In the last two years of the pandemic from 2020 to 2022, we have seen how important it has become to use screen recorders in the field of education and work. No matter if you are a person who streams games or not, a screen recorder has become a necessity for every user. There is no harm in downloading a free screen recorder and using it to capture the important slides, lectures, meetings, and even gameplay footage. But there are plenty of screen recorders that come with a watermark and to vanish the watermark you need to buy the premium.
Well, that’s not the case with our list of free screen recorders. Today, with the help of this article we are going to show you some of the best free screen recorders that you can install and use without paying a single dime. In addition to this, we are also going to showcase the benefits of using a screen recorder and things you need to be aware of when you are using a screen recorder. So let’s get started.
What is a Screen Recorder?
A screen recorder is a tool that records the activities on your computer screen. But a screen recorder is more than that, recording a screen is a basic function that every program in this lineup will provide. A screen recorder can even record your webcam video and share it with other people. A screen recorder can be a great help for you to stream video games, or show the contents of your projects. Moreover, a screen recorder can even capture a specific part or tab on your computer. So you can work on the rest of the tabs with ease.
A screen recorder is the best program when you are a lecturer or a teacher who wants to give students tutorial videos, live videos, and even interactive videos if they want. A screen recorder can be installed in your smartphone, tablet, Windows computer, and macOS system. Nowadays with the use of smart devices even smart TVs and smart cameras can record and send videos via cloud services.
Benefits of Using a Screen Recorder
There are three main categories of benefits which you can enjoy with a screen recorder. The first one is Evidence, the second is Education, and the last is Entertainment. All the benefits which are written below fall under these three categories. Let’s explore them.
Save Any Type of Content
The best way to save anything which is happening on your computer is by recording it by using a screen recorder software. You can even use these programs to stream the contents of your screen to a list of viewers. Moreover, you can even save an online or live game that is being played over the Internet and later create highlights for the same on your website. Capture the audio of a video and use it for the background in your latest streaming and more. With screen capturing programs your creativity is the only barrier.
Save Important Video Conference
You hate those late-night conference calls where the client is sitting on the other side of the world and sharing different statistics while you are half asleep listening to him with no interest. In such a scenario, you can save all the necessary details by just using a screen recorder. Most of the online video conferencing applications like Google Hangouts, Skype, and others don’t even have the option of saving up the calls for later viewing. Therefore, having a screen recorder becomes essential.
Easier to Explain Problems
The screen recording feature enables you to showcase the problem that you are facing while working on specific software. In addition to this, you can also provide solutions to a problem using these screen recorders. You can create a tutorial video for the digital products which you are selling and make it easier for the targeted users to learn how to use them.
Review End-to-End Employee Performance
Being a business owner it becomes crucial to keep an eye on your employees. Especially when it comes to customer services. Employees might be working hard, but they are not able to yield any major sales. Well, screen capturing their system will allow you to understand how they are performing and where they are lacking. Many software come with the audio recording feature to help you listen to how your employees are handling the customer calls and assisting them.
Share and Collaborate
If you are working on a website and want other members of your team to see how it is performing then simply record the screen and share the video link with them. Besides, you can even use the screen capturing software to collaborate with the team members and take their insights on your design, product, and code.
7 Top Free Screen Recorders to Use in 2022
We hope by now you have a clear idea as to why you need a screen recorder. The next main step is to find the best free screen recorder. We have compiled here a list of the top 7 free screen recorders that you can easily use to get your work done and that too with ease.
1. OBS Studio
We are sure you have heard about the name OBS Studio if you are a gamer and love to stream your games. OBS is open-source and that makes it completely free to use software with no restrictions whatsoever. OBS also comes with high-definition streaming and recording of the video.
Also, there is no restriction on the length of your video so you can stream even for hours without taking any breaks. Most of the YouTuber and Twitch streamers use OBS Studio to stream their games and other works on the Internet. One of the biggest advantages of OBS Studio is its ability to capture the video straight from your graphic card in full resolution.
Features:
- First, you get customizable hotkeys to control your screen recordings.
- A user can record videos at 60 fps as the software takes full advantage of multicore CPUs to provide improved performance.
- OBS offers integration with multiple platforms to stream video live.
- Its intuitive audio mixer offers tons of options to choose from.
- You can set as many scenes as you want and switch between them seamlessly.
- Likewise, you can add new sources to the streaming, duplicate the existing ones, and even manage their properties.
- Lastly, OBS Studio runs on all the major operating systems.
2. ActivePresenter
ActivePresenter isn’t an open-sourced software. Still the developers of this software i.e. Atomic Systems have made it free to use with no ads whatsoever. This product is loved by tons of YouTubers for creating videos for educational, training, and entertainment purposes. It comes with nearly all the features which you will ever need in a screen recording application.
There is no watermark when you record the screen and share the video with your network. All the features present in the software can be tested out with no restrictions at all. Once the video is captured by the application, you are free to trim, cut, split, change the speed, adjust the volume, add closed captions, annotations, animations, and other filters to make it stand out straight from the software. When you take a step further and buy the paid version, you will be introduced to the more advanced features which dangle in between the line of video editing and screen recording software.
Features
- Record full screen, a specific region of your screen, webcam, microphone audio for voice overs, and even your computer sound individually.
- It comes with a basic video editor which can be used to edit the video that you have shot from it.
- There’s a blur effect, green-screen effect, audio fade in/out, noise reduction, audio normalization, and many more tools at your disposal to use.
- You can even make this software to record the software simulation test with the use of automatic annotations.
