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Interested in creating video tutorials to teach others how to use software? Or perhaps you need to communicate a computer problem you’re experiencing. Screen recording software is one of the most effective ways of presenting this information.

Fortunately, you’ll find an excellent selection for macOS at your disposal. Whether you need something simple and free or the advanced features of a paid solution, we’ve rounded up the best screen recorders for Mac to help you decide.

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1. ScreenFlow

The first aspect you’ll notice about ScreenFlow is the price tag. Is it justified?

That depends on how many of the extensive features you’ll actually use. Calling ScreenFlow a screen recorder is like referring to Mount Everest as a sandcastle.

Not only can you record from multiple monitors, but you can choose to record from your webcam and connected iOS device simultaneously. Combine that with the ability to record audio, and you have the perfect setup for creating video tutorialsHow to Make a Screencast Tutorial for YouTubeHow to Make a Screencast Tutorial for YouTubeOne of the most popular types of YouTube video is the screencast. Here's how to easily make your own.Read More.

Movavi Screen Recorder for Mac will solve your problem. The program is so easy and intuitive that you don’t spend any time learning how to use it. Movavi’s video recording software for Mac is compatible with OS X 10.10 or higher, as well as with any MacBook model, including Air and Pro.

Recorded media from all sources then saves to a single timeline where you can turn the raw footage into a professional-grade video quickly and easily. Annotations, callouts, and video motions are at your fingertips in an easy-to-use interface.

One particularly interesting feature is the touch callouts, which can demonstrate screen touches and gestures if you’re recording the screen on an iOS device.

ScreenFlow also has a variety of exporting options depending on where you’d like to view your finished video. You’ll find presets from lossless ProRes codecs to ones specifically for the Apple TV.

If you’re considering making many screen recordings that involve multiple sources, and you’d like to add some embellishments in post-production, ScreenFlow might be what you’re looking for.

Download:ScreenFlow (Free trial)
Download:ScreenFlow ($129)

2. Snagit

Perhaps having a fully fledged video editor is overkill for your use case. Maybe you’re looking to create mostly disposable videos quickly without needing many of the post-production enhancements that come with ScreenFlow. Snagit combines some of the best screen recording features in a simple interface.

It allows simultaneous recording from screens and webcams, but you can’t overlay the videos, and you will need to toggle between which one is recorded. Snagit also allows you to record audio; you can view your past recordings and tag them for finding them quickly in the future.

Snagit features a powerful image editor with a vast library of assets to annotate your images on the fly. One handy feature is the ability to export a video as a GIF with a single click from the preview screen.

Snagit is perfect if your focus is getting good-enough screen recordings that will probably have a short shelf life.

Download:Snagit (Free trial)
Download:Snagit ($50)

3. Camtasia

Camtasia has been around since 2002, which makes it a screen recording veteran. Like Snagit, it’s developed by Techsmith.

While Snagit focuses on quickly recording and exporting, Camtasia is a beefier screen recorder with a fully featured video editor.

Camtasia’s interface may seem busy, but it becomes comfortable quickly. The first time you start Camtasia, it loads a sample project with a handy video tutorial. This extends to Camtasia’s numerous other video tutorials on its website to help you start churning out professional screen recordings as quickly as possible.

The app offers screen recordings from multiple sources, and records audio from both a mic or the system. You can also send recordings from your mobile device directly, but admittedly, this mobile device integration isn’t as smooth as ScreenFlow’s.

Camtasia’s trump card is in the plethora of assets that are available to enhance your videos. It includes beautifully designed annotations, callouts, transitions, and visual effects.

Since these are all drag-and-drop, you can apply and customize them in a matter of seconds. Camtasia also makes quick work of adding clicks, keystrokes, spotlights, and zooms so viewers can easily follow along with the instructor.

Like ScreenFlow, this app does come with a significant cost. But if you’re after a polished interface and looking to create videos that are stick around for some time, it might be worth the investment.

Download:Camtasia (Free trial)
Download:Camtasia ($249)

If you’re in the market for an app to capture scrolling screenshots on your mobile deviceThe 7 Best Apps for Scrolling Screenshots on Android and iOSThe 7 Best Apps for Scrolling Screenshots on Android and iOSNeed to capture scrolling screenshots on your iPhone or Android device? Here are 7 apps to make long screenshots easily.Read More too, take a peek at this list:

4. Movavi Screen Capture Studio

Movavi’s Screen Capture Studio is one of the highest-rated screen recorders. It has all the ingredients of a fantastic screen recorder, with the full range of editing tools to suit both casual and professional users.

Movavi sits in the sweet spot between price and functionality. It combines a broad set of tools with an easy-to-use interface, and has the benefit of being both a quick capture tool and full-featured editor.

