No. 1 Free Screencast Software For Creating Software Simulations

ActivePresenter is the most interesting free screencast software for making software simulation, product demonstration, presentation. It provides high quality screen recording capabilities and feature rich built-in editing tools for making screencast easily. It has almost everything you need in terms of screen recording – video editing and e-learning authoring. Take a look at our full review with pros and cons in ActivePresenter here.

User Interface

ActivePresenter is as easy-to-use as any other free screencast software in the world now. After recording, you are able to edit your video in slide-based editing windows like the picture above. The possibility to export project file into AVI, MP4, MKV, WebM at high quality, without watermark makes it more attractive to free users

Capturing Tools

ActivePresenter allows you to capture your desktop video and audio in full HD quality. It is easy to start, stop recording, set up resolution or recording area. Many users have been using ActivePresenter to record long movies, game-play or software tutorial video.

Editing Tools

You will get all video editing tools for making screencast like: cut, trim, crop, split videos, add background music, adjust audio, add annotation like shapes, highlight, spotlight as well as sub titles, text or closed caption and so on.

There are also special effects for editing video such as blur moving object, adding transition, adjust video speed, even adding interactivity, quizzes to the project.

Systems requirements and Download

ActivePresenter 6.1.3 – Download page

• Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• (Released: August 19, 2017)

ActivePresenter for macOS 6.1.3

• OS X 10.10, OS X 10.11, macOS 10.12
• (Released: August 19, 2017)

ActivePresenter VS others

Recording Features	ActivePresenter	Bandicam	Camstudio	Camtasia	Icecream Screen Recorder	Screen-O-Matic
Full screen
A region
Audio from microphone
System audio
Webcam
Mouse movements
Mouse click effects
Lock to Application
Adjust audio volume
Add annotations for mouse
Add annotations for keyboards
Output format	MP4, MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, WebM	AVI, MP4	AVI	MP4, AVI, WMV, M4A, GIF	WebM	AVI, FLV, MP4
Time limit for free version	No time limit No watermark	10 minutes with watermark (Free trial)	No time limit No watermark	30-day free trial without time limit, but watermark	10 minutes No watermark (Free trial)	15 minutes with watermark

ActivePresenter Free vs Paid version

ActivePresenter Standard(Most recommended for those who want to create video tutorials or video demos)	ActivePresenter Professional(Most recommended for those who want to create interactive eLearning contents in HTML5)
Advanced screen recording: Full Motion Recording, Smart Capture	Advanced screen recording: Full Motion Recording, Smart Capture
Video editing: Cut, Crop, Join, Change Volume, Speed Up, Slow Down, Blur	Video editing: Cut, Crop, Join, Change Volume, Speed Up, Slow Down, Blur
Multiple Audio/Video Layers	Multiple Audio/Video Layers
Rich annotations: Shapes, Image, Zoom-n-Pan, Closed Caption, Cursor Path, Audio/Video Overlays	Rich annotations: Shapes, Image, Zoom-n-Pan, Closed Caption, Cursor Path, Audio/Video Overlays
Export to numerous video formats: MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, WebM, MKV	Export to various video format: MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, WebM, MKV
Export to: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML	Export to: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML
Automatic Smart Annotation	Automatic Smart Annotation
	HTML5 Export
	Interactivity & Branching: Advanced Event-Action System, Javascript
	Interactions: Button, Mouse Click, Text Input, Drag & Drop, Keystroke
	Quiz: 9 Types of Questions
	Report & Tracking in LMS (SCORM, xAPI)

ActivePresenter tutorial video

 

Bottom line

It is free to download and use without any limitation. Try ActivePresenter and let me know your opinion.

Good luck!