Bandicam

Bandicam is a screen and game recording program for Windows. It records in three modes: screen capture (desktop, regions, windows), game capture (hooks into DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan), and device capture (webcams, capture cards, consoles). It supports up to 4K at 144fps with hardware encoding through NVIDIA NVENC, Intel Quick Sync, and AMD AMF. The free version records up to 10 minutes with a watermark. A lifetime license costs around $40.

What it does

Pick your recording mode and press F12 to start and stop. In game mode, Bandicam hooks directly into the game's rendering pipeline, which keeps the performance hit lower than generic screen capture. An FPS counter shows on screen so you can monitor the impact.

The drawing tool lets you annotate your screen during recording - arrows, circles, text, freehand lines. This is useful for tutorials and walkthroughs. Webcam overlay adds your camera feed to the recording with adjustable size and position. Mouse click effects highlight cursor movements, which helps viewers follow along in instructional videos.

Scheduled recording starts and stops automatically at set times, useful for capturing live streams or webinars when you are away.

Who it is for

Bandicam is popular with tutorial makers and gamers who want straightforward recording without OBS's complexity. The drawing tools and mouse effects are genuinely useful for instructional content. OBS is free and more capable overall, but Bandicam's simplicity is the selling point - you open it, press F12, and it works.