Capturing your computer screen is a handy trick in all sorts of situations, ranging from creating tutorials to capturing web moments for posterity. There are a plethora of tools that help you capture your desktop.
Following is a curated list of top 30 handpicked Screen Capturing software with popular features and latest download links
1) Snagit
Download Screenshot - Screen Capture APK (latest version) for Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, LG, HTC, Lenovo and all other Android phones, tablets and devices.
Snagit is a powerful screen capture tool which allows you to capture both still images and grab a frame from the video. The tools come with Smart Windows Detection. It allows you to crop images so that you can select either whole window or a part of the window.
Features:
- Screen capturing tool supported with windows
- Capture your entire screen
- Edit with a few clicks
- Quickly explain a process
- Allows you to add visuals to your documentation
Download link: https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html
2) Greenshot
Greenshot is an open source screen capture tool. This tool allows you to quickly capture screenshots of a selected region, window, or entire screen. It also helps you to capture scrolling web pages from the Internet Explorer and other browsers.
Features:
- Compatible with Window OS ( any version)
- Easily annotate, highlight or obfuscate part of the screenshot
- Quickly create a screenshot of a selected region
Download link:http://getgreenshot.org/
3) Fireshot
Fire shot is an ideal screen capturing tool which allows you to quickly creates screenshot as per your business needs.
Features:
- Screenshot software tool for Windows
- FireShot helps you capture web page screenshots, perform quick edits, add text annotations
- Allows you to annotate, highlight parts of the screenshot
Download link:https://getfireshot.com/
4) ShareX
It is a free, open source lightweight and free screen capture tool from advertisements. It offers screenshot capture, screen recorder, file sharing and productivity tools.
Features:
- Supported with Windows
- Easy screen capture sharing
- Offers Customizable workflows
- Comes with multiple tools like screen color picker, image editor, QR code generator, etc.
Download link:https://getsharex.com/
5) Lightscreen
Lightscreen is an easy to use screen capture tool. The tool allows you to automate the process of saving and cataloging screenshots.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for Windows and Linux
- System tray icon for easy access
- Allows you to take configurable actions with global hotkey access feature
- You can preview window by using integrated image viewer
Download link: http://lightscreen.com.ar/
6) Snipping Tool
Snipping Tool helps you to take a screenshot of your screen. It enables users to capture the whole screen or selected area in a rectangular form.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for Window OS
- A user can edit these snapshots using a colored pen, highlighter, etc.
- Captured images which should be stored in PNG, GIF, and JPEG format
- After capturing the screen, it can be copied, and it can be further pastes if needed
Download link:https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/13776/windows-use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots
7) FastStone Capture
FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight full-featured screen capture tool. It helps the user to capture and annotate all that is in the screen including windows, menus, objects, and even web pages.
Features:
- Instant screen capturing with the help of Hotkeys
- Capture windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular/freehand, etc.
- Capture multiple windows and objects which includes multi-level menus
- Draw annotation objects like texts, arrowed lines, highlights, watermarks, circles and rectangles
Download link:http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
8) Jing
Jing is a screen capture tool offered by TechSmith. The captured images are shared on screencast.com to provide the URL to copy/paste the images. It allows you to capture video of your screen.
Features:
- Screen Capture tool for Windows and Mac Operating Systems
- Jing is easy to use and has a user-friendly user interface
- It allows a user to share screen capture images very quickly
- It allows uploading images and URL to the social media sites like YouTube, Flickr, etc.
- Helps you to remove brand names from the images
Download link:https://www.techsmith.com/jing-tool.html
9) Skitch
Skitch is a screen capture and quick image capture and annotation tool. This screen capture tool allows you to mark areas.
Features:
- Skitch is a free screen capturing tool for Mac and Windows OS
- It offers easy to use with a user-friendly interface
- Available for Android and iOS mobile devices
- A user can Skitch for annotating photograph directly from the camera.
Download link:https://evernote.com/products/skitch
10) TinyTake
TinyTake screen captures any screen as per user-specified area or region. You can highlight images with the help of colored pen and images. It can be edited with the help of textbox, arrow or picture caption.
