Screenpipe alternative without 24/7 recording?

Unlike always-on recorders, Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is a screen-aware desktop AI assistant that looks only when asked.

How we put this list together: Jarvis is our product — this site is getjarvis.eu — so the #1 spot is an editorial opinion with an obvious commercial interest, and the criteria are stated up front rather than assumed: this page ranks on how the tool captures (on demand versus continuously), what it can do with what it captured, where the data sits, and what it costs. Facts were checked in August 2026 against the vendors' own pages (screenpipe.com, openrecall.github.io and the openrecall/openrecall GitHub repository, Microsoft's own Recall support and Learn documentation, memex.garden) plus, for Highlight AI, the July-2026 check of highlightai.com/pricing already recorded elsewhere on this site. Screenpipe's marketing site routes its "Pricing" link into an onboarding flow rather than publishing a static price table, so this page says "see vendor pricing" instead of quoting a third-party figure. Screenpipe is a genuinely good tool at the job it was built for — total local recall — and nothing here disputes that; the question this page answers is what to use if you do not want a recorder running all day.

1. Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) — On-demand screen-aware desktop assistant. Press Cmd+/ on macOS or Ctrl+/ on Windows and Linux and a floating bar captures the active window for that single turn, answers about it, and acts through 30+ OAuth connectors (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, Figma, Microsoft 365). Persistent memory across sessions is structured rather than a video archive, so there is no continuous capture and no recording file growing on disk. Built by LOGICLUB SMART SRL in Sibiu, Romania; user data and the database are stored in the EU, application servers run in the US, and inference runs with Anthropic, OpenAI and Google under no-training terms. Pricing: Free: $0 — 40 requests/week plus a 7-day full Pro trial, no card. Pro: $16/month ($144/year). Unlimited: $32/month. USD. Checked August 2026. Platforms: macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 10/11 64-bit, Linux x86_64 (AppImage). Known limitation: No retroactive recall. Jarvis sees the screen when you summon it and not before, so it cannot answer "what was on that slide three weeks ago" — that is exactly what Screenpipe and OpenRecall are for. Inference is cloud-only; there is no offline mode. Pick Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) if: you want screen-aware AI that also acts in your apps, and you do not want a continuous recorder or a growing local archive. 2. OpenRecall — Fully open-source, local-first digital-history tool that takes periodic screenshots, runs OCR on them locally, stores embeddings in a local SQLite database, and gives you a semantic-search web UI over your own past. Positioned by its own project page as a privacy-first alternative to Microsoft's Windows Recall and to Rewind. Pricing: Free. Released under AGPLv3 — no paid tier. Checked August 2026 at openrecall.github.io and the openrecall/openrecall GitHub repository. Platforms: Windows, macOS and Linux. Known limitation: It is a recall archive, not an assistant: it finds what you saw, it does not draft the reply or open the ticket. Setup is developer-flavoured (Python install from the repository), and continuous snapshotting means ongoing disk use. Pick OpenRecall if: retroactive recall is genuinely the job, you want it free and fully local, and you are comfortable installing from a GitHub project. 3. Windows Recall (Microsoft) — Recall is built into Windows 11 on Copilot+ PCs. It takes periodic snapshots of your screen, indexes them on the device, and lets you search your past activity in natural language. Snapshots are stored and encrypted locally, decrypted just-in-time behind Windows Hello, and per Microsoft are not sent to Microsoft or third parties. Pricing: No separate subscription — included with Windows 11 on qualifying hardware. Checked August 2026 against Microsoft support and Microsoft Learn documentation. Platforms: Windows 11 on Copilot+ PCs only — Microsoft specifies an NPU rated 40+ TOPS, at least 16 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. Not available on Mac, Linux, or non-Copilot+ Windows PCs. Known limitation: Hardware-gated and Windows-only, and it is opt-in per device with an enrolled Windows Hello biometric before snapshots can be saved or read. It searches your own history; it does not act in Gmail, Slack, or Linear for you. Pick Windows Recall (Microsoft) if: you already own a Copilot+ PC, want recall with no extra spend, and are content with a Windows-only feature. 4. Highlight AI — Mac and Windows desktop assistant built around opt-in always-on screen and audio capture, meeting notes and daily briefs, so it can answer about things you saw or heard earlier rather than only what is on screen right now. Pricing: Free: $0/month. Pro: $20/month billed monthly, with a 2,000-credit monthly allowance for premium models and cloud transcription. Teams listed as coming soon. Checked July 2026 at highlightai.com/pricing. Platforms: macOS and Windows; the vendor page references an ARM64 build but does not itemise a full OS matrix. Known limitation: It is still a continuous-capture product, so it does not solve the objection that sends people looking for a Screenpipe alternative in the first place; the Pro tier is also credit-capped at 2,000 credits a month for premium models. Pick Highlight AI if: you want always-on recall with a polished assistant layer on top and are comfortable with US hosting and continuous capture. 5. Memex (memex.garden) — Included for contrast because it appears in the same searches, with an important caveat: Memex is not a screen recorder. It is a save-and-search second brain — you clip web pages, PDFs, videos, highlights and notes deliberately, and it makes that saved corpus searchable and summarisable. Nothing is captured unless you choose to save it. Pricing: Yearly: $120/year. Lifetime: $450 one-time. A 3-month starter option is listed at $30. Checked August 2026 at memex.garden. Platforms: Web via browser extension, iOS and Android apps, plus integrations with Obsidian and an API. Known limitation: It has no screen capture at all, so it cannot answer questions about a window you never clipped — it solves "find the thing I saved", not "find the thing I saw". Pick Memex (memex.garden) if: what you actually want is a deliberate research archive of pages and highlights rather than a record of your screen.

