Tella vs Loom: which async video tool is worth paying for?

Last updated October 2026

Tella and Loom both let you record your screen, talk over it, and share a link. Beyond that starting point, they have taken noticeably different directions. Tella has built itself into something closer to a lightweight video editor that happens to start with a screen recording. Loom, now owned by Atlassian, has leaned hard into AI post-processing and deep integrations with Jira, Confluence, and the rest of the Atlassian stack.

The right choice depends on what you actually do after you hit the record button. If your recordings need layout changes, zoom effects, polished subtitles, or 4K export for public-facing content, Tella is the stronger tool. If you mostly fire off internal walkthroughs and want AI to generate summaries, chapters, and Jira tickets from your footage, Loom's workflow automation will save you more time.

This page breaks down pricing, features, editing, integrations, and ideal use cases so you can pick the one that fits.

Comparison table

Tella: the screen recorder that doubles as a video editor

Tella positions itself as a replacement for several tools at once. You get screen and camera recording, a real editing timeline, and video hosting in one subscription. The core differentiator is what happens after you stop recording. Instead of sharing a raw capture, you can switch between layouts, add zoom effects, drop in backgrounds, clean up audio, and edit from the transcript, all without leaving Tella.

Recording captures your screen, camera, microphone, and system audio as separate tracks. That separation is what makes the post-recording flexibility possible. You can resize your camera bubble, go full-screen on either source, or switch to a side-by-side layout after the fact. If you record a product demo and realize the camera was too prominent, you fix it in the editor rather than re-recording.

The text-based editing works the way you would expect from tools like Descript. Your recording is transcribed, and you can delete words from the transcript to cut the corresponding video. Filler words and silences get flagged for one-click removal. For more precise work, there is a traditional timeline editor underneath.

Export quality goes up to 4K at 60 FPS on the Premium plan, which matters if you are publishing tutorials or marketing videos to YouTube or social media. Tella also hosts your videos and provides shareable links with viewer analytics, so you do not necessarily need a separate hosting platform.

Transcription covers 106 languages, which is notably broader than Loom's 50-plus. Audio cleanup handles background noise, echo, and voice normalization automatically.

The main trade-off is that Tella has no free plan. The 7-day trial gives you access to most Pro features, but once it expires you need a paid subscription to record, edit, or export. Your existing videos remain viewable and shareable, but you cannot create new ones. There are also no mobile apps, which is a gap if your team records on the go.

Tella pricing

Tella keeps its pricing simple with two main tiers and an enterprise option.

The Pro plan costs $13 per user per month on annual billing, or roughly $26 month-to-month. It includes unlimited videos, recordings up to 6 hours, the full editing suite, transcription in 106 languages, 4K export, video hosting, embeds, team collaboration, and standard analytics. Tella branding appears on shared pages at this tier.

The Premium plan costs $19 per user per month on annual billing, or roughly $38 month-to-month. It adds white-labeling (removes Tella branding), custom domains, domain restriction for controlling who can view your content, 60 FPS export, advanced analytics, and priority support.

Enterprise pricing is custom and requires contacting sales. It includes everything in Premium plus SSO and SCIM provisioning, a shared Slack channel with Tella's team, personalized onboarding, and volume discounts.

Education and nonprofit discounts are available across plans.

Loom: the async video tool built for Atlassian teams

Loom's pitch has shifted since Atlassian acquired it in late 2023. It is no longer just a screen recorder. The product now leans heavily on AI processing and integration with Jira and Confluence, which makes it particularly appealing if your team already lives inside the Atlassian ecosystem.

The recording experience is straightforward. You capture your screen and camera through the desktop app, Chrome extension, or mobile app, then share a link. Viewers do not need an account to watch, which keeps the friction low for external sharing. They can leave timestamped comments and emoji reactions directly in the player.

Where Loom distinguishes itself is in what happens to the video after you record it. On the Business + AI plan, Loom automatically generates titles, summaries, and chapters with jump links. It extracts action items from your transcript. It can remove filler words and trim silences, though reviews note that filler removal sometimes clips real words. Translation and dubbing features include text-to-speech voice cloning, which lets you produce versions of your video in other languages without re-recording.

The Atlassian integrations are the deepest in the category. You can create a Jira issue directly from a Loom, and the tool auto-fills the summary, reproduction steps, and attachments. Bug recordings automatically capture device info, browser details, OS version, console errors, and network calls. Confluence integration lets you embed Looms and convert transcripts into structured documentation. Rovo makes your video transcripts searchable alongside your other Atlassian content.

The editing capabilities are where Loom falls short compared to Tella. You get basic trimming and stitching, plus transcript-based filler and silence removal, but there is no timeline editor, no layout switching, no zoom effects, and no dynamic backgrounds. If your videos need more than a light cleanup, you will need another tool.

Loom does offer mobile apps for iOS and Android, which is something Tella lacks entirely. The mobile experience is more limited than desktop, but it covers recording and viewing.

Loom pricing

Loom's pricing has four tiers, and the AI features that define the product's current direction are locked behind the more expensive plans.

