BobbinQuick answer
Choose cloud if you need instant share links, comments, viewer analytics, transcripts or a shared team library, and your organisation is happy with the vendor storing the videos. Choose local if recordings contain customer data, unreleased work or student information, if you can't make accounts, or if you just want a file to attach somewhere. Many teams do both: record locally, then share through storage they already control.
The differences that matter
| Local recorder | Cloud recorder | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the video is stored | On your computer | On the vendor's servers (and usually on your computer while uploading) |
| Account | Often none | Required |
| Sharing | You send or upload the file yourself | A link, ready when you stop |
| Who can see it | Whoever you give the file to | Depends on link and workspace settings |
| Extras | Usually few | Comments, analytics, transcripts, editing, team libraries |
| Limits | Your disk space | Plan limits on length, count or storage |
| Cost over time | Often free or one-off | Often per person, per month |
| If the vendor shuts down | Your files are unaffected | You need to export first |
When cloud is the better choice
- You send lots of short updates and want people to watch them in one click, with no attachments.
- You want to know who watched, or let viewers comment at a timestamp.
- You need automatic transcripts, captions or AI summaries.
- Your team wants one searchable library of everyone's videos.
Plans and prices vary a lot; see Loom pricing explained and Loom's free plan limits for one example.
When local is the better choice
- Sensitive screens. Customer records, internal dashboards, unreleased features, health, finance or student data.
- Attachments. The video is going into a bug ticket, a pull request, an LMS or a support case anyway.
- No accounts allowed. Students, contractors and locked-down work machines often can't sign up for new services.
- Long recordings. Free cloud plans often cap length; a local recorder is limited by disk space.
Questions to ask any screen recorder
- Where are recordings stored, and in which country?
- Who can view a new recording by default: only me, my workspace, or anyone with the link?
- How long are videos kept, and are they really deleted when I delete them?
- Are transcripts or AI features processed by third parties?
- Can I export everything in a standard format if we leave?
- What does the extension or app send over the network while I record?
- Which browser permissions does it ask for, and why?
Ask your security or IT team which tools are approved before recording anything confidential.
A middle path: record locally, share deliberately
Record a file, then upload it to storage your organisation already controls, such as Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint, so access, retention and deletion follow your existing policies. The steps for each are in how to share a large screen recording.
How Bobbin handles your recordings
- While you record, video is saved in one-second pieces to the extension's local browser database (IndexedDB) on your computer, so a crash doesn't lose it.
- Download exports it as an MP4 where your browser supports it (WebM otherwise). The Library lets you play, download or delete recordings.
- Nothing is uploaded. There is no account, no analytics and no trackers in the extension. Its permissions are storage, unlimitedStorage and alarms. The only network request it makes is the Pro license check with our payment provider.
- If you uninstall Bobbin or clear its data, recordings you haven't downloaded are deleted, so download anything you want to keep.
- In our tests Bobbin's 1080p files came to about 250–270 MB an hour, roughly 4–4.5 MB a minute; a busy screen with lots of motion can be larger. Plan disk space for long sessions: see how big is a 1-hour screen recording.
Local doesn't mean risk-free: anyone with access to your computer can open your files, so use your device's login and disk encryption. Bobbin doesn't host videos or make share links, and it has no editing, transcripts, comments, viewer analytics, team workspace or mobile app.