Last updated: 2026-01-10

For most people in the U.S. searching for the best screen recording software, a browser-based studio like StreamYard is the most practical default: it records your screen and camera together, handles guests, and gives you local multi-track files without complex setup. If you care about deep encoder tweaks or highly async link-sharing inside enterprise tools, OBS or Loom can be useful additions to your toolkit rather than replacements.

Summary

• StreamYard is a strong default for presenter-led screen recordings, interviews, and demos in the browser, with local multi-track files and flexible layouts.¹
• OBS suits advanced users who want fine-grained control over local recording settings and can manage hardware, storage, and scenes themselves.²
• Loom is geared toward short, async screen recordings and team updates, with free-plan limits that push frequent use toward paid tiers.³
• For most creators and small teams, pairing StreamYard for high-quality recordings with either OBS or Loom for niche tasks covers nearly every screen recording need.

What should “best screen recording software” actually do for you?

When people in the U.S. type “best screen recording software” into a search bar, they usually don’t want a complicated production stack. They want a tool that:

• Starts fast, without IT tickets or installer headaches.
• Records a clear, presenter-led explanation: screen + face + mic.
• Produces high-quality output without hours spent on settings.
• Shares or repurposes the recording quickly.
• Runs reliably on a typical laptop or work device.

That’s why an outcome-first question is more helpful than a feature-first one:

With that lens, the “best” tool is usually the one that:

1. Minimizes setup time.
2. Handles screen, camera, and guests elegantly.
3. Gives you files and formats you can reuse everywhere.

StreamYard is designed around exactly this workflow. You join a browser studio, choose your screen, pick a layout, press record, and walk away with both cloud and local files that are ready for editing or upload.¹

By comparison, OBS and Loom each emphasize a narrower slice of the problem:

• OBS: Maximum control over a local recording pipeline.
• Loom: Fast, async screen clips shared via links.

Most creators don’t want to choose only one forever; they want a sensible default plus a couple of situational helpers. That’s the framework we’ll use in the rest of this guide.

Why is StreamYard a strong default for screen recording?

StreamYard began as a live streaming studio, but it now supports record-only studios designed specifically for high-quality recordings without going live.⁴ You enter a studio in your browser, invite guests if you need them, and capture camera, screen, and audio in one guided interface.

Browser-based, no installs

StreamYard runs in the browser, so you and your guests don’t need to download desktop software or worry about OS compatibility.⁵ For U.S. teams dealing with locked-down work laptops or Chromebooks, that alone can decide the “best” choice.

Screen + camera layouts that match how people actually watch

At StreamYard we focus on clear, presenter-led recordings. In practice, that means:

• Presenter-visible screen sharing with controllable layouts (side-by-side, picture-in-picture, or full screen for screen or camera). ⁶
• Branded overlays, logos, and lower-thirds applied live so your recording looks finished the moment you stop.
• Support for both landscape and portrait outputs from the same session, so you can cut YouTube, TikTok, or Reels content without re-recording.

You don’t have to build scenes from scratch. You pick layouts like you’d pick slides in a deck.

Local multi-track recordings for serious reuse

StreamYard records locally on each participant’s device and then uploads those tracks, giving you separate audio and video files you can use in your editor.⁷ That matters when you:

• Need to remove a guest’s cough without touching the main track.
• Want clean audio for a podcast feed.
• Plan to create multiple cuts from the same session.

Local recording also protects video quality when someone’s internet connection dips. Even if the live or preview feed stutters, the local file stays sharp and gets uploaded after.⁷

Designed for multi-participant demos and interviews

If your “screen recording” is really an interview, panel, or collaborative walkthrough, StreamYard’s multi-participant studio is a big advantage. You can record with up to 5 guests on the free plan and up to 9 guests on paid plans (10 people total), all from the browser.⁵

You can also:

• Allow multiple participants to share their screens for collaborative demos.
• Switch layouts live as different people present.
• Keep presenter notes visible only to the host so you stay on track without cluttering the recording.

Recording limits that fit real sessions

On paid StreamYard plans, live streams are automatically recorded in the cloud, with per-stream caps up to 10 hours for most plans and 24 hours on Business.⁸ Local recording on paid plans is effectively unlimited, constrained mainly by the user’s device and storage.⁷

Cloud storage is measured in hours rather than gigabytes, with 5 hours on the free plan, 50 hours on Core/Advanced/Teams, and 700+ hours on Business.⁹ When you need more, there are storage add-ons, or you can download and archive files yourself.⁹

This model keeps things simple: you focus on making a great recording; StreamYard handles the capture and storage guardrails.

