Bandicam vs Snagit Comparison 2026
Both cover screen recording. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Bandicam starts cheaper, at $33.26.
- Only Bandicam has a free tier.
Side by side
Bandicam | Snagit | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $33.26 | From $39 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Paid subscription |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Not stated | Annual only |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Bandicam
A recorder sold as a licence
Bandicam records the screen, a game at high frame rates or an external capture device, and it is one of the few recorders still sold outright rather than rented. The free download records with a watermark and a time limit on each clip. A licence removes both, and the perpetual one keeps working on the version it was bought for.
Our note
OBS Studio does most of this for nothing and is the better default. Bandicam earns its money on the game-capture path, and for anybody who would rather buy software once than subscribe to it.
Snagit
The screenshot tool that grew an editor
Snagit is for the thousand small captures that are not worth opening a video editor for: a scrolling grab of a whole page, a numbered set of steps, an arrow pointing at the button somebody keeps missing. It records short video too, and hands off to Camtasia when a clip turns into a project. TechSmith has sold it for decades and it shows in the unglamorous places, like the templates that turn six screenshots into one document.
Our note
TechSmith has sold this for decades and it shows in the unglamorous parts, like the templates and the scrolling capture, which are the features you end up using daily. Buy Camtasia instead if the output is a finished video; buy Snagit if the output is a document with pictures in it.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.