Would love to be able to self host this tool - I'd be fine with purchasing a license to do so but I'd really rather not have this running on hardware that isn't mine - wrapping this up in a docker container that I can deploy would be mint.
Right on! That is definitely something I am willing to explore over time! I know Basecamp has been experimenting with the Pay Once model with great success.
I don't really have a use for this particular software, but I wanted to add my +1 to pay once self-hosted Sofware. It's such a great model for the customer and I have bought software with that model even when there were free open-source alternatives. I really hope it works on the business side as I would love for it to viable.
How much would you pay for it for lifetime value?
Context: I had built very similar tool myself & can implement a few more features to make it self host possible to sell license.
I've built a 100% web-based screen recording tool aimed at product marketing managers, developers, or anyone wanting to showcase their work along with a talking head. Inspired by ScreenStudio, it allows you to effortlessly create polished recordings directly from your browser.
A couple of technical highlights I'm particularly proud of:
Initially, I used ReMotion but ran into limitations. I ended up building my own animation engine from scratch, closely inspired by ReMotion's capabilities but tailored specifically for my use-case.
Due to browser security constraints with getDisplayMedia(), I couldn't directly track cursor movements. To overcome this, I trained a custom YOLO (You-Only-Look-Once) model for cursor detection. This allowed me to implement smooth, mouse-following animations within recordings, bypassing the browser limitations entirely.
Happy to dive deeper into the tech if anyone's interested!
Nice work! I really like how simple it was to get started. I know this would make it a bit harder to signup, but I think you should consider creating a Chrome Extension that allows you to get the real mouse coordinates, if possible. I think the animations feel a bit rougher compared to ScreenStudio, so maybe having the real coordinates would help. But maybe that's fixable with more smoothing or easing.
Hey Jacob, great observation. I actually already have a chrome extension and I tried to launch it but no one would download it. That’s why I made it so easy to get started this way and had to go through such great lengths to get the cursor but I agree with you 100% the animations are actually terrible right now. I’m working on them as we speak and I’m throwing all sorts of tricks in the mix to try to get it to work better. I’d love if you follow along on my website is a link to the Twitter. If you follow me, I’ll be announcing when I update the animation changes.
Seems cool! But for privacy reasons I prefer to do the recording locally and send the file myself. I've been using the extension https://cursorful.com/ (only for Chrome), which doesn't upload the video to the cloud, it just does everything locally, and the free tier features are enough for me.
Thanks! Hosting in the cloud lets me centrally manage assets and makes it easier to add interactive features like Arcade and Supademo, which require server-side components. It also simplifies analytics and customization. Currently, I store everything in S3 but purge the videos every few days. If this gains traction, I'm already experienced with implementing standards like SOC 2.
I'd love a self-hosted version for no other reason than to be able to customize encode quality and video size. I'd like to do some video casts for my coworkers on workflows I developed/use, but sharper text would be convenient.
I know people are going on about privacy and that's fair but easily sorted with the appropriate data privacy policies and actually adhering to your commitments in them.
If you are approaching this from a potential business perspective that will not be the major issue. As you can tell from the comments most people do want their screen recordings on a remote service, now matter the policies involved.
That leaves you with some options :
1) Encrypt the outgoing WebRTC stream before it leaves the client device/browser (e.g. through WebRTC Insertable Streams or similar), encoded with a client local key that only your customer knows/manages. This ensures any screen recordings stored on your end cannot be accessed in any way. They can then download the recordings as needed and decrypt on demand. Note that this still has the implication of you storing and transmitting massive amounts of data which is likely to become cost prohibitive as a service.
2) As above but do the decrypting for your customer on your end so they get to download playable media. This obviously introduces the security risk of your platform becoming temporarily able to 'see' the content.
3) Save your recording directly through MediaRecorder WebM or similar (has various browser compatibility challenges as standards materialize) and uses less obvious encodings (we're still living with the bullshit of H.264 requiring licensing).
I love the youtube series... raw, watching you build in the open is great. This would be a killer app to make youtube videos, but without the ability to download the video, you won't be able to post them. I can "Export" but then it just gives me a specific link that can be shared instead of the raw mp4 file.
Absolutely I will. In Chrome, you can right click the video and save it. Thank you for the kind words about the YouTube series - the idea is to build a tool I myself can use, so I have all sorts of things I want to add like title pages, text, etc.
Including some text that says "Right click to download" would dramatically decrease your bounce rate. I was a bounce without that feature.
That sounds like it would be a good niche to pivot into. Eventually you'll have to charge, so differentiating yourself here would be key.
Also, make sure you are aware of which 'channel' you are receiving your feedback from, and skewing your bias to account when deciding a roadmap. I see alot of comments saying self-hosted, which would be a bad use of development time at this stage. Obviously lock down encryption, and create a video-library similiar to loom but have that all hosted through the app.
how i could see a potential differentiation with this tool/ what i'd be interested in.
