---
title: "Loom vs Scribe: a video message or a step-by-step guide?"
description: "Loom records a video; Scribe captures clicks into a step-by-step guide. Output, editing, security, and price compared, checked September 11, 2026."
route: "/compare/loom-vs-scribe"
canonical: "https://www.layerpath.com/compare/loom-vs-scribe"
updated: "2026-09-11"
lastChecked: "September 11, 2026"
---
## The 30-second answer

Loom, the video messaging tool owned by Atlassian, records your screen and your voice and hands you a link. Scribe watches you click and writes a step-by-step guide of screenshots and text. They are usually bought for different jobs, and most "Loom vs Scribe" questions are really "does this need to be a video or a document?"

### Choose Loom if the reader should watch

A message, a review, a sales follow-up, a meeting recap: anything where a human voice and face carry the point and the video is watched once. Business is $18 per user per month.

### Choose Scribe if the reader should follow

A procedure someone repeats, searches, prints, pastes into a ticket, or exports to a help centre. Pro Personal is $35 per seat per month; Pro Team is $17 per seat with a five-seat minimum.

### The deciding question

Will the reader do the steps while reading? If yes, a guide beats a video, because a guide holds still. If they only need to understand, a video is faster to make and warmer to receive.

## Loom vs Scribe at a glance

Both have a free tier, a Chrome extension, and a paid plan under $40. The divergence is the artifact. Prices checked September 11, 2026.

| | Loom | Scribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Primary output | Video with transcript and captions | Step-by-step guide of screenshots and text |
| Capture | Screen, camera bubble, system audio, screenshots; meeting recordings | Clicks and screens, auto-captured into steps; voice transcription on Pro |
| Free tier | Starter: up to 50 members, 25 videos per person, 5-minute cap, 720p, Loom branding | Basic: web capture only, share by link and embed, no export, no desktop capture |
| Entry paid | Business $18 per user per month | Pro Personal $35 per seat per month ($25 yearly), from 1 seat |
| Team rate | Business + AI $24 per user per month | Pro Team $17 per seat per month ($13 yearly), 5-seat minimum |
| Enterprise | Custom; SSO and SCIM via Atlassian Guard, 99.95% uptime SLA | Custom; SAML SSO, SCIM, automatic PII and PHI redaction, IP whitelisting |
| Trial | 14 days of Business + AI | None stated on the pricing page |

## The real difference is what the reader receives

Most comparisons line up features. The useful comparison is what lands in the reader's hands.

A Loom is a recording. It carries tone, emphasis, and a face, and it takes exactly as long to consume as it took to record. When the interface changes, the recording still shows the old interface until someone records it again. Loom's editing trims, stitches, and blurs; it does not change what was on screen.

A Scribe is a document. It has no tone and no face, and the reader moves through it at their own speed, skipping what they know. When the interface changes, the screenshots are wrong until someone captures the workflow again, but any single step's text can be edited in seconds.

So the question to ask is not which tool is better. It is whether the reader needs to hear you or needs to follow you.

## Recording: what each tool captures

Both start in a Chrome extension. After that they diverge.

| | Loom | Scribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Browser | Chrome extension | Chrome and Edge extensions on all tiers |
| Desktop | Mac and Windows apps on all tiers | Mac and Windows desktop app on Pro and Enterprise only |
| Mobile | iOS and Android apps | Pro card says "works with web, mobile & desktop apps"; how mobile capture works is not described. TEST PENDING |
| What is captured | Screen, camera, system audio, screenshots, meeting recordings | Each click as a screenshot with a generated instruction; voice transcription on Pro and above |
| Length or count cap | 5 minutes per recording and 25 videos per person on Starter; unlimited on paid. Whether the cap stops or truncates a recording: TEST PENDING | "Unlimited guide creation" on Pro and above; Basic shows a minus for that row, so Basic has a cap the page does not quantify. TEST PENDING |
| Meeting recordings | Listed on Starter; whether they are exempt from the 5-minute cap: TEST PENDING | Not a feature |

The practical line: Scribe's desktop app is a paid feature, so documenting a desktop application on Scribe starts at $35. Loom records the desktop for free.

