8 Best Free Loom Alternatives in 2026 (Limits, Prices and AI Notes)

Loom’s free Starter plan stops at 5-minute recordings and 25 videos per person, and its AI summaries need a paid Business + AI seat (Loom pricing). So we went looking for tools that fix at least one of those limits without costing you anything to start.

Disclosure: we make Showplain, one of the tools on this list. We list it first because it is ours, and we say plainly where other tools do a better job.

The best free Loom alternatives in 2026 at a glance

Prices are per user per month in USD, as of November 2026. Each tool’s section below links to the pricing page we used.

How we picked

We checked 14 screen recorders on 1 November 2026, using official pricing pages wherever they loaded. We did not run long hands-on tests of every tool, so this list compares plans and features, not video quality. We looked at:

1. A usable free plan (we say so when there is none).
2. Free recording length, since Loom’s 5-minute cap is the first wall most people hit.
3. AI notes on the free plan: transcript, summary, chapters or action items.
4. Install needed? App, extension, or nothing.
5. First paid price, with the date we checked it.
6. A pay-once option.

We left out tools built for a different job (Scribe makes step-by-step guides; Supademo and Arcade make interactive demos). We also left out ScreenPal, Kommodo and Screen Studio, because we could not confirm enough of their current pricing on their own sites.

1. Showplain (ours): best Loom alternative without download

Showplain is a browser screen recorder that makes videos people can read. Record your screen, camera or both in Chrome or Edge. The link is copied the moment you stop, and the AI writes a summary, key points and a searchable transcript next to the video.

• Best for: quick updates, demos and bug reports where viewers would rather skim than watch.
• Free plan: unlimited recordings up to 15 minutes, share links that work for 90 days, AI transcript, summary and key points, and uploads of your own MP4 or WebM files. Videos carry a small “Made with Showplain” badge.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Pro is $12 a month or $96 a year ($8 a month). It adds 60-minute recordings kept forever, AI chapters and action items, your logo and a call-to-action button, and no badge. See Showplain pricing.
• Install needed? No. Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a computer, nothing else.
• AI notes: yes, on the free plan. You can speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese and many more languages; the summary is written in English.
• Watch out for: Showplain is brand new, so there are no reviews yet. It does not work on phones, Safari or Firefox. It has no video editing, no team workspaces, no integrations with tools like Slack, and no viewer analytics. Loom is ahead on all of those.

If you are deciding between the two, our Showplain vs Loom comparison goes through them side by side.

2. Bubbles: best free plan for longer recordings with AI summaries

Bubbles gives free users AI summaries and action items, and its free recordings run 30 minutes, twice Showplain’s free limit.

• Best for: people who want longer free videos with an AI summary.
• Free plan: 30-minute recordings, AI summaries and action items. Videos lock after 2 weeks.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Pro Teams is $12 a month billed yearly or $15 monthly, for 3 or more members. Pro Personal is $18 billed yearly or $22 monthly (Bubbles pricing).
• Install needed? Yes, a Chrome extension. Bubbles also offers a meeting notetaker.
• AI notes: summaries and action items on free; transcripts need Pro.
• Watch out for: the 2-week lock means free videos are not a long-term library.

3. Cap: best open-source recorder with a pay-once option

Cap is an open-source recorder (AGPLv3 licence) that runs as a desktop app on macOS, Windows and Linux. If you are weighing Cap vs Loom, Cap costs less and you can buy a lifetime desktop licence, but its free share links are capped at 5 minutes, the same wall as Loom.

• Best for: developers and anyone who prefers open-source software or a one-time payment.
• Free plan: for personal use; shareable links are capped at 5 minutes.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Cap Pro is $12 a month or $8.16 a month billed yearly. A desktop licence is $29 a year or $58 for life (Cap pricing).
• Install needed? Yes, a desktop app; there is no browser recording (Cap’s own summary).
• AI notes: titles, summaries, chapters and transcripts on Pro only.
• Watch out for: we found no solid review data to report on reliability.

4. Vidyard: best for sales teams

Vidyard is built around sales outreach, with AI avatars and an AI “Video Agent”.

• Best for: sales reps who send personal videos to prospects.
• Free plan: 5 recordings a month, each up to 30 minutes, plus 15 AI videos. No captions, CTAs or analytics on free.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Starter is $59 a month billed yearly or $89 monthly (Vidyard pricing).
• Install needed? Yes, a Chrome extension or desktop recorder.
• AI notes: Vidyard’s pricing page does not mention AI summaries or transcripts.
• Watch out for: a review roundup of G2 feedback (4.5 stars, 832 reviews) mentions a basic editor, uneven playback across browsers and slow support (Prospeo).

