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2026-09-02vyds team

Loom vs Clipchamp: Free with Windows in 2026

Loom vs Clipchamp with pricing verified August 2026: Clipchamp's watermark-free 1080p free tier, the Microsoft 365 bundle, and where each tool wins.

loomclipchampcomparisonscreen recordingwindows
Loom vs Clipchamp comparison on a laptop workspace

The loom vs clipchamp comparison is a category mismatch that people search for anyway, and for a good reason: both tools have a screen recorder, and one of them is already installed on every Windows 11 machine. Loom is an async video messaging tool with a per-seat price. Clipchamp is Microsoft's video editor with a recorder built in, free with Windows and bundled into Microsoft 365. Whether the free one is good enough depends entirely on what you do after you press stop.

Loom's own site publishes a comparison against Clipchamp, which tells you Loom sees it as a threat to the free tier. We checked every number below against loom.com, clipchamp.com, and microsoft.com on August 21, 2026. One disclosure up front: we make a screen recorder too (vyds). It appears once, near the end, clearly labeled. The other 80% of this post is about the two tools you searched for.

TL;DR: Loom wins on everything that happens after recording: the instant share link, the viewer page, comments, analytics, and the async-messaging workflow. Clipchamp wins on price (free, watermark-free, 1080p exports, no video-count cap) and on editing, which Loom barely has. If your recording is a message, Loom's loop is worth paying for. If your recording is a file you will edit and post somewhere, Clipchamp does that for free and Loom cannot do it at all.

Table of contents

What each tool is

Loom is an async video messaging tool, owned by Atlassian since 2023. Its whole design serves one loop: record your screen and camera, stop, and a shareable link is already on your clipboard while the video processes in the cloud. Editing is deliberately thin (trim, and stitching on paid tiers). The product bet is that your video is a message: watched once by a colleague or a prospect, then forgotten.

Clipchamp is a browser-based video editor that Microsoft acquired in 2021 and made the default video editor in Windows 11. It has a screen and webcam recorder, but the recorder is a way to get footage into the editor, not the point of the product. The product bet is that your video is content: something you cut, caption, add music to, and export as a file.

That difference decides most of the loom vs clipchamp question before pricing enters the room. Loom has no real editor. Clipchamp has no real sharing layer. Each is missing the thing the other is built around.

Loom vs Clipchamp pricing: verified numbers

All figures verified 2026-08-21 from loom.com/pricing, clipchamp.com/pricing, and Microsoft's plan comparison page.

Plan Price What you get
Loom Starter (free) $0 25 videos total, 5 min each, Loom branding on the viewing page
Loom Business $18/user/month Unlimited videos and length, trim, engagement insights
Loom Business + AI $24/user/month Adds AI titles, summaries, chapters
Loom Enterprise Custom SSO, SCIM, advanced admin
Clipchamp Free $0 Watermark-free exports up to 1080p, free stock assets, free filters and effects
Clipchamp Premium No standalone price; included with Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99/month or $99.99/year) and Family ($12.99/month or $129.99/year) Exports up to 4K, premium stock, brand kit

Three pricing notes:

  1. Loom publishes no per-user annual figure. The pricing page advertises "save up to 17%" on annual billing without stating the number. Budget from $18/user/month; any annual figure in a third-party post is derived. Our Loom pricing breakdown walks the tiers.
  2. Clipchamp Premium is not sold on its own anymore. The pricing page lists no dollar figure for Premium; it says the tier is included with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. If you already pay for Microsoft 365 at home, you already have Clipchamp Premium. If you do not, the honest Premium price is the Microsoft 365 price.
  3. There is no Clipchamp per-seat business price to compare against Loom Business. Clipchamp for work rides Microsoft 365 business plans, and its feature set there is the editor, not a team messaging workflow. The like-for-like comparison is Loom Starter versus Clipchamp Free, which is the next section.

The free tiers, side by side

This is where loom vs clipchamp gets interesting, because the free tiers are built for opposite things.

