# OpenScreen

24 Hacker News commenters recommended OpenScreen 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 with automatic zoom for product demos and easy setup. Its main caveat is that it lacks the wider feature set of OBS.

## Why people recommend it

- Easy to learn and use (3 comments): "The learning curve is roughly zero." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646481)) "simple to use, works Ok on my end" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644674)) "They can't do a lot of the things that OBS can do, but if all you want is to record your desktop with a webcam overlay, it's a lot easier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644869))
- Free and open source (3 comments): "Thanks to open source and AI, we don't need every software to be a subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644600)) "This one is free even for commercial usage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646469)) "I do think it's cool that good open source alternatives are emerging and felt like this might be interesting to the community" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47650047))
- Automatic zoom feature (2 comments): "The auto-zoom feature alone makes this worth it for anyone doing quick product demos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646867)) "It's the automatic zooming animations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646683))
- Positive experience so far (3 comments): "I've been using this for the past month or so and have had nothing but positive experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47646586)) "Thought it came out pretty good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47647341)) "Genuinely impressed with this!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47645134))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Loom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/loom.md): 44 recommend
- [Cap screen recorder](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cap.md): 10 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, "OpenScreen", https://hackerapproved.com/p/openscreen/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).