Cap

Open Source

Cap is the open source alternative to Loom. Lightweight, powerful, and cross-platform. Record…

Unlimited Free TierOpen Sourcefrom $12/mo

Free plan checked against Cap's pricing page on 2 September 2026. Re-checked monthly.

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About Cap

Cap is an open source screen recorder for macOS and Windows that positions itself as the Loom alternative you can self-host. Developers, founders and support teams use it for quick walkthrough videos. The Free plan is permanent for personal use and includes the full editor.

What the free plan gives you

Unlimited local recordings with the desktop app
Studio Mode editing with 4K and 60fps export
Shareable cloud links for recordings up to 5 minutes
Team workspaces and community support
The full source on GitHub, so you can self-host the web app

Where the free plan stops

Two limits matter. Each recording is capped at 5 minutes, and the free licence is for personal use only, so recording for your job technically requires a paid tier. The Desktop License at $29/year removes the commercial restriction, allows unlimited local recording and editing, and gives 20 cloud share links a month (still 5 minutes each). Cap Pro at $12 per user per month, or about $8.16 on annual billing, adds unlimited cloud storage and links, AI titles, summaries, chapters and transcripts, a custom domain, password protection, viewer analytics, a Loom importer, and S3 or Google Drive storage. Enterprise adds SAML SSO, SCIM and managed self-hosting.

Who it suits

The free plan suits anyone recording short personal clips, or developers happy to self-host and skip Cap's cloud entirely. If you record at work, the honest minimum is the $29/year licence. Teams who want the Loom-style library with AI summaries are paying $12 a seat, which is close to Loom's own Business price, so compare features rather than assume Cap is cheaper.

Key Features

Summary

Chapters

Instant Links

Background Upload

Auto Transcription

AI Summaries

Smart Chapters

Browser Viewing

Pros & Cons

Open source — self-host it for nothing

Free tier has no hard usage ceiling

Covers summary on the free plan

Free plan verified against the vendor's pricing page

Vendor does not publish a clear free-plan breakdown

The free plan in practice

What you can actually do on Cap's free plan (Free and open source screen recorder), where it stops, and when it's worth paying.

What you can do free

Unlimited local recordings
Studio Mode with 4K/60fps export
Shareable links up to 5 minutes
Team workspaces
Open source, self-hostable

Where it stops

5-minute cap per recording
Personal use only, no commercial licence
No cloud storage or AI features (Cap Pro $12/mo)

When to upgrade to a paid plan

Cap is open source, so self-hosting is free and unlimited. The only reason to pay is convenience: choose a hosted or cloud option when you'd rather not run and maintain it yourself, or need official support.