Cap review
Open-source screen recorder with the cheapest unlimited-cloud paid tier in its category, and no confirmed third-party star rating
Independent review. If you buy through links on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our scores — how we test.
ToolsGavel verdict
Cap undercuts every price in this guide, $8.16 a user a month billed annually for an unlimited-cloud Pro tier, and it's the only open-source, self-hostable option among six tools that are otherwise all closed SaaS. The catch is review confidence: no Trustpilot listing exists, G2 and Capterra are blocked, and the one Product Hunt page tried turned out to be an unrelated product. The 4.0 here rests on verified pricing, features and a real 24.5k-star GitHub repository rather than a confirmed third-party score, worth naming plainly next to Clueso, Guidde, Supademo and Scribe's confirmed 4.7 to 4.8 G2 ratings.
Best for: Developers and cost-conscious teams who want an open-source, self-hostable screen recorder with an unlimited-cloud paid tier under $10 a month, and who don't need a confirmed third-party star rating to make the call
Deal 20% off Cap for your first 12 months as a new user Applied automatically when you sign up through our link. No code needed.
What we liked
- Cap Pro costs $8.16 a user a month billed annually, or $12 month-to-month, less than every other paid tier in this guide, including Tella's $13 annual rate, and far below Guidde's $19, Supademo's $38 or Clueso's $40 (cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06)
- The only genuinely open-source, self-hostable tool in this category: the core app is AGPLv3, the GitHub repository has around 24.5k stars and more than 13,000 commits, and self-hosting is documented through Docker Compose, a trust signal none of its closed-source competitors here can match (github.com/CapSoftware/Cap, checked 2026-11-06)
- The free plan has no time limit on local recording and editing, unlike Tella's 7-day trial, gated only by a 25-link-a-month cap on cloud sharing and by personal-use-only licensing (cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06)
- Once on Pro, the AI layer, auto-titles, summaries, clickable chapters and transcription, matches the paid competitors' feature set at roughly a third of Guidde's or Clueso's price (cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06)
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 compliance are claimed directly on the pricing page, with a self-serve SAML SSO add-on ($199/mo) and a signed BAA add-on ($99/mo) for regulated buyers who'd otherwise need a sales call (cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06)
What to watch
- No independently confirmed star rating exists anywhere: Trustpilot has no listing for cap.so, G2 and Capterra both blocked the review page on a direct check, and the one Product Hunt listing tried turned out to be an unrelated CAPTCHA product with the same name, a confirmed brand collision. Every other tool in this category guide has at least one confirmed G2 or Trustpilot score; Cap's 4.0 here rests on verified pricing, features and GitHub traction instead of a review-platform number (Trustpilot; G2; Capterra; Product Hunt, all checked 2026-11-06)
- Free and the Desktop License both cap cloud sharing at 25 links a month, 5 minutes each, tighter than it looks for anyone sharing longer demos regularly; the Desktop License only adds commercial-use rights, not more cloud headroom (cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06)
- AGPLv3 licensing makes self-hosting to dodge subscription cost a real option on paper, but doing it requires setting up Docker Compose, a server and S3-compatible storage, not a realistic path for a non-technical buyer even though the license permits it (github.com/CapSoftware/Cap, checked 2026-11-06)
- No founding date, headquarters, team size or funding is published anywhere found, not in the README, the privacy policy, or a located funding profile, a gap several SaaS-only competitors in this guide at least partially close (cap.so, checked 2026-11-06)
How much does Cap really cost?
| Starting price | $8.16/user/mo billed annually ($12/user/mo month-to-month), Cap Pro |
|---|---|
| Permanent free tier | Yes |
| Price last verified | November 6, 2026, against the live pricing page at cap.so |
Price watch
Get an email if Cap's price changes
We re-check Cap's pricing on a schedule. If the price, the free plan or a verified deal changes, you get one short email. Nothing else.
Cap is an open-source screen recorder and async-video tool, built and marketed explicitly as “the open source alternative to Loom.” It records display, window, area or camera, offers a quick “Instant” share mode and a local “Studio” editing mode with a timeline, crop, zoom, captions and audio, and layers on sharing controls, timestamped comments, team spaces and a choice of storage, Cap-managed, Google Drive or your own S3-compatible bucket. Cap Pro costs $8.16 a user a month billed annually, undercutting every other paid tier in this guide. The catch: no Trustpilot, G2, Capterra or Product Hunt listing could be confirmed for cap.so, so this review’s 4.0 rating rests on price, features and a real GitHub following rather than a third-party star score.
What Cap is for
Cap covers the same core job as Tella, Guidde or Clueso, turning a screen recording into something shareable, but does it as an open-source project rather than a closed SaaS product. The AGPLv3-licensed core app is self-hostable via Docker Compose, and the GitHub repository (github.com/CapSoftware/Cap) shows roughly 24.5k stars, more than 13,000 commits and an active bounty program through Algora, numbers anyone can verify directly rather than take on faith. Cap supports bulk migration from Loom for teams switching over, and exports to MP4 or GIF. The company behind it, Cap Software, Inc., publishes no physical address, listing only a contact email ([email protected]) and a Discord community link.
What you get on each plan
| Plan | Price | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | Unlimited local recording/editing; 25 cloud links/mo, 5 min each; personal use only |
| Desktop License | $29/yr or $58 lifetime | Same recording features as Free, plus commercial rights for local-only work |
| Cap Pro | $12/user/mo ($8.16/mo annual) | Unlimited cloud storage, bandwidth and links; AI titles/summaries/chapters/transcription; team workspaces; SOC 2 Type II & ISO 27001 |
| Enterprise | Cap Pro + add-ons | SAML SSO add-on $199/mo; signed BAA add-on $99/mo; self-serve, no sales call required |
The 25-link cap on Free and the Desktop License is a cloud-sharing limit only; local recording and editing stay unlimited on every tier, including Free. Once on Pro, cloud links, storage and bandwidth all go unlimited with no stated overage.
