What Screen Studio costs in 2026, whether there's a free trial, what happened to the lifetime license, and what the same kind of video costs elsewhere. We make Dolly, a Screen Studio alternative, so we stick to facts you can check.
Screen Studio costs $29 a month, or $108 a year ($9 a month, billed yearly), before tax. Every feature is in every plan. There is no free plan that exports and the site lists no free trial: the app opens and records, but saving a video needs a subscription. Students and educators get 40% off. Fees are non-refundable; you can cancel any time and keep access until the end of the period. The one-time license stopped for new customers on 1 October 2025.
Same kind of video: auto zoom on clicks, a smooth cursor, a designed frame. Different deal.
| Dolly | Screen Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | €9.99 a month | $29 a month |
| Yearly | €84 a year (€7 a month) | $108 a year ($9 a month) |
| Free plan that exports | Yes, up to 1080p, no time limit | No |
| Free trial | Free plan; Pro free until 30 November for every account | Not listed; the app records, export needs a plan |
| One-time license | Lifetime, €99 once | No longer sold (stopped 1 October 2025) |
| Education | — | 40% off |
| Team plan | Team, coming soon (€11.99 per user a month) | None; one person per login |
| Refunds | Within 30 days, no questions | Fees are non-refundable |
| Runs on | Mac (Apple silicon) | Mac |
Screen Studio details from screen.studio and its terms of service (§9, fees), checked on 17 October 2026, before tax. Dolly prices from our pricing page, in euros, before tax. Check them before you buy; they change often.
The yearly plan is the one to pick if you choose Screen Studio. Here is how it compares.
| Screen Studio monthly | Screen Studio yearly | Dolly Pro yearly | Dolly Lifetime | Dolly Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $348 | $108 | €84 | €99 | €0 |
| 2 years | $696 | $216 | €168 | €99 | €0 |
| 3 years | $1,044 | $324 | €252 | €99 | €0 |
Dollars and euros side by side, before tax. Dolly Free exports up to 1080p with a small Made with Dolly logo; Lifetime covers everything on your Mac, while Dolly links (Dolly Cloud) are part of Pro.
Not as a plan. Screen Studio's site lists two paid plans and no trial or free tier. You can download the app, record and edit, but exporting a video needs a subscription, which many people only find out after their first good take. If you want to try before you pay, record a short test, and buy the monthly plan for one month before you commit to a year. Keep in mind that fees are non-refundable.
Every Screen Studio plan has every feature: auto zoom, the redrawn cursor, backgrounds, camera layouts, iPhone and iPad recording, captions, share links with view counts and export up to 4K at 60 fps. There are no tiers to compare, so the only choice is monthly or yearly.
Students and educators get 40% off. With a school email address, you can claim it on Screen Studio's education discount page; otherwise, you send proof of student status by email and get a code.
There's no team or business plan. The terms say a login can't be shared or used by more than one person, so a team of five pays for five subscriptions. There's no shared admin or team library.
Screen Studio sold a one-time license until 1 October 2025; its last price was $229 with a year of updates. New customers can only subscribe now. People who bought one keep their version and can still buy renewals. Our Screen Studio lifetime license article has the details and every one-time alternative we know.
The terms of service state that fees are non-refundable. You can cancel at any time; the cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you paid for, and yearly plans renew automatically unless you cancel first.
If you record polished demos every week and use features Dolly doesn't have yet, like iPhone recording, color grading or AI voiceover, $108 a year is fair for a well-made app. If you record now and then, you pay for months you don't use, and the export wall makes it hard to start small.
Dolly does the same camera work on your Mac: auto zoom on your clicks, a cursor that glides, backgrounds and a frame. Dolly Free records with no time limit and exports up to 1080p, with a small logo in the corner. Pro is €84 a year: 4K at 60 fps, GIF, no logo and Dolly Cloud for share links and a team workspace. Lifetime is €99 once for everything on your Mac. Until 30 November 2026, every Dolly account has Pro for free, so you can compare the two at full quality without paying either. See Dolly vs Screen Studio for what each does better.
Record, and Dolly lays out the zooms. Export it, with no time limit and no card.
A real take in Dolly: the camera glides in on each click and back out again.
No. Screen Studio is $29 a month or $108 a year. You can open the app and record without paying, but exporting needs a subscription.
Its website lists no free trial or free plan. The app records for free; to save your video you need a plan. Fees are non-refundable, so a single month is the cheapest way to try it.
$108 a year, which works out to $9 a month, before tax. The monthly plan is $29.
Not for new customers. The one-time license stopped on 1 October 2025; existing owners keep their version and can buy renewals.
Yes, 40% off for students and educators.
Its terms say fees are non-refundable. You can cancel any time; access runs until the end of the period you paid for.
Dolly is free with no time limit (export up to 1080p), €84 a year for Pro, or €99 once for Lifetime. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon.
Screen Studio quality. Free. No 5-minute limit.
First time: open Dolly, click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (macOS 13–14: right-click Dolly → Open). Once only. Installation help