Camtasia vs Screenflow: Battle of the Screencasting Platforms

After sorting through a dozen or so screencasting applications for the Apple Mac platform, I’ve settled on Camtasia for the Mac, with Telestream’s ScreenFlow running a close second. My principal goal was to find a screencasting application that would enable me to create scripted screencasts, in addition to “quick and dirty” narratives that I could embed in various media.

After working with ScreenFlow for several days, I found myself growing frustrated with the lack of basic tools, such as being able to add simple pointer graphics to my screencast during post-production editing. I also had difficulty editing audio tracks, and resigned myself to the fact that I would likely have to record audio separately via applications like Apple’s GarageBand or Audacity if I decided to go with ScreenFlow as my screencasting tool.

Camtasia for the Mac seemed to be a more polished application as compared to ScreenFlow, which I would expect, as the Microsoft Windows versions of Camtasia products have been in development for years. ScreenFlow appears to have a better community of users willing to help each other, even to the point of developing free add-on tools and providing feedback on community members screencasts. Camtasia for the Mac crashed several times on my MacBook Pro, something I do not expect Mac applications to do. On the positive side, my recent work was saved, so the only time I lost was in rebooting the application.

There is much discussion on the web and on Youtube as to whether Camtasia for the Mac or Screenflow is best for professional and business screencasting. Here’s one review of Camtasia from a user that uses Screenflow:

Don McAllister‘s Screencastonline is a great example of the power of  educational screencasts. I’ve used several of Don’s screencasts to preview applications that are of interest to me. Last year, I previewed Don’s screencast of OmniFocus, and decided to purchase the software for my Mac and iPhone. Not only did his screencast review of OmniFocus provide enough information for me to make a purchase decision, I learned enough from the screencast to begin using the application as soon as I downloaded and installed the package. (Don uses ScreenFlow for capture and assembly edit; Final Cut Studio for final production editing.)

I’ve still got 25 days left in my Camtasia free trial evaluation, which I’ll put to good use in testing other applications that I have in mind. Screenflow offers a free trial download, but I the heavy watermarking gets in the way of evaluating finished screencasts. Telestream should consider eliminating the watermarking to better compete with Techsmith’s Camtasia, or at least make the watermark more transparent, so prospective customers can better evaluate the video capture quality.

Next month, I’ll share with you whether I decided to purchase Camtasia for the Mac or Screenflow. Please post your experience with either application, especially if you have evaluated both products.