Which screen recorders let you download the video on a free plan?
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The Short Answer
- Screencastify — Screencastify checks "Video (MP4) Exports" only for Pro and Enterprise, leaving both Free and the paid Starter tier without a file — the export is behind the second paid plan, not the first.
- Loom — Loom lists "Upload and download videos" under Business only, so a free recording is a link rather than a file, and it stops at five minutes.
- Vidyard — Vidyard gives the longest free recording length here at thirty minutes, and never uses the word download or export anywhere on its pricing page.
- Zight — Zight caps free recordings at five minutes and 1 GB, and its only download-related table row governs a viewer-facing button rather than your own export.
| Product | Best for | From | Free plan | Free-plan download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screencastify | The clearest answer, and the worst one | $7/mo (annual) | Yes | Payment to download |
| Loom | Free links, paid files | $15/mo (annual) | Yes | Payment to download |
| Vidyard | Thirty free minutes, unstated export | $59/mo (annual) | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Zight | Five free minutes, unstated export | $9.95/mo | Yes | Not confirmed |
What we checked, and what we did not test
Screen recorders advertise two numbers — how many videos and how many minutes — and both are about what you may make. Neither is about what you may keep. The recording that matters is the one you can attach to an email after you cancel the trial, and that is a different row on the pricing page, if it is there at all.
So we opened four pricing pages on 6 August 2026 and looked for the row that names downloading or exporting a video file on the free plan, plus the recording-length cap that decides what is worth downloading in the first place. Each verdict quotes what we found. We did not install the tools or record anything.
Half the field does not answer the question. Loom and Screencastify both state plainly that the file is a paid feature. Vidyard and Zight publish free recording limits in detail and never mention downloading at all — Zight’s only download row turns out to govern a button shown to viewers, not an export you perform. That silence is the finding for those two, and it stays a blank rather than becoming a guess.
The clearest answer, and the worst one
1. Screencastify — The clearest answer, and the worst one
Screencastify publishes the restriction most precisely of the four, and the restriction it publishes is the strictest: the file needs the second paid tier, not the first.
Best for Seeing exactly which tier the MP4 lives behind
From $7/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — "$0 / No credit card required", "Create up to 10 videos", "Record up to 30 minutes", upload your own videos, share with a link; a referral bonus adds "5 bonus videos for each person they invite" up to 20.
- Starter — $19/mo, or $7/mo billed annually · 1 seat (The page states "$7 / user / month, billed annually" and "$19 when billed monthly")
- Pro — $25/mo, or $10/mo billed annually · 1 seat (The page states "$10 / user / month, billed annually" and "$25 when billed monthly")
- Enterprise & EDU — price not shown on the page we opened (Shown as "Custom" / "Let's talk")
The feature table's "Video (MP4) Exports" row is checked only for Pro and Enterprise & EDU — Free and Starter are both empty — and Pro's own bullet list adds "Upload and download media" on top of Starter. So the file is not behind any paid plan, it is behind the second paid plan.
Pros
- The free tier needs no card and allows ten videos at up to thirty minutes each, plus referral bonus videos.
- The page's own FAQ says free users can "store, watch, and share those videos as long as you want", so kept recordings have no stated expiry.
Skip it if
- MP4 export requires Pro, not merely a paid plan — Starter buyers still cannot export the file.
- Neither Free nor Starter is checked for "Remove Castify Watermark" in the comparison table.
Free links, paid files
2. Loom — Free links, paid files
Loom’s free plan is generous about how much you may record and silent about your ability to keep any of it.
Best for Sharing a link, not keeping a file
From $15/mo (annual). Free plan: Starter — up to 50 members, "Up to 25 videos/person", "5 min per video recording length", unlimited screenshots, video quality up to 720p, and unlimited meeting length.
- Business — $18/mo, or $15/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per user; the page's own pricing data lists $180 a year, which is the $15 monthly equivalent)
- Business + AI — $24/mo, or $20/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per user; $240 a year in the page's pricing data)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened (Shown as "Let's Talk" / "Contact Sales" with no number)
Loom's pricing page lists "Upload and download videos" under Business, in the block headed "Everything in Starter, and…" — it never appears among the Starter plan's own features. On the free plan a recording is capped at "5 min per video recording length" and lives as a link rather than a file you hold.
Pros
- The free plan states unlimited screenshots and unlimited meeting length, so only ordinary screen recordings carry the five-minute cap.
- Business bundles downloading with removing Loom branding and 4K quality at a published $18 per user per month, $15 billed annually.
Skip it if
- Downloading a video file is a Business feature; free recordings can only be shared as a link.
- The free plan's five-minute cap and 25-video limit are per person, and the page states no storage figure for it at all.
Thirty free minutes, unstated export
3. Vidyard — Thirty free minutes, unstated export
Vidyard offers the longest free recording on this page and the least information about what happens to it afterwards.
Best for The longest free recording length of the four — with an unanswered export question
From $59/mo (annual). Free plan: Free — "5 videos per-month", recording length "Up to 30 minutes", 15 AI videos, and "No credit card required"; the comparison table marks "Video Hosting" as "Not Included" at this tier.
