Camtasia vs Loom
Camtasia is a video editor you buy for a year and keep editing in, while Loom is a hosted recorder where the product is the share link. The money works differently too: Camtasia charges per licence per year, Loom charges per person per month once the free caps run out.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Camtasia ifyou turn recordings into finished course or tutorial videos, want files you keep on disk, and are happy to renew once a year.
Choose Loom ifyou send quick recordings to colleagues as links, already use Jira or Slack, and want comments and transcripts on the video page.
Camtasia and Loom side by side
| Camtasia | Loom | |
|---|---|---|
| Our screen recording software rank | #11 of 13 | #13 of 13 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| List price, 3 November 2026 | Starter 39,56, Essentials 182,49, Create 252,62, Pro 607,71 euro per year, billed yearly (as shown to a visitor from Europe) | Free Starter; Business $18, Business + AI $24 per user per month; Enterprise custom |
| Free tier | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Producing courses and polished tutorial videos with a full timeline editor | Teams already on Atlassian who want quick video replies |
| Not for | Quick link-based sharing of short recordings | Anyone who needs unlimited free recordings or self-hosting |
Both are reviewed in full in our screen recording software ranking: Camtasia and Loom.
Where they differ
Camtasia 1 · Loom 1 · open 2- 01
Which one asks for a yearly licence and which for a monthly seat?
Camtasia's store sold in euros when we read it: Starter at 39,56 per year, Essentials at 182,49, Create at 252,62 and Pro at 607,71, all billed yearly. Loom lists Business at $18 and Business + AI at $24 per user per month, with 17% off for annual payment. One buyer pays per licence, the other per head.
Depends on the buyer
- 02
What stops you before you have paid anything?
Loom's free Starter plan caps you at 25 videos per person and five minutes each, and the cap is the reason to upgrade. Camtasia Editor has no time limit as a trial, but every export carries a watermark, and the cheapest paid tier keeps that watermark. Loom's limit is on volume, Camtasia's is on output quality.
Depends on the buyer
- 03
How much editing can happen after you stop recording?
Camtasia records screen, camera, system audio and microphone as separate layers, then edits them on a timeline; Essentials adds text-based editing, filler-word removal and SCORM export. Loom's Business plan lists basic waveform editing plus trim and stitch. For anything beyond cutting a take, Camtasia does more of the work.
Edge: Camtasia
- 04
Who can open the result, and who owns the platform behind it?
A Loom recording lives on a viewer page with comments, transcripts in 50+ languages and Jira and Slack integrations; Loom now sits under Atlassian. Camtasia is made by TechSmith, and an individual plan is non-transferable, with a licence covering two devices per user. Sharing a link is quicker in Loom, handing over a licence is not an option in Camtasia.
Edge: Loom
When neither fits
If you want recordings that never leave your machine without paying per seat, or a recorder with a different cap, look at Tella and Cap, both in our screen recording ranking.
Camtasia or Loom: questions
3 answersDoes Camtasia have a free version?
Camtasia Editor can be used without a time limit, but its exports are watermarked, per TechSmith's trial page. Essentials is the first tier that removes the watermark.
Is Loom free for a whole team?
The Starter plan is free but allows 25 videos of up to five minutes per person. Unlimited videos and recording time start on Business at $18 per user per month.
Which one covers more than one computer?
Camtasia states that each licence covers two devices per user. Loom is a hosted account with desktop (Mac and Windows) and mobile apps.
Sources
Checked 3 November 2026- TechSmith Camtasia store: four yearly euro prices, watermarked Editor on Starter, text-based editing and SCORM export on Essentials.
- Camtasia product page: separate layers for screen, camera and audio, two devices per user.
- Camtasia trial FAQ: Editor trial without time limit but watermarked exports.
- Loom pricing page: Starter caps, Business and Business + AI per-user prices, 17% annual saving, basic editing.
- Loom home page: 4K, transcripts in 50+ languages, Jira and Slack integrations, Mac, Windows and mobile.
- Loom at Atlassian: Loom belongs to Atlassian.