Consulting tool pivot: A tool to eliminate meetings
I own a consultanting company and i am always onboarding freelancers to certain tasks that i need them to do. Sometimes it's the same tasks that will be repeated, so they can always use the videos as a tool to 'refresh' themselves when they get stuck. It's like a video SOP, so what would be cool is if you used AI to create an 'SOP' from the video. Like links i clicked, folders and documents i interacted with and their location, etc. etc. This would be an invaluable tool for me at my company as every time i have a task that i need to delegate, i just create a loom video and then link all those things in an email which takes a long time.
For my clients it's the same exact thing, but showing them whats been done or answering any questions they have sent via email.
Youtube pivot:
Make a software for creators. Where they can record these videos for tutorials, with some kind of auto edditing features such as including intro's, outros.
Let's hop on a call and discuss (JK, saw the youtube video haha)
The fact you've copied screen.studio so closely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. On the landing page you apply formatting in Google Sheets, just like screen studio does. It's ok to be inspired by screen studio but remember they are mostly a solo dev too so try and be more original.
we live in capitalism. capitalism is competing with others to make money. there are legal protections in place for intellectual property, and those protections are already far too damaging to innovation and creativity. he's operating within legal boundaries and doing the same thing everyone else does in business. i don't see the problem as long as it isn't illegal.
if we want to talk about ethics and morals in capitalism, then we have to start with the discussion of how all of it is damaging, and not just blame isolated examples as damaging or "bad"
No one said it's illegal. They said it leaves a bad taste. I also don't think this particular comment was necessarily a critique of capitalism as a whole.
Readit News
First we really need the Source code of this tool though if we really want this tool to stay for posterity!
What is the cultural significance of this tool that would require it?
I've built a 100% web-based screen recording tool aimed at product marketing managers, developers, or anyone wanting to showcase their work along with a talking head. Inspired by ScreenStudio, it allows you to effortlessly create polished recordings directly from your browser.
A couple of technical highlights I'm particularly proud of:
Initially, I used ReMotion but ran into limitations. I ended up building my own animation engine from scratch, closely inspired by ReMotion's capabilities but tailored specifically for my use-case.
Due to browser security constraints with getDisplayMedia(), I couldn't directly track cursor movements. To overcome this, I trained a custom YOLO (You-Only-Look-Once) model for cursor detection. This allowed me to implement smooth, mouse-following animations within recordings, bypassing the browser limitations entirely.
Happy to dive deeper into the tech if anyone's interested!
I really want a free version from commercial use tbh, not that cursorful is expensive
Deleted Comment
People are a nightmare, I can already see someone leaking secrets with this.
If you are approaching this from a potential business perspective that will not be the major issue. As you can tell from the comments most people do want their screen recordings on a remote service, now matter the policies involved.
That leaves you with some options :
1) Encrypt the outgoing WebRTC stream before it leaves the client device/browser (e.g. through WebRTC Insertable Streams or similar), encoded with a client local key that only your customer knows/manages. This ensures any screen recordings stored on your end cannot be accessed in any way. They can then download the recordings as needed and decrypt on demand. Note that this still has the implication of you storing and transmitting massive amounts of data which is likely to become cost prohibitive as a service.
2) As above but do the decrypting for your customer on your end so they get to download playable media. This obviously introduces the security risk of your platform becoming temporarily able to 'see' the content.
3) Save your recording directly through MediaRecorder WebM or similar (has various browser compatibility challenges as standards materialize) and uses less obvious encodings (we're still living with the bullshit of H.264 requiring licensing).
Do you plan on adding this feature?
That sounds like it would be a good niche to pivot into. Eventually you'll have to charge, so differentiating yourself here would be key.
Also, make sure you are aware of which 'channel' you are receiving your feedback from, and skewing your bias to account when deciding a roadmap. I see alot of comments saying self-hosted, which would be a bad use of development time at this stage. Obviously lock down encryption, and create a video-library similiar to loom but have that all hosted through the app.
how i could see a potential differentiation with this tool/ what i'd be interested in.
Consulting tool pivot: A tool to eliminate meetings
I own a consultanting company and i am always onboarding freelancers to certain tasks that i need them to do. Sometimes it's the same tasks that will be repeated, so they can always use the videos as a tool to 'refresh' themselves when they get stuck. It's like a video SOP, so what would be cool is if you used AI to create an 'SOP' from the video. Like links i clicked, folders and documents i interacted with and their location, etc. etc. This would be an invaluable tool for me at my company as every time i have a task that i need to delegate, i just create a loom video and then link all those things in an email which takes a long time.
For my clients it's the same exact thing, but showing them whats been done or answering any questions they have sent via email.
Youtube pivot:
Make a software for creators. Where they can record these videos for tutorials, with some kind of auto edditing features such as including intro's, outros.
Let's hop on a call and discuss (JK, saw the youtube video haha)
if we want to talk about ethics and morals in capitalism, then we have to start with the discussion of how all of it is damaging, and not just blame isolated examples as damaging or "bad"