Free Screenshot Tools

Built-in shortcuts on Windows and Mac

Before you install anything, try what your system already has. Both vendors document their tools on support pages:

On Windows, the Snipping Tool lets you write or draw on a snip with the Pen or Highlighter, delay a capture by 1 to 5 seconds, and on Windows 11 extract text with Text actions. Microsoft's page notes that the Windows 10 version has no video snip and no Text actions. On a Mac, screenshots save to the desktop by default, and clicking the thumbnail in the corner opens a window where you can mark up the screenshot or trim the recording.

What the free tools add

The built-in tools cover a quick capture. The apps in the list add three things, and the filters above sort by them:

• Annotation. ShareX draws rectangles, ellipses, freehand lines, arrows, text and adds blur, pixelation and spotlight effects. Flameshot includes in-app screenshot editing with pencil, arrow, marker, text and pixelate tools. Ksnip annotates with pen, marker, rectangles, ellipses, texts. Shottr adds text, freehand drawings, highlights, spotlights and a pixel ruler. Greenshot for Windows is free and open source and annotates, highlights or obfuscates parts of a screenshot; its macOS version is a separate download for $1.99.
• Scrolling capture. A long web page or chat in one image. ShareX lists scrolling screenshot capture among its capture methods, Shottr captures a long web page or a conversation in a chat, and PicPick has a scrolling window mode.
• Upload and share links. Lightshot uploads a screenshot and gives you a short link right away. Flameshot and Ksnip upload to Imgur, ShareX to many destinations including custom uploaders, and PicPick to Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box. Zight and Gyazo are services with free plans: Zight's Share plan keeps the last 50 captures, Gyazo's free plan shows only the 10 latest images.

For recording, ShareX records video and GIFs, PicPick records a screen, window or region with system audio and microphone, and the Windows and macOS tools record too. If you only need a one-off recording without installing anything, our screen recorder records a screen, window or tab in the browser. For dedicated recording apps see free screen recorders.

Privacy

A screenshot shows everything that was on the screen: names in a chat list, an email address in a tab title, a notification. Three habits keep that in check:

• Blur before you share. Most editors here have a blur or pixelate tool; ShareX's editor also lets you redact sensitive information. If your tool has none, upload the image to our blur image tool and pixelate only the parts you select. Cropping with the image cropper removes whole areas rather than hiding them.
• Check the metadata. Photos of a screen taken with a phone carry camera and often location data. Open them in the EXIF viewer and remover and save a clean copy before posting.
• Know where uploads go. Tools with a share link store the image on a server. Lightshot describes uploading to its server, Flameshot and Ksnip upload to Imgur, and Zight and Gyazo keep a capture history on their plans. Shottr's upload goes to any S3-compatible storage of your own after activation, and ShareX supports custom uploaders. For anything confidential, keep the file local and send it the same way you would send a document.

From screenshot to a presentable image

A raw screenshot is fine for a bug report. For a tweet, a product page or a slide, three browser tools turn it into something presentable without installing software:

1. Crop to the part that matters with the image cropper, in an exact ratio like 16:9 or 4:5 for social posts.
2. Frame it with the screenshot mockup generator: a browser window or phone frame on a gradient, color or blurred background, saved as PNG or JPEG in social media sizes. Add a caption with add text to image if the picture needs a label.
3. Compress the result with the image compressor so the page or email stays small; our guide shows how to get a photo under 100 KB.

Keep the original PNG. Every edit and every compression step loses something, and you will want the clean capture again when the interface changes.

Checked and written by Tobias. Updated October 24, 2026.

Frequently asked questions