Loom alternatives for async video: free limits, editing and analytics

Loom’s free Starter plan allows 25 videos per person and 5-minute screen recordings (Loom pricing), which is fine for a quick reply and tight for a proper walkthrough. If you have hit that wall, or you want something cheaper, more private or better at editing, these are the alternatives worth a look. All of them handle the core job: record your screen and face, share a link, and let people watch in their own time.

How we picked

We compared screen and camera recorders that can replace Loom for internal async updates, using each vendor’s own pricing page.

• Free-plan recording limits: maximum length per recording and how many videos you can keep.
• Editing: trimming, splitting, transcript-based editing and captions, and which plan unlocks them.
• Viewer analytics: whether you can see views, who watched and how far they got.
• Price: the first paid plan, with the billing period the vendor states.

Prices checked 4 November 2026 on each vendor’s own pricing page. They change; check before you buy.

At a glance

The alternatives

Vidyard

Good for: sales and customer-facing teams who want to know exactly who watched. Price: Starter is US$59 per seat per month billed annually; Teams and Enterprise are quote-based. Vidyard says annual billing saves 30% (Vidyard pricing). Free plan: 5 recorded videos per month, each up to 30 minutes.

Starter unlocks unlimited recording, full video analytics and team performance analytics, plus branded sharing pages and password-protected videos. Automated captions sit on the Teams plan. Vidyard also sells an AI video add-on aimed at sales outreach.

Worth knowing: Vidyard is built for revenue teams, and it’s priced like it. For internal standups it’s more tool than you need.

Zight

Good for: people who mix screenshots, GIFs and short videos throughout the day. Price: Create (individuals) and Collaborate (teams of two or more) are both listed at US$12 per user per month, billed annually (Zight pricing). Free plan: one user, 1 GB of storage, 5-minute recordings at up to 720p, and the last 50 captures.

Create adds trimming and splitting on all platforms, merging, video annotations and redaction, plus view counts and view notifications. Collaborate adds advanced analytics, including watch percentage and viewer email visibility. Transcription in 50+ languages starts on Create.

Worth knowing: the free plan has no viewer analytics, and trim and split work only in the desktop app.

Screencastify

Good for: educators and individuals who need longer free recordings. Price: Starter is US$7 a month billed annually or US$19 monthly; Pro is US$10 annually or US$25 monthly (Screencastify pricing). Free plan: 10 videos of up to 30 minutes each, with a Castify watermark.

Starter removes the video cap and allows recordings of up to 60 minutes; Pro raises that to 180 minutes and adds AI video enhancements. Viewer analytics are limited on the free plan and unlimited on paid plans. Free users can earn up to 20 bonus videos by inviting others.

Worth knowing: the gap between annual and monthly pricing is large, so decide on billing before you commit.

Tella

Good for: polished walkthroughs and product demos where editing quality matters. Price: Pro is US$13 a month and Premium US$19 a month, both billed annually. Tella advertises 50% off for annual billing but we couldn’t confirm the monthly rates (Tella pricing). Free plan: none. There’s a 7-day free trial.

Tella records screen, camera, microphone and system audio, with clips of up to 6 hours and up to 4K. Editing is its strength: timeline and transcript editing, silence and filler-word removal, automatic layouts and zoom, and subtitle editing. Premium adds custom domains, removes Tella branding and lists advanced analytics.

Worth knowing: the page lists analytics features but doesn’t make clear which plan includes each one, so check before you buy for analytics.

ScreenPal

Good for: the cheapest paid plan with unlimited recording. Price: Deluxe is US$4 a month paid annually; Max is US$10 a month paid annually; Team Business is US$8 per user per month paid annually, for three or more users (ScreenPal plans). Free plan: recordings of up to 15 minutes, 10 hosted videos, basic editing and 5 video quizzes.

Deluxe unlocks unlimited recording and hosting, the full editor and AI speech-to-text captions. Viewer analytics, content trends and heatmaps sit on Max and Team Business. ScreenPal was formerly called Screencast-O-Matic.

Worth knowing: if analytics matter, the real starting price is Max, not Deluxe.

Microsoft Clipchamp

Good for: Microsoft 365 users who want a free recorder and editor in one. Price: Clipchamp’s premium features are included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. A work version is included in some Microsoft 365 business and education licences (Clipchamp pricing). Free plan: the screen and camera recorder is free for all users, with recordings of up to 30 minutes each and no cap on how many you make (Clipchamp screen recorder).

The free plan exports up to 1080p without a watermark and includes trim, crop and AI subtitles. Clipchamp is a video editor first, so it handles cutting several recordings into one clean update better than most recorders.

Worth knowing: we couldn’t confirm share links with viewer analytics, so it suits teams that host videos elsewhere, such as OneDrive or SharePoint.

Cap

Good for: teams that want an open-source recorder they can self-host. Price: Cap Pro is US$8.16 per user per month billed annually or US$12 monthly. A Desktop License for local recording costs US$29 a year or US$58 one-time (Cap pricing). Free plan: for personal use only, with 25 shareable links per month of up to 5 minutes each.

Cap’s editor (Studio Mode) is on every plan, including free, and Cap says you can self-host it on your own infrastructure. Unlimited cloud sharing and viewer analytics come with Cap Pro.

Worth knowing: the free plan is for personal use, so a business should start on the Desktop License or Pro.

Not on this list

We also looked at Claap and Bubbles. Both now lead with AI meeting recording and notes, which is a different job from async screen recording and outside what this site covers. That’s why they’re not on this list.

Picking one

If your updates are under five minutes and you mostly want speed, stay on Loom’s free plan or try Zight. If you need longer free recordings, Screencastify and Clipchamp both allow 30 minutes. If you care about who watched, budget for a paid plan almost everywhere. And if the videos are internal and sensitive, Cap’s self-hosting option is the one to look at.

Whichever tool you choose, decide what async video is for. Our async tools map puts video alongside chat and docs, and the async standup template shows when a written update beats a recording.

Template: a three-minute async video update

Read this as a script, not a speech. If it runs past three minutes, cut it or write it down instead.

ASYNC VIDEO UPDATE (target: under 3 minutes)

Title: [Team/Project] - [what this is about] - [date]

0:00  Context (1 sentence): what this is and who needs it.
0:15  Show, don't tell: screen on the thing itself.
1:30  The decision or question: say it plainly, once.
2:15  What you need: "Reply in the thread by [day]" or "No action".
2:45  Stop recording.

In the description:
- Decision needed? Y/N   Deadline: ________
- Link to the doc or ticket: ________
- Timestamps for anything over 2 minutes