Is Loom actually free?
How free55/100
Value6/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.
Sort of. Free Loom records your screen and camera with one click and hosts the share link — but recordings cap at five minutes and your library holds 25 videos before old ones must go.
What it’s worth
Paid screen recorders and Loom's own tier run $8–15/month; free covers the casual habit.
What you get free
- One-click screen and camera recording
- Instant share links, viewable without an account
- Up to 25 videos in your library
- 5 minutes per recording
In practice: quick how-to clips and feedback videos work beautifully free; anything resembling a course or archive hits both walls fast.
Drawbacks
- The 5-minute wall cuts explanations mid-thought
- The 25-video cap forces regular deleting
- Videos live on their servers — links die if the account does
Also paywalled
- Recordings longer than 5 minutes
- A library beyond 25 videos
- Editing, transcripts depth, and engagement analytics
Free facts
| Verdict | Free-ish |
| Card required | No |
| Auto-bills | — |
| Account | Required |
| Limits | 25-video library, 5-minute recording cap |
| The real cost | An account, a 5-minute clock, and a 25-video shelf. |
The catch
Five minutes is the squeeze that teaches concision; twenty-five videos is the shelf that fills. Both limits are placed exactly where a habit becomes dependence — which is, of course, the design.
The smart play
- Script the first sentence before recording — 5 minutes is enough when you don't ramble
- Download videos you care about; the 25-slot shelf shouldn't be your only copy
- For long recordings, free OBS has no time cap — Loom's convenience is what's metered, not the capability
More info — tap to expand
Why the limits sit exactly there
Five minutes covers a quick answer but not a demo; twenty-five videos covers a month of habit but not a library. The free tier is engineered to make Loom your reflex, then charge for the reflex. Knowing that, use it for what it's genuinely great at — fast, disposable clips.
The OBS escape valve
Everything Loom meters — length, storage, ownership — is unmetered in free OBS Studio, at the cost of convenience: you host and share the file yourself. Loom sells the frictionlessness; the recording itself was never the scarce part.
Last checked: July 2026 · Verdict: Free-ish — a free tier exists, but it's shaped to squeeze you toward paying.
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