The Screencastify Alternative With No Watermark and No Video Cap.
Screencastify (now part of Castify) gives you 10 videos on its free plan — each with a watermark, and with editing locked behind a subscription. Gravity Recorder is free, unlimited, watermark-free, and needs no extension at all.
| Feature | Screencastify | Gravity Recorder |
|---|---|---|
| Watermark on Free | Yes | Never |
| Videos on Free Plan | 10 total | Unlimited |
| Recording Length (Free) | 30 min per video | No limit |
| Editing on Free Plan | Paid plans only | Included Free |
| Installation | Chrome / Edge extension | Zero Install — Open a Tab |
| Browser Support | Chrome & Edge only | All Modern Browsers |
| Quality (Free) | Up to 1080p | Up to 2K (1440p) |
| Price to Remove Limits | From $7 / user / mo | FREE ($0) |
| Storage | Castify cloud library | Your local folder |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
What is Screencastify?
Screencastify is one of the most widely used screen recorders on the web — a Chrome extension with around 4 million users, built primarily for K-12 education. Teachers use it to record lessons, students use it to submit video work, and it plugs neatly into Google Classroom and Google Drive.
In March 2026 the company rebranded to Castify, and Screencastify is now the recording product inside a broader suite. The Chrome extension and the screencastify.com domain are still live and still carry the Screencastify name.
If you are a teacher inside a Google Workspace school district, it is a reasonable tool. But its free plan is one of the most restrictive in the category, and the restrictions land exactly where they hurt.
The three limits that push you to a paid plan
A watermark on every free recording. This is the one that stings. Screencastify stamps its watermark on videos made with the free plan, and removing it means subscribing. If you are sending a video to a client, a prospect, or your team, a watermark on your work reads as unpolished — and it is a permanent ad for someone else on content you made.
Ten videos, total. The free plan is capped at 10 videos in your library. Not ten per month — ten. After that you are managing a library instead of recording.
No editing on the free plan. Screencastify's editing tools begin at the Starter tier. On free, what you record is what you get; if you fumble a sentence, your options are re-record or ship it.
Lifting any of these means paying from $7 per user per month billed annually ($19 month-to-month), and 4K plus the better editing tools only arrive on the Pro tier.
How Gravity Recorder is different
No watermark. Not on any plan, not ever. Your recording is your recording. Gravity does not brand your video, because putting our logo on your work to pressure you into a subscription is a business model we would rather not have.
No video cap and no clock. Record as many videos as you want, for as long as you want. There is no library limit to hit and no 30-minute cutoff, because the file goes to your disk rather than into someone's hosted quota.
Editing is free, and it is better. Gravity ships a multi-segment cut editor built on FFmpeg WebAssembly. You can remove several sections from a single recording, preview the result, and export — without paying, and without uploading the video anywhere to do it.
No extension, and not just Chrome. Screencastify is a Chrome and Edge extension; there is no Firefox or Safari version and no desktop app. Gravity is a plain web application, so there is nothing to install from a web store and nothing that breaks when your browser updates. It works in any browser with the MediaRecorder API.
2K quality, free. Up to 1440p at high bitrate on the free tier, where Screencastify reserves 4K for Pro and caps free at 1080p.
Where Screencastify is genuinely the better pick
Being fair about this costs us nothing and probably saves you time.
If you are a teacher in a school district, Screencastify is likely the right answer. It is COPPA and FERPA certified, it integrates directly with Google Classroom, it handles student video submissions, and it is already approved by a lot of IT departments. Gravity Recorder does none of that and is not trying to.
If you need auto-captions, transcripts, and translations baked into the recorder, Screencastify's paid tiers cover that and Gravity does not.
Gravity is the better choice if you want to record something quickly, cut it, and send a link — without a watermark, a video quota, or a subscription standing in the way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Screencastify put a watermark on free recordings?
Yes. Screencastify's free plan applies a watermark to your recordings, and removing it requires a paid subscription starting at $7 per user per month billed annually. Gravity Recorder never applies a watermark on any plan.
How many videos can I make on Screencastify for free?
The free plan allows up to 10 videos in total, with each recording capped at 30 minutes. Gravity Recorder places no limit on the number of recordings or their length, because files are written to your own disk rather than a hosted library.
Can I edit videos on Screencastify's free plan?
Editing tools are part of the paid plans; the free tier does not include them. Gravity Recorder includes a multi-segment cut editor at no cost, letting you remove multiple sections from a recording and export it entirely in your browser.
Do I need a Chrome extension to use Gravity Recorder?
No. Screencastify is distributed as a Chrome and Edge extension, with no Firefox or Safari support and no desktop app. Gravity Recorder is a normal web application — open a tab and the studio is there, in any modern browser.
Is Screencastify the same as Castify now?
Screencastify rebranded to Castify in March 2026. Screencastify continues as the screen-recording product within the wider Castify suite, and the Chrome extension still carries the Screencastify name.