- Starter — $89/mo, or $59/mo billed annually · 1 seat (Per seat; the page's toggle shows $89 billed monthly against $59 billed annually, under a "Now 10% off" label whose baseline is not explained)
- Teams — price not shown on the page we opened ("Custom pricing" / "Talk to Sales", for teams of 5+)
- Enterprise — price not shown on the page we opened ("Custom pricing" / "Get a Demo")
The Free row for "Video Recording" reads "5 videos per-month" with a "Video Recording Length" of "Up to 30 minutes", and the same table marks "Video Hosting" as "Not Included" for Free while checking it for every paid tier. Neither the word download nor export appears on the pricing page in connection with saving a file, and searches of Vidyard's own knowledge base for "download video" and "download original file" returned only an Outlook thumbnail article and a guide to replacing a video. The question goes unanswered on Vidyard's own pages.
Pros
- Thirty minutes per recording is the longest free cap on this page, and the plan states "No credit card required".
- The free tier adds 15 AI videos on top of the five standard recordings.
Skip it if
- The pricing page never uses the word download or export, so whether a free recording becomes a file cannot be established from it.
- "Video Hosting" is marked Not Included on Free while every paid tier has it, which makes the free tier's storage story unclear too.
Five free minutes, unstated export
4. Zight — Five free minutes, unstated export
Zight is here as an honest blank: the free limits are published in detail, and the export question is answered by a row that is about something else.
Best for Nothing we can confirm on this axis yet
From $9.95/mo. Free plan: Share — record videos, request videos, share screenshots, create 15-second GIFs, with "Recording Length" of "5 minutes", "Storage" of "1 GB", access to the "Last 25 captures", and video quality "Up to 720p".
- Create — $9.95/mo · 1 seat (The page has a monthly/annual toggle but rendered only "$9.95 per user / month" without saying which cycle that is)
- Collaborate — $12/mo · 1 seat (Same toggle ambiguity — only "$12 per user / month" was rendered)
- Scale — price not shown on the page we opened (Shown as "Custom" / "Talk to Sales")
The free Share plan is capped at "Recording Length" "5 minutes" and "Storage" "1 GB". The only download-related row in the comparison table is "Customize Visible Actions (Download button, comments, reactions, etc.)", checked for Collaborate and Scale — a control over what viewers see, not over whether you can export. We also searched Zight's own help centre for "download" and "download video": the only results were installing the app by MDM and collecting recordings from customers. The question is not answered anywhere we could find on Zight's site.
Pros
- The free Share plan includes video recording, video requests, screenshots and 15-second GIFs at no cost.
- The $9.95 Create tier explicitly adds "Unlimited uploads & recording time", removing the five-minute cap.
Skip it if
- The free plan is capped at five-minute recordings and 1 GB of storage, with only the last 25 captures accessible.
- Create and Collaborate prices are shown with no billing-cycle qualifier even though the page has a monthly/annual toggle.
What this means if you are choosing today
If you need the file — for a course, an edit, or an archive that outlives your subscription — Screencastify’s Pro tier at $10 a month billed annually is the cheapest published route among these four, and it is worth knowing that Starter at $7 will not do it. If you only need a link your colleagues can open, Loom’s free tier is the most complete of the four, provided nothing you record runs past five minutes.
And treat the two blanks as a reason to test before committing, not as a soft yes. A pricing page that lists storage, resolution, video counts and recording length, and then says nothing about downloading, has told you where its attention is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you download a Loom video on the free plan?
Not according to Loom's pricing page. "Upload and download videos" appears in the Business column under the heading "Everything in Starter, and…", and never among the free Starter plan's own features. A free recording is shareable as a link, capped at "5 min per video recording length", with up to 25 videos per person.
Which plan do you need for an MP4 from Screencastify?
Pro, at $10 per user per month billed annually or $25 monthly. The comparison table checks "Video (MP4) Exports" for Pro and Enterprise & EDU only — the Free and Starter columns are both empty. Paying for Starter at $7 a month still does not produce a file, which is an unusual place to draw the line.
Why are two of these four verdicts blank?
Because Vidyard and Zight do not answer the question on their own pages. Vidyard's pricing page never uses the words download or export in connection with saving a recording. Zight's only download row is "Customize Visible Actions (Download button, comments, reactions, etc.)", which controls what viewers see rather than whether you can export. Neither silence is evidence of a yes or a no.
What is the longest recording a free plan here allows?
Thirty minutes, on both Vidyard and Screencastify. Vidyard states "Up to 30 minutes" with five videos a month; Screencastify states "Record up to 30 minutes" with ten videos. Loom and Zight both stop at five minutes per recording, which is the practical difference between recording a walkthrough and recording a meeting.
Did you install and test these?
No. Every verdict here was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 6 August 2026 and is labelled that way. The two blanks are exactly the cases a hands-on test would settle, and when we run one the verdict will say "We ran this ourselves" instead of citing a page.
How We Keep This Updated
Prices move and vendors rewrite their plan tables, so every value on this page carries the date we read it. When a page changes, the change lands here rather than being edited away quietly. The procedure is on the methodology page. tell us and we will re-check it.
- 2026-08-06 — First published. Download rows, recording caps and prices read on each vendor's own pricing page the same day; Vidyard and Zight recorded as unstated.