- Lastly, there is no need to pay money to buy the advanced plan as everything that we just told you comes for free and that too with no ads at all.
3. Windows Built-in Game Bar
It might come as a surprise to you but Windows comes with its screen recorder in the form of a pre-installed game bar. It helps in capturing the gameplay of the videos and taking the screenshots as well as using the hotkeys. The game bar is designed to capture the programs only. So you are not going to get a specific region recording or even a full-screen recording. To make this software work on your computer, your computer’s hardware needs to meet the minimum requirement in the first place, but most of them can easily pass the test.
Recording a video using this software is pretty simple. All you have to do is press the Windows+G keys combination to open the Game Bar menu. If a prompt shows up and asks you if it’s a game, click on Yes, this is the game. Now all you need to do is press the Start and Stop button to record the gameplay. In addition to this, you can even turn on or off the microphone sound with a single click. Once you are done with the recording you can trim the video or even rename it using the XBox app present on your computer.
Features
- It is pretty easy to use and no additional software needs to be downloaded.
- You can even toggle the microphone while recording the audio.
- There are no watermarks present in this software and it is completely free of cost.
- Lastly, you don’t need to worry about the virus because it comes as a built-in feature of the Windows operating system.
4. Wondershare DemoAir Online Screen Recorder
This is more of a Google Chrome extension. So you need to first install Chrome. If you are already using Chrome then having DemoAir is probably a no-brainer for you. With this software, you get to record your screen, Google Chrome tabs, and even the webcam that is attached to your computer. There is no need to install anything when you are using this software. Likewise, it can be used with Linux, Mac, and Windows computers. Keep in mind, this software does not let you do anything other than record the video and share it.
Some of the basic tools are here such as cropping the video duration and muting the audio. But apart from that, the toolkit isn’t as extensive as some people might want it to be. We have put it here in this position because some users just want to record and share. For such individuals, DemoAir is a great screen recorder to have in their arsenal.
Features
- This screen recorder is just a small extension that does all the heavy work.
- You can easily record and share the video capture among various media and even on your emails as well.
- The links for the recorded videos are generated instantly and you can download the videos from it as well.
- You are getting three dedicated recording modes such as Browser, Desktop, and Webcam.
- The user has full control to mute or enable the audio of the microphone and for the system as well.
- Likewise, you can choose any specific window to capture the video or a program that you like.
- Lastly, you are also getting an inbuilt drawing toolbar with the free screen recorder to highlight or focus on an area.
5. FlashBack Express
Even though you might think it will have its own flaw or something due to it being a free version of the paid program. The FlashBack still does not ruin your videos with the watermark and with the time limits. It has so many features which you will only find in the premium or paid screen recording applications. If you haven’t used the screen recorder before then using this might be just the perfect idea for you. This also comes with the function of recording the whole screen, a small portion of the screen, a specific window, or a program. The application comes with a simple editor which can be used to cut, trim and edit the video according to your need. After that, you can send the video straight to your YouTube channel.
These are basic options which you fill in most of the free screen recorders which we have in this list. But once you scratch the surface you will find the wealth of thoughtfully designed settings that can easily make your screen recording more refined and professional.
Features
- The interface is beginner-friendly and all the tools come with a brief description of how they will affect your video.
- You can decide in which format your video will be sent and you can even select different outputs for the same.
- It can individually record from the screen and the webcam. So, if you just want to record from the webcam, you are free to do it.
6. Free Cam
Free Cam is another screen recorder that comes with the function of a built-in audio/video editor. The interface is pretty easy to comprehend and it also allows you to take screenshots with just a single click. Besides being free, it doesn’t add any type of watermark to your videos. Moreover, you can quickly select the specific area that you want to record and even make a choice to include or exclude the system’s audio and of the microphone as well. You can even use your mouse as a highlighter for your videos.
Features
- Once you are done recording the video you can quickly cut out the unnecessary fragments of the video.
- If you have an extra sound in the background of your voice-over, you can remove it from the audio with just a single click.
- Use different tools to make your video sound more polished and professional.
- You can also share the video directly from the application to your YouTube channel and other social media handles.
7. ShareX
ShareX is one of those free screen recorders that are open-sourced and provides all the custom features available in the paid versions. If you look at the target audience of ShareX you can see that they are heavily aimed at developers and power users. As a result, it might be difficult for an average customer to get his way around the toolkit and settings which are present in this software. As we said you are getting all the features of premium so it becomes natural that the software is also going to provide you with no watermark videos along with no time limitations.
Moreover, it has this unique feature that makes it possible for you to capture a small video of your screen and then turn it into a GIF. This can be one of the great ways to put content on social media. You can use it to capture the entire scrolling web page in one go. Likewise, it can help you in identifying the text via OCR, or you can make it capture the screen according to your predetermined schedule.
Features
- It is a great tool if you want to capture static screen grabs.
- It comes with several options to export the file.
- It can capture videos and then turn them into GIFs.
- Share your videos on social media platforms straight from the ShareX dashboard.
Conclusion
You can find both the free and paid tools for capturing your screen. Recording your screen can be useful in a lot of ways as we have discussed above. Whether you should be spending money on them or not is up to you. What we showed you today was some of the best free screen recorders that could save you a lot of money by not going for the paid versions. For experienced users, FlashBack Express and OBS Studio can do wonders. For those looking for a simple recording, ActivePresenter will be enough.
If you have any other free screen recorder that you want to see on this list, feel free to mention it in the comments section. We will see if it can get included in the list of best free screen recorders. We hope that you have now found the ideal free screen recorder to finish up your work as you like.