. The built-in recorder captures a microphone, not the sound your Mac plays. That matters for demos with app sounds and tutorials that play audio.
• Editing. Raw recordings usually need at least a trim. Some free tools only record. Others include a full editor.

We also looked at the minimum macOS version and whether each app is still maintained. We didn't run benchmarks. Facts about other apps come from their official sites and public listings checked in November 2026, except Recordly and Loom, which come from our own notes from May 2026.

The apps run from simplest to most featured: the built-in tools, then free open-source apps, then the free version of a paid app.

Best free screen recorders for Mac compared

As of November 2026.

Cap and Loom aren't in the table because we couldn't verify their free plans. See the section on them below.

QuickTime Player and Shift-Command-5

macOS has a free recorder built in. The ⇧⌘5 toolbar and QuickTime Player's File > New Screen Recording open the same tool.

1. Press ⇧⌘5.
2. Click Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion. For a portion, drag the frame over the area you want.
3. Click Options to choose a microphone, a save location and a timer. You can also turn on Show Mouse Clicks, which draws a circle around each click.
4. Click Record.
5. To stop, click the stop button in the menu bar, or press ⌃⌘⎋ (Control-Command-Escape). Recordings are saved as .mov files. They go to the Desktop unless you pick another location in Options. For more on where files end up, see where screen recordings go on a Mac.

What it can't do:

• Record the sound your Mac plays. You only get a microphone. To capture app or system audio, you need a loopback driver such as BlackHole, which routes audio into a recording app, and you have to set up that routing yourself. Our guide to recording internal audio on Mac covers the options.
• Record one window on its own. You can only record the whole screen or a fixed area, so anything that moves into that area gets recorded too.
• Do more than basic editing. In QuickTime Player, Edit > Trim (⌘T) cuts the start and end. There's no zoom, no cursor effects and no overlays.
• Add a webcam overlay in the same file. Our webcam overlay guide covers ways around this.

Who should just use it: anyone recording a quick bug report, a clip for a colleague, or anything where the raw screen is good enough. If that's you, you don't need another app. Our guide to screen recording on Mac and the QuickTime screen recording guide go into more detail.

OBS Studio

OBS Studio is free, open-source software for recording video and streaming live. As of November 2026, the official site lists version 33.0.1. There are separate installers for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. OBS needs macOS 13.0 or newer, and it also runs on Windows and Linux.

What it's good at:

• It's free and open source, so there's no paid tier holding features back.
• It records high-quality H.264 video with AAC audio.
• It streams to Twitch, YouTube and many other services from the same app.
• You can use the same tool on a Mac, a Windows PC and Linux.

What it lacks: the sources we checked list no editing, zoom or styling features. Plan on trimming and polishing your recording in a separate editor.

Price: free, as of November 2026.

Pick it if you want free recording with no paid tier, you also stream, or you work across Mac, Windows and Linux. For a quick clip, ⇧⌘5 is faster. For simpler apps, see our OBS alternatives for Mac.

Kap

Kap is a free, open-source screen recorder for macOS. Its code is on GitHub (wulkano/Kap), and there are separate downloads for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. It's built with web technology, not native code.

If you use Homebrew, you can install it from Terminal:

brew install --cask kap

This downloads Kap and installs it in your Applications folder. To remove it, run brew uninstall --cask kap.

What we can't confirm: Homebrew lists the current version as 3.6.0, but we couldn't find a release date. That means we can't say whether Kap is still actively maintained. We also couldn't confirm its minimum macOS version or its feature set. Check the GitHub page for recent activity before you rely on it for regular work.

Price: free, as of November 2026.

Pick it if you want a free, open-source Mac recorder and you're happy to check its current state yourself. If it doesn't fit, our Kap alternatives page lists other options.

Recordly

Recordly is a free, open-source (AGPL) recorder and editor for Mac, Windows and Linux. The details here come from our own notes from May 2026, and we haven't rechecked them since. We also don't have a confirmed homepage for it, so search for it by name and check the current version before you download. Its interface is built with Electron, and on Mac it captures through Apple's ScreenCaptureKit.