## Output and editing

| | Loom | Scribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Primary artifact | Video, with transcript and captions | Guide of screenshots and text |
| Download and export | Video download and upload from Business; GIF thumbnails on all tiers. Download on Starter: TEST PENDING | PDF, HTML, Markdown, and Word on Pro and above; none on Basic |
| Video from the tool | Native | "Share as video" movie view with text to speech on all tiers; resolution and whether the file can be downloaded: TEST PENDING |
| Editing on free | GIF thumbnails only | Edit text and steps |
| Editing on paid | Trim and stitch, custom thumbnail, blur, drawing tool, backgrounds, stylised captions, Live Rewind on Business; edit by transcript on Business + AI. Cut quality when editing by transcript: TEST PENDING | Screenshot annotation and redaction, custom branding, comments on Pro Team, version history of one week on Pro and unlimited on Enterprise |
| Redaction | Blur tool on Business | Manual and assisted on Pro; enforced automatic redaction on Enterprise |
| Multi-guide documents | Not applicable | Pages, combining several guides, on Pro and above |

Scribe's free tier is more useful for a solo user than Loom's: you can edit the steps you captured. Loom's free tier is more useful for a team: 50 members can each record 25 short videos at no cost.

## Sharing, AI, and integrations

| | Loom | Scribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Link and embed | All tiers. Embeds in FigJam, Notion, Intercom, Zendesk, Dropbox, GitLab and others; branding removed from the embedded player on Business | All tiers. Embed behaviour on Basic versus Pro inside Notion and Confluence: TEST PENDING |
| Access control | Password protection, workspace default privacy, and "request email to view" from Business; download restriction on Business + AI | Authenticated viewers and global sharing policies; domain control and IP whitelisting on Enterprise |
| Branding | Remove Loom branding, add a logo, player colours from Business | Custom branding on Pro and above |
| AI on free | Auto titles; transcription in 50+ languages | AI-generated titles and descriptions; "Improve workflows with AI" is a minus on Basic |
| AI on paid | Business + AI: summaries, chapters, tasks, calls to action, filler-word and silence removal, edit by transcript, AI workflows, meeting notes | Pro and above: page generation from a prompt, text to speech for the movie view, speech to text, workflow improvement |
| Where AI data goes | FAQ: OpenAI receives transcript text to generate titles and summaries, not video or audio | Security page: AI providers never receive the images in a Scribe; data deleted within 30 days; Enterprise can opt out |
| Integrations | Slack, Jira, Confluence, GitHub, Gmail, Upwork, Salesforce (Enterprise, beta), Zoom import (Enterprise) | Confluence on Pro and above; 45 listed on its integrations page including Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, Slack, Salesforce Knowledge, Zendesk, HubSpot, Notion, and 15+ LMS platforms; enterprise search API, Slack bot, and MCP on Enterprise |

Loom is the more natural fit inside the Atlassian stack. Scribe has spent its integration effort on knowledge bases, help desks, and AI assistants, which is where a written guide gets read.

## Security and compliance

| | Loom | Scribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Certifications | A Loom-specific SOC 2 Type II report is listed on Atlassian's compliance page; Atlassian's security measures cite SOC 2 and ISO 27001 company-wide | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, FERPA, GDPR, and US state privacy laws listed on scribe.com/security |
| Encryption | Per Atlassian's security measures | AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2 or higher in transit |
| SSO and SCIM | Enterprise only, through Atlassian Guard Standard | SAML SSO and SCIM on Enterprise |
| Redaction of sensitive screens | Blur on Business | Manual and assisted on Pro; enforced automatic on Enterprise |
| Audit | Activity log and content activity report from Business; user roles on all tiers | Activity audit log, role-based access, custom permissions on Enterprise |
| Recovery | Not stated on the pages fetched | Recovery time objective 8 hours, recovery point objective 24 hours |

If your screenshots contain customer data, Scribe's redaction on Pro and its HIPAA listing matter more than any feature above. Loom's security story runs through Atlassian, which is a strength for an Atlassian customer and an extra hop for anyone else; loom.com/security redirects to Atlassian's general security page.

## Pricing: what a team actually pays

Per-seat on both, with one floor that changes the arithmetic. Monthly billing, checked September 11, 2026.

| Seats | Loom Business | Loom Business + AI | Scribe Pro Personal | Scribe Pro Team |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | $18 | $24 | $35 | Not sold under 5 seats |
| 5 | $90 | $120 | $175 | $85 |
| 10 | $180 | $240 | $350 | $170 |
| 25 | $450 | $600 | $875 | $425 |
| Annual total at 5 and 10 seats, as shown at checkout | Loom advertises up to 17% off but does not itemise per plan. TEST PENDING | Same. TEST PENDING | $25 per seat yearly on the page; checkout total: TEST PENDING | $13 per seat yearly on the page; checkout total: TEST PENDING |

Two things to notice. At one seat Loom is roughly half Scribe's price. From five seats, Scribe Pro Team at $17 undercuts Loom Business at $18, and its yearly rate of $13 undercuts anything Loom publishes. And Scribe's team rate is a floor: four people pay for five. The [Loom pricing breakdown](https://www.layerpath.com/compare/loom-cost) and the [Scribe pricing breakdown](https://www.layerpath.com/compare/scribe-cost) carry the full plan detail and the costs neither pricing page shows.

