Action! vs Kooha

Action! records Windows gameplay, console video, and live broadcasts. It offers instant replay, multi-mode recording, GPU encoding, and webcam overlays. Windows gameplay recording is described as Full HD with low CPU use and no FPS loss; maximum listed video quality is 4K Ultra HD up to 3840x2160. Device recording supports Xbox and PlayStation, with capture cards from Elgato, Avermedia, and Hauppauge. Action! can stream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Smashcast, and Ustream, among other services, and supports Streamlabs plus up to six modular URL overlay graphics. Microphone and system sound can be recorded separately, mixed, or saved with another audio device. Webcam overlays can be cropped, resized, repositioned, and used with a green screen. Screenshots can be saved in BMP, JPG, or PNG formats. Home use costs $19.77, paid once and commercial use costs $32.95, paid once; both include a lifetime license and free updates. A 30-day trial is available without a credit card, but trial recordings have a watermark.

Kooha is a free Linux desktop screen recorder with a minimal interface. It records a full monitor or a selected portion of the screen and can capture microphone audio, desktop audio, or both together. Recordings can be saved as WebM, MP4, GIF, or Matroska files. Users can configure the save location, pointer visibility, frame rate, and recording delay. Kooha requires PipeWire, its GStreamer plugin, and xdg-desktop-portal with a portal backend such as GTK, KDE, or wlroots. Flatpak is officially supported, while third-party packages are not officially supported by the developer. Hardware-accelerated encoding is experimental and disabled by default because of stability and performance concerns. Experimental capture can target a specific window or multiple monitors or windows, with possible flickering and stability issues. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0 and points users to GitHub issues for support.