Open Source Loom Alternatives in 2026: A Practical Comparison
Competitor details verified 20 September 2026. Pricing and feature sets move quickly. Check each vendor’s own pricing page before deciding.
Loom changed how teams communicate asynchronously. But as Atlassian pushes prices higher and more organizations ask where their video data actually lives, the search for alternatives has grown.
This post compares the open source options available today. I built one of them (SendRec), so I’ll be upfront about that bias — but I’ll try to be honest about where each tool shines and where it doesn’t.
Why open source matters for screen recording
Screen recordings often contain sensitive information: product demos with unreleased features, internal discussions, customer data visible on screen, credentials accidentally shown. Where that data lives — and who controls it — matters more than most teams realize.
Open source screen recording tools give you three things proprietary tools can’t:
- Audit the code. You can verify there’s no telemetry, no data exfiltration, no hidden upload to third-party services.
- Self-host. Your videos stay on infrastructure you control. No third-party cloud provider in the data path.
- No vendor lock-in. If the project dies or changes direction, you have the source code. Export your data and move on.
The contenders
Loom (proprietary baseline)
Loom isn’t open source, but it’s the tool everyone compares against, so it’s worth including as a reference point.
What it does well: Polish. Loom’s desktop app and Chrome extension are smooth. The editing tools (trim, stitch, filler word removal) work reliably. AI-generated summaries and chapters are available on the Business tier. The brand recognition means recipients know what a Loom link is.
The trade-offs:
- Pricing: $18/user/month Business, $24/user/month Business + AI, billed monthly. AI features are locked to the higher tier. Enterprise pricing is opaque.
- Free tier: 25 videos total (not per month), 5-minute max, 720p only.
- Data: AWS-hosted, in Oregon or Frankfurt. Frankfurt residency arrived in May 2026 but can only be chosen when a workspace is first created, and existing workspaces cannot move. No self-hosting.
- Lock-in: Closed source. If Atlassian changes pricing or shuts it down, your video library is at risk.
Loom is the right choice if budget isn’t a concern and you want maximum polish. Data residency is no longer the dividing line it was: Loom has offered Frankfurt since May 2026, though the region is chosen when a workspace is first provisioned and existing workspaces cannot move into it.
Cap
Cap is a newer open source screen recorder with a growing community (17,000+ GitHub stars). It takes a desktop-app-first approach.
What it does well: Beautiful desktop app for macOS and Windows. Local-first recording with optional cloud upload. The Studio editing mode offers frame-level control. Lifetime license option ($58) is attractive for individual users.
The trade-offs:
- Desktop app required. No browser-based recording. This is a dealbreaker for some teams — you can’t send someone a link and say “record a response.”
- Desktop-only recording. Cap ships builds for macOS, Windows and Linux, but you install one to record rather than opening a browser tab.
- Commercial use requires paid license. The AGPL license is open source, but Cap’s commercial license prohibits free commercial use. If your company uses it, you need the paid plan.
- Limited team features. No workspaces, no role-based access, no SSO, no SCIM. It’s designed for individual creators, not teams.
- US-based. Cloud storage is US-hosted. Self-hosting is possible but the documentation is more focused on the cloud offering.
- Recording is the strength, not collaboration. Cap has timestamped comments and emoji reactions, but the product is built around the desktop capture and editing experience.
Cap is the right choice if you want a polished desktop recording app and are happy installing one. It has team workspaces, roles and SAML SSO as a paid add-on, so the dividing line is the desktop-first workflow rather than a missing feature list.
Zight (formerly CloudApp)
Zight rebranded from CloudApp in 2023. It’s a screenshot and screen recording tool aimed at support and sales teams.
What it does well: Quick screenshots and GIF creation alongside video recording. Good integrations with support tools. Annotation tools for marking up screenshots.
The trade-offs:
- Not open source. Closed source, US-hosted on AWS.
