In macOS, We can take a screenshot on mac using the built-in screen capture ability. In Advanced, we’ll discuss some of the best screenshot capturing Software for macOS. These screen-capturing tools are going to be helpful to you in taking various types of screenshots and will let you annotate and edit them as well.
Some advanced tools also let you record your screen to make videos (with audio) or GIFs. Some of these tools are free, and others are paid with a free trial to have more features.
Also Helpful: Are you using an External monitor? Get How to Take Screenshots & Record Screen for External Monitor on Mac.
Best Screenshot Software & Editor for Mac (Free & Pro with Trial)
Here’s the updated list of screenshot capture for mac in the free and Pro with Trail option. Let’s get it.
Best Free Mac Screenshot Tools
1. Shottr
Shottr is another screen-capturing tool with a small size (1.2 MB only) and is fast in capturing & showing your screenshot. It is a free tool created with Swift and optimized for Apple’s M1 SoC. It’ll allow you to take upside/downside scrolling screenshots of web pages or chat conversations. In addition, you can pin your screenshots as floating borderless windows temporarily for reference or drag & drop them wherever you want.
Its blur/erase feature helps you hide sensitive information or use text mode to hide text without affecting other areas. To mark up your screenshots, you can crop, use text annotation, and draw lines, arrows, and simple shapes. Also, you can paste other images over your screenshot and keep them semi-transparent or create a two-frame before/after animations.
It also works as a screen ruler to help you measure distances/areas in your screenshot and imprint them. To keep your screenshots organized, choose a folder to save them. Its magnifying glass lets you zoom in/out of the screenshots you’ve captured. The text recognition tool (OCR) allows you to copy any text from pages in multiple languages and helps you read QR codes. The color picker function can pick a color from any pixel of the screenshot with the Tab button.
2. Skitch
Skitch is a free screen-capturing tool from Evernote that you can use with your Evernote account to save your work. It allows you to take regular or timed snaps of the whole screen or selected area, and then you can mark it up and share it instantly. With the markup tool, you can insert arrows, text, shapes, stamps, and lines with different colors and mark them up with a color pen.
Skitch also has a pixelate function to let you hide sensitive parts of your screenshots. Using its selection function, you can crop and adjust the captured screenshot. You can save your screenshot in your desired image format, such as JPG, HEIC, TIFF, BMP, or PDF.
3. Snipaste
Snipaste is a free tool for taking screenshots. Capture your entire screen, a window, a selected area, or elements like toolbars. Additionally, hotkeys and pixel-magnified selections are helpful. In addition, it offers annotation tools to add shapes and arrows. You can use a pen tool and a pen and box highlighter. Also, adjust custom thicknesses and colors.
With Text annotation, you can add text to your screenshot. You can customize its font type, size, format, and color. It has a Pixelate tool to help you blur an area with a box or freehand selection. The blur function is also customizable. The eraser function lets you erase annotation errors using a rectangle or freehand selection. Finally, you can copy or save your screenshot.
Best Paid Screenshot Tools (with a Free Trial)
4. Snagit (with Video Capture)
Snagit is a paid and advanced screen-capturing tool with a free trial. Its screen recording feature allows you to record videos. You can grab individual frames from it to save them as an MP4/GIF file or convert any short recording into an animated GIF and share it quickly. With Snagit, you can record your screen or use a webcam or both to create a picture-in-picture recording.
You can record audio with your video recording using your mic or the system’s audio output. It allows you to trim the recorded video from any point of its length. Also, you can create a GIF or a short how-to video with narration if you have captured a series of screenshots. Snagit has cloud storage for you to save and access your recordings and share them directly on Office apps, Youtube, Camtasia, Slack, Box, or with a link.
You can capture your whole screen, a window, or a scrolling page/screen. It’ll allow you to capture scrolling horizontal and vertical screens such as web pages, chat conversations, etc. This tool has a text-grabbing feature to allow you to copy text from your screen or a file. It also allows you to change your screenshots’ words, fonts, color, and text size.
You can annotate your screen grabs with professional markup tools and step tools for how-to screenshots. Also, you can insert stamps and stickers inside your screenshots. Moreover, it includes pre-made layouts and templates to help you create visual documentation, tutorial, and training material. On the Techsmith Capture app, you can record your iOS screen with a few clicks and then share it on Snagit for trimming.
5. Cleanshot X (with Video Capture)
Cleanshot X is a paid tool with many features, cloud service, and good quality. It doesn’t provide a trial version, but the paid version comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. And it is included with the Setapp subscription service, available for macOS and iOS applications. With its overlaying quick access, you can quickly save, copy, drag & drop your screenshots and recordings.
The annotation tool helps you to highlight important parts of your captures using shapes, lines, arrows, text, pixelate (to hide), pen, and numbers. You can hide selected areas of your screenshots using the pixelate function and can crop your screenshots as required. Using the Cleanshot cloud, you can instantly upload your captures, tag them, and get a shareable link.
Cleanshot also offers an OCR snipping feature. So you can grab text from anywhere, such as images, websites that don’t let you copy text, etc. Also, you can record your screen or webcam and save it as a video or a GIF file. It has a simple user interface and a responsive support/customer service team for you to help.
