Methodology & Sources

What we do

Compile dated pricing from official maker sites (license and subscription tiers).
Total subscription vs one-time models into 12/24/36-month costs, with the formula shown.
Flag every figure the maker doesn't publish inline as "reported" — e.g., Screen Studio's annual rate.
Aggregate public community signal (Reddit, Trustpilot) and label it as directional, not statistical.
Re-check prices regularly; every page carries its check date.

What we don't do

No hands-on testing. We don't own these tools and don't pretend to. No fake "six months with…" narratives.
No vendor payments or placements. Links go to official product pages. If we ever add affiliate links, they'll be disclosed inline on this page first.
No maker claims presented as fact. Feature and quality claims from vendors are labeled as maker claims — we cost, we don't review.
No rumors. Community speculation is reported as unverified, if at all.

Why this site exists

The screen-recording category just split into two business models — subscription (Screen Studio at $29/month) and one-time license ($70–199) — and the search results are dominated by the tools themselves: every rival publishes a "Screen Studio alternative" page starring its own product. Independent hands-on reviewers exist but cover one tool at a time. Nobody just totals both models over your horizon — which is the entire decision. That's the gap we fill, with the trade-off stated plainly: we are a data site, not a review lab. (The site began as a wearable-AI-recorder comparison; that face didn't earn its keep, and the cost-math approach carried over.)

Source register (checked Oct 26, 2026)

Data	Source
Screen Studio pricing	screen.studio: $29/mo in the page's own structured pricing data; yearly checkout listed without inline numbers (annual rate ≈$108/yr per third-party trackers, labeled "reported"); one-time-license FAQ: purchases "no longer available" for new buyers
Screen Charm	screencharm.com/pricing: $99 one-time, unlimited 4K exports, free lifetime updates
Matte	matte.app/pricing: $199 one-time (lifetime, 3 Macs); $10/mo subscription tier
CursorClip	cursorclip.com: $70 lifetime license (native Mac app, 4K export, system audio + mic)
ScreenSmooth	screensmooth.com/pricing: $79 one-time ("Get Lifetime $79"); cross-platform via Chrome
ScreenKite	screenkite.com/pricing: Pro founder price $79.99 once, "returning to $99.99"; lifetime license, no subscription; free tier with watermark
OBS Studio	obsproject.com: free and open source (GPL)
Community signal	r/macapps threads on the Screen Studio subscription switch and one-time alternatives — labeled directional

Corrections

Prices move weekly in this category, and founder/promo prices move faster. If a number here is stale or wrong, it's a bug, not a bias — the fix is fast. Cross-check anything before you buy; our totals are decision aids, not quotes.

One-line disclosure