10 of the Best Free Screen Recorders for Mac (2019 edition) 1) Monosnap Overall Best screen recording tool for Mac Monosnap is widely regarded as one of the best free screen recorders for Mac due to a plethora of features that it possesses. For starters, it automatically turns on your webcam, mic and system audio before the recording takes place. During recording, you can use an external microphone to add narration to this video. It also has a built-in editor to zoom in and out the videos as well as add text. With one-click operation, you can start screen recording. Pros: A free online screen recorder without watermark and easy to use. Available to full screen and customized recording. Here is a list of the best free software to screen capture MAC.There are a number of inbuilt software to help you capture screen on MAC. You can make use of different applications, like: Grab, Preview, and Screen Capture tool to take the screenshot. You can also make use of Terminal to take screenshot using commands. There are several other software as well that let you take screenshot on MAC. The free Mac screen recorder software allows you to trim, crop or rotate the video you have captured apart from adjusting the video speed, removing audio, adding new audio, etc. Also, you can save the images as Tiff, JPG, PNG, BMP, etc. You can edit the screenshot images with change options like graph size adjustment, graph color change, undo. Easy and free screen recorder for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks. Record your camera and screen with audio directly from your Chrome browser and share the video with your team, friends, and family.

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

Are you looking for a professional screen recorder for Mac to help you to share game victories on YouTube or record a video tutorial? Though there are so many recording and capturing programs out there, with plenty of functions and amazing features.

How do you choose the best screen recorder for Mac?

Some of them only record the screen, some costs too much, and others may be difficult to handle.

But do not worry, this passage will list the best 10 screen recorders for Mac, including free and paid, and you can download the one you need to capture your own screen video.

Part 1: Best 4 Mac screen recorders (Free)

Free Screen Recorder For Macbook

Apeaksoft Screen Recorder for Mac

Apeaksoft Screen Recorder for Mac is the free screen capture software for Mac users.

4,000,000+ Downloads

Record video and audio on Mac smoothly.

Edit video while recording video on Mac.

Record gameplay, video tutorial, webcam, online meeting, etc.

Work for Mac OS X 10.9 or above (macOS Mojave included).

Step 1. Install Screen Recorder for Mac

After downloading Apeaksoft Screen Recorder for Mac on your computer, you can install and run it on your MacBook Pro/Air/mini or iMac.

Step 2. Select record area and audio source

Click the third button to set the recording area. You can record full screen, a fixed region or a custom region as you like.

Click the mircophone-alike button to enable microphone recording. Otherwise, you just enable system audio recording.

Step 3. Record Your Mac Screen

Click the REC button and start to record your Mac screen, including video and audio. After that, you can preview and save the project.

The free version of this software lets you record video and audio on Mac without time limitation. However, you are only allowed to save the 3 minutes of the recording.

QuickTime Player

QuickTime, owned by Apple, is rated as one of the most powerful screen recorders for Mac with built in media player. You can view wide number of file formats using this software tool. The video recording of QuickTime skill brings rich quality output with improved audio combination.

Besides, the latest vision of this screen recorder for Mac develops some basic editing features in the timeline. After recording the screen video, you are also supported to trim, clip the video, or add another video at the end of the timeline. Then you can share the recording directly to YouTube, Mail and other apps and websites.

However, the disadvantage of QuickTime is that the timeline is too small, and you are not allowed to add any annotations.

Free Screen Recording Video Mac

Monosnap

Monosnap, developed by Farminers Limited, is another free and quick screen recording tool for Mac users. A great feature of this software is that you can draw a pointer or rectangle when you are recording a video. During desktop recording, you are also allowed to use the Mac built-in webcam or add an external camera.

What's more, this Mac screen recorder supports you to export the screenshots or recording video to many cloud-based storage websites, such as iCloud, Amazon S23, all social network, and even the web sharing space of Monosnap.

The editing features of Monosnap are too limited. You are only allowed to crop the beginning or the end of the recording, and save one vision of the editing video.

Capture Me

Capture Me, as another Mac screen recorder, provides you more choices to create a screen recording. It is resizable to various resolutions and offers quite a lot output options. As for the download, Capture Me is really a light application that requires less space than the average software.

It lets you record gameplay like LOL, PS3/4 gameplay, videos, tutorial on Mac freely.

However, the video recording mode 'Again With No Sound' only works for a limited duration of one minute, which is pretty helpless for recording video tutorials.

Part 2: Best 6 screen recorders for Mac (Paid)

ScreenRecord Studio ($16)

Similar to QuickTime, ScreenRecord Studio is also a wonderful screen recorder for Mac. It allows you to capture and record the screen in a high definition, and plays a crucial role in creating training CDs, visual tutorials and even monitoring device.