The Starter plan is free and supports up to 50 workspace members. Each person can store 25 videos with a 5-minute recording cap and a maximum resolution of 720p. You get screen and camera recording, transcriptions in 50-plus languages, comments and reactions, and core integrations. There is no AI processing at this tier.

The Business plan costs $18 per user per month, or about $15 on annual billing. It lifts the video and time limits, adds 4K recording, basic waveform editing, trim and stitch, custom branding, upload and download, engagement insights, and password-protected videos. AI features are still not included.

The Business + AI plan costs $24 per user per month, or about $20 on annual billing. This is where the AI suite lives: auto titles, summaries, chapters, action items, filler removal, silence trimming, transcript editing, voice cloning, dubbing, and the ability to turn recordings into Confluence pages or Jira tickets. A 14-day free trial is available for this tier.

Enterprise pricing is custom and annual. It adds SSO and SCIM, Salesforce integration, a 99.95% uptime SLA, custom data retention policies, advanced admin controls, and a dedicated account manager.

Recording and capture

Both tools record your screen and camera simultaneously, which is the baseline for any async video tool in this category. The differences show up in quality ceilings and platform coverage.

Tella records at up to 4K and 60 FPS, captures system audio alongside your microphone, and stores screen and camera as separate tracks. That separation is central to its editing model. Recording works through desktop apps on Mac and Windows and through a Chrome extension. There are no mobile apps.

Loom also records at up to 4K on paid plans, though the free tier caps you at 720p. It supports Mac, Windows, Chrome, iOS, and Android. The mobile apps give it broader platform coverage, which matters for teams that need to record from phones or tablets. Loom's bug recording mode automatically captures technical metadata like console errors and network calls, which is a feature Tella does not match.

Recording length is generous on both tools. Tella caps individual clips at 6 hours, while Loom's paid plans have no time limit. The free Loom plan restricts you to 5 minutes per video, which is tight for anything beyond a quick status update.

Editing and post-production

This is where the two products diverge most sharply, and it is likely the deciding factor for many teams.

Tella treats editing as a core part of the product. After recording, you have a full timeline editor, text-based editing from the transcript, dynamic layout switching, zoom effects, background customization, and automatic subtitle generation. The fact that screen and camera are separate tracks means you can reframe your video without re-recording. If you recorded a walkthrough with your face in the corner and later decide it should be side-by-side, you change the layout in the editor. This flexibility is unusual for a screen recording tool and puts Tella closer to products like Descript than to traditional screen recorders.

Loom's editing is functional but shallow. You can trim the beginning and end of a video, stitch clips together, and use transcript-based editing to remove filler words and silences. The AI handles some of the cleanup automatically on the Business + AI plan. But there is no timeline editor, no layout customization, no zoom effects, and no background options. What you record is essentially what you get, minus some automatic polish.

For internal communication where videos are watched once and discarded, Loom's lighter editing is fine. For product demos, tutorials, onboarding videos, or any content with a longer shelf life, Tella's editing depth makes a real difference in production quality.

AI features

Both tools have invested in AI, but they have applied it to different problems.

Loom's AI is focused on making videos easier to consume and act on. Auto-generated titles, summaries, and chapters help viewers skim long recordings. Action item extraction pulls tasks out of your walkthrough so they can be tracked. The translation and dubbing features, including voice cloning, let you localize content without re-recording. These features only come with the Business + AI plan at $24 per user per month, which is a meaningful cost increase over the base Business tier.

Tella's AI is focused on making videos easier to produce. One-click cleanup handles noise removal, echo cancellation, and voice normalization. The text-based editing uses transcription to let you cut by deleting words. Auto subtitles support 106 languages. These features are included in the Pro plan at $13 per user per month, so there is no separate AI tax.

Neither tool's AI is perfect. Loom's auto-summaries can be generic, and its filler removal occasionally clips words that are not actually filler. Tella's AI cleanup works well for typical office environments but is not a substitute for proper audio equipment in noisy settings.

Integrations and workflow

Loom has a clear advantage in integrations, especially for teams using Atlassian products. The Jira integration creates issues directly from recordings with auto-filled details. Confluence embeds and transcript conversion streamline documentation. Rovo makes transcripts searchable. Salesforce integration is available on the Enterprise plan. Slack sharing works smoothly.

Tella's integration story is simpler. You can share to Slack and email, embed videos on websites, and export for social platforms. There is MCP support and developer tooling, which signals a more technical audience, but the everyday integration surface is smaller than Loom's.

If your team coordinates through Jira and Confluence, Loom's integrations create genuine workflow shortcuts. A bug recording that automatically becomes a Jira ticket with device metadata, reproduction steps, and the video attached is a real time-saver. If your team does not use Atlassian tools, those integrations are irrelevant and the comparison tilts back toward features and editing.

Who should pick Tella

Tella is the better choice for teams and individuals who need their recordings to look polished. Product marketers building demo libraries, course creators producing educational content, customer success teams making onboarding videos, and anyone publishing screen recordings externally will get more out of Tella's editing tools than Loom's AI summaries.

The ability to change layouts after recording is particularly valuable for demo videos where you might want to emphasize different elements at different points. Starting with a full-screen product view, switching to a side-by-side with your face for context, and then zooming into a specific feature is a natural flow that Tella supports and Loom does not.

