A free screen recorder for Mac with the editor included

A free screen recorder for the Mac that comes with the video editor, the camera effects, the audio tools and the screenshot editor. Free caps the take itself: three minutes, recorded at 720p, with a small watermark in the frames.

Free to use. Recordings are capped at three minutes and export at 720p with a watermark.

Editor

The editor comes with it.

The take you just stopped opens on a timeline in the same app, with its clips, the microphone and system audio on separate tracks, and the tool panel already open. None of the editor is held back for a paid tier.

Timeline
Separate audio tracks
No import step

The OwnClip video editor: a recording on the timeline with its filmstrip, the microphone and system audio waveforms on separate tracks below, and the tool panel open on the right — The editor the recording opens into — clips, both audio tracks, and the tools down the side

What the free tier includes

All of this is in the free Mac screen recording app. The five limits are named together, further down.

Whole screen, window or region

A display, a single window, or a region you drag out — including one that spans two displays.

The full video editor

Trim, cut, change speed, work on the audio and export. Editing is non-destructive: edits live in a project beside the original, which is never rewritten.

Camera on its own track

How big it is and where it sits stay editable after the take. The camera always accompanies a screen capture; there is no camera-only mode.

Transcription and captions

The words come out of the recording on your Mac, timestamped and editable, and burn in at export.

Every export format

MP4, HEVC, MOV, ProRes 422 and 4444, and GIF are all on the free tier. Free exports come out at 720p and carry the watermark.

The screenshot editor too

Pen, marker, highlighter, shapes, four arrow styles, text, numbered steps, blur, crop and signatures, in the same download.

Camera

The camera is free too.

Record your face beside the screen with background blur, background replacement, smart framing and auto-light, all running on your own Mac while the take happens. None of it is a paid add-on and none of it uploads.

On-device
Blur or replace
Smart framing

The OwnClip camera settings showing background options and effects applied to a live webcam preview — Camera effects run on-device while you record

Where the free tier stops

Five caps on the take, not the toolkit: three minutes per recording, captured at 720p, a small “Made with OwnClip” mark composited into the frames as they are written, 25 recordings kept in the library, and five Capture Text extractions a month. Smart Zoom and Scroll Capture are the tools free does not include.

Pro is $39, paid once, and lifts all five — unlimited recording length, exports up to 4K at 60fps, no watermark, an unlimited library and unlimited text extraction. Studio is $99 once. Neither renews, and the free tier has no clock on it: it does not expire and it does not ask for a card.

Signing in is required before OwnClip will record, so an account is part of the deal. The recording, the editing and the AI work then happen on your Mac.

From download to first take

1Install the appThe DMG is about 200 MB. OwnClip runs on Apple silicon Macs on macOS 26 or later.
2Sign in onceRecording needs an account. No card is asked for and there is no trial period attached to it — the free tier stays free.
3Pick what to recordA display, a window, or a region you drag, with the camera and the audio sources switched on beside it.
4Stop, and keep workingThe take opens in the editor with its clips already on the timeline, ready to trim, adjust and export.

Every take, listed in one place.

Recordings show up in the library the moment you stop, each with its date and its length, on the Mac that recorded them and ready to reopen in the editor.

The OwnClip library listing recordings as thumbnails, each with its date and duration — Every take you have made, listed in one place on your own Mac

What free is already enough for

Showing a developer a bug

A minute of screen, a sentence of narration, and the exact steps that reproduce it.

Answering a question once

Recording the answer takes less time than writing it out for the third person who asks.

Marking up a screenshot

Capture, arrow, a line of text, done. The drawing tools carry no monthly count.

Deciding without a countdown

The free tier does not expire and does not ask for a card, so you can judge it on real work.

Questions people ask

Free includes the whole editor — timeline, camera effects, audio cleanup, captions, annotations, and the screenshot and PDF editors. What it caps is the take itself: three minutes, recorded at 720p, with a small watermark composited into the frames as they are written. You can keep 25 recordings. A few tools are paid rather than capped — Smart Zoom and Scroll Capture are Pro; Brand Studio, Go Live and Step Movie are Studio. Pro is $39 once and lifts every cap.

Yes, and it is the same editor. Trimming, cutting, speed changes, noise removal, transcription and captions, the screenshot editor, and HEVC, ProRes and GIF export are all on the free tier. Editing is non-destructive, so the original recording is never rewritten.

No. Signing in is required before OwnClip will record, so a free account is part of using it. No card is asked for and the free tier does not expire. Once you are signed in, recording, editing and every AI feature run on your Mac.

OwnClip needs macOS 26 or later on an Apple silicon Mac. It is a native Mac app — there is no Windows or web version.

Pro is $39 paid once: unlimited recording length, exports up to 4K at 60fps, no watermark, an unlimited library and unlimited text extraction, plus Smart Zoom, Scroll Capture and Batch Beautify. It activates one Mac at a time. Studio is $99 once, adds Brand Studio, Go Live and Step Movie, and activates up to two. Neither renews.

A screen recorder built for the MacThe hub: recording, editing and exporting on the Mac.Screen recording without the watermarkWhere the free watermark is applied, and the one-time $39 that removes it.Record and export your Mac screen in 4KThe real 4K ceiling, and which format to export into.A screen recorder that keeps your work on your MacWhere recordings live, what runs locally, and what touches the network.