# Cap screen recorder

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Cap screen recorder and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source screen recorder that people recommend as an alternative to other recorders. Critics report failed renders and lost recordings, especially when the camera is in use.

## Why people recommend it

- Free, open-source alternative to other recorders (3 comments): "get the same features from cap then why are you telling me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46938791)) "there is another one that is nice and open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946378)) "or use an open source one" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46931207))
- Happier than before for screencasts (2 comments): "Much happier with Cap for screencast recording" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50219193)) "there is another one that is nice and open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946378))

## What people warn about

- Recording and rendering failures, lost footage (3 comments): "Cap routinely fails to render videos properly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50219716)) "when you use the camera, the recording breaks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219792)) "Cap completely ate several recordings for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50219294))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Loom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/loom.md): 44 recommend
- [OpenScreen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openscreen.md): 24 recommend
- [Screen Studio](https://hackerapproved.com/p/screen-studio.md): 8 recommend
- [Screenpipe](https://hackerapproved.com/p/screenpipe.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Cap screen recorder", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cap/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).