Clipchamp Free has no watermark, exports at 1080p, and has no cap on the number of videos you make. The pricing page states no export length limit either. For a free tool, that is unusually generous, and it is why Loom's own comparison page exists. What you do not get: any hosting or share link. Clipchamp gives you an MP4 file. Sharing it is your problem, which means uploading to OneDrive, Drive, YouTube, or an email attachment.

Loom Starter allows 25 videos total, lifetime, at 5 minutes each, with Loom branding on the viewing page and downloads gated. It is a fuse, not a plan: a daily user burns through it in a month. But every one of those 25 videos gets the full Loom experience: instant link, viewer page, comments, reactions. We covered what happens when the fuse runs out in our is Loom worth it analysis.

The pattern: Clipchamp Free is unlimited but gives you a file; Loom Starter is capped but gives you a link. If the recording is going to a specific person, the link matters more than the cap. If it is going on a website or into a course, the file is what you wanted anyway. For the wider free field with dated verification, see our free screen recorders audit.

The recording itself: what each one captures

Both record screen plus webcam with microphone audio. The differences are in system audio and where the recording goes.

Loom captures system audio on desktop (Mac and Windows apps) and tab audio in the Chrome extension. Recording starts from a browser extension or a desktop app, and the file streams to Loom's cloud as you record; when you stop, the link exists.

Clipchamp records screen, camera, or both from inside the editor in the browser. System audio is captured only when you record a browser tab and tick the tab-audio option; whole-screen recordings come out with your microphone only. That is fine for a browser demo and wrong for a desktop-app walkthrough with sound. Our screen recording with audio guide has the platform-by-platform breakdown. When you stop, the clip lands on the editor timeline, not in a share dialog.

Neither gives you the file in a location you control by default: Loom keeps it in Loom's cloud, Clipchamp keeps the project in its own storage until you export.

Where Loom wins

The loop. Record, stop, paste the link. Loom has spent years shaving seconds off this, and for a message-style video nothing else feels as fast. Clipchamp's equivalent is record, edit, export, upload somewhere, copy a link: five steps where Loom has one.

The viewing page. Timestamped comments, emoji reactions, viewer insights (who watched, how far). This is what sales, support, and remote teams actually use, and Clipchamp has no equivalent at all. A Clipchamp export is a file; whoever hosts it provides the player.

Async-first design. Chapters, transcripts, speed controls, AI summaries on the Business + AI tier. Everything assumes the viewer is not in the room.

Cross-platform. Mac, Windows, Chrome, iOS, Android. Clipchamp is a browser app with a Windows-first identity.

The caveat on Loom's column: reliability complaints run through its reviews. Loom's Trustpilot rating sits at 1.4 stars, with crashes and billing the recurring themes. As one reviewer, Henrik Jensen, wrote on Trustpilot in 2024: "50% of the 100+ videos I have watched on Loom have cut out before they reached the end." Weigh review-site negativity bias, but the volume is hard to dismiss.

Where Clipchamp wins

Price. Free, no watermark, no video cap, 1080p. Loom's free tier is a 25-video trial; Clipchamp's is a product.

Editing. Multi-track timeline, captions, text overlays, transitions, stock music and video, brand kit on Premium, AI voiceover. Loom trims. If you need to cut three takes into one, blur a password field, or add a title card, Clipchamp does it and Loom sends you to another tool.

Already installed. On Windows 11 it is the default video editor. No signup wall to record, no admin approval, no new vendor for procurement to review.

The Microsoft 365 bundle. Premium (4K, premium stock, brand kit) comes with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. If your household already pays $9.99 or $12.99 a month for Office, the upgrade is already yours.

Clipchamp's honest weaknesses: no share link, no viewer page, no analytics, system audio only for browser tabs, and a workflow that ends in a file you still have to host. It also does not know what "async video messaging" means, because it is not trying to.

