Take vs Loom: a link to a cloud video, or a file you own?
By the makers of Take · updated August 2026 · full disclosure
macOS 14 or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel. 7-day trial, no card, no watermark.
| Take | Loom | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 one-time | Free, or $18 to $24 per user per month |
| Free plan limits | Full app for 7 days, then it is yours or it is not | 25 videos, 5 minute screen recordings |
| Recording length | No limit | 5 minutes on the free plan |
| Where the video goes | Your Mac, as a .mov | Loom's cloud |
| Works offline | ||
| Automatic staging | Zooms from your clicks, smoothed cursor, backdrop, idle skips | |
| Editing | One strip to fix it: the preview IS the export | Trim, and AI edits on paid plans |
| Presents live in Meet and Zoom (virtual camera) | Yes, the staged screen as a camera |
Why Take is better
- It is finished when you stop. Take zooms where you clicked, smooths the cursor, speeds up dead air and adds a real backdrop.
- Nothing is capped. There is no five-minute limit, no video count and no per-seat bill.
- You get a file. It is a plain .mov with no watermark, and nobody needs an account to watch it.
- You buy it once. Take is $9.99 once, while Loom Business is $18 a user a month.
Download Take freeBuy Take, $9.99
macOS 14 or later · 7-day refund
Full comparison and details
You hit record, explain the bug, and Loom cuts you off at five minutes, or the monthly bill for the team arrives. Loom's whole design is a link to a video that lives in its cloud. We built Take the other way round: a native Mac app that turns your capture into a finished recording on your own machine and hands you the file, with no cap and nothing to rent.
Last updated: August 2026
Full disclosure: this page is published by the makers of Take. Loom's prices and limits below are taken from Loom's own pages, checked in August 2026.
The short version
Pick Take if you want the recording itself, with no cap on length, no watermark and no account for the person watching, as a plain .mov you can put anywhere, and you would rather pay once.
Side by side
The comparison table is at the top of this page.
Where Take is better
- The recording is finished when you stop. Take places zooms where you actually clicked, makes the cursor glide instead of jitter, speeds up the dead air and adds a real backdrop. Loom hands you the raw capture unless you pay for its AI editing.
- Narration is part of the edit. Record a voiceover over the take after you stop and move it on the strip, and fix the captions Take wrote on your Mac line by line.
- Nothing is capped. There is no five minute limit, no video count and no per-seat bill, because your Mac does the work.
- You get a file. It is a plain .mov in a folder you own, with no watermark and no account needed to watch it, so you can put it in a doc, a PR, an email, or a page that has to keep working in five years.
- It works with the wifi off. Recording, staging, editing and export all run locally, so nothing about your screen is uploaded to anyone.
- You buy it once. Take is $9.99 once. Loom Business at $18 a user passes that in its first month.
- It can present live, not just record. Go live puts the same staged screen into Google Meet, Zoom or FaceTime as a virtual camera, with one-click switches for the face bubble and the zooms. Loom sends recordings; it does not present live in a call.
The pricing math
Loom Starter is free with 25 videos and a five minute cap on screen recordings. Business is $18 per user per month, and Business + AI is $24. Take is one payment instead: $9.99 once.
For one person, Loom Business costs more in its first month than owning Take outright. That bill pays Loom to keep your screen in its cloud. If your viewers already share a Slack, a drive or a repo with you, you are paying every month for hosting you already have, and that is why we made Take hand you the file.
FAQ
How much does Loom cost?
Starter is free with 25 videos and a 5 minute limit on screen recordings. Business is $18 per user per month and Business + AI is $24, with a discount for annual billing. Prices from loom.com/pricing, August 2026.
Is there a screen recorder with no time limit?
Yes. Take records for as long as you like and costs $9.99 once, because the recording and the editing both happen on your Mac.
Does Take add a watermark?
No. Take never adds a watermark, on any plan, including during the trial.
Which Macs does Take run on?
Take runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It is universal, so Apple Silicon and Intel Macs both run it natively.
Keep the recording
Tired of a five-minute cap on the one video that needed six? With Take you stop the capture and it is already staged, with zooms where you clicked, the dead air sped up and a real backdrop, and you keep a plain .mov with no limit on length. It is $9.99 once, so there is no subscription to keep.
Buy Take, $9.99 Try free for 7 daysmacOS 14 or later · Universal · no watermark, ever · 7-day trial, no card up front
More comparisons: Best Mac screen recorders in 2026 · vs Screen Studio · vs CleanShot X · vs Descript · vs Camtasia · vs ScreenFlow · Loom alternatives for Mac · No watermark, no time limit · Record a demo that looks edited · Take overview