Vimeo vs. Loom: Which video recorder and editor should you choose?

In the world of video creation and team collaboration, Vimeo and Loom are two popular platforms for video creation and team collaboration, but they’re different in terms of their scope, features, and audience. Whether you're a business professional, a content creator, or a team looking to streamline communication, this Vimeo vs Loom comparison can help you choose the right video platform for your needs.

What is the difference between Vimeo and Loom?

Loom is focused on screen recording and is designed mainly for team collaboration. It provides screen recording functionality along with video hosting and sharing. However, in late 2024, Loom restricted all of their video editing capabilities to paid tiers only. So, if video capture and editing features are important to you, then Vimeo’s advanced video creation and editing tools make it the ideal choice. Let’s dive into a detailed comparison to find the best video making and editing tool for you.

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Vimeo vs. Loom: A side-by-side comparison of video tools

This comparison table of Vimeo vs Loom features provides a snapshot if you’re looking for screen recording software, video hosting and sharing capabilities, and video collaboration features:

Screen recording comparison: Vimeo vs. Loom

Though Loom is pretty much all about screen recording, Vimeo helps you record your screen, yourself, or both in just seconds. And in fact, there are a number of tools available for you to easily record, edit, and share professional-quality screen recordings in no time. Let's see how they compare.

Vimeo screen recorder overview

With a variety of built-in tools, Vimeo makes screen recording a breeze — giving brands and creators the ability to create a seamless, professional video to share anywhere.

• In-browser recording. From the Vimeo Record Chrome extension, you can record your screen in your browser, whether you want to record the screen only or also record a webcam overlay.
• Screen recorder app. Record on your phone with ease on your Android or iPhone with Vimeo’s easy-to-use mobile apps.
• Built-in script writer and teleprompter. Use the Vimeo screen recorder to record in one take with a built-in teleprompter (available on Standard and above plans) that helps you stay on script. Overcome video script writing challenges with Vimeo’s AI-generated scripts —based on a short description of what you’re looking for— and free yourself from hours of work.
• Asynchronous team communication. Use Vimeo’s screen recording tools to simplify team collaboration. Whether you need to make and share tutorials, onboard new hires, or replace a time-consuming meeting with a video message your team can watch anytime, Vimeo allows you to use screen recordings to their full advantage.
• Easily edit recordings. Cut and eliminate filler words from your recordings in just a few clicks. Create product walkthroughs, pitches, and short videos highlighting the latest features of your product to give an edge to your video content.   
• Secure sharing options. Share screen recordings safely with the Vimeo screen recorder. Paid plan users can share a screen recording as an unlisted link with a few people or as a password-protected video. 

Try Vimeo's free screen recorder →

Loom screen recorder overview

Loom specializes in screen recording and team collaboration. It provides you with the basics of screen recording with link-sharing capabilities.

• Record on your desktop or mobile. Loom provides downloadable desktop apps for Mac and Windows. It also offers a Chrome extension, plus screen recorder apps for iOS and Android. Keep in mind: You cannot record your screen and webcam at the same time on the Loom iOS app.
• Basic editing features. Loom lets you cut your video, insert and combine pieces from other videos, add calls to action, and handle basic editing tasks.
• Easy sharing. Loom video links can be shared with business partners, teammates, students, or customers.
• Permissions and privacy. Give your Loom Workspace members view/edit access, turn on password protection, or leave your videos public.

Video hosting comparison: Vimeo vs Loom

You can host your videos for free on both Loom and Vimeo offer free video hosting, but the features and capabilities vary by plan. Here’s a look at the video hosting capabilities of each platform. 

Vimeo hosting overview

Vimeo video hosting lets businesses and creators host and stream on-demand videos, fully controlling every detail of the viewing experience.

