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!
