Bandicam Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 4 Free
Bandicam alternatives: OBS Studio, Cap, Screenity, Snagit and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Screen Recording & Streaming
Verdict:Bandicam's free version limits each recording to five minutes and puts a watermark on edited exports, according to its own comparison page, so anyone recording a full game session or a lecture hits a wall quickly. OBS Studio is the answer for most people leaving: GPL-2.0-or-later, free on Windows, macOS and Linux, and without a time cap. The cost is setup time, since you build scenes and sources instead of pressing one record button. Cap is easier if your use is demos and explainers on macOS or Windows; its free plan keeps local recordings unlimited, but cloud sharing links end at five minutes. Screenity works inside Chrome and suits tutorials about web apps, not games. Snagit and Loom are not real game-recording substitutes. Snagit is paid and aimed at annotated screenshots and short clips; Loom's free Starter plan limits screen recordings to five minutes and is designed for sending updates to teammates. The trade-off is simple. Bandicam hides hardware encoding choices behind a small window, while OBS asks you to learn bitrate and encoder settings, but it never expires and never watermarks. Pay for Bandicam only if you want its one-window workflow and accept a license cost you should check on its pricing page. Otherwise start with OBS Studio, and add Cap or Screenity for quick explainers.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | Free (open source, with no paid tier listed on its site) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free unlimited screen and game capture | Docs only |
| Cap | Free (local recordings with no time limit; shareable cloud links up to 5 minutes); paid from $8.16 per user/month, billed annually ($12 billed monthly, Cap Pro) | macOS, Windows, Self-hosted | Simple recording with shareable links | Docs only |
| Screenity | Free (the Chrome extension, which its FAQ says stays free); paid from $10 per month (paid editor, with up to 1 hour per recording; $120 billed yearly) | Chrome | Quick tutorials recorded in Chrome | Docs only |
| Snagit | Paid from $39 per user/year (Snagit Individual, billed yearly) | Windows, macOS | Annotated captures for documentation | Docs only |
| Loom | Free (Starter plan for up to 10 users with up to 25 recordings per person and a 5-minute screen recording limit); paid from $18 per user/month (Business, at the page's default view) | Web, Desktop app, Mobile app | Async video updates for a team | Docs only |
| Camtasia | Paid from $39 per year, billed yearly (Starter, includes Camtasia Editor and Snagit; Essentials $179.88, Create $249, Pro $599) | Windows, macOS | Video | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Images from the linked documentation. Versions and features may differ from current plans.
Good fit if
- You record long gameplay or streams for free (OBS Studio is the pick)
- You make short product demos with a share link (Cap is the pick)
- You record browser tutorials without installing software (Screenity is the pick)
- You need annotated screenshots for documentation (Snagit is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Bandicam features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Bandicam today: Free (Free version: each recording limited to 5 minutes; edited-video exports carry a watermark; no scheduled recording over 5 minutes) (Bandicam pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Bandicam alternatives
Bandicam's free version limits each recording to 5 minutes, adds a watermark to edited-video exports and burned-in subtitles, and blocks webcam virtual backgrounds. AI Transcription shows only part of the transcript, with copy, TXT and SRT export unavailable, and scheduled recording works only for clips under 5 minutes. Work or commercial use needs a Business License. The page covers Windows; Bandicam for Mac is a separate product.
OBS Studio
Compared with Bandicam: GPL-2.0-or-later, free on Windows, macOS and Linux, with no watermark and no recording time cap. It takes more setup than Bandicam's one-window recorder, but you pay nothing.
Price: Free (open source, with no paid tier listed on its site) (OBS Studio pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL-2.0-or-later (open source).
Project activity: 78.4k GitHub stars · latest release 33.0.0 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Free unlimited screen and game capture.
Worth knowing: OBS records on your machine; it has no remote guest recording.
Cap
Compared with Bandicam: AGPL-3.0 screen recorder for macOS and Windows with unlimited local recordings on the free plan. Cloud sharing links stop at five minutes, and it has fewer game-capture tools than Bandicam.
Price: Free (local recordings with no time limit; shareable cloud links up to 5 minutes); paid from $8.16 per user/month, billed annually ($12 billed monthly, Cap Pro) (Cap pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 23.9k GitHub stars · latest release cap-v0.6.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Simple recording with shareable links.
Screenity
Compared with Bandicam: GPL-3.0 Chrome extension that stays free. It records the browser and screen only, so it does not replace Bandicam for full-screen games, but it needs no install beyond Chrome.
Price: Free (the Chrome extension, which its FAQ says stays free); paid from $10 per month (paid editor, with up to 1 hour per recording; $120 billed yearly) (Screenity pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Chrome. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 18.8k GitHub stars · latest release v4.7.2 (Oct 25, 2026) · last commit Oct 25, 2026
Best for: Quick tutorials recorded in Chrome.
Snagit
Compared with Bandicam: Paid TechSmith tool for Windows and macOS with no free plan on its page. Better for screenshots and short clips with annotation than for long game recording, which Bandicam targets.
Price: Paid from $39 per user/year (Snagit Individual, billed yearly) (Snagit pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS. Proprietary.
Best for: Annotated captures for documentation.
Loom
Compared with Bandicam: Free Starter plan with a five-minute screen recording limit and 25 recordings per person. Good for sharing work updates by link, weaker than Bandicam for gameplay capture.
Price: Free (Starter plan for up to 10 users with up to 25 recordings per person and a 5-minute screen recording limit); paid from $18 per user/month (Business, at the page's default view) (Loom pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Desktop app, Mobile app. Proprietary.
Best for: Async video updates for a team.
Other popular options (paid)
Camtasia
Compared with Bandicam: Yearly plans start at $39 for Starter, then Essentials $179.88, Create $249 and Pro $599, on macOS 14+ and Windows 10 and 11. A full video editor as well as a recorder, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Price: Paid from $39 per year, billed yearly (Starter, includes Camtasia Editor and Snagit; Essentials $179.88, Create $249, Pro $599) (Camtasia pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You record long gameplay or streams for free: OBS Studio
- You make short product demos with a share link: Cap
- You record browser tutorials without installing software: Screenity
- You need annotated screenshots for documentation: Snagit
Limits of this review
Docs-only for OBS Studio, Cap, Screenity, Snagit, Loom: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Bandicam. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Bandicam, OBS Studio, Cap, Screenity, Snagit, Loom, Camtasia. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.