Features:
- Free screen capturing and video recording tool
- Capture image of the entire screen or specific region
- The selected part of the screenshot can be blurred to hide sensitive data
- It also records areas of the screen activity
Download link:https://tinytake.com/
11) Lightshot
Lightshot is screen capture tool allows you to take a screenshot quickly. It allows the user to take a screenshot of a selected area which can be resized or moved without any hassle.
Features:
- It allows you to captures the screen with just two clicks
- User-friendly interface makes your work complete in a faster pace
- While capturing screen, the user should be able to edit the same screenshot
- Automatically uploads captured images online for sharing
Download link:https://app.prntscr.com/en/index.html
12) Screenpresso
Screenpresso is a highly powerful screen capture tool. It allows the user to save captured images in various formats and also save all recent screen capture history.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for windows
- Light-weight and powerful screen capture tool with a built-in image editor
- Highlights captured images with arrows, colorful bubbles, text boxes, etc.
- Captured images can be converted into PDF, MS Word or HTML documents
Download link:https://www.screenpresso.com/
13) Screenshot Captor
Screenshot Captor captures images in full-screen mode, selected area, scrolling window, fixed size window, etc. This is simple to use screen capture tool.
Features:
- Screenshot Captor is a free tool available for Windows
- It allows you to captures images from a webcam
- It easily captures the screenshot of multiple monitors
- It automatically trims the extra margins of captured images
- Supports 3rd party configurable tools like file browsers, image editors
Download link:http://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/screenshot-captor
14) Gadwin PrintScreen
Gadwin PrintScreen is easy to use and most convenient screen capture tool. It allows you to assign a hotkey on the keyboard, to capture screen with different modes. Like full screen in the selected areas.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for windows
- Customizable export options for simple controls
- Full-screen data can be put on the clipboard
Download link:https://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/
15) PicPick
Pickwick screen capture tool offers In-built image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, and more.
Features:
- Allows you to take screenshots of an entire screen, the scrolling windows or any specific region of your desktop
- Annotate and highlight images: text, arrows, shapes and more
- Support the floating widget Capture Bar which allows you to take screenshots
Download link:https://picpick.app/en/
16) SnapCrab
SnapCrab captures images as per the user-defined area, full screen and saves the images in JPEG, PNG and GIF formats.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for the Windows platform
- It has a self-timer feature so that user can set the time to automatically captures an image on the screen
- Various customization options such as defining your hotkey, modifying how to take a snapshot of the screen
Download link:https://snapcrab-for-windows.en.softonic.com/
17) Monosnap
The program allows users to create screenshots, annotate them and upload them to the cloud. It allows some part of the screen or selected area.
Features:
- Monosnap is a free screenshot program for Mac OS X and Windows
- Capture full screen, some part of the screen, or a selected area
- Upload snapshot to storage in one click
- Hide private information with our blur tool
Download link: https://monosnap.com/
18) Shutter
The shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. It helps you to take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or entire website.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for Linux based operating systems
- It captures every detail on screen without losing control over your screenshots
- Offers a wide range of plugins that allow you to add impressive effects to your screenshots
Download link:http://shutter-project.org/
19) Snipaste
Snipaste is an easy to use and powerful snipping tool. It allows you to pin the screenshot back onto the screen. You can also be able to convert text or color info in the clipboard into a floating image window.
- Support for Windows OS
- Auto-detect UI elements
- Detailed functionality options
- Multi-screen support & HiDPI support
Download link:https://www.snipaste.com/
20) Gyazo
Gyazo tool allows you to grab anything on your screen, share anywhere, and find everything inside your screen.
Features:
- Capture instantly
- Share anywhere
- Find captures area quickly with automatic tagging
Download link:https://gyazo.com/en
21) Awesome Screenshot
This Screen capturing tool allows you to capture every part of the web page which includes adding annotations, comments, blur sensitive information and share with one-click uploads.
Features:
- Screen capture tools for windows
- Specific feedback about your screenshots and designs
- The easiest way to communicate with images
- Store and organize your images by project
Download link:https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/
22) Hotshots
HotShots is a software for capturing screens and saving them in various image formats. It also adds annotations and graphical data.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for Linux
- Full-featured, yet simple tool
- Speed it up with HotKeys
- Built-in magnification
- Freehand and multi-screen capture
Download link:https://sourceforge.net/projects/hotshots/
23) Snaggy
Snaggy is the most straightforward tool to share a snapshot of your screen. It allows sharing your screenshots with just a single click.
