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Scribe vs Loom (AI)
A plain-English comparison to help you choose between them.
Two answers to "show them how". Scribe watches you click through a process once and produces a step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots, ready to embed in a wiki, ticket or help centre, so documentation becomes a by-product of doing the work. Loom records the walkthrough as an async video with an instant share link, adding AI summaries, chapters and task extraction on the upper tiers. Numbered guides suit repeatable SOPs, video suits nuance and context, and many operations teams sensibly run both.
Side by side
- Summary
Scribe watches you work and writes the guide. Turn on capture, click through a process once, and it produces a step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots and written instructions, ready to share as a link or embed in a wiki, ticket or help centre.
- Best for
- Capturing an on-screen process once and getting a shareable guide
- SOPs and how-to guides with annotated screenshots
- Employee onboarding and software training documentation
- Help-centre articles and macro attachments for support teams
- Free web capture with unlimited guide creation
- Less suited to
Scribe documents click-paths, not judgement. Processes that hinge on decisions, exceptions or conceptual understanding need authored prose or training design around the captured steps, and it is no knowledge base, so verified answers and policy live better elsewhere. Desktop and mobile capture, branding and exports all sit behind the paid tiers.
Where guides capture regulated data, auto-redaction of PII and PHI is an Enterprise feature; it assists with, rather than replaces, a compliance review of published documentation.
- Cost
- Free tier + paid plans
- Ease
- Beginner-friendly
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Closed SaaS: captures are processed and stored in Scribe's cloud, and a capture records whatever is on screen, including any customer or employee data visible at the time. Auto-redaction of PII and PHI is an Enterprise feature and assists rather than replaces a compliance review of published documentation; on lower tiers, capture against test data and check screenshots before a guide circulates. Enterprise also brings SSO and role-based governance over who can create and view guides.
- Summary
Loom is asynchronous video messaging: record your screen and camera, and an instant share link replaces the meeting the message would otherwise become.
- Best for
- Async screen and camera video messages that replace meetings
- Turning a recording into a doc, message or Jira issue
- Meeting recording with auto-recaps for Zoom, Meet and Teams
- Sales outreach videos with CTA buttons and video variables
- Process walkthroughs and training clips for Atlassian-shop teams
- Less suited to
Loom is a messaging recorder, not a production editor. Colour work, multitrack timelines and polished cuts belong to dedicated editing tools, and avatar video generated at scale is a different category entirely. The free plan is a trial rather than a working tier, with capped video counts and five-minute recordings, and most of the AI sits on the paid tiers.
Meeting recording carries its own obligation. Participants should know a recorder is running and consent norms vary by jurisdiction, so make disclosure the habit rather than assuming the tool covers it.
- Cost
- Free tier + paid plans
- Ease
- Beginner-friendly
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Loom is closed and Atlassian-owned, so recordings, transcripts and the AI outputs derived from them live in Atlassian's cloud estate under its terms and workspace governance. The share-link model is the working risk: a Loom is built to travel, so treat link permissions and workspace access settings as part of the rollout rather than an afterthought. Meeting recording carries the sharper obligation: participants should know the recorder is running, and consent norms vary by jurisdiction, so make disclosure the routine before auto-recaps become the default record of calls. AI features process the recording and its transcript to produce summaries, docs and tasks, and Atlassian documents the conversion workflows as currently English-only; check the current Atlassian privacy and trust documentation for training, retention and subprocessor detail before rolling the AI tiers out on customer-facing or confidential calls.
By area
Where each one pulls ahead, area by area.
| Area | Pick Scribe when | Pick Loom (AI) when |
|---|---|---|
| Operations | Scribe produces a scannable step-by-step document a colleague can follow at their own pace | a narrated video walkthrough explains the nuance better than numbered steps |
Common questions
Which is better for SOPs people actually follow?
For step-shaped processes, Scribe: a numbered guide with annotated screenshots lets someone work at their own pace, re-find step 7, and follow the current version after an update. Loom earns its place where the how carries judgement, tone or context a screenshot sequence flattens, and Atlassian-shop teams get the fullest loop, from recorded walkthrough to Jira work item. The honest test: if the process is a checklist, capture it; if it is a conversation, record it.
How do the free tiers compare?
Scribe's free Basic tier is the more workable for real use: web capture with unlimited guide creation and shareable links, with desktop capture, branding, editing and exports on paid tiers. Loom's free plan is a genuine trial (capped video counts and five-minute recordings), with most of the AI, including summaries, chapters and task extraction, arriving on the paid tiers. A solo operator can run Scribe free indefinitely; Loom free is for deciding whether to pay.
What about sensitive information on screen?
Both capture your screen, so both inherit the risk of whatever is on it. Scribe addresses it structurally at the top tier: Enterprise brings auto-redaction of sensitive data, SSO and governance. On Loom, meeting recording and screen capture put the discipline on the recorder: check what is visible before capture, and know your plan's controls. For processes touching customer or financial data, Scribe's redaction lane is a real differentiator.
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Tool facts last checked July 2026