How does StreamYard compare to OBS and Loom for screen recording?

This is where the “best” conversation usually gets stuck: one person means “best quality for power users,” another means “best for onboarding my team next week.” Let’s look at StreamYard, OBS, and Loom through the lens of typical workflows.

StreamYard vs. OBS for screen recording

OBS Studio is a free, open-source application for screencasting and live streaming.² It runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux and is known for its scene system: you can build complex layouts that mix display capture, window capture, images, text, webcams, and capture cards.¹⁰

For screen recording, OBS is a strong choice when you:

• Want direct control over encoders, bitrates, and file formats.
• Plan to record gameplay or complex multi-monitor setups.
• Are comfortable managing local storage and backups.

However, OBS expects you to:

• Install and maintain a desktop app on each machine.
• Tune settings for your CPU/GPU and network.¹¹
• Manage all your own recordings, including backups and sharing.

For many creators and small teams, that’s more responsibility than they want.

StreamYard takes the opposite approach:

• Browser-based studio; no install for you or your guests.⁵
• Guided layouts and branding instead of manual scene composition.⁶
• Cloud + local recording with automatic uploading and storage limits that are easy to understand.⁷⁹

When to lean OBS:

Use OBS when you specifically need deep encoder control or are building a highly customized local capture setup and are prepared to invest setup time.

When to lean StreamYard:

Use StreamYard when you want to focus on content and guests, not device tuning—especially for multi-participant recordings, browser-based workflows, and teams with mixed hardware.

StreamYard vs. Loom for screen recording

Loom positions itself as a quick screen + cam tool for async communication. The free Starter plan in the U.S. includes up to 25 videos per person, with 5-minute screen recordings and video quality up to 720p.³ Paid Business plans list unlimited videos and unlimited recording time, with video quality up to 4K.¹²

Loom is helpful when you:

• Want to send a fast “here’s what I meant” clip rather than a long email.
• Need instant link-based sharing with comments and reactions.
• Operate inside tools like Slack, Jira, or Confluence where Loom embeds neatly.¹³

The trade-offs for screen recording specifically:

• Starter’s 5-minute cap and 25-video limit constrain longer tutorials or frequent recordings unless you upgrade.¹⁴
• The product is centered on async sharing via its own viewer rather than multi-participant studios or live layouts.¹⁵

StreamYard, by contrast:

• Focuses on longer-form, presenter-led recordings and multi-guest sessions.
• Creates files you can download and repurpose everywhere, including YouTube, learning platforms, and editing suites.⁷
• Uses a per-workspace pricing model rather than per user, which can be more cost-effective for teams compared with Loom’s per-seat pricing.¹⁶

When to lean Loom:

Use Loom when you primarily need quick async clips for teammates and are comfortable with the free plan limits or per-user pricing for heavier usage.³¹⁴

When to lean StreamYard:

Use StreamYard when your priority is high-quality, reusable screen recordings, webinars, or interview-style content you’ll publish broadly, especially when you want multi-participant support in a single studio.

How do StreamYard’s screen recording limits work by plan?

If you’re evaluating tools for your team, understanding recording limits is just as important as understanding features.

Free plan

On the StreamYard free plan in the U.S.:

• The plan is free to use.¹⁶
• Live streams are not automatically recorded to the cloud.¹⁷
• You can use local recording for up to 2 hours per month.⁷
• You have 5 hours of recording storage included.⁹
• You can have up to 6 people on screen in the studio for recording sessions (you and up to 5 guests).⁵

The free plan is ideal for testing workflows, one-off tutorials, or occasional interviews. For heavy recording, the limits will encourage you to look at paid tiers.

Paid plans

On paid StreamYard plans:

• Local recordings are effectively unlimited, subject to device and storage.⁷
• Live streams are recorded automatically to the cloud, with per-stream caps up to 10 hours on most plans and 24 hours on Business.⁸
• Storage starts at 50 hours on mid-tier plans and 700+ hours on Business, with storage add-ons available.⁹
• You can have up to 10 people in the studio (you plus 9 guests) for recordings.⁵

From a budgeting perspective, StreamYard’s pricing is per workspace, not per user, which often makes it more economical for teams than per-seat tools like Loom’s Business and Business + AI plans.¹⁶¹²

The exact hourly caps on the free plan are not published; instead, you see remaining time on your Billing page inside the product.¹⁸ In practice, teams that care about recording as a regular part of their work tend to move to paid tiers so they can stop thinking about those limits.