• Superior video quality. Our HTML5 video player loads fast and supports everything from 4K to 8K, HDR, and Dolby Vision.
• Fully customizable video player. Users on paid plans can customize your video player with brand colors and logos for a consistent content experience when your videos are embedded on other sites. Anyone watching your video on a desktop browser or mobile app has a consistent viewing experience. 
• Robust video security. Vimeo offers strong privacy options based on your plan, including password protection, customizable permissions, private videos, and controlled access monitoring.
• Upload from any device. Upload video from your phone, desktop, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Regardless of whether you’re shooting videos on Android, iPhone, Mac, or Windows, the Vimeo video maker easily integrates with third-party apps for hassle-free uploading.
• Advanced video embedding. Vimeo is one of the few video hosting platforms that adds special code that helps Google recognize your videos that are embedded on your site, which can boost the search engine visibility of your videos.

Get free video hosting on Vimeo →

Loom video hosting overview

Loom provides simple video hosting services with folder organization in a library or space. 

• Adaptive streaming. With adaptive streaming features, Loom will automatically provide the best quality version of a video that’s supported by a given viewer’s internet connection — though playback quality may vary with changes in a user’s bandwidth.
• Watch Later list. Users can save videos on a list, called Watch Later, and then receive notifications through email or mobile.
• Adjustable playback speed. Looking to speed up or slow down your videos? From its 1.2x default, playback speed can also easily be changed by creators and viewers.
• Theater mode. Theater mode adds text and other small details in the video that are visible to viewers. In theater mode, the rest of the screen — comments and editing tools, for example — remains out of reach.
• Permissions and privacy. Creators can set link settings where Workspace members can view or edit a video and password-protect videos.

Video creation comparison: Vimeo vs Loom

Loom and Vimeo both have simple video creation tools. Vimeo’s advanced recording and editing features let you create branded, tailored video content that captivates your audience.

Vimeo video maker overview

Vimeo’s free video maker helps businesses and creators craft polished, professional-feeling video content that remains completely on-brand. 

• Ready-made templates. Access thousands of professional-grade video templates to quickly bring your vision to life.
• Stock footage library. Gain access to a full library of royalty-free stock media — still images, video, and soundtracks for your videos. 
• Streaming and event capabilities. You can host interactive virtual events, webinars, live broadcasts, and more with reliable high-definition streaming under Vimeo Advanced plans. 
• Marketing integrations. Because Vimeo integrates with CRM platforms — HubSpot, Marketo, and Salesforce, to name a few — you have additional video marketing tools to generate leads for your business.
• Advanced analytics. Gain insights into who’s viewing your videos, when they drop off and how they interact with your content. You can also measure interactivity, registration, and attendance for live events. 

Explore Vimeo's powerful video creation tools →

Loom video maker overview

While Loom specializes in screen-recording based videos, it can’t compete with the video creation capabilities of Vimeo, which include advanced editing capabilities along with a stock footage library.  

• Canvas video backdrops. Canvas is a customizable backdrop you can use to customize your Loom videos with backgrounds in different designs.
• Video recording enhancements. Loom users can accommodate less-than-ideal lighting conditions and do some last-minute touchups to their appearance. The downside is these options are only available in Screen+Cam mode and not in the Loom Chrome extension.
• Make a video on any device. Similar to Vimeo, Loom has a downloadable desktop app for Mac and Windows and also provides a Chrome extension and apps for iOS and Android to create videos on your mobile.

Video editor comparison: Vimeo vs. Loom

The Vimeo video editor features cropping and trimming as well as adding text overlays, soundtracks, and other effects all from within your browser to give an almost studio-quality edit in minutes. However, Loom’s video editing features are more limited.

Vimeo video editor overview

Vimeo has robust editing features that help you create captivating videos to attract the attention of your audience.

• Timeline editor. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you don’t need professional editing experience to use Vimeo. Select clips and create high-quality video in seconds.
• Advanced editing capabilities. Vimeo’s video editor lets you trim, resize, and compress videos, create GIFs from videos, and convert images to video. Add more with audio, a watermark, custom fonts, and video graphics.

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Vimeo AI video tools

Vimeo is a video creation and editing platform powered by AI, which enables businesses and creators to take their creativity to the next level and create impactful videos in minutes instead of hours.

