PrintScreen.ly vs Loom — honest comparison
Looking for a Loom alternative? Here's an honest PrintScreen.ly vs Loom comparison — what each one does well, and where the other one wins. Loom is the category leader in async video messaging: webcam bubble, cloud hosting, share links, viewer analytics, transcripts, AI summaries. PrintScreen.ly is a desktop screenshot tool that now also records screen video to MP4 on Mac and Windows. Our recordings save to your local Movies / Videos folder and stay there — no cloud upload, no share link, no editor. If your job is sending video walkthroughs to teammates, Loom is the right tool. If you want to record locally for your own files, edit elsewhere, and own the resulting MP4 outright, that is exactly what we built.
| At a glance | PrintScreen.ly | Loom |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free (screenshots + screen recording, local) | Free (25 videos, 5 min each) |
| Most popular plan | $24.99/yr | Business $15/user/mo billed annually ($18/mo monthly) — unlimited videos and length |
| Lifetime license | $59.99 | Not available — subscription only |
| Platforms | Mac · Windows · Web · iOS (companion) · Android (companion) | Mac · Windows · Web · iOS · Android · Chrome extension |
Pick Loom if
- ·Cloud hosting and share links are the entire product — paste a Loom link into Slack and your teammate watches in their browser, no download. PrintScreen.ly does not upload recordings anywhere; sharing means sending the MP4 yourself.
- ·Webcam bubble overlaid on the screen recording for a face + screen async update. PrintScreen.ly records screen + system audio + mic but does not capture webcam.
- ·A built-in video editor: trim, cut filler words, stitch clips, add CTAs. PrintScreen.ly saves a single MP4 to disk with no editing.
- ·AI-generated transcripts, summaries, chapters, action items, and viewer analytics (who watched, how far, when). PrintScreen.ly has none of this and never will — recordings are local files, not a hosted SaaS.
- ·Native mobile recording on iOS and Android, plus a Chrome extension. PrintScreen.ly's mobile companions are for screenshots only; recording is desktop-only.
Pick PrintScreen.ly if
- +A one-time $59.99 lifetime instead of a recurring per-user subscription. Three years of Loom Business is roughly $540/user; PrintScreen.ly is $59.99 once for the whole household.
- +Your video, your machine — recordings save to your local Movies / Videos folder as standard MP4 files. No account required, no cloud upload, no expiring share link, no analytics on who watched.
- +Screen recording is free on Mac and Windows on day one — region or fullscreen, system audio + mic, 30 or 60 fps. Loom's free tier caps at 25 videos of 5 minutes each.
- +Comes with a full still-screenshot tool: region, window, fullscreen, scrolling capture, an 8-tool markup editor, and on-device text grab. Loom is video-first and does not do still screenshots.
- +Recordings are MP4 you can edit in any video tool, archive locally, or attach to email — not entries in a hosted library you have to keep paying to access.
Full feature comparison
Verified 2026-05-20. Source linked at the bottom.
| Feature | PrintScreen.ly | Loom |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $59.99 one-time lifetime (or free for local capture + recording) | Free tier (25 videos × 5 min) or $15/user/mo annual |
| Screen recording (MP4) | Yes (free, Mac + Windows, region or fullscreen, system audio + mic, 30/60 fps) | Yes |
| Webcam recording | No | Yes (overlay bubble) |
| Recording length cap | 10 min default (configurable 30 s – 60 min) | 5 min on free; unlimited on paid |
| Where recordings live | Local file on your machine (~/Movies/PrintScreen.ly or Videos\\PrintScreen.ly) | Loom's cloud library, accessed via share link or app |
| Share link / cloud playback | No — by design, recordings stay local | Yes (the core product) |
| Video editor (trim, cut) | No | Yes |
| Transcripts / AI summaries | No | Yes |
| Viewer analytics | No | Yes |
| Still screenshots (region/window/fullscreen/scroll) | Yes (the original product) | No |
| Markup editor | Yes (8 tools, free) | Limited — drawing on video, no still-image editor |
| OCR / grab text | Yes (on-device, all desktops + web) | No |
| Mobile recording | No (mobile companions are screenshot-only) | Yes (iOS + Android) |
| Account required | No for local capture + recording; Pro requires a Bravely Account | Yes |
Bottom line
Loom and PrintScreen.ly look like they overlap because both can record your screen, but they're built for different jobs. Loom is async video messaging: record, host in the cloud, paste a link, get a transcript, see who watched. If your work is sending video walkthroughs to teammates or customers, buy Loom — that's its category and it owns it. PrintScreen.ly is a local capture tool: take a screenshot, mark it up, optionally record a quick MP4 of your screen, save it to your Movies folder, do whatever you want with the file. Recordings stay on your machine by design — no share link, no cloud account, no expiring video. If you want a Loom replacement with hosted share links and a webcam bubble, this isn't it and we won't pretend otherwise. If you want to own your recordings outright and skip the subscription, that's exactly what we built.
FAQ
Can I share a PrintScreen.ly recording the way I share a Loom?+
Not the same way. Loom uploads to its cloud and gives you a share link; PrintScreen.ly saves a local MP4 to your Movies / Videos folder. To share, you attach the MP4 to email or upload it to a service you already use (Drive, Slack, etc.). That is the deliberate tradeoff — your video lives on your machine, not in a hosted library.
Does PrintScreen.ly capture my webcam?+
No. PrintScreen.ly records the screen with system audio and microphone, but no webcam bubble. If a face overlay matters, Loom is the better choice.
Will recordings sync to my other devices like screenshots do?+
No. Screenshots sync to your Pro library across devices; recordings are local-only by design and there are no plans to change that. They're MP4 files you can move, edit, or archive however you like.
Is Loom's free tier enough?+
For light use, often yes — 25 videos × 5 minutes is fine for occasional async updates. If you record longer-form walkthroughs or just don't want video count limits, PrintScreen.ly records as long as you want (up to your configurable cap) entirely on your machine, with no count.
More PrintScreen.ly comparisons
Pricing verified 2026-05-20. Loom pricing source. Subject to change.