Loom vs. ScreenPal (2026): Which Is Better for Course Creators?
Both are free-to-start screen recorders aimed at quick, shareable video. They solve different problems once you're actually building a course.
| Loom | ScreenPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan limit | 25 recordings, 5-min cap each | Unlimited recordings, 15-min cap, watermarked |
| Editor | Basic trim + overlays | Real timeline editor (basic but functional) |
| Cheapest paid plan | $18/user/mo (annual) | $3/mo (Solo Deluxe, annual) |
| Best for | Fast async clips, embed-and-share | Budget full-course recording |
Where Loom wins
Nothing beats Loom for turning "I recorded something" into a shareable link with zero friction — no export, no manual upload. If you're sending quick async updates, office-hours recaps, or short supplementary clips alongside a course hosted elsewhere, Loom's speed is hard to match. Viewer analytics (who watched how much) are also more developed than ScreenPal's.
Where ScreenPal wins
For actually building the core lessons of a course, ScreenPal's advantage is straightforward: unlimited recordings at 3x Loom's per-clip length, with a real (if basic) video editor included free — you can trim, add captions, and layer webcam footage without paying anything until you want the watermark gone. At $3/month for Solo Deluxe, it's also dramatically cheaper than Loom's $18/user/month Business tier.
Verdict
If your course is more than a handful of short clips, ScreenPal's free tier and $3/month upgrade path make it the better economic fit for full lesson recording. Keep Loom in your toolkit anyway for the fast, throwaway async clips it's genuinely built for — the two aren't mutually exclusive, and plenty of creators use both for different jobs.