Loom

Loom is a screen recorder and video-messaging tool for people who need to explain work asynchronously. It suits teams that want recordings, editing and viewer responses in one workflow. Its free tier is useful for short clips, but the five-minute cap makes a paid plan the practical choice for longer recordings.

Overview

Loom brings screen capture and webcam recording together with tools for sharing and responding to video messages. Recordings can include microphone and system audio, and can be shared or embedded across workplace tools. Video quality goes up to 4K, while transcripts and captions support more than 50 languages.

The editor can trim and stitch clips and add backgrounds, text, arrows and box overlays. Recipients can react with emojis, comment, handle tasks and follow calls to action. Those features make Loom more suited to workplace updates and explanations than a recorder focused only on producing a video file.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, Loom was acquired by Atlassian and is integrating its systems. Loom says millions of people across 400,000 companies use the product.

Key features

Capture, edit and share

Loom records webcam video, microphone audio and system audio. Capture is supported on the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and through a Chrome extension. The combination of clip editing and annotations helps users shape an explanation before sharing it; reactions, comments and tasks give recipients ways to respond without making the video itself the whole conversation.

Transcripts, integrations and AI

Transcripts and captions are available in more than 50 languages. Integrations include Slack, Jira, Confluence, GitHub and Gmail, which can help teams fit video messages into tools they already use. Loom AI adds automatic titles, summaries, chapters and tasks, as well as filler-word removal; it is included with Business + AI and is a reason to pay more than the standard Business price.

Pricing

Loom uses a freemium model, with Starter free and paid plans billed per user monthly. Annual payment saves 17 percent compared with monthly billing. A 14-day free trial is offered for Business + AI.

Starter can cover brief updates, but its five-minute recording limit and 25-video-per-person allowance constrain frequent or detailed use. Business removes those caps and fits teams that record regularly without needing the AI additions. Business + AI is the step up for teams that want automated summaries, chapters or filler-word removal. Enterprise is aimed at organizations needing stronger controls and support: it adds SSO, SCIM, custom retention policies, privacy settings, Atlassian Guard Standard, EBA Compliance, dedicated support and an account manager.

Workspace membership affects billing administration: deactivated members forfeit fees and access for the remainder of the billing cycle. That term matters when changing seats mid-cycle.

Platforms

Loom supports web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, with capture also available through a Chrome extension. That range makes it viable for teams recording across desktop and mobile devices.

Who it's for

Loom is a good fit for teams that explain processes, share updates or hand off tasks through recorded messages, especially when they value comments, integrations and multilingual transcripts. It is less suitable for users who need longer recordings but do not want a paid subscription, or who want a recorder without workplace collaboration features.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Business removes per-person video and recording-length caps, so regular users need not ration clips.
• Pros: Editing, annotations, viewer responses and task-oriented tools support a complete asynchronous message workflow.
• Pros: More than 50 transcript and caption languages broaden its usefulness across distributed teams.
• Pros: Enterprise combines security controls with dedicated support and a 99.95% uptime SLA.
• Cons: Starter recordings stop at five minutes, a meaningful constraint for walkthroughs or detailed explanations.
• Cons: Loom AI requires the higher-priced Business + AI tier rather than standard Business.
• Cons: Enterprise requires custom pricing, so buyers cannot compare its cost from a fixed monthly rate.

Alternatives

Choose ScreenPal if a free plan with recordings up to 15 minutes is more important than Loom's longer paid-plan allowance; its free tier also caps hosted videos at 10. OBS Studio is a better fit for users who want free recording without usage limits and can work within its Linux, macOS and Windows platform support. For browser-extension users, Screencastify offers a free tier with up to 10 recordings and 30 minutes per video, but limits that tier to five members.

Dadan may suit users seeking a free plan with 25 videos, 2 GB of storage and 720p resolution. Zight is another freemium option, with its free Share plan allowing five-minute recordings, 1 GB of storage and one included user. Vidyard is worth considering when its free tier's limited AI videos, recording, editing, sharing and integrations match the need; it allows five recorded videos per month. Cap is an alternative for readers who want open-source software under the AGPL license. Jumpshare offers a Basic plan with 25 uploads, five-minute recording time and a 250 MB maximum file size per upload.

For broader comparisons, browse Screen Recording Software, AI Screen Recorders and Video Messaging Software.

Verdict

Choose Loom if your team wants screen recordings to work as shareable, editable messages with collaboration and transcript tools built in. Business is the sensible tier for frequent recording without length or video-count limits; look elsewhere if a five-minute free cap is too restrictive and paying per user is not an option.