Feature table

Feature Loom Clipchamp
Free tier 25 videos total, 5 min each, branded page Unlimited, watermark-free, 1080p
Paid entry price $18/user/month Premium via Microsoft 365, from $9.99/month
Instant share link Yes, automatic No, exports a file
Viewer page, comments, reactions Yes No
Viewer analytics Yes No
Video editor Trim; stitch on Business Full multi-track editor
Captions Auto transcripts Auto captions in the editor
System audio Desktop apps, Chrome tab Browser tab only
Platforms Mac, Windows, Chrome, iOS, Android Browser, Windows 11 default app
Max export resolution 1080p and up 1080p free, 4K Premium
Storage location Loom's cloud Clipchamp project storage, then your export

Which one fits you

Pick Loom if: your videos are messages. Sales follow-ups, code reviews, support replies, standups. The link-and-viewer-page workflow is the product, and $18/user/month buys a loop that Clipchamp does not have. Budget for Business from day one; Starter is a trial.

Pick Clipchamp if: your videos are content. Tutorials, course modules, social clips, anything you will edit and publish. It is free, it is already on your PC, and the editor is real. Pair it with wherever you already host video.

Pick neither if: you want Loom's instant link without a per-seat price, and you want the file in your own storage rather than a vendor's cloud. That gap is the next section.

Considering a third option?

Full disclosure: vyds is our product. Weigh this section accordingly.

The loom vs clipchamp comparison leaves a gap in the middle: people who want the record-to-link speed of Loom, do not want to pay per seat for it, and would rather own the file than rent access to it.

  • Free tier: unlimited recordings (5 minutes each, 720p), no watermark, no total-video cap, instant share link; recordings save to your own Google Drive or OneDrive, so the file is yours from the moment you stop. How the Google Drive model works.
  • Paid: vyds Plus is $7/month, Pro is $12/seat/month ($5 and $9 annual), below Loom Business, with trim included.
  • What vyds does not have: Clipchamp's editor, and Loom's Atlassian integration and enterprise certifications. If you need a real timeline editor, Clipchamp is free and good; if you need SCIM, that is Loom. Our Loom alternatives roundup covers the wider field, and there is a direct vyds vs Loom matchup.

FAQ

Is Clipchamp better than Loom? For editing and for price, yes: Clipchamp is free, watermark-free, and has a real editor. For sharing and async messaging, no: Clipchamp has no share link, viewer page, or analytics, which is Loom's entire product. The loom vs clipchamp answer is whether your video is a message (Loom) or a file (Clipchamp).

Is Clipchamp really free? Yes. The free tier exports at 1080p with no watermark and no cap on the number of videos, verified 2026-08-21 from clipchamp.com/pricing. Premium adds 4K exports, premium stock, and a brand kit, and is included with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family rather than sold separately.

Does Clipchamp have a share link like Loom? No. Clipchamp exports a video file. To share it you upload it somewhere: OneDrive, Google Drive, YouTube, or an email. Loom generates a viewing link automatically the moment you stop recording, with comments and view tracking on the page.

How much does Loom cost compared to Clipchamp? Loom Business is $18/user/month, Business + AI $24/user/month, with annual billing advertised as "up to 17%" off but no per-user annual figure published (verified 2026-08-21). Clipchamp is free; Premium comes with Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99/month or $99.99/year, Family at $12.99/month or $129.99/year.

Can Clipchamp record my screen with system audio? Only when recording a browser tab with the tab-audio option enabled. Whole-screen and window recordings capture your microphone only. Loom's desktop apps capture system audio on Mac and Windows.

What is the cheapest way to get an instant share link without Loom's seat price? Among free options with a link built in, the vyds free tier (our product) has no video cap and saves to your own Google Drive; ScreenPal's free plan hosts 10 videos. Clipchamp does not offer links at all. Our free screen recorders audit has the full dated comparison.


Whichever way you land on loom vs clipchamp, decide first whether your recording is a message or a file: that one question picks the tool, and it is the question both vendors' own comparison pages skip. If you want the option where the link is instant and the file is yours: try vyds free.

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