Once you’re done capturing, you can make some quick edits before either saving or sharing directly to YouTube. If you need more advanced edits, you can open your capture in the video editor.

This editor is your typical timeline with an excellent set of editing tools, including a chroma key (used if you have a green screen). There’s also a good selection of filters, transitions, and titles. And the editor even offers two modes, one of which is an easy mode for creating a quick montage. Movavi also has a store containing a catalog of effects and transitions depending on the video you’re producing.

Movavi really shines when it comes to the exporting options available. You’re able to tweak the resolution, frames per second (FPS), and choose a specific format. You can also choose from a wide range of presets like exporting for specific mobile devices or 4K TVs. Movavi also allows you to upload directly to your YouTube channelEverything You Need To Know About Uploading Videos To YouTubeEverything You Need To Know About Uploading Videos To YouTubeCurrently, there are three ways to upload videos to YouTube. Here's an in-depth look at how to use your computer, phone, or games console.Read More from within the editor.

Download:Movavi Screen Capture Studio (Free trial)
Download:Movavi Screen Capture Studio ($60)

5. QuickTime

If you use case doesn’t involve complex editing, annotations, and filters, Apple has a screen recorder baked into macOSHow to Screen Record on a MacHow to Screen Record on a MacWondering how to screen record on Mac? We've got you covered with several methods to record video of what's on your screen.Read More. QuickTime is a reliable video player, but it’s also a quick and easy screen recorder that you don’t have to pay for.

Just open QuickTime Player, then go to File > New Screen Recording. You’ll see a popup screen capture menu where you can choose the area of the screen you want to capture. Select the dropdown icon next to the record button to select a microphone for adding audio.

QuickTime features some essential editing tools like rotation, splitting, and trimming. You can also add clips to the end of a sequence if you’d like to combine your screen capture with something that you’re referencing. You will, however, need a video converter if you’re looking to export in anything other than MOV format.

QuickTime is perfect if you need to record your screen in a pinch and you don’t require any annotations, filters, or effects. It’s also one of the best video converter apps for macOSThe 7 Best Video Converter Apps for macOSThe 7 Best Video Converter Apps for macOSNeed a Mac video converter app? Here are the best options for easily converting any kind of video on macOS.Read More. Pair QuickTime with a free Mac video editorThe 8 Best Free Video Editors for MacThe 8 Best Free Video Editors for MacNeed to edit video on a budget? These free Mac video editors let you perform essential video editing tasks at no cost.Read More if you need more options.

Which Mac Screen Recorder Is Best?

Ultimately, choosing any piece of software is driven by both your requirements and budget. If you’re looking to record your iPhone or iPad along with your Mac screen frequently, ScreenFlow makes an excellent choice.

Snagit offers a good set of essential tools and makes it easy to share with other apps. The other paid options do come with a slight learning curve, but offer flexibility when making changes. They also have a good selection of assets to add that professional touch to your videos.

Aside from QuickTime, each of the screen recording apps mentioned above have trial versions. Make sure to test out the software before spending the money. And for more Mac tips, check out where screenshots and videos go on a MacWhere Do Screenshots and Photos Go on a Mac?Where Do Screenshots and Photos Go on a Mac?Where do screenshots go on Mac? Here's how to take, find, and manage macOS screenshots and video recordings.Read More, along with helpful ways to stay organized with built-in apps like Apple Notes7 Ways to Organize Apple Notes for Smarter Productivity7 Ways to Organize Apple Notes for Smarter ProductivityLove Apple Notes but struggle to keep everything organized? Here's some advice on ways to keep your Apple Notes straight.Read More.

There are no shortage of free screen recording programs for Windows, but when it comes to macOS, most screen recording apps are paid. Yes, you can use the in-built QuickTime to record your screen (which is what I was using so far) but if you do a lot of screen recording than QuickTime is not the most efficient way to go about it. Why? Well, to start with, there is no keyboard shortcut, no video editor, and no auto saved. Sometimes QuickTime just doesn’t work unless you restart it.

In short, if you do a lot of screen recording on your macOS, you need a third-party screen recording software. So, here are some alternatives to QuickTime to record a screencast on Mac for free.

Related: Best Video Editing Software for YouTube — A YouTuber Perspective

Best Screen Recorder For Mac

1. Apowersoft Screen Recorder

Apowersoft Screen Recorder is one of the popular free screen recording tools on any platform. Once installed on your mac, select a region and start recording. In the screen recording frame, you can click on the drop-down option to pick up a resolution like 720p, 1080p, iPhone, iPad etc. This free app allows unlimited screen recording with no watermark, however, the paid version has a Video Converter and Video Editor. You can set the recording quality from 15-60 fps, depending on whether you want to use on the web or make a professional video.

