Image and video decision
Motion Software
A competent technical user can recreate the core Windows screen recording and basic editor features (though it is a multi-week effort); open-source projects like openscreen and Cap demonstrate the core is achievable without the vendor's cloud features.
Visit website↗$6/mo
$72/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off126 h to build
$0/mo2 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Motion Software alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Record the screen, perform simple edits (trim/split, zoom/cursor smoothing), export MP4.
What it still won’t have
- Cloud storage and sync of videos
- Shareable hosted links / built-in online sharing
- Priority email support from vendor
- Polished, production-hardened UX and continuous release cadence
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal Windows screen-record-and-edit app using Electron (or native Win32) + FFmpeg/Media Foundation: implement desktop + system/mic audio capture, a simple timeline UI that supports trim and split, a cursor-smoothing and zoom post-processing step, and MP4 export using hardware encoding; include a Windows installer and auto-update check. Out of scope: cloud sync, hosted sharing links, user accounts, advanced multi-track editing. Include error handling, unit or integration tests for capture and export pipelines, and a README with build and packaging steps.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Build verdict base78
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Evidence score89
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productMotion – The modern screen recorder for Windows
- official pricingMotion Pricing
- open sourceopenscreen
- open sourceCap
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