5. Zight: best for screenshots plus quick clips

Zight (formerly CloudApp) mixes screenshots, GIFs and short videos. On Zight vs Loom, the free plans are close: both cap recordings at 5 minutes and 720p. Zight’s paid AI is cheaper, though.

• Best for: support and ops people who send lots of annotated screenshots and short clips.
• Free plan: 5-minute recordings, 720p, 1 GB of storage, your last 50 captures, and no AI.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Create is $9.95 a month billed yearly and includes 5 AI summaries and chapters a month. Collaborate, at $12 a month billed yearly, makes them unlimited (Zight pricing).
• Install needed? Yes: desktop app for Windows or Mac, Chrome extension, or mobile app.
• AI notes: paid plans only.
• Watch out for: Capterra reviewers (4.6 stars, 185 reviews) mention crashes and failed uploads on long videos (Capterra).

6. Clipchamp: best if you need to edit before sharing

Microsoft Clipchamp is a video editor first. You record your screen inside it, polish the result, then export a file. It is not a one-click share-link tool like Loom.

• Best for: tutorials and videos that need cuts, captions or music.
• Free plan: 1080p exports, with screen recording capped at 15 minutes per session (Costbench).
• Paid, as of November 2026: Clipchamp has a Premium plan, but we could not confirm its current price.
• Install needed? No for the browser editor (Chrome or Edge). There is also a Windows app.
• AI notes: auto-captions, text-to-speech and noise suppression, but no AI summaries or chapters.
• Watch out for: Capterra reviewers (4.3 stars, 101 reviews) mention lag on long videos and audio sync issues (Capterra).

For a full head-to-head, read Clipchamp vs Loom.

7. Tella: best for polished, edited demos

Tella is the pick when the video itself needs to look great. Its editing and layouts are well ahead of Showplain’s (we have no editing at all). The catch for this list: there is no free plan.

• Best for: product demos, course videos and marketing clips.
• Free plan: none; there is a 7-day trial.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Pro is $13 a month billed yearly; the monthly price is not shown (Tella pricing).
• Install needed? Yes: native macOS and Windows recorders, plus a Chrome extension.
• AI notes: AI chapters, titles and transcripts in 106 languages. Tella’s pricing page does not mention AI summaries.
• Watch out for: only a handful of public reviews exist, so reliability is hard to judge.

We compare it more closely in Loom vs Tella vs Showplain.

8. Descript: best for AI-assisted video editing

Descript is a video editor with heavy AI tools such as Underlord and Studio Sound. It is built for editing, not async messaging.

• Best for: creators and teams who publish edited videos and podcasts.
• Free plan: 60 media minutes a month, 720p exports with a watermark, and 100 one-time AI credits.
• Paid, as of November 2026: Hobbyist is $16 a month billed yearly or $24 monthly (Descript pricing).
• Install needed? Desktop app, with a web version also offered.
• AI notes: strong AI editing, but it is not built to put a summary next to a shared video.
• Watch out for: the watermark and 720p limit make the free plan more of a trial.

Free Loom alternative with no time limit: is there one?

Not among the plans we could verify. Every free plan caps length, video count, or how long videos stay available.

A third-party review says Kommodo’s free plan has no time limit, but we could not confirm that on Kommodo’s own pricing page, so we left it off the table. If length is all you need, also read our guide to Loom’s free plan limits for ways to work around the 5-minute cap.

Loom alternative you can pay for once

Two tools on this list offer a one-time price, as of November 2026:

• Showplain Founding 500: $79 once. This is Pro for life for the first 500 customers only, with fair use of 10 hours of recording a month. It includes the AI notes, 60-minute recordings and branding of Pro.
• Cap desktop licence: $58 for life (or $29 a year). It is listed separately from the Cap Pro subscription, and Cap’s AI features are on Pro.

Which Loom alternatives work without a download?

Most tools here need a desktop app or browser extension. Loom itself needs its desktop app or Chrome extension, and the extension has only basic features (Loom screen recorder).

Of the eight, only two let you start without installing anything:

• Showplain records in Chrome or Edge on a computer and gives you a share link and AI notes.
• Clipchamp runs its editor in Chrome or Edge, but you export a file rather than get an instant link.

No install matters most on locked-down work laptops and shared computers.

Who should pick which

• You want AI notes for free and can’t install software: Showplain. Try it free with 14 days of Pro, no card: start here.
• You need free recordings longer than 15 minutes: Bubbles or Vidyard (30 minutes).
• You prefer open source or a lifetime licence for a desktop app: Cap.
• You send lots of screenshots as well as videos: Zight.
• You need to cut, caption and polish before sharing: Clipchamp (free) or Descript.
• The video is the product (demos, courses): Tella.
• You sell by video: Vidyard.
• Your team lives in Atlassian, needs mobile apps, integrations and team admin: stay on Loom. It is still the most complete tool for teams.