ScreenPal vs Zight Comparison 2026
ScreenPal is built for longer instructional video: record, edit and host a full tutorial from a free tier and $4 a month for Deluxe. Zight, formerly CloudApp, captures a quick screenshot or short recording and returns a shareable link before the upload even finishes, free to start and $9.95 a month for Pro. Zight says plainly that long tutorials need a real screen recorder instead of it, which is exactly what ScreenPal is for.
Screen recording and hosting at four dollars
Screenshots and screen recordings with links
At a glance
- ScreenPal starts cheaper, at $4.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
ScreenPal | Zight | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $4 | From $9.95 |
| 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 | Not stated | Not stated |
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.
Our note
This was Screencast-O-Matic and it kept the pricing it built its reputation on, which is why it keeps beating tools that do less for more. Start on the free tier and only move up when the recording length or the editing limits actually stop you.
Only on this side
- Covers video hosting
Zight
Screenshots and screen recordings with links
Zight, which spent years as CloudApp, captures a screenshot or a short recording and hands back a link before the file has finished uploading. Annotation, GIF capture and a searchable library are the reasons people keep it in the menu bar. The free plan caps recording length and storage, and the cap arrives sooner than expected.
Why people weigh these two
- Zight instead of ScreenPal
- Zight covers screenshots as well as recordings, with links, from $10 with a free tier.
- ScreenPal instead of Zight
- ScreenPal hosts the recording itself at four dollars, with a free tier too, cheaper than Zight and built for longer recordings than a quick screenshot tool.
Which one should you pick
Pick ScreenPal for actual tutorials: record, edit and host live in one flow, starting free and moving to $4 a month for Deluxe when you need full capture and editing.
Pick Zight for quick, repeated captures: client feedback, a bug report, a link in the clipboard before the file finishes uploading. Its free plan limits recording length and history, and Pro is $9.95 a month, more than double ScreenPal's Deluxe price for that speed.
Common questions
- Which one is cheaper?
- ScreenPal. Deluxe is $4 a month against Zight's Pro at $9.95, and ScreenPal's free tier has no time limit on how long you can stay on it.
- Is Zight good for recording long tutorials?
- Not by its own description: it points anybody recording long tutorials toward a real screen recorder instead. ScreenPal is built for exactly that job.
- Does Zight keep captures searchable later?
- Yes, a searchable library is one of its named features, useful when small captures pile up over months. ScreenPal's strength is the finished tutorial page, not a searchable archive of clips.
- Do either have AI features?
- Zight's Pro plan includes five AI smart actions a month for $9.95. ScreenPal folds AI features into its $10 a month Max plan, alongside interactivity like quizzes.
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.