REVIEW · SCREEN MEMORY
Verdict: Screenpipe is a capable and fairly transparent screen memory: it records your screens and audio, keeps everything in a local database by default, and lets you exclude apps and redact sensitive fields. It is worth paying for if you want to search everything you saw or heard; if you only need to find files you saved, recording your whole day is a lot to take on.
30 October 2026 · By Ishtiaque Hossain · 5 minute read
Looking for a file you can describe but not name? Try Shlexball. The first 30 searches are free and need no account.
macOS 15 or later. Apple silicon. 16 GB memory. On a phone? Email yourself the link.
This review is based on Screenpipe's own pages, read on 14 October 2026. Every claim links to the page it came from. We are the makers of Shlexball, so we say plainly where Screenpipe does better.
| Price | Free on one device; Basic 25 USD a month or 250 USD a year; Business 50 USD per seat a month or 500 USD a year; Enterprise custom |
| Runs on | macOS 13 or later (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows 10 or later, Linux |
| What it records | Screen text, app names, browser URLs and audio from meetings and your microphone |
| Where your data goes | A local database on your device by default; cloud AI, sync and connected apps are optional |
| Storage | From about 5 to 10 GB to about 30 GB a month, depending on settings |
| Best for | Recalling meetings, screens and conversations that were never saved |
Screenpipe is a local-first memory layer for your desktop. It records screen content, app text, browser context and audio while it runs, so you and your AI tools can search what happened during your day.
It reads text from apps through the operating system's accessibility features, falling back to OCR (reading text from screenshots) when an app does not expose its text. Audio from meetings and your microphone is transcribed on your device with OpenAI's Whisper model.
Everything lands in a local SQLite database, a standard file you can export, back up or delete. A timeline lets you scroll back through your day like a video recorder, and search works in natural language, with filters for date, app, window title and website.
Screenpipe was created in 2024 by Louis Beaumont and runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. There is no mobile app.
Screenpipe's privacy model is local storage by default. Captures, audio, extracted text and transcripts stay on your device, stored in a folder in your home directory.
You can exclude apps, windows and websites from recording and have sensitive fields such as passwords redacted on your device before anything is stored.
Data can leave your Mac when you choose it to. If you use cloud AI models such as ChatGPT or Claude, Screenpipe says only your search queries are sent; cloud transcription, sync and connected apps can also send selected data, and sync is end-to-end encrypted. Ollama keeps AI processing on your machine.
The engine is source-available under the Screenpipe Commercial License, so security teams can inspect how capture and storage work. Personal and evaluation use can be free; commercial use needs a licence.
The Free plan starts on one device and searches your recent work. Basic adds full personal history for 25 USD a month, or 250 USD a year billed annually, which the pricing page shows as 21 USD a month.
Business adds sync across your own devices and team seat management for 50 USD per seat a month, or 500 USD per seat a year billed annually. Enterprise plans are custom, and students and researchers get 50% off the first month of an individual plan.
The desktop app requires sign-in, and its 7-day onboarding trial needs a payment method; if you cancel before renewal, it continues on the free tier. Lifetime licences are no longer sold, though existing ones stay valid.
Screenpipe recommends 8 GB of memory and says it uses roughly 600 MB to 4 GB depending on settings. Typical processor use is around 5 to 15% on modern hardware.
Storage is the bigger cost. The about page estimates 5 to 10 GB per month of continuous recording and the pricing page about 30 GB a month; you can set retention periods to delete old data automatically.
Screenpipe shines at moments rather than files: what was said in yesterday's standup, the slide shared in a meeting, or the message you saw last week. Results include screenshots and audio clips alongside the text.
It also connects your history to AI assistants through MCP, so tools such as Claude Desktop or Cursor can query what was on your screen, and scheduled tasks can write daily summaries or sync notes to Obsidian.
Shlexball records nothing. It searches the files already on your Mac: describe what you remember and it searches file and folder names and the text inside files, including PDFs and Word documents.
Its language model runs on your Mac, files are never uploaded, and it is read-only. The first 30 searches are free and need no account.
Don't want everything recorded? Shlexball searches the files you already have, on your Mac: 30 free searches.
▶ DOWNLOAD SHLEXBALLBy default it stores captures, audio and text in a local database on your device, and you can exclude apps and redact sensitive fields. Data leaves your device only through options you turn on, such as cloud AI, sync or connected apps.
There is a free plan for one device. Basic is 25 USD a month or 250 USD a year, and Business is 50 USD per seat a month or 500 USD per seat a year.
The Free plan costs nothing and the source code is available; personal, non-commercial and evaluation use can be free, while commercial use requires a licence.
Screenpipe's pages estimate 5 to 10 GB, or about 30 GB, per month of recording depending on settings, and you can set retention periods to delete old data.