Camtasia alternative
Camtasia is a full video editor for training teams. Dolly does one thing, screen recording that looks filmed, and gets you there in minutes, for free.
| Dolly | Camtasia | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free · Pro €59 a year · Lifetime €99 once | Subscription: €39.56 to €607.71 a year |
| Mac and Windows | Mac now, Windows in the works | Yes |
| Automatic zoom on clicks | Yes | — |
| Redrawn, smoothed cursor | Yes | Cursor effects |
| Title cards, text, arrows and boxes | Yes | Yes |
| Draw on screen while recording | Yes | — |
| Teleprompter | Yes | — |
| Multitrack editor | No | Yes |
| Quizzes and interactive video | No | Some plans |
| Captions | On your Mac | Yes |
| Time to a finished video | Minutes | Longer; it's a full editor |
| Videos stay on your computer | Yes | Yes |
Camtasia prices from TechSmith's EU store (Starter to Pro, billed yearly) in October 2026. Check them before you buy; they change often.
Camtasia has been the default for training videos for twenty years: a multitrack timeline, callouts, annotations, transitions, quizzes and a large asset library, on Mac and Windows. It's subscription-only now, from about €40 to about €600 a year on TechSmith's EU store.
Dolly takes the opposite bet. It does one thing, screen recording, and does the camera work for you: zooms on clicks, a smooth cursor, a designed frame. Most videos are done the moment you stop recording; you trim, maybe speed up the typing, and export.
No multitrack timeline, no transitions library and no quizzes. Dolly does have title and end cards, text, arrows, boxes and numbered steps, a teleprompter, and a pen to draw on screen while you record, but it's not a full editor. If your course needs many tracks or interactive video, Camtasia is the honest answer.
For screen recordings that need to look polished fast, yes. For long courses with callouts, quizzes and many tracks, Camtasia is the more complete editor.
Dolly Lifetime is €99 once, and Dolly Free costs nothing. Camtasia is subscription-only.
Not yet. Dolly for Windows is in the works.
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
