Beautiful screen recordings, in minutes.

Limelight is a live on-screen overlay for presentations, demos, and recordings. Press ⌃⌥1 to put a glowing spotlight on your cursor, ⌃⌥2 to show the keys you press on screen, and ⌃⌥3 to freehand-draw over anything. It works on top of any app — no recording, no editing.

Yes. The cursor spotlight (⌃⌥1) is free forever — just download and use it, no account or card. Everything else (keystroke display, draw, region spotlight, on-screen text, and color/size customization) is Pro: $2.99/mo or a $34 one-time lifetime license.

Yes. Limelight is built with SwiftUI as a true native macOS application — not an Electron wrapper or web view. It runs as a lightweight menu bar app on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, using system-wide global shortcuts.

Limelight requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

Yes — Pro adds a built-in screen recorder. It auto-zooms into every click, smooths your cursor, and bakes your keystrokes, cursor spotlight, and annotations right into the video. The free tier is a pure live overlay; the recorder is part of Pro.

Limelight records your screen and the on-screen action — auto-zoom, smoothed cursor, keystrokes, spotlight, and annotations baked into the video. Microphone and system-audio capture are not part of the recorder yet, so for voiceover record your narration separately (or add it in another editor) and pair it with your Limelight clip.

Limelight shows the keys you press on screen — Screen Studio does not — so coding-tutorial creators no longer bolt on a separate KeyCastr window. It also bakes your cursor spotlight and annotations (draw, region spotlight, on-screen text) right into the recording, plus auto-zoom and smoothed cursor. And it is a one-time $34 lifetime license, not a subscription.

No. Limelight records locally on your Mac and works fully offline — nothing is uploaded, no account, no cloud. What you record stays on your machine.

Yes. The built-in editor exports standard mp4 and a vertical 9:16 clip for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok — trim and speed up first, then export.

Yes — Limelight is a native macOS app that runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, and is notarized by Apple so it opens with no Gatekeeper warning.

No watermark and no time limit. The cursor spotlight is free forever; the recorder and the rest of the toolkit are Pro — a one-time $34 lifetime license, no subscription required.

macOS requires Accessibility permission for any app that draws over other apps and observes global hotkeys / mouse position. You grant it once in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility. Limelight only uses it to show overlays and detect your shortcuts — it never logs what you type.

Yes — that's exactly what it's for. The overlay sits above every app and is fully visible on a shared screen or in a recording, so your audience sees the spotlight, your keystrokes, and your drawings in real time.

No — to keep it clean, it shows shortcut combinations (anything with ⌘/⌥/⌃) and special keys, but not normal typing. Perfect for demoing shortcuts without exposing what you write.

Right after your secure payment via Polar, your license key is emailed to you in the order confirmation (and saved in your Polar customer portal). Download the app from this site, open the .dmg, drag Limelight into Applications, enter your key, and you're set.

One license activates Limelight on up to 3 of your Macs. You can deactivate a Mac at any time from the app settings to free up a slot.

no subscription required, no recurring fees, no auto-renewal. You pay once and own Limelight forever — and all future updates are included at no extra cost.

If Limelight doesn't work on your Mac or you change your mind within 7 days of purchase, email us at [email protected] for a full refund — no questions asked.