The Best Screen Recording Software for Teachers: Loom vs. Screencastify

Because we are all teaching online now, I think we are all becoming more familiar with screen recording and making videos for our students. 

I have been doing this for a while and have been using Screencastify for years. However, earlier this year, a coworker told me about Loom, so I thought I would look into it! 

Here is my comparison of the 2 programs. 

I love that both of them have Chrome extensions, so I can start recording super easy! And they are both super easy to use as because they access the mic and camera with a click of a button. 

The differences are pretty superficial to start. Loom has a circle for the webcam in the screen recording which is much more appealing than Screencastify's rectangle. 

One thing that I love about Loom's interface is that it keeps the controls front and center so you can easily pause, restart, and end the recording. Sometimes with Screencastify, I lose the buttons and have a weirdness at the end trying to end the recording. 

I think some of the bigger differences come after you have made the recording. 

Screencastify automatically saves the video in Google Drive for you so you can set the share settings and send it off. It also lets you upload the video directly to YouTube. (This is something I use constantly!) 

Loom creates an easy to use share link and makes it super easy to share or download. It stores the video in the Loom program rather than in Google. 

They both have editing capabilities, but in Loom you can only trim off the beginning or end whereas Screencastify has the ability to edit much more. I have cut things out of the middle, and even combined videos within Screencastify. 

Finally, there is the price. Screencastify recently updated their pricing so there are 3 products and with the education discount they are each $29. I would suggest getting the "Record" and the "Edit" if you think you will need it. They also have "Submit" but I have never used that and with Flipgrid being free, I don't see a need for it. 

Then there is Loom's pricetag which is Free. That's right, Loom for Education is free to educators! There is a 45-minute recording length limit, and you can only have 1 creator per workspace, but I think that is entirely reasonable for what we are using it for.

Honestly, I got grandfathered into a price with Screencastify, but I am going to stick with it because of the ease of use with YouTube and Google Drive. 

But it all depends on what is important to you! So, which one do you love and why? Let me know below!