Comparison

Screen Studio vs OBS Studio

The two most popular ways to record a Mac screen — one polished and automatic, one free and infinitely configurable.

Screen Studio iconScreen StudioView
OBS Studio iconOBS StudioView
Pricing & licence
Price
Subscription
From $9/mo, annual
Free
Forever
Source model
Proprietary
Open source
GPL-2.0
Free tier
—
Trial only
Full
No limits
Experience
Cursor auto-zoom
Automatic
—
Not built in
Built-in editor
Yes
Magnetic timeline
—
Record only
Learning curve
Minutes
Steep
Fit
Best for
Polished demos
Streaming & control
Platforms
macOS
Win · macOS · Linux
Data
Local
Local

The bottom line

Choose Screen Studio if

Choose Screen Studio if you want beautiful, zoom-tracked demo videos with almost no editing — and a subscription is fine.

Choose OBS Studio if

Choose OBS Studio if you want a free, open-source recorder and streamer with total control, and you're happy to edit elsewhere.