--- title: I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and... description: A personal comparison of screen recording tools, moving from Windows/macOS built-ins to OBS Studio to Loom, and finally to Cap, an open-source, self-hostable... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and it's better than Loom ever was | daily.dev og:description: A personal comparison of screen recording tools, moving from Windows/macOS built-ins to OBS Studio to Loom, and finally to Cap, an open-source, self-hostable... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vkzV4AR2S.png og:image:alt: I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and it's better than Loom ever was og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and it's better than Loom ever was **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal comparison of screen recording tools, moving from Windows/macOS built-ins to OBS Studio to Loom, and finally to Cap, an open-source, self-hostable Loom alternative. Cap offers hosted, local, or S3-compatible storage, an Instant Mode for quick shareable links with viewer comments and AI transcripts/summaries, and a Studio Mode with a built-in timeline editor featuring automatic zooms based on cursor/click data, cursor smoothing, keyboard input overlays, text callouts, captions, and privacy blurring. Most of Cap is AGPLv3 licensed, with some components under MIT. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Cap and how does it compare to Loom for screen recording? Cap is an open-source, self-hostable screen recording app with desktop apps for Windows and macOS, available on GitHub. Most of it is licensed under AGPLv3, with camera and screen-capture components under MIT. It offers an Instant Mode similar to Loom for quick shareable recordings, plus a Studio Mode with a built-in editor for local, unedited recordings. _Comparing screen recording tools before switching workflows is easier with daily.dev's developer-focused coverage of open-source alternatives._ ### What does Cap's Automatic Zoom feature do in Studio Mode? Automatic Zoom records cursor and click data alongside the video so the editor can automatically generate zooms around the places clicked, with the focal point following the action. This removes the need to manually keyframe zooms when creating step-by-step demonstration videos, saving significant post-production editing time compared to tools like OBS Studio paired with a separate video editor. _Developers building demo videos can track tools like Cap that automate editing tasks via daily.dev._ ### Can Cap store screen recordings without uploading them to a third-party cloud service? Yes, Cap supports local-only storage of recordings and also allows connecting your own S3-compatible storage instead of relying on a hosted service. It can still function as a regular hosted app if preferred, giving users flexibility over where their recordings actually live. _Anyone weighing self-hosted versus hosted tooling can follow daily.dev for more open-source alternatives like Cap._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Capptivo: Free open-source screen recorder & demo editor](https://daily.dev/posts/capptivo-free-open-source-screen-recorder-demo-editor-esrbfwyqd) · Product Hunt · 117 upvotes · 4 comments - [I started editing my videos with this free open-source CapCut alternative, and my workflow got faster](https://daily.dev/posts/i-started-editing-my-videos-with-this-free-open-source-capcut-alternative-and-my-workflow-got-faste-qrgnjbs8s) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Onyx: Free, local-first 4K screen recorder](https://daily.dev/posts/onyx-free-local-first-4k-screen-recorder-bfnu8plnp) · Product Hunt · 88 upvotes · 2 comments - [Give AI agents the full picture with Loom video prompts](https://daily.dev/posts/give-ai-agents-the-full-picture-with-loom-video-prompts-xcednkc9s) · Atlassian · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Reimagining Screen Recording Architecture on macOS](https://daily.dev/posts/reimagining-screen-recording-architecture-on-macos-nold5hf8i) · Fatbobman · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and it's better than Loom ever was","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s"},"datePublished":"2026-08-16T16:31:41.337Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T20:58:37.381Z","description":"A personal comparison of screen recording tools, moving from Windows/macOS built-ins to OBS Studio to Loom, and finally to Cap, an open-source, self-hostable...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/22a2befb15958d31c2e9d4166990222b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/22a2befb15958d31c2e9d4166990222b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I replaced Loom with an open-source screen recorder and it's better than Loom ever was"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-loom-with-an-open-source-screen-recorder-and-it-s-better-than-loom-ever-was-vkzv4ar2s#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is Cap and how does it compare to Loom for screen recording?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cap is an open-source, self-hostable screen recording app with desktop apps for Windows and macOS, available on GitHub. 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