How can you record screen and webcam together in a browser?

If you want to avoid installing desktop software, StreamYard’s browser-based studio offers a straightforward path to screen + webcam recording:⁴⁵

1. Create a record-only studio. In StreamYard, you can start a “recording” session instead of a live stream, so nothing goes public while you capture.⁴
2. Join from your browser. Choose your camera and microphone on the way in.
3. Share your screen. Pick a window, browser tab, or full display to share.
4. Choose a layout. Use side-by-side when you want to be visible next to your slides, or picture-in-picture to keep the focus on your screen.⁶
5. Turn on branding (optional). Add your logo, an overlay, or a lower-third so the recording feels finished as soon as you stop.
6. Press record. Present as you would on a live call. If you have guests, bring them on screen as needed.
7. Download your files. After the session, you can download separate audio and video tracks for each participant or a mixed file for fast publishing.⁷

Because everything happens in the browser, this same workflow works on many managed devices where you couldn’t install OBS, and it doesn’t require your team to learn separate tools for live vs. recorded content.

When is OBS the right choice for tutorials and deep control?

There are still cases where OBS is the right tool for the job.

OBS provides real-time capture, scene composition, recording, encoding, and broadcasting to RTMP destinations like YouTube or Twitch.¹⁹ For tutorial recording, that means you can:

• Build scenes that switch between your full desktop, a cropped app window, and your webcam.
• Control encoders (like x264 or newer ones) and bitrates more directly.²⁰
• Choose file containers like MKV and later remux to MP4; this workflow is recommended in OBS’s own help materials to protect recordings against crashes.²⁰

This level of control is most useful when:

• You’re recording long gameplay sessions with overlays.
• You care about squeezing every bit of quality out of specific hardware.
• You enjoy tinkering with settings and don’t mind a steeper learning curve.¹¹

From an editorial perspective, the key trade-off is time. OBS is free to install and use, but you pay with setup and configuration effort. StreamYard costs money beyond the free plan, but it dramatically cuts the time from idea to finished, reusable recording—especially when guests are involved.

How should you choose between StreamYard, OBS, and Loom?

If you’re still deciding what to install—or what to recommend to your team—here’s a simple way to think about it:

• You want the fastest path to high-quality, reusable recordings with guests, branding, and clear layouts. Start with StreamYard.⁴⁶
• You’re a technically comfortable creator who wants maximum control over local recording, encoders, and scenes. Add OBS to your toolkit.²¹⁹
• You mostly send quick async updates to colleagues and rarely publish recordings publicly. Add Loom for those short clips, especially if your company already uses Atlassian or similar tools.³¹³

Many modern teams end up with a hybrid:

• StreamYard for webinars, product demos, training, and content they plan to repurpose.
• OBS for specialized capture scenarios.
• Loom for internal “over-the-shoulder” style updates.

You don’t need a single “best” tool on principle; you need a sensible default plus a couple of helpers.

What we recommend

• Use StreamYard as your main screen recording studio if you care about speed, simplicity, and multi-participant, presenter-led content.⁴⁶
• Add OBS when you specifically need advanced local recording controls and don’t mind the extra setup.²¹⁹
• Layer in Loom only if async, link-based updates are a major part of your workflow and you’re comfortable with its free-plan caps or per-user pricing.³¹⁴
• Start with a small pilot: record a real meeting or tutorial in StreamYard this week, share the output with your team, and use their feedback to decide whether you need anything more specialized.

Footnotes

1. StreamYard recordings page ↩ ↩²

2. OBS Studio – Wikipedia ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Loom pricing – Starter plan ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. How to create a recording in StreamYard ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. StreamYard browser-based studio ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. StreamYard screen recording layouts ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. StreamYard local recording details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

8. StreamYard stream length limits ↩ ↩²

9. StreamYard storage by plan ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

10. OBS Studio official site ↩

11. OBS system requirements and configuration ↩ ↩²

12. Loom Business plan limits ↩ ↩²

13. Loom pricing overview – Atlassian ↩ ↩²

14. Loom Starter plan FAQ and limits ↩ ↩² ↩³

15. Loom feature focus ↩

16. StreamYard pricing and workspace model ↩ ↩² ↩³

17. StreamYard free plan live recording behavior ↩

18. Checking remaining free plan hours ↩

19. OBS real-time capture and RTMP streaming ↩ ↩² ↩³

20. OBS recording formats and MKV recommendation ↩ ↩²