A Loom alternative with a one-time payment
Tired of paying per seat every month? Screen recorders you buy once instead of renting, what a year of Loom costs, and when a subscription is worth it.
Loom is a subscription, priced per person. For a team that sends video messages all day, that can be money well spent. For people who record a few videos a month, it adds up to a lot for little use. This guide looks at what Loom costs over time and lists screen recorders that are free or that you can buy once, with no subscription.
Loom prices are from loom.com/pricing, checked on 14 October 2026. We make Dolly, one of the options below.
What Loom costs over a year
Loom's pricing page lists:
- Starter: $0, with 25 videos per person, 5-minute recordings, video up to 720p and a Loom watermark (also per Layerpath, checked 7 September 2026).
- Business: $18 per user per month.
- Business + AI: $24 per user per month.
- Enterprise: price on request.
The page says annual billing saves up to 17%, but doesn't spell out whether $18 is the monthly or yearly rate, so check the toggle on the page when you buy. At the listed price, one person on Business pays $216 a year, and a five-person team pays $1,080. Business + AI for five people is $1,440 a year.
Free and one-time alternatives
| One-time price | What you get | Subscription option | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolly (Mac) | Free · Lifetime €99 | No time limit on Free; Lifetime removes the logo and adds 4K, GIF and AI control | Pro €9.99/mo or €59/yr, for unlimited links |
| Cap (Mac, Windows, Linux) | $58 once | Commercial use, 20 cloud links a month (up to 5 min each) | $29/yr or Pro $12/user/mo |
| CleanShot X (Mac) | $35 once | Screenshots and recording, 1 year of updates | Optional $19/yr for updates, cloud Pro |
| macOS ⇧⌘5 | Free | Raw recording, no editing | None |
Prices from each product's own site in October 2026, before tax.
Dolly: free, or €99 once
Dolly is a Mac screen recorder that zooms in on your clicks, smooths your cursor and puts your recording on a clean background, all on your Mac. The free plan has no time limit, includes the full editor and Auto edit, and exports up to 1080p with a small "Made with Dolly" logo in the corner. You never need a subscription to record, edit or export. Lifetime is €99 once (€49 for the first 500 founders): no logo, 4K at 60 fps, GIF export, Connect your AI and every future update. Pro (€9.99 a month or €59 a year) is only for people who want unlimited hosted links with stats, passwords and their own branding.
Quick share stands in for Loom's link on everyday messages: when you press Stop, the video is on your clipboard, ready to paste into Slack, Mail or Notion. For a link instead, Get link (Dolly links) gives one with views and comments; Free includes up to 10 active links. What it can't replace: a team library. Why Dolly's free plan is this generous explains how this works for us: we run no servers for the videos you keep on your Mac.
Cap: $58 once for commercial use
Cap is open source and free for personal use. Its desktop license is $58 once (or $29 a year) and includes commercial use plus 20 cloud share links a month of up to 5 minutes each. Unlimited cloud sharing needs Cap Pro, which is a subscription. A good choice if you want some Loom-style links and a one-time price.
CleanShot X: $35 once
CleanShot X is mainly a screenshot tool that also records. $35 once includes a year of updates; after that you can keep the version you have or pay for more updates. Handy if screenshots are half your day.
Why most video tools are subscriptions
A link-first tool like Loom stores and streams every video it hosts, for as long as you keep it. That costs money every month, so a monthly price makes sense. A tool that records and exports on your own computer has almost no running cost per user, which is why one-time prices are possible. The trade-off is exactly the hosting: no link, no analytics, no shared library.
When a subscription is worth it
Keep paying for Loom if:
- Your team sends video messages daily and watches them in the browser.
- You use comments, reactions and viewer insights to follow up.
- You need a shared workspace with permissions, or admin controls.
- People on Windows, Chromebooks and phones need the same tool.
If you mostly make a handful of videos a month and send them as files or in chat, a one-time app is the cheaper fit. Compare the two directly in Dolly vs Loom, or start with the free Loom alternative.
Sources
- Loom pricing, checked 14 October 2026
- Cap pricing, checked 14 October 2026
- Loom Free limits (5 minutes per video, 25 videos, 720p, Loom watermark) from Layerpath, checked 7 September 2026
- CleanShot X pricing
- Dolly pricing
