iShowU Studio 2 vs ScreenFlow
Both are bought outright, both sit in capture, and both are bought by people leaving Camtasia, Descript, Loom paid plans. Here is what actually differs — including what each price does not buy.
The short answer
- iShowU Studio 2 costs $79 against $199 — 60% less.
- iShowU Studio 2 has the cleaner licence: buy once, own forever, against own it, pay for major upgrades for ScreenFlow.
Side by side
 iShowU Studio 2$79Perpetual |  ScreenFlow$199Paid upgrades | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | record and edit in one app, on a genuine perpetual licence | screen recorder with a real multi-track editor attached, bought outright |
| Price | $79 | $199 |
| Licence | Buy once, own forever | Own it, pay for major upgrades |
| What you get | One payment. Updates included, indefinitely. | One payment, and the developer charges for major versions on a stated cadence. |
| The catch | $79 covers Studio 2 only — the quicker iShowU V6 recorder is a separate $89 app | Major versions are paid upgrades, and Telestream does not publish the upgrade price |
| Macs per licence | 1 | 1 |
| Account required | no | no |
| Works offline | yes | yes |
| Apple Silicon | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| On Setapp | No | No |
| Minimum macOS | not established | macOS 14 (Sonoma) |
| App Store rating | not established | not established |
| Last updated | not established | not established |
| Price checked | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-22 |
Apple’s public API reports a rating for only a small minority of Mac apps, and returns zero for most of the rest even when the store page plainly shows reviews. A blank here means we could not read a number, never that an app is unrated or disliked.
In their own right
iShowU Studio 2
Records the screen with audio and then gives you an editor for trimming, zooming, cursor highlighting and callouts in the same app. Sold as a perpetual licence with no annual option at all.
ScreenFlow
Records screen, camera, microphone and system audio, then puts all of it on a multi-track timeline with callouts, cursor zoom and text animation for tutorial work. The licence is a purchase, not a plan.