Features:
- Crop and edit your images with the simple, built-in editor
- Register an account to manage and delete your old images
- It offers fast workflow which needs only the minimum number of keypresses
Download link:https://snag.gy/
24) Ashampoo Snap
Ashampoo Snap is a powerful tool to create screenshots and videos. The tool also allows you to create a screenshot of 3D fullscreen games. It also Instantly capture all visible desktop windows as an object.
Features:
- Screen Capturing Tool for windows
- Flexibility and precision for your captures
- Capture and edit any screen content
- Provide all the information in a single image
- Helps you to create real-time videos
Download link: https://www.ashampoo.com/snap
25) 7capture
7capture is a screen capturing tool which automatically handles complicate transparency issue. It offers screen capture of the windows' rounded corner and transparent backgrounds.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for windows
- Perfect quality screenshots
- Handles all types of transparency issues with ease
- Allows you to capture as semi-transparent JPEG, PNG, GIF images
Download link:http://www.7capture.com/
26) WinSnap
WinSnap is a user-friendly screen capture tool for taking and modifying screenshots. It captures windows of non-rectangular form with transparent backgrounds.
Features:
- Capture Multiple Objects and Regions
- Support for PNG Transparency and Alpha-Channel
- Built-in Presets to ease your work
Download link:https://www.ntwind.com/software/winsnap.html
27) Snipping Tool++
Snipping Tool++ is a free and simple tool. It allows users to take a screenshot of a specific online page.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for windows
- Integrates automatically with social media
- It checks the presence of viruses and similar malware
- Free and User-Friendly Screenshot Software for Personal Computers
Download link:https://snipping-tool-plus-plus.en.softonic.com/
28) Cloud App
CloudApp is another powerful screen recorder tool. It allows you to capture video, webcam, screenshot annotation, and GIF creation securely to the cloud.
Features:
- Screen capture tool for Mac, Windows and Linux OS
- Capture everything that you see in your cloud
- Enhance screenshots and GIFs with annotations
Download link:https://www.getcloudapp.com
29) Grabilla
Grabilla is a simple yet powerful screenshot capture tool. You can use voice commands to capture or record screen.
Features:
- Screenshots or screen videos
- Cloud or personal storage
- Access from anywhere
- Publish to social networks, blogs, forums
- Create short links and QR codes
Download link:http://grabilla.com/
Snipping tools, otherwise known as screen capture software, are ubiquitous with digital design and digital photography. More than simple screen capturing, snipping tools should be part of any internet user’s repertoire of tools for communicating information that is not easily explained by text. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
This guide will provide an unbiased review of the best free snipping tools as well as directions on how to use them:
Read on for the detailed analysis of each app.
What are the Criteria for Choosing a Snipping Tool?
When choosing a snipping tool, the most important thing is ensuring that it can capture different image types and sizes. Many free programs can only capture images, but with their editors, chances are they are much more useful than your legacy operating system’s built-in tool.
Another important factor to use when evaluating a snipping tool is whether it can perform basic editing. Editing can mean many things, but at its most basic try and find a snipping tool that allows you to easily cut, blur, or watermark your work. To avoid having to import your recordings into yet another program, find a snipping tool with text overlay to simplify the creative process.
As with most software decisions, whether or not your program is easy to use is often the most salient point. The best snipping tools combine powerful and creative editors with beautiful and intuitive user interface design.
Now follow along as we review the most popular snipping tools.
1. Snagit
Snagit is just more than a screen capture utility. It offers a broad range of editing and capturing tools and a comfortable user experience. The tool is intuitive, has a preview window, which shows a zoomed thumbnail shot of whatever your cursor is hovering over; the main screen of the program immediately gives you a choice of capture format, depending on what you need to grab.
Snagit works on both Windows and Mac. You can download it for free and try the software for 15 days. Snagit allows you to capture your entire screen or only a selected portion of it. The screenshot automatically opens in the Snagit Editor where you can preview, edit, and share the capture.
