Loom vs ScreenPal Comparison 2026
Loom records a screen and a face together and hands back a link the moment you stop, with a free Starter plan and Business at $18 a member a month for longer, uncapped videos. ScreenPal records, edits and hosts from one free-forever tool, with Deluxe opening full capture and editing for $4 a month. Loom is built for speed: send a link instead of writing three paragraphs. ScreenPal is built for a proper edit, with captions and callouts, at less than a quarter of Loom's price.
At a glance
- ScreenPal starts cheaper, at $4.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Loom | ScreenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $18 | From $4 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Loom
Screen recordings that go out as a link
Loom records your screen and your face together and hands you a link the moment you stop, so the thing you would have written three paragraphs about arrives as a two minute video instead. Viewers can reply on a timestamp rather than describing where they got confused. Editing is trimming and little else, so a cut that needs more than that belongs somewhere else.
Our note
Loom is for the video nobody would otherwise have made. Buy it for correspondence rather than publishing, and check the free plan's length limit against the way you actually explain things before paying for anything.
ScreenPal
Screen recording and hosting at four dollars
ScreenPal records the screen, edits what it recorded and hosts the result on a page you can send to somebody, which is three products most tools split up. The editor handles the things a tutorial actually needs, captions and callouts and cutting the dead air, without turning into a timeline that has to be learned. It was Screencast-O-Matic for years and the price has stayed in the same place. Anybody wanting cinema-grade output is in the wrong shop.
Why people weigh these two
- ScreenPal instead of Loom
- ScreenPal records and hosts in one place from $4 a month, the plain option for anyone who wants a link out fast without paying for Loom's extras.
- Loom instead of ScreenPal
- Loom sends a recording out as a link from $18 with a free tier, the same record-and-share loop at a higher price.
Which one should you pick
Pick Loom if the video is correspondence rather than content: a walkthrough for a client, feedback on a draft, an update a team watches at its own pace. Starter is free with limits on length and how many videos you keep, and Business at $18 a member a month removes both along with engagement insights.
Pick ScreenPal if you want to edit what you recorded, not just trim it, with captions, callouts and cutting dead air built in. The free plan is permanent with an ad-free player, and Deluxe at $4 a month opens full capture and editing, a fraction of Loom's price for a tool that does considerably more with the footage afterward.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper, Loom or ScreenPal?
- ScreenPal, by a wide margin. Its Deluxe plan is $4 a month against Loom Business at $18 a member a month, and ScreenPal's free tier already includes an ad-free player, which is unusual at no cost.
- Which one edits video, not just trims it?
- ScreenPal does. It adds captions, callouts and cuts dead air without needing a timeline to learn. Loom's editing is deliberately limited to trimming the front off a recording and joining takes, since anything more belongs in a proper editor by its own admission.
- Does Loom send a link automatically like a Loom is known for?
- Yes, that speed is Loom's whole reason to exist: stop recording and the link is already copied. ScreenPal also produces a shareable link, but its emphasis is on editing the video properly first rather than sending it the instant recording stops.
- Which has a better free plan?
- ScreenPal's, for most people, since it is permanent and ad-free with real editing available from $4 a month. Loom's free Starter plan caps video length and how many recordings you keep, pushing anybody recording often toward the $18 a month Business tier.
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.