Why people switch: You do not want a recorder running all day; You want the disk back; You want the answer acted on, not just found; You want a stated data story rather than a self-hosting project.

Pick a competitor instead if: You genuinely need to search the past — If the job is "what did that email say three weeks ago" and you never saved it anywhere, an on-demand assistant cannot help. Screenpipe, OpenRecall or Windows Recall are the honest picks. You want zero cloud involvement — Screenpipe and OpenRecall run locally and keep your data on the device. Jarvis is cloud-inference by design and never claims otherwise. You want a developer API over your own activity stream — Screenpipe ships a local API and SDK for building on top of the capture stream. Jarvis exposes no such API — it is an assistant, not a data platform.

What is the best Screenpipe alternative in 2026? It depends on which half of Screenpipe you want. For screen-aware AI without continuous recording, Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) — on-demand capture plus 30+ connectors, free plan of 40 requests a week, Pro $16/month. For retroactive recall that stays local and free, OpenRecall. For recall with no extra spend on a Copilot+ PC, Windows Recall.

Does Jarvis record my screen continuously like Screenpipe? No. Jarvis captures one screenshot of the active window at the moment you press Cmd+/ or Ctrl+/, uses it for that turn, and discards it. There is no background recording, no audio archive and no growing capture file on disk.

Is there a free Screenpipe alternative? Yes. OpenRecall is free and open source under AGPLv3. Windows Recall is included with Windows 11 on Copilot+ PCs at no extra cost. Jarvis has a free plan of 40 requests a week plus a 7-day full Pro trial with no card.

How much does Screenpipe cost? Screenpipe is source-available and self-hostable at no cost, but its marketing site routes the pricing link into an onboarding flow rather than publishing a static price table, so we do not quote a figure — check screenpipe.com directly for current commercial pricing. Third-party trackers cite a lifetime figure that we could not confirm on a vendor page.

Can Screenpipe act in my apps? Screenpipe is a capture, memory and API layer — it makes your history searchable and available to agents you build. It does not itself ship a suite of OAuth connectors that draft your Gmail replies or file your Linear tickets; Jarvis does that part, without the continuous recording.

Which alternative uses the least disk space? Jarvis, because it writes no rolling capture archive at all. OpenRecall and Windows Recall store periodic screenshots, which is lighter than continuous video plus audio but still grows over time.

Alternatives · Screenpipe alternatives · Last updated August 8, 2026