How do I record a Zoom meeting, and can I record if I'm not the host?

As the host it's easy: click Record in the meeting toolbar (Alt+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac) and choose local recording (saves to your computer) or cloud recording if your plan has it. As a participant, you can only record if the host gives permission, they click your name > Allow Record. Without that, the Record button is greyed out. Everyone gets a notice that recording has started, so it's never secret.

The host-permission thing catches people out. If Record is greyed for you, ask the host to enable it, two clicks on their end. Zoom won't let participants record silently.

Cloud recording is host-and-paid-plan only. On free you get local recording, an .mp4 saved to your computer when the meeting ends. Give it a minute to process after you hang up.

If you can't record and don't want to bug the host, your OS screen recorder (built into Windows and Mac) works as a fallback. Just be upfront, since that won't trigger Zoom's own recording notice.