Tella also costs less. At $13 per user per month for Pro, it is $5 cheaper than Loom's Business plan and $11 cheaper than Business + AI. The Premium tier at $19 per user per month matches Loom's Business pricing while including features like white-labeling and 60 FPS export that Loom reserves for higher tiers or does not offer at all.

The trade-offs are the lack of a free plan, no mobile apps, and fewer integrations. If you need to record from your phone or your team depends on Jira ticket creation from recordings, Tella will not cover those needs.

Who should pick Loom

Loom is the better choice for teams that prioritize speed and workflow integration over video quality. If your recordings are internal status updates, bug reports, feedback walkthroughs, or quick explanations that people watch once, Loom's fast capture-and-share loop is hard to beat. Viewers do not need accounts, the AI generates summaries so people can decide whether to watch, and the Atlassian integrations turn recordings into actionable tickets and documentation.

Engineering teams on the Atlassian stack get the most value. Recording a bug, having Loom capture the console errors and device info, and then generating a Jira ticket from the recording is a workflow that saves several minutes per report. Product managers who record walkthroughs and want automatic Confluence documentation will find similar time savings.

The free Starter plan also makes Loom easier to adopt. Even with its 5-minute cap and 25-video limit, it lets team members start using async video without any budget approval. That low barrier to entry has historically been one of Loom's strongest growth drivers.

The trade-offs are weaker editing, higher prices for the full feature set, and AI features locked behind the most expensive paid tier. If your videos need to look good rather than just exist, Loom will leave you reaching for another tool.

Frequently asked questions

Does Tella have a free plan?

No. Tella offers a 7-day free trial that includes most Pro features, but there is no permanent free tier. Once the trial ends, you need a paid subscription to record, edit, or export. Videos you created during the trial remain viewable and shareable.

Does Loom have a free plan?

Yes. Loom's Starter plan is free for up to 50 workspace members. Each person can store 25 videos with a maximum recording length of 5 minutes and a resolution cap of 720p. There are no AI features on the free plan.

Which is cheaper, Tella or Loom?

Tella is cheaper at every comparable tier. Tella Pro costs $13 per user per month on annual billing and includes full editing, 4K export, and transcription. Loom's closest equivalent is the Business plan at $15 per user per month (annual), which has more limited editing and no AI. Adding Loom's AI features bumps the price to $20 per user per month on annual billing.

Can I use Tella on my phone?

Not currently. Tella has desktop apps for Mac and Windows and a Chrome extension, but no mobile apps. If mobile recording is important to your workflow, Loom offers iOS and Android apps.

Does Loom work without Atlassian tools?

Yes. Loom works as a standalone screen recording and sharing tool without any Atlassian products. However, much of Loom's current development focus is on Jira, Confluence, and Rovo integration, so teams outside the Atlassian ecosystem may find that the product's direction does not align with their needs over time.

Which tool has better video editing?

Tella has significantly deeper editing capabilities. It offers a full timeline editor, text-based editing, dynamic layout switching, zoom effects, backgrounds, and audio cleanup. Loom provides basic trimming, stitching, and AI-powered filler and silence removal, but nothing approaching a real editor.

Can Loom create Jira tickets from recordings?

Yes, on paid plans. Loom's Jira integration lets you create issues directly from a recording. Bug recordings automatically capture device info, browser details, console errors, and network calls. The AI on the Business + AI plan can auto-fill the ticket summary and reproduction steps.

Which tool supports more languages for transcription?

Tella supports 106 languages for transcription. Loom supports 50-plus languages. If you work with a wide range of languages, Tella has broader coverage.

Can I remove Tella or Loom branding from my videos?

Tella removes its branding on the Premium plan ($19/user/month annual) and above. Loom offers custom branding on the Business plan ($15/user/month annual) and above.

Which is better for product demos?

Tella is the stronger choice for product demos. Its dynamic layouts let you switch between full-screen product views, picture-in-picture, and side-by-side formats within the same video. The zoom effects, background customization, and 4K/60 FPS export produce more polished results. Loom records what you see on screen and offers limited post-production, which works for internal demos but falls short for customer-facing content.

Does Tella or Loom offer enterprise security features?

Both offer SSO and SCIM on their enterprise plans. Loom's Enterprise tier also includes a 99.95% uptime SLA, custom data retention, and advanced admin controls. Tella offers SSO and SCIM as an add-on on paid plans or included with Enterprise, along with a DPA and Trust Center.

Can I export Loom videos to use elsewhere?

Yes, on paid plans. Loom's Business tier and above include download functionality. The free Starter plan does not let you download your recordings.

Related comparisons

If you are evaluating other screen recording and async video tools, these comparisons may help.

Cap vs Loom looks at how Cap's open-source approach compares to Loom's AI-driven platform. Cap vs Tella covers Cap against Tella's editing-first workflow. Cap vs ScreenFlow compares Cap with a traditional desktop screen recorder.

For screenshot and annotation tools, CleanShot vs Snagit breaks down two popular options.

For broader roundups, see best screen recording tool and best async video tool.