2.4k stars in 6 days — the free Screen Studio clone that actually works

You know that feeling when you record a product demo and it looks like garbage — tiny cursor, jittery movements, no zoom on the important parts? Screen Studio solves this beautifully, but it's $90/year and macOS only. Before: you either paid up, spent hours in Premiere, or shipped amateur-looking videos. Now: Recordly gives you the same auto-zoom, smooth cursors, and cinematic backgrounds for free, on every platform.

Think of it like having a video editor who watches you record and fixes everything automatically. You hit record, do your demo, and stop. Recordly then analyzes your cursor activity and suggests zoom regions where the action happened. It replaces your jerky mouse movements with smooth, animated paths — complete with motion blur. You can accept the auto-suggestions or drag zoom regions on the timeline manually. Add a background, maybe some annotations, and export as MP4 or GIF. The whole pipeline runs locally using PixiJS for rendering — no cloud processing.

• Auto-zoom based on cursor activity — why YOU care: Recordly watches where you click and suggests zoom regions automatically. No manual keyframing — just record and let it figure out what matters.
• Smooth cursor with motion blur — why YOU care: Your shaky mouse hand becomes a silky glide. The cursor gets bigger, smoother, and more visible — perfect for tutorials and demos.
• Cursor sway effects — why YOU care: New in v1.1.1 — cursors now roll and sway based on velocity. Adds life and polish that static cursors can't match.
• Infinite GIF loops — why YOU care: The cursor returns to its starting position at the end. Your GIFs loop seamlessly with no jarring jump — perfect for landing pages and docs.
• Cross-platform recording — why YOU care: macOS uses native ScreenCaptureKit, Windows uses WGC, Linux uses Electron capture. One app, three platforms, same polished output.
• Timeline editor with speed control — why YOU care: Drag to trim, add speed ramps, place annotations. Save projects as .recordly files to edit later. Full editor, not just a recorder.
• Webcam overlay bubble — why YOU care: New in v1.1.1 — add your face as an animated bubble overlay. Great for tutorials where personality matters.

Who It Is For

If you create product demos, tutorials, or social content and refuse to pay $90/year for Screen Studio — this is for you. Especially valuable if you're on Windows or Linux where Screen Studio doesn't exist. Also great if you want to customize or contribute to the tool (MIT license, contributions welcome). Not useful if you need iOS device recording, 4K 60fps exports, or the polish of a mature com...

Worth Exploring?

Yes — download it today. The 2.4k stars in 6 days aren't hype, they're developers realizing a $90/year tool just became free. The auto-zoom and cursor smoothing genuinely match Screen Studio's quality. Caveats: it's 6 days old with 10 open issues, Linux cursor hiding doesn't work yet, and the creator literally says 'Expect bugs.' For polished demos on a budget? Absolutely. For client deliverables? Test thoroughly first.