Snagit makes it easy to capture images or record videos, import images from cameras and scanners, capture text from within an image and drop it into a text editor.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows and macOS
Price: $49.95
Price: $49.95
✅ PROS:
- Open Source
- Easy-to-use Interface
- Free Trial: Full Featured for 15 Days
⛔️ CONS:
- It Only Provides Minimal Video-editing Tools
- Price
2. Snipping Tool
The default Windows 10 snipping tool, Snipping Tool as its name suggests is a simple screen capture application designed to quickly and easily capture, save, and share still images. More versatile than the Mac version, Snipping Tool can’t only capture full screenshots but can also draw custom snips and perform window specific snips.
Easy ways of how to take a screenshot on Windows 10 .
Even better, Snipping Tool supports simple text annotations and free-hand drawing. While there was a rumor that Microsoft had decided to do away with the Snipping Tool in its recent Windows 10 updates, Snipping Tool can still be found by selecting the ‘Start’ button and searching for it.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Simple Editor
- Customizable Screenshots
⛔️ CONS:
- Image Capture Only
- Windows Only
3. DuckCapture
A small and simple screen capture utility, DuckCapture is the best snipping tool for Windows 10 and macOS. Great for still image snipping, DuckCapture offers customizability for capturing different areas of your screen or capturing particular screen shapes.
Captured images can be edited with annotations, text, shapes, arrows, and custom sizes and colors. DuckCapture comes with one severe restriction however; that as a snipping tool it is limited to still images only.
? SPECS:
Works on: macOS and Windows
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Simple User Interface
- Custom Editing
⛔️ CONS:
- Image Capture Only
- Dated Look
4. PicPick
A great Windows snipping tool, PicPick can capture all types of screen images easily and includes a powerful editor that even lets you edit images before saving them locally.
PicPicks editor is perfect for most and comes with a wide array of features such as text overlay, adding shapes, blur, and pixelation, resizing and rotation, and freehand drawing. Even better, PicPick automatically opens its editor any time you capture a screenshot. However, once again, PicPick is limited only to still image capture.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free for personal use
Price: Free for personal use
✅ PROS:
- Powerful Editor
- Intuitive Interface
⛔️ CONS:
- Image Capture Only
- Windows Only
5. Screenpresso
Screenpresso is one of the best snipping tools for Windows 10 allowing you to not just edit screenshots by adding drawings or cutting out parts that you don’t need, but also to get snapshots of several screens at once (suitable for multi-monitor setups).
The snipping tool can capture HD Video of your on-screen activities, exporting the results in MP4 (H264), WebM, Ogv or WMV formats and allows you to upload videos directly to your YouTube, Twitpic, Flickr, Facebook, Evernote, even FTP servers. Captures are limited to a maximum of 15 seconds in the free version and include Screenpresso branding.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free/$29,99
Price: Free/$29,99
✅ PROS:
- HD Video Capture
⛔️ CONS:
- Branding in a Free Version
- Limited Image Editor
6. LightShot
Lightshot is a simple screenshot software tool available for Windows, Mac and in your web browsers, namely Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. It does not just capture an essential area of your screen, but comes with sharing options and editing tools like cropping, transforming, adding new layers or even adding filters and special effects.
LightShot is an excellent replacement for the standard PrtScr functionality in Windows. It features an impressive online editor but lacks more capturing options.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows, macOS, Chrome, Firefox
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Includes an Image Editor
- Easy-to-use Application
- Powerful Editors
⛔️ CONS:
- No Publicly Available License
7. ShareX
ShareX is a free open-source screen recording tool that lets you capture or record any area of your screen and share it with a single press of a key on an extensive collection of platform destinations, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Twitter, Imgur, bit.ly, Pastebin, among others.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows, macOS, Linux
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Open Source
- Capturing (screen, video, a window, etc.) With Annotation
- Customizable
- Allows Uploading to a Vast Number of Different Services
⛔️ CONS:
- Too Complicated
8. Screenshot Captor
Screenshot Captor is another piece of free software available only for Windows. It’s a versatile snipping tool capable of capturing still images in selected areas, whole windows, and even content from a scrolling window. Even better, Screenshot Captor can record images from your webcam.