What it's good at: auto zoom, speed regions, annotations, a webcam overlay, backgrounds, GIF export and a project file format. Few free tools offer that much editing.

What it lacks: it exports MP4 and GIF only, so there's no MOV. Our notes don't include a minimum macOS version.

Price: free, per our May 2026 notes.

Pick it if you want auto zoom and an editor without paying, and you're comfortable checking that the project is still current.

Screen Bolt's free version

Screen Bolt is our Mac screen recorder with a built-in timeline editor. The free version isn't a timed trial. It never expires and needs no account. You get every recording and editing feature, and the limits apply only to exports.

What the free version includes:

• Recording a display, an area you drag out, or a single window. A window is recorded on its own, even if other windows cover it.
• Recording your webcam, your microphone and the Mac's own audio, with no loopback driver needed.
• No limit on recording length.
• The full editor, including auto zoom created from your clicks, a smoothed cursor, backgrounds, text, annotations, blur and voice clean-up. The teleprompter is included too.
• MP4 and MOV export.

What the free version limits (as of November 2026):

The same limit affects automatic export. If you set Screen Bolt to export straight after recording (Export to file), a free recording longer than 3 minutes fails without any message.

To see which mode you're in, open Settings > General > License. In free mode the badge reads FREE, with the text "Free mode — exports limited to 3 min, 720p, watermark, no GIF."

Who should use the free version:

• Anyone making short clips where a small watermark is fine, such as a feature teaser, a quick how-to or a bug walkthrough.
• Anyone who wants to try auto zoom and the editor on real work before paying.

Who shouldn't: if you need long recordings or unbranded exports at no cost, use QuickTime or OBS instead. Screen Bolt needs macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. It also has no share links or cloud upload, because exports are local files.

Price: free, or $79 one-time for Pro with updates included and a 14-day money-back guarantee, as of November 2026. You can download the free version and buy a license from the app later if the limits get in your way. The export help page has the full details on export settings.

Cap and Loom: check their free plans first

Cap is a recorder for Mac and Windows built around share links. Loom is built for async video messages shared as links, with recordings stored in the cloud. Our May 2026 notes describe Loom as a subscription product.

We don't have verified details of either free plan as of November 2026. That means we can't tell you whether they add a watermark or limit length, resolution or links. Check their sites before you plan a long recording around them. For more, see Cap alternatives, whether Loom is free, and Loom alternatives if you'd rather keep your files on your Mac.

Which free recorder for which job

• A quick clip with no watermark: ⇧⌘5. Nothing to install.
• Long recordings with no export cap: QuickTime if you don't need Mac audio. OBS Studio if you also stream or work on Windows or Linux.
• Recording the Mac's own sound: Screen Bolt's free version, or the built-in recorder plus a loopback driver.
• Free auto zoom in an open-source app: Recordly, after you check it's still current.
• Short, polished clips, or trying a paid editor first: Screen Bolt's free version. Keep takes under 3 minutes.
• Sending a link instead of a file: Cap or Loom, once you've checked their current free plans.

If free stops being enough, our best screen recorders for Mac page compares paid options. QuickTime alternatives covers apps that fill the gaps in the built-in recorder.

FAQ

Is there a free screen recorder for Mac with no watermark?

Yes. The built-in ⇧⌘5 recorder and QuickTime Player add no watermark and have no time limit beyond your disk space. OBS Studio and Kap are free and open source, with no paid tier to upgrade to.

Can a free Mac screen recorder capture system audio?

The built-in recorder can't capture the sound your Mac plays unless you add a loopback driver. Screen Bolt's free version records the Mac's audio directly, but its exports have the free-version limits.

Does Screen Bolt's free version expire?

No. There's no time-limited trial. The free version stays free. Its exports are watermarked, capped at 3 minutes and 720p, and can't be GIFs.

How long can you screen record on a Mac for free?

With ⇧⌘5 or QuickTime, you can record until your disk fills up. Screen Bolt's free version also records without a length limit, but it only exports recordings up to 3 minutes. See how long you can screen record on a Mac for details.