• Text-based video editor. If you’re on a Standard plan or above, you can edit videos just as you would a text doc. Just select what you want to remove and hit delete.
• Automatic video title, description, and chapter generation. You can save a lot of time with Vimeo’s AI maker, adding interactivity and automatically creating titles, chapters, video text summaries, and tags. These features are available to Advanced and Enterprise users.
• Auto-caption and subtitles. Vimeo has auto-captioning and subtitling, making it time-efficient for creators and accessible for viewers, which helps to increase viewership.  
• One-take video creation. A Vimeo Standard account lets users use AI to create automatic video scripts from a basic description. Stay on-script like a pro with our built-in teleprompter.

Explore Vimeo AI →

Loom video editor overview

While Loom is a useful tool with basic video editing features, it does not offer extensive customization or enable advanced video editing.    

• Custom branding. Insert your own logo, choose colors that match your brand, and white-label your video by removing Loom’s branded ad popups.
• Basic editing capabilities. Loom has some very basic edit capabilities such as trimming videos, stitching video snippets, or adding thumbnails and calls-to-action (CTAs).

Loom AI video tools

Loom AI is an add-on that only comes with the Business and Enterprise plans. It provides a few features that can come in handy and save some precious minutes. 

• Remove filler words. Just like Vimeo’s text-based video editor, Loom can pull out filler words and silences from the editing panel in the “Edit by transcript” function.
• AI-powered automation. Loom AI creates an auto summary, topic-based chapters, and a video title. It also creates a call-to-action button according to the page you’re recording.
• AI workflows. Loom AI transcribes videos to text documents, bug reports, or even messages for Jira ticket submission.

Video communications comparison: Vimeo vs. Loom

Vimeo and Loom both facilitate video communications and team collaboration. Such capabilities facilitate asynchronous communication and help avoid long emails and unnecessary meetings.

Vimeo video communications overview

Our video communication platform allows for team members all over the world to collaborate across time zones, onboard new employees faster, host virtual events and conferences, and more. Vimeo provides powerful but user-friendly video creation and screen recording tools for team collaboration and internal communication.

• Centralized video hub. Enterprise users can use Vimeo Central to bring all your video assets together and sort them into folders in your online video hub — a searchable, shareable video library that comes with advanced permission settings for full control over who sees what. Organize your corporate videos and share company-wide communications.
• Admin controls and security. To control access to videos, folders, and workspaces, you can set view and edit permissions, password-protect videos, and make them private.
• Easily review feedback. Leave time-coded notes on videos so your team members can follow up on them.
• Interactive options. Make the onboarding and training experience more fun for your team by having some interactive touchpoints — quizzes, Q&A, polls, etc. — to add some excitement to learning and development.
• Seamless sharing. Vimeo acts as an asynchronous communication tool, allowing you to send video messages to your team from your browser. You can share videos with links, downloading, and social media or website embedding. 

Enhance team communication with Vimeo →

Loom video communications overview

Loom is built largely for video communication and collaboration in teams. With Loom HQ, your team can stay in touch with each other regardless of the location and time with asynchronous video messaging.

• Team alignment. Use asynchronous video messages to bolster team communication and productivity.
• Polish your video communications. Leverage features such as live rewind, trimming, and filler word removal to make a professional presentation.
• Access control. Loom video privacy and role-based access settings allow you to decide who can see or edit your video communications.
• Engagement insights. Track who clicked on which CTA, who watched your videos, and for how long.
• Viewer interaction. Video messages can be commented on by viewers, who can also react with emojis.

Which video editor is best for you — Vimeo or Loom?

Loom is a video tool for work teams that need async communication, or want to make simple video messaging for groups like onboarding and training videos. Loom is great when it comes to screen recording, which is primarily what they do, but as a business or creator, you want to get the most out of video, and Loom simply cannot deliver that.

Vimeo and Loom both have their own strengths but serve different video use cases. With its tools and features, Vimeo empowers users to unlock the full potential of video — a complete professional-grade video platform with strong hosting, customizations, and marketing features.

Optimize your video strategy with Vimeo →