Use Screenshot Captor’s editor to block out sensitive information, add text overlays and other custom edits - there’s even a watermarking tool to protect your intellectual property. One downside to Screenshot Captor is its expiration after 6 months. While it’s free to renew, a new subscription key must be generated every six months to continue to use the program.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows
Price: Free with 6-month renewals
Price: Free with 6-month renewals
✅ PROS:
- Powerful Editor
- Customizable
- Many Export Options
⛔️ CONS:
- Subscription Key Expires After 6 Months Requiring you to Register for a New Account to Continue Using
- Image Capture Only
9. Grab
A now discontinued Mac utility for capturing image content, Grab has been replaced in the latest Macs with a simple screenshot utility. Unlike its predecessor, the newer snipping tool for Mac is no longer classified as an application, instead, it is a feature that is accessible via shortcut.
Less of a snipping tool and more of a shortcut for capturing content, both Grab and its newer cousin, are accessible by using any of the following shortcuts: Command+Shift+3 to take a picture of the entire screen and Command+Shift+4 to drag to select a particular area. Screenshots save directly to the desktop.
? SPECS:
Works on: macOS
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Built in For Mac
- Simple to Access With Shortcuts
⛔️ CONS:
- No Built-in Editor
- Image Capture Only
- Mac Only
10. Greenshot
Greenshot is a simple screenshot software tool for Windows and macOS that offers many of the same features as its proprietary counterparts. It allows you to quickly take screenshots of a selected area, capture complete web pages, annotate, add arrows, signs, boxes, highlight or obfuscate parts of the screenshot and export files.
Being easy to understand and configurable, Greenshot is an efficient tool for project managers, software developers, technical writers, testers and anyone else creating screenshots.
? SPECS:
Works on: Windows and macOS
Price: Free
Price: Free
✅ PROS:
- Open Source
- Easy to Use
- Freezes Screen When You Capture
- Allows Annotating, Highlighting and Obfuscating Screenshots
⛔️ CONS:
- Rarely Updated
What are the Benefits of Using a Snipping Tool?
There are many great reasons why snipping tools are useful and why its high time you adopted one into your digital repertoire. For one, snipping tools are a simple way of conveying information that is not easily communicated in text. If you’ve ever tried explaining a complicated digital process to someone, you may have found that simply writing directions isn’t enough. With some user interfaces as complicated as they are today, being able to quickly snap a photo or make a quick educational slideshow of you completing a process can make the learning experience that much easier for others.
While great for teachers or those making tutorials, snipping tools are also widely used by content makers to create viral content such as memes or even short videos. In their very essence, snipping tools are simple recorders that come packed with quick and easy editors. From capturing an image with a snipping tool, you can then easily add text, graphics, or maybe even voiceovers.
Can I use a basic snipping tool for Mac and Windows?
Definitely, you can! There are basic snipping tools in both operating systems already and they can work quite well for you if you just need to take a screenshot of a still image on your screen.
If you’ve ever used a Mac then you might be familiar with the ways of how to take a screenshot on a Mac using snipping tool shortcuts below:
CMD + SHIFT + 3
makes capture a full-screen screenshot
makes capture a full-screen screenshot
CMD + SHIFT + 4
helps you capture selected area as a screenshot
helps you capture selected area as a screenshot
CMD + SHIFT + 5
captures only an active window that you choose
captures only an active window that you choose
To find the best snipping tool for Mac check a list of these snipping tools for Mac, try, and choose the best one that fits your needs.
Looking to capture images on Windows? With Windows, the PrtScn screen button does the same thing:
CTRL + PrtScn
takes a screenshot of the whole screen
takes a screenshot of the whole screen
ALT + PrtScn
takes a screenshot of an active window
takes a screenshot of an active window
More ways on how to take a screenshot on Windows.
It's a no sweat to click just one button or several buttons to capture an image. However, basic Windows and Mac snipping tools don't come with even the most basic features common to most snipping tools we consider below. The methods considered above are crude and limited, with no other features besides simply capturing a still image.
Use Snipping Tools to Capture and Share All Your Digital Content
By now you should have a pretty good idea of some the pros and cons of the various freeware snipping tools available online. While these are great for capturing still images, if you’re seeking something more powerful, for instance, to capture video, these programs will not suffice.
Many more powerful paid snipping tools can be found under the moniker of screen recording software. These programs can do all of the above and more as they pack video editing, audio capabilities and more into powerful screen capturing applications.