- Free tier expires old content. Only your last 50 uploads are accessible — older ones disappear. This is a nasty surprise if you’re not expecting it.
- Pricing: $9–11/user/month. Less expensive than Loom but still adds up for teams.
- Limited video features. No comments, no reactions, no email gate, no embeddable player, no custom thumbnails. It’s primarily a screenshot tool that also does video.
- No self-hosting. No option to run on your own infrastructure.
Zight is the right choice if screenshots are your primary use case and video is secondary.
SendRec
SendRec is what I’ve been building — an open source async video platform focused on EU data residency and team use cases. Full disclosure: I’m the developer.
What it does well:
- Browser-based recording. Screen, camera, or both. No desktop app required, works on any OS.
- Full team features. Workspaces with roles (owner, admin, member, viewer), SSO (OIDC + SAML), SCIM provisioning, per-workspace branding and billing.
- Rich video features. Timestamped comments, reactions, password-protected links, email gate, embeddable player, analytics with per-viewer engagement data, custom CTAs.
- AI transcription. 99 languages via whisper.cpp, AI summaries, chapters, filler word removal, trim by transcript. Transcription runs locally on every deployment. Summaries need a model: self-host and you point it wherever you like, including nowhere; the managed instance sends the transcript text to Mistral in France.
- Self-hosting. Single Docker Compose command. Go binary + PostgreSQL + S3-compatible storage. Runs on a $10/month VPS.
- EU data residency. Managed instance runs on Hetzner hardware in Helsinki, Finland. No US cloud providers in the data path.
The trade-offs:
- No desktop app. Browser-only recording. Works well for most use cases, but you can’t record native app windows that block screen capture.
- Smaller community. 64 GitHub stars against Cap’s 22,500, as of September 2026. The project is younger and less proven.
- Solo developer. I’m building this as one person. Response times for issues are reasonable but not instant.
- Free tier has limits. 25 videos/month, 5-minute max duration on the managed instance. Self-hosted has no limits.
SendRec is the right choice if your team needs EU data residency, self-hosting, or team features like SSO and workspaces alongside async video.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Loom | Cap | Zight | SendRec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | No | Yes (AGPL) | No | Yes (AGPL) |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser recording | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Linux support | Yes | Desktop app | No | Yes |
| Team workspaces | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | Enterprise | Paid add-on | Scale plan | Business |
| SCIM provisioning | Enterprise | No | No | Yes |
| Comments | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| AI transcription | $20/user | Paid | No | Yes (free, local) |
| Per-viewer analytics | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Password protection | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Email gate | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Custom branding | Enterprise | No | No | Yes (Pro) |
| EU data residency | No | No | No | Yes |
| Free commercial use | N/A | No | N/A | Yes |
Pricing comparison
| Tier | Loom | Cap | Zight | SendRec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 25 videos total, 5 min, 720p | Local only, no commercial use | Last 50 uploads, 5 min | 25 videos/month, 5 min |
| Paid | $18–24/user/month | $12/user/month or $58 lifetime | $9.95–12/user/month | €8–12/month |
| Self-hosted | N/A | Free (non-commercial) | N/A | Free, unlimited |
Which one should you pick?
Choose Loom if: Budget isn’t a concern and you want maximum polish. Frankfurt residency is available, provided you pick it when the workspace is created.
Choose Cap if: You want a beautiful desktop recording app and don’t need to record from a browser tab.
Choose Zight if: Screenshots are your primary workflow and video is a secondary feature.
Choose SendRec if: You need EU data residency, want to self-host, or need team features (SSO, workspaces, SCIM) with an open source tool you can audit.
Try them
- Loom — sign up for free tier
- Cap — download the desktop app
- Zight — sign up for free tier
- SendRec — sign up or self-host from GitHub
If you’re evaluating async video tools for your team and have questions about any of these, feel free to reach out at hello@sendrec.eu. Happy to help even if you don’t end up choosing SendRec.