Bandicam alternatives for Windows
Short answer: People look for a Bandicam alternative when free version watermarks recordings. On Windows the closest replacements are OBS Studio, Camtasia, ShareX, Snagit.
Last verified: 2026-08-01
What Bandicam does well
- High-performance Windows recording
- Hotkey stills during recording
- Hardware acceleration
Where Bandicam falls short on Windows
- Free version watermarks recordings
- Weak still-image editing
- Not a scrolling capture tool
How the alternatives differ
| Alternative | Key difference | Pricing model | Windows 10 / 11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OBS Studio | Free recording and streaming studio | free | Yes / Yes |
| Camtasia | Recording plus full video editing | paid | Yes / Yes |
| ShareX | Open-source Windows capture powerhouse | free | Yes / Yes |
| Snagit | Professional Windows capture and annotation | paid | Yes / Yes |
Choosing a replacement
- Keep Bandicam if its strengths above still match your daily work — switching costs time.
- Match the capability you are actually missing, not the longest feature list.
- Check commercial licensing before rolling an alternative out across company Windows machines.
- Run the alternative alongside for a week before uninstalling anything.
Recommended Windows software
OBS Studio
OBS Project
Free, open-source Windows screen recording and streaming software with scenes, sources and a screenshot output for the current frame.
- Screen recording
- Full screen capture
- Window capture
- Screenshot
Camtasia
TechSmith
Paid Windows screen recording and video editing software for tutorials, with capture, timeline editing, callouts and quizzing.
- Screen recording
- Screenshot
- Annotation
- Built-in editor
ShareX
ShareX Team
Free, open-source Windows screenshot and screen capture software with scrolling capture, OCR, screen recording and scriptable after-capture workflows.
- Screenshot
- Region capture
- Window capture
- Full screen capture
- Scrolling capture
Snagit
TechSmith
Commercial Windows screenshot and screen capture software with scrolling capture, a polished annotation editor, templates, OCR and screen recording.
- Screenshot
- Region capture
- Window capture
- Full screen capture
- Scrolling capture