## Choose Loom when, choose Scribe when

**Choose Loom when:**

- the content is a message, feedback, a recap, or a walkthrough that will be watched once;
- a human voice and face carry the point;
- your team lives in Jira and Confluence;
- you want meeting recordings and notes in the same tool;
- you are one or two people and $18 a seat matters.

**Choose Scribe when:**

- the reader will do the steps while reading;
- the guide has to be printed, searched, pasted into a ticket, or exported to a help centre or wiki;
- the screenshots contain sensitive data and need redaction;
- you are five or more people and $17 a seat with export beats $18 without;
- the free tier needs to let a solo user edit, not just record.

If the same walkthrough needs to exist as both, and needs to stay accurate when the interface changes, neither tool is built for that. The next section covers it.

## If neither fits: when the same walkthrough must be a video and a guide, and stay current

Loom gives you a recording. Scribe gives you a document. Some teams need the same workflow as both, plus a clickable version, and need all of them to stay correct every time the product ships. In Loom the fix is to record again; in Scribe it is to capture again.

That combination is what Layerpath is built for, and why it appears here. Layerpath captures a workflow once and produces an interactive tour, a step-by-step guide, and a narrated video from the same project; when the product changes, you edit the step that changed and republish all three. It also accepts a Loom recording as input, so an existing Loom library is starting material rather than a write-off.

The honest trade-off: **Layerpath costs more per seat than either, $50 per creator on Pro against Loom's $18 and Scribe's $17 to $35.** It earns that only when you need more than one format and the content changes often enough that re-recording or recapturing is a real cost. For a one-off video, Loom is right and cheaper. For a stable written procedure, Scribe is right and cheaper.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the main difference between Loom and Scribe?

The artifact. Loom records a video of your screen and voice; Scribe captures your clicks into a step-by-step guide of screenshots and text. Loom is for content that is watched; Scribe is for content that is followed.

### Is Loom or Scribe cheaper?

At one seat, Loom: Business is $18 per user per month against Scribe Pro Personal at $35. From five seats, Scribe Pro Team at $17 per seat is below Loom Business at $18, and its yearly rate is $13. Checked September 11, 2026.

### Can Scribe make a video like Loom?

Scribe has a "share as video" movie view on every tier that plays the steps with text to speech. It is not a recording of a person, and its resolution and download options have not been tested here.

### Can Loom make a step-by-step guide like Scribe?

No. Loom produces a video with a transcript and captions. Turning it into a written procedure is manual, or the job of a tool like Layerpath that accepts a Loom recording and writes the steps.

### Which is better for a knowledge base or help centre?

Scribe, because it exports guides to PDF, HTML, Markdown, and Word and integrates with knowledge bases, help desks, and 15+ learning platforms. Loom embeds a player; the content stays a video.

### Which is more secure for sensitive screens?

Scribe on Pro and above, because it redacts screenshots manually or with assistance and lists HIPAA alongside SOC 2 Type II. Loom offers a blur tool on Business and runs its compliance through Atlassian.

### Is there a tool that does both and keeps them current?

Yes, that is Layerpath's model: one capture becomes an interactive tour, a guide, and a video, edited from one source when the product changes. It costs more per seat than either Loom or Scribe, so it is worth it only when you need both formats and they go stale.

## Methodology and sources

Prices change, so every figure carries a date. Where a number here disagrees with a vendor's own pricing page, the vendor's page is correct. Rows marked TEST PENDING describe what the vendor's page claims and have not been verified with an account; they will be replaced with tested results and the date tested.

- Loom plans, compare table, and FAQ: loom.com/pricing, checked September 11, 2026. loom.com/security redirects to Atlassian's security measures page; the Loom-specific SOC 2 Type II listing is on atlassian.com/trust/compliance/resources/soc2, checked the same day.
- Scribe plans and FAQ: scribe.com/pricing, checked September 11, 2026, with the per-tier checkmarks read from the page's compare table. scribehow.com/pricing redirects to scribe.com/pricing.
- Scribe security, capture, and integrations: scribe.com/security, scribe.com/capture, and scribe.com/integrations, checked September 11, 2026.
- Layerpath plans: layerpath.com/pricing, checked September 11, 2026.
- Team totals are arithmetic on the per-seat rates shown; no discount is assumed beyond what each vendor advertises.