As a lightweight Mac screen recorder, ScreenRecord Studio has a clean and easy-to-use interface, which can help you handle effortless. After recording, you can also simply edit for the recording video, for example, adding data and time. And it supports you to export the recordings to various formats.

If you have to say one shortcoming of ScreenRecord Studio, the words 'Demo Version' will show up on the recording movie.

Snagit ($25)

If you are looking for a Mac screen recording tool to create short, quick videos or upload to blog posts, Snagit should be your best choice. With Snagit, you can quickly upload your short recording to Screencast.com and embedding linked recordings in blog posts. Or you can share the recording videos privately.

Different with other screenshot application, Snagit can remain all your recordings in a specific folder where you can search them without too much effort. You can also use the keyboard shortcut to recording your screen, or draw a custom frame on the desktop to capture and record the screen.

As a light screen recorder for Mac, Snagit can only offer simple edits for the recording. You are not allowed to add titles or other annotations. You may also want to know some alternatives to Snagit.

ScreenFlow ($99)

If you want to get more control over the capturing and editing of the screen videos, the widely used ScreenFlow can meet your satisfactory. This screen recorder for Mac allows you to record anything on Mac desktop, as well as crop, zoom, and pan the recording for a perfect looking production.

What's more, you can also add annotations, callouts, and display one or multiple clips on the main movie. The latest vision of ScreenFlow improves an in-app access to iTunes and iPhoto libraries, and an ability to delete unused raw footage, and add more templates for applying your recording to clipping in the timeline.

To sum up, you will be surprised to what the one-hundred-dollar Mac screen recorder brings to you.

Screen Mimic ($65)

Screen Mimic is a Mac screen recording tool designed at creating Adobe Flash videos (SWF), Flash Videos (FLV) as well as Quick Time files (MOV). The movies in these formats mentioned above can be uploaded to the websites and applications much more easily.

The latest vision of Screen Mimic improves the status indication when you pause a recording, and also resolved the issue that Screen Mimic might not prompt to save an unsaved video when quitting the software.

Though Screen Mimic is not so perfect, and its price is a little high, it deserves you to have a try if you really like the way this screen recorder for Mac works.

Snapz Pro X ($69)

Snapz Pro X supports you to capture and record everything on your Mac easily and effortlessly. After recording, you can save the videos as Quick Time files or screenshot directly, share them on the websites, put on your blog, or upload to wherever you like.

This excellent screen recorder for Mac is supposedly '20 times faster' than any other screen recording software, and offers a plenty of wonderful features to help you edit the video. However, Snapz Pro X costs $69, and the interface looks a little dated.

Camtasia Stuido ($249)

Camtasia Stuido is one of the most popular and professional screen recorders for Mac and PC. Not only recording screen, add video, images, audio and PowerPoint presentation, but also making editing video easy, apply multiple effects and more. What is more, you can always add annotation, transitions, and voices to the multi-track timeline.

But there is one major drawback for the Mac screen recorder, it should be a little complicated to edit the files due to the powerful editing functions of the program.

The above top 10 screen recorders are for Mac. If you are using an iPhone or iPad, visit this page to take the iPhone screen recorders here.

Part 3: FAQs of Screen Recorder for Mac

1. How do I record my screen on Mac with audio?

To record Mac screen, you can use QuickTime to start a screen recording. If you need to record audio on Mac as well, you can also use QuickTime, but it is not good enough since it can only record the audio through external speakers and built-in microphone. Here we recommend you a more professional scree & audio recorder called Apeaksoft Screen Recorder for Mac, which is capable of record screen with audio on Mac smoothly. You can use it to record audio from System Audio, Microphone or both with high sound quality.

2. Can I record a sound on Mac?

Yes, you can use a tool like Apeaksoft Screen Recorder for Mac to help you record a sound on your Mac. This audio recorder can help you capture audio from System Audio, Microphone or both with high sound quality. You are able to record streaming music, radio or online audio instead of downloading them and save the captured audio in MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A, etc. for easy playback.

3. Can I record video and audio on Mac with QuickTime?

QuickTime Player can work with screen and audio recording. QuickTime is a good choice to solve how to record video and audio on Mac. Moreover, you can also do some easy editing on your videos using QuickTime Player.

Conclusion

When you need to record screen on Mac, whether game victories, video tutorial, movies or even images, you can find the suitable screen recorder for Mac from the article. If you have any other query about the best screen recorder for Mac, you can share more information in the article.