ScreenFlow is a great tutorial recorder, but the wrong tool for timelapse. How Tau and ScreenFlow compare for Mac users capturing their work.
ScreenFlow is one of the most polished screen recorders on macOS. If you've looked into recording your screen on a Mac, you've likely come across it. It's well-designed, capable, and widely used for course creation and tutorials.
But if timelapse is what you're after, ScreenFlow is the wrong tool. Here's why.
What ScreenFlow is built for
ScreenFlow is a screen recorder and video editor. Its core workflow is:
- Record your screen (at full frame rate)
- Edit the recording in a full timeline editor
- Add callouts, annotations, zoom effects, and transitions
- Export for YouTube, Vimeo, or other platforms
This is an excellent workflow for tutorials, software demos, and course content. ScreenFlow does it very well.
Where it falls short for timelapse
No frame interval recording. ScreenFlow records at full frame rate — 30fps or 60fps, whatever you set. A timelapse requires capturing one frame every N seconds, then playing those frames back at normal speed. ScreenFlow doesn't do this. To make a timelapse from a ScreenFlow recording, you'd record hours of full-rate video, then manually speed it up in the editor. That's a large raw file, manual post-processing, and not the same as true timelapse capture.
macOS only. ScreenFlow doesn't run on Windows.
Overkill for timelapse. ScreenFlow's timeline editor, callouts, and effects are powerful — but if all you want is to trim a clip and export it, you're paying for a lot of features you won't use.
$199. ScreenFlow costs $199 for a perpetual licence (as of October 2026); its stock media library is a separate yearly subscription. For timelapse use, this is significant pricing for a tool that doesn't natively support timelapse capture.
No WEBM export. ScreenFlow exports MP4, MOV and animated GIF, but not WEBM.
What Tau does differently
Tau is built specifically for timelapse. Frame interval capture is the core of the product — not an afterthought.
Set your interval (1 frame every 5 seconds, every 10 seconds, whatever fits your session), start recording, and Tau runs quietly in the background. When you're done:
- Trim start and end points in the built-in editor
- Add a timer overlay (stopwatch, clock, or countdown) with one click
- Attach background audio if you want it
- Export to MP4, GIF, or WEBM — no additional tools
Tau works on both macOS and Windows. It costs $16.99€14.99 for a licence that works on all your devices. One-time payment.
The honest comparison
| Tau | ScreenFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| Native timelapse (frame intervals) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Screen recording | ✅ | ✅ |
| Camera recording | ✅ | ✅ |
| Screen + camera simultaneously | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built-in editor | ✅ | ✅ (full timeline) |
| Timer overlays | ✅ | ❌ |
| Export to GIF | ✅ | ✅ |
| Export to WEBM | ✅ | ❌ |
| Windows support | ✅ | ❌ |
| Price | $16.99€14.99 one-time | $199 one-time |
| Full timeline video editing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Annotations and callouts | ❌ | ✅ |
Which should you use?
Use ScreenFlow if: you're creating tutorials, courses, or software demos that need a full timeline editor, zoom effects, and callout annotations. It's the right tool for that.
Use Tau if: you want to capture your work as a timelapse — a coding session, a design process, an art piece — and export something polished without the overhead of a full video editor.
They're genuinely built for different things. The overlap is that both record your screen. The difference is everything that happens after.
Try Tau at trytau.app — available for macOS and Windows, $16.99€14.99 one-time.