Apowersoft also offers a web-based screencast software which means you can record your screen without downloading any software, you need to install a launcher though if it’s the first time.

Verdict:

Apowersoft screen recorder is a free app for unlimited screen recording, no watermark or time restriction. However, once you stop the recording, it asked where you want to save it (just like QuickTime), so depending on the situation it might be a bit time-consuming. However, the app does not support taking or editing screenshot neither can it automatically upload to cloud. In my opinion, it’s a decent screen recorder but, there are better options available.

2. Screen Recorder Robot Lite

Screen recorder robot lite is a bit more powerful than Apowersoft screen recorder.

The unique thing about this screen recorder is, once you stop your recording it opens that clip in the built-in video editor, where you can trim, crop, rotate, change the playback speed etc. From here you can either edit your video in the video editor or just close the window and the recording will be saved in your Pictures folder on your Mac.

The only issue with this video recorder is – every time you stop the recording, it shows a pop saying the lite version only records for 600s (or 5 mins), and to get rid of it, you need to click cancel each time.

The apps support keyboard shortcut for – start, stop, pause the recording and can also capture screenshots.

Verdict:

Screen recorder robot lite is definitely one of the best feature-rich screencasting apps out there. If you need a build in video editor with your screen recorder then look no further. However, the only limitation to the app is – 5 mins of free recording, if you want more than that, its $7.99 for the full version.

3. Recordit: Instant Screencasts & GIFs

This app is not for everyone. Unlike all the other screen recording app in the list, which saves the recording to the local drive of your computer, Recordit uploads the video to the cloud storage. It’s meant for sharing videos quickly with remote co-workers.

So, here is how it works, once installed, you’ll see a tiny Recordit icon on the top menu bar of your macOS, click on that to record any area of your screen and when once done, click the stop button, seconds after that, you’ll get a link to share your screencast.

Once the video is uploaded it automatically copy the link of that video to your clipboard, and store it on the server for the unknown amount of time. so you can always go back and find the link by right-clicking on the app. however, there is no naming, so you’ll have to rely on time date stamp.

One thing to keep in mind is – you need to have a good upload speed if you are planning to use this. I recorded a 3 min full-screen video on my 5k iMac and it took the app 4 minutes to upload it to the server. I’ve 8 Mb/s upload speed. And the final size of the video was 35 MB, so it’s safe to assume they are compressing the video footage.

Recordit also has a video to gif option on their website. So, if you want to quickly share a small screencast on Reddit, this will make it a lot easier.

Verdict

Recordit is for people who want to quickly share their screencast with other people. The recordings are limited to 5 mins only in the free version. And there is no paid version of this app.

However, there is one major problem with the app – it doesn’t keep a local copy of your recording, which means if the internet goes down for some reason, the video’ won’t be uploaded and you have to start all over.

Overall it’s perfect for sharing an image or video quickly. But not if you want to use the screen recording in some other video.

4. OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)

It’s hard to figure out how to install and use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) at first. But after bit Google search, I was able to figure out how it works.

Once installed, the app gives you auto configuration pop-up, asking you whether you want to configure it, go for 1080p, etc. It’s basically meant for streaming, but if you want to use it not for streaming then you can configure it in the start pop page.

Verdict:

OBS is a popular screen recording software among YouTuber gaming channel. It’s free, open source and highly customizable. However, it’s difficult to setup and use. If you are not a geek, you might have a difficult time to set it up and the given that better version is available, I guess you should skip this one.

5. Monosnap

This is one of the best screen recording software available out there for free. Just after using this software for 5 minutes, I know my search for best screen recording app for Mac has ended.

Like every other software in this list, it lets you capture full screen or just part of the screen. But on top of that, it also lets you capture a particular window with a webcam in Picture-in-Picture mode.

Although, there is no video editor for screen recording. Monosnap does provide an image editor for your screenshot where you can add arrows, annotation, text etc. and once you are done you can either save your video in the local storage or upload it cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote. However, these services are paid for $8 in-app purchases. You can upload it for free on Amazon s3 or R0emote FTP server though.

But the feature that really blown my mind is – the built-in image editor (mini photoshop) i.e. say, you have screenshot that you want to quickly edit or a picture that you find on the Internet, then you can just copy that picture to your clipboard and then right-click on Monosnap in toolbar and select open in the clipboard, this will open the image directly in Monosnap editor.

There is also an option to convert your video to gif.

Verdict:

Overall, if you are looking for an advanced screen recorder for Mac, then look no further. Monosnap is best you can get for free. It can do everything a paid screen recorder does. The only limitation is – you can not edit your video.

Comparison table