Screenshots come in handy to show something that’d be harder to explain in words. You may have spotted them in tutorials, software reviews, tech support troubleshooting, or when you want to share your screen image and save snippets that you can’t easily print. While you can take a screenshot on your computer using the native screen capturing tools and keyboard shortcuts, a time comes when your requirements get more advanced. That’s when you turn to specialized screen capturing tools. Most free screenshot tools are available for Windows. That’s why we are going an extra mile to get a few good ones for Mac owners as well. We have compiled the five free screenshot tools you can use to get you started.
1. Skitch
This screenshot tool from the folks at Evernote performs screen capture and markup among other tasks, and edit the image too. You can annotate screenshots with arrows, shapes, text, and stamps, perform basic cropping without using an external image editor, and save them in eight formats, which includes PNG, JPEG, GIF, and more. Also included is the camera mode feature for taking selfies with your webcam, and then dress it up with a host of editing tools including call-outs, highlights, pixellation to blur personal information and more. After that, you can share your creations via social media accounts, AirDrop, FTP, or Notes. Skitch isn’t without its drawbacks, though. From my time with this tool, I’ve found that I can’t open more than one image at a time to annotate or edit. For Mac, it’s also not possible to save snaps to the local drive; the export command is used instead. Download Skitch
2. Monosnap
This free screen capturing program only lets you snap full screen or a selected area, and it comes with a few good enhancements. So what if may not have capture options as robust as Skitch? It’s still mighty useful. The few of the coolest features are a timer, auto upload selection that captures screenshots and sends them automatically to FTP or cloud storage, screen recording captures, and selfie mode. Its powerful editor lets you annotate your image using text, lines, arrows, cropping, drawings, and even redact personal or sensitive information. If you want a sneak peek of your snaps, the Preview feature lets you do that with the click of a button. You can also rename your snaps and keep them in order before saving them as JPG or PNG files, and share them if you want on social media. Monosnap is available for Windows and Mac, or you can download the Chrome extension and use it in your browser. Download Monosnap
3. ShareX
ShareX is a free screenshot tool (for Windows), but it isn’t as simple as using the native options for Windows or Mac. If you’re able to work your way around its interface though, you’ll find an extensive array of useful tools buried somewhere in its slightly messy interface. Besides the different capture techniques like choosing specific regions, windows, or monitors, you can select from a variety of shapes and capture the particular area you want. Once you’re done, you can edit using the in-house image editor. Apart from that, the editor lets you annotate, pixelate, add text, shapes, and more to your snap. The “Scrolling Capture” option so you can screenshot a long document in any application, or capture any web address using the Webpage Capture tool. ShareX also lets you add watermarks, blur personal or sensitive information, copy, upload, and even shorten and share the links to the images wherever you want. It integrates with a spread of cloud storage services, and online services like Flickr, Imgur, and more than 80 other destinations. Download ShareX
4. Lightshot
Like Monosnap, this tool lives in your system tray until you’re ready to use it. The app packs a miniature editor for adding notes, annotations, and highlights to your snaps. After that, you can upload them to printscm.com where you can backup and share them via links. Monosnap is an easy to use, and lightweight but is heavily loaded. The only drawback I found is that all screenshots uploaded to the cloud are open to the public. So it’s easy for others whom you shared links with to access your snaps with a few tweaks to the URL. Download Lightshot
5. Nimbus Capture: Screenshot
Nimbus Capture is a free, browser-based screenshot tool you can use on Chrome or Firefox, but also as an application for Windows and Mac. It can capture fullscreen, an entire webpage, or selected region depending on what you want. Like other tools listed here, Nimbus Capture also offers annotation and editing tools. Also, you get a special markup tools like number stamps which can be useful for tech support tutorials or other things. After editing the screenshots, you can print them or save to your clipboard, drive, or cloud storage for easy sharing. A desktop version is available that offers screencasting for video recording based on the desired section of your screen, which you can access from your iOS device or the web. Download Nimbus Capture
Take Better Screenshots
Windows and Mac may have their native screenshot tools, but when you need more advanced features to annotate and edit your snaps, you can always choose any of the five listed here. The best part is they’re free to download and use, so you’re sure to find something that’ll fit your needs. We’d love to hear your recommendations on other free screenshot tools you use that didn’t make it to our list. Tell us in a comment below. Next up: Want to capture scrolling screenshots on your Mac? Here are some of the best apps to take scrolling screenshots on macOS. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
