Comparison
Screen recording vs a website scroll video: 5 ways to put a website on video (2026)
October 16, 2026 · 6 min read
There are five common ways to get a website into a video, and each is good at something different. A screen recorder captures anything you can see, cursor and clicks included. A full-page screenshot is free and instant, but it doesn't move. Website Scroll records the real page scrolling on its own, frame by frame. The right one depends on three questions: is the site public, does the cursor matter, and how smooth does the result have to be?
Public website, scrolling
The real page, scroll animations included, recorded with no dropped frames.
Anything on your screen
OBS Studio
Free and open source. Logged-in apps, localhost, cursor and clicks.
Mac product demos
Screen Studio
Auto zoom and cursor smoothing do most of the editing for you.
At a glance
| OBS Studio | Screen Studio | Loom | Screenshot + pan | Website Scroll | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, open source | $29/mo, or $9/mo billed yearly | Free plan; Business $18 per user/mo | Free extension, plus your video editor | Free |
| Runs on | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS only | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | Your browser and an editor | Your browser; recorded on our server |
| Smooth scroll | As smooth as your hand and your computer | Smooth zoom and cursor; the scroll is still yours | As smooth as your hand and your computer | Smooth — you keyframe the move | Frame by frame at 60 fps, no dropped frames |
| Scroll animations | Yes, as they play on screen | Yes, as they play on screen | Yes, as they play on screen | No — moving or lazy-loaded parts can come out frozen or blank | Yes, from the real page |
| Cursor and clicks | Yes | Yes, smoothed | Yes, plus a camera bubble | No | No |
| Logged-in pages, localhost | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes — the extension sees what you see | No, public pages only |
| Vertical 9:16 | Set a 1080×1920 canvas and fit the window yourself | Yes: 16:9, 1:1 or 9:16 | Records your screen's shape | Crop and pan in your editor | Yes: 9:16, 16:9 or 1:1 |
| Effort | Set up a scene, scroll by hand, trim | Record, let it auto-edit, tweak | Record, share a link | Capture, then keyframe a pan | Paste a link, set speed and stops |
| Watermark | None | Exporting needs a paid plan | Loom branding on the free plan | None | None |
Screen Studio is $9/mo billed yearly ($108 a year). Loom says yearly billing saves up to 17%; its free Starter plan allows 25 videos of up to 5 minutes at 720p. Checked 16 October 2026.
Why screen recordings stutter
A screen recorder captures what your computer draws, in real time. Scroll with a mouse wheel and you record its steps; scroll with a trackpad and you record your hand. If the page is heavy or the computer is busy encoding, frames get skipped — OBS counts them in its Stats panel. None of that is the recorder's fault; it can only keep what was on screen.
Website Scroll doesn't record in real time. Our server opens the page in a real (headless) Chrome and records it frame by frame under a controlled clock, so no frame is skipped. The MP4 comes out smooth at 60 fps whatever your computer or your connection — it's rendered after you press Download MP4, not while you watch.
01
Chrome opens the page
On our server, headless
02
The clock moves one frame
The page's animations move with it
03
That frame is captured
None skipped
04
Encoded to MP4
H.264, 60 or 30 fps
The finished video is deleted from the server an hour after it's ready.
OBS Studio: free, and records anything
OBS is free, open-source software for Windows, macOS and Linux. It records whatever is on your screen — a logged-in dashboard, a site on localhost, a prototype — with the cursor and clicks visible. The cost is effort: you set up a scene, scroll by hand and trim the result. For a vertical video you can set a 1080×1920 canvas, but fitting a desktop site into it is up to you.
Best for: anything private or interactive, and walkthroughs where the clicks are the point.
Screen Studio: the polished Mac option
Screen Studio records your screen and then edits it for you: automatic zoom follows what you do, and the cursor is smoothed after recording. It exports up to 4K at 60 fps in 16:9, 1:1 or 9:16. It runs on macOS only and costs $29 a month, or $9 a month billed yearly. You can record and edit without a plan, but exporting needs one.
Best for: SaaS demos and tutorials recorded on a Mac, where the cursor tells the story.
Loom: quick, shareable, with your face
Loom is built for messages, not showreels: record your screen with a camera bubble, then send a link. The free Starter plan allows 25 videos per person, recordings of up to 5 minutes and quality up to 720p, and the Loom branding stays on. Business, at $18 per user per month, removes the branding and records up to 4K.
Best for: explaining a site to a client or a team — not for posting it.
A full-page screenshot, panned in an editor
A full-page screenshot extension such as GoFullPage (11 million users on the Chrome Web Store) saves the whole page as one tall image. Drop it into a video editor, keyframe a move from top to bottom, and you have a perfectly even scroll. It's free, and it works on logged-in pages because it runs in your own browser.
If a still is all you need, Website Scroll's Download PNG gives you the whole page as one tall image too.
What Website Scroll can and can't do
It can
- Load the real page and record its scroll animations.
- Scroll at a set speed, Smooth or Linear, with holds at the top and end and stops where you choose.
- Export 9:16, 16:9 (1080p or 4K) and 1:1 MP4 at 60 or 30 fps.
- Do it free, with no watermark and no sign-up.
It can't
- Open pages behind a login, or on
localhost. - Get past bot walls that block automated browsers.
- Show a cursor or clicks.
- Record heavy WebGL and 3D sites quickly — they can be slow.
Which one should you pick?
- A public site, scrolling smoothly, for a portfolio or a launch: Website Scroll. The step-by-step guide walks through the settings.
- The same, vertical, for TikTok, Reels or Shorts: Website Scroll in 9:16 — see the settings that read on a phone.
- A dashboard, a staging site, or clicks to show: OBS Studio for free; Screen Studio if you're on a Mac and want it polished.
- A quick explanation with your face in it: Loom.
- A still for a case study or a pitch deck: a full-page screenshot — an extension, or
Download PNGin Website Scroll.
Questions
What's the smoothest way to record a website scrolling?
Render it frame by frame instead of recording in real time. Website Scroll does this in a headless Chrome on our server, so the 60 fps MP4 has no dropped frames. A panned screenshot is smooth too, but it loses the animations.
Is OBS good for recording a website?
Yes — especially for logged-in pages, localhost and anything with clicks. Scrolling smoothly by hand is the hard part, and a busy computer can skip frames.
Does Screen Studio work on Windows?
No, it's macOS only. On Windows, OBS Studio is the free option.
Is Loom free?
The Starter plan is: 25 videos per person, up to 5 minutes each, at up to 720p, with Loom branding. Business costs $18 per user per month.
Can a full-page screenshot capture animations?
No. It's one still image, so scroll animations and video backgrounds are frozen, and sections that load as you scroll can be missing.
Try it now
Website Scroll