On the missing star rating
Every other tool in this product-demo category guide has at least one confirmed third-party score behind it, Clueso and Guidde at 4.8 on G2, Supademo around 4.7, Scribe at 4.8 on both G2 and Capterra, Tella at 2.6 on Trustpilot. Cap has none of that. A direct check of Trustpilot found no listing for cap.so at all. G2 and Capterra both blocked the review page on a direct fetch. The one Product Hunt page that looked like a match, a listing simply named “Cap,” turned out to be an unrelated proof-of-work CAPTCHA alternative with 413 upvotes and a discussion about cryptographic hash functions, a confirmed brand-name collision rather than Cap the screen recorder. The only quantifiable third-party signal available is the GitHub star count, 24.5k, which measures developer interest and adoption, not customer satisfaction. That’s a real gap next to competitors with a confirmed G2 score, and worth weighing alongside the price and open-source advantages rather than ignoring.
Who should buy it, and who should skip it
Cap fits a developer-adjacent team or a cost-conscious buyer who wants the cheapest unlimited-cloud tier in this category, doesn’t mind a product with no confirmed review-platform score, and likes having a self-hosting option even if they never use it. The open-source angle is a genuine differentiator, not just a pricing gimmick: a team that wants its recordings to never depend on a vendor staying in business can verify that claim by reading the source.
It’s a weaker fit for a buyer who wants to lean on third-party review sentiment before paying, since none exists to check here, or for a non-technical team hoping to self-host to avoid subscription cost entirely; AGPLv3 permits it, but setting up Docker Compose, a server and S3-compatible storage is a real technical lift, not a free lunch. For a confirmed G2 score to weigh against, compare Guidde or Clueso directly, or see the full field in Best AI Tools for Product Demos and How-To Videos.
Pricing note: Free costs $0, no card required, and includes unlimited local recording and editing plus 25 shareable cloud links a month (up to 5 minutes each), limited to personal, non-commercial use. A Desktop License runs $29/yr or $58 as a one-time lifetime purchase, single user, and adds commercial usage rights for local-only work while keeping the same 25-links-a-month cloud cap as Free. Cap Pro runs $12 a user a month, or $8.16 a user a month billed annually (32% off), and removes the cloud-link cap entirely: unlimited cloud storage, bandwidth and shareable links, plus AI features (auto-titles, summaries, clickable chapters, transcription), team workspaces, custom domains, viewer analytics, and SOC 2 Type II/ISO 27001-compliant infrastructure, with volume discounts for 10 or more seats. Enterprise is Cap Pro pricing plus add-ons: SAML SSO for $199/mo and a signed BAA for $99/mo, self-serve with no minimum seats or sales call required. Verified against cap.so/pricing, checked 2026-11-06.
Cap promo code and discounts
Signing up through our link applies 20% off Cap for your first 12 months as a new user automatically — no code to enter. Verified November 6, 2026 .
We only list codes and deals issued to ToolsGavel or published by Cap itself. If a coupon site shows a bigger Cap discount, check that Cap confirms it before you count on it. How we verify codes.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Cap cost?
Free costs $0, no card required, with unlimited local recording and 25 cloud links a month for personal use. A Desktop License costs $29/yr or $58 lifetime and adds commercial rights for local-only work. Cap Pro costs $12 a user a month, or $8.16 a user a month billed annually, and removes the cloud-link cap entirely while adding AI features and team workspaces.
Does Cap have a free plan?
Yes, and it's permanent rather than a trial. Local recording and editing are unlimited with no time cap; the main limit is 25 shareable cloud links a month at up to 5 minutes each, and the free plan is for personal, non-commercial use only. Commercial use on the free feature set requires the $29/yr Desktop License instead.
Is Cap really open source, and can I self-host it?
Yes. The core app is licensed AGPLv3, with a small set of camera and screen-capture components under MIT, and the GitHub repository (github.com/CapSoftware/Cap) has roughly 24.5k stars and more than 13,000 commits. Self-hosting is documented through a Railway template and Docker Compose, though it requires setting up your own server and S3-compatible storage rather than being a one-click option for non-technical users.
Why doesn't this review cite a star rating for Cap the way it does for other tools?
Because none could be confirmed. Trustpilot has no listing for cap.so, G2 and Capterra both blocked a direct check of the review page, and the one Product Hunt page tried turned out to be an unrelated proof-of-work CAPTCHA product that happens to share the name. That makes Cap's 4.0 rating here different from the rest of this guide: it reflects price, features and a real 24.5k-star GitHub repository, not a review-platform score.
What's the best Cap alternative?
If a confirmed third-party rating matters more than price or open-source access, Guidde and Clueso both carry a confirmed G2 score around 4.8. If built-in AI editing during recording matters most, Tella does that, though at a higher price and with no permanent free plan. See the full comparison in Best AI Tools for Product Demos and How-To Videos.
Bottom line
Cap undercuts every price in this guide, $8.16 a user a month billed annually for an unlimited-cloud Pro tier, and it's the only open-source, self-hostable option among six tools that are otherwise all closed SaaS. The catch is review confidence: no Trustpilot listing exists, G2 and Capterra are blocked, and the one Product Hunt page tried turned out to be an unrelated product. The 4.0 here rests on verified pricing, features and a real 24.5k-star GitHub repository rather than a confirmed third-party score, worth naming plainly next to Clueso, Guidde, Supademo and Scribe's confirmed 4.7 to 4.8 G2 ratings.