6. Monosnap (with Video Capture)
Monosnap has a free version for non-commercial use, and its paid full versions come with all features. It’ll allow you to take pixel-perfect screenshots of selected areas, fullscreen, or a window with a magnifier. With its Chrome extension, you can capture the entire webpage on your screen. In addition, it features hotkeys to perform actions that you can set as per your preferences.
To take a timed screenshot, you can use the Command button to capture it with a delay. It has various shapes, arrows, and a pen tool that lets you annotate and highlight the screenshot. Add plain text, text with an arrow, or blur a part of your screenshot with other functions. Also, adjust your screenshot by cropping or resizing it. You can drag & drop it where you want or open it in an external editor.
It also allows you to capture videos on screen, through a webcam, or both with system audio or mic input. Then you can trim, highlight, and save them as MPEG/GIF. For GIFs, you can set the frame rate and quality for recording. It allows you to upload and share your screenshots and recordings on Monosnap Cloud Storage or integrate services that you already use.
7. Capto (with Video Capture)
Capto is also a great paid screen-capturing, recording, and editing tool. It comes with a 7-day free trial and is available on Setapp. It’ll allow you to record your screen at high definition, up to 60 fps rate, and clear audio. You can make a tutorial, reaction, and how-to videos with it and can use an external recording device. It also has a video editing tool to help you elevate your recording post-capture. The audio recorded with the system and mic for your recording is editable individually.
To take screenshots, it has a full screen, selected area, and scrolling capture functions. Using its image editing feature you can annotate, adjust, and correct your screenshots using its image editing feature. It also supports recording on your iOS devices by connecting them to your Mac device with Capto. With its file management system, you can save and access your saved screen captures and recordings. Also, you can upload and share your recordings within the app.
8. Xnip
Xnip is another free tool with many features. It is upgradeable to pro with a yearly subscription or one-time payment. It’ll allow you to capture a window with shadows or multiple windows simultaneously. In addition, it offers rich image annotation tools to add shapes, text, and highlight areas.
Use the step annotation tool to create workflow images. The pixelate tool will help you in hiding sensitive areas of your screenshot. The scrolling capture feature allows you to take the full page screenshot if the page doesn’t fit on the screen.
Take a screenshot of a specific window or multiple windows using your mouse and can pin it as an always-on-top floating window on the screen. To remove the watermark from scrolling capture and step annotation, make annotations in the editor, and give custom file names, you can upgrade to the paid pro version of Xnip.
9. Droplr (with Video Capture)
Droplr is an all-in-one screenshot and screen recording tool with a free 3-day trial. But it requires macOS 11 and Apple M1 Chip or higher and is also available for iOS. It’ll help you take screenshots of the entire screen, a selected part of the screen, or full web pages that don’t fit into the screen and mark them up. Also, record your screen or use a webcam to create a GIF or an HD video. It’ll automatically save your recordings to your account on the cloud and give you a shortened link from tinyURL for sharing. It is available not only for Mac but also for Windows and Chrome browsers.
10. ScreenTray
ScreenTray is a screen capture tool with a 15-day trial, and its paid version is no longer supported. The free version helps you capture fullscreen, selected portions, or a window using a mouse or hotkeys that you can customize. In addition, annotation tools let you insert arrows, lines, and oval and rectangle shapes, and use the pen tool or crop tool in your screenshot.
Auto Insert Branding logo to Screenshot with Position and Opacity, to your Screencapture picture before you start editing…Time-saving feature.
Also, you can insert text, text with an arrow, and text with a box into it. You can adjust these elements’ thickness and color from the toolbar. The blur/pixelate tool lets you blur the selected area to hide it in the screenshot. It enables you to save, copy, or drag & drop your screenshot and upload it to Drive or Dropbox.
11. Xnapper
Xnapper is a custom screenshot-capturing tool with simple annotation tools. It is a free version with a watermark and offers three paid versions with one-time payments. It will allow you to customize your screenshot with unique effects such as padding, inset & color, border radius, shadow, and background. Its annotation tools include resizable text and arrows.
In addition, it has an automatic sensitive information hider and lets you detect and copy text from your screenshot. Moreover, you can resize your screenshots in various ratios and sizes suiting multiple social media platforms and then copy or save them. And the app is soon planning to add more annotation tools and cloud upload features in its future updates.
12. SnapNDrag
SnapNDrag is a paid screenshot tool with a free trial that allows you to capture, annotate, save, manage, and share your snaps. You’ll be able to organize, search, and rename your screenshots in folders. You can annotate using text, arrows, shapes, emojis, highlight, blur, and crop with a built-in editor without losing the original copy. And can drag & drop your screenshots to other apps or share them on social media. Take screenshots of a window or selection and use a timer for delayed captures. It also has border and scaling options and can save screenshots in PNG, JPEG, or TIFF.
13. TinyTake (with Video Capture)
TinyTake is a free screen-capturing and recording tool for macOS and Windows (Sign-in Required). It also offers three paid versions with extra storage, higher recording limits, and features. It will allow you to capture your screen, record videos, annotate and share them. You can markup your screenshots and videos with a text box, arrows, highlights, and more for annotation. To mark up, you can add various arrows, shapes, and text in custom colors, thicknesses, and formats.
The text can be made plain or with arrows in custom font styles. Its effects tool allows you to blur, crop, and highlight selected areas. After taking a screenshot, you can save and upload it to the cloud and get a shareable link. So with TinyTake, you’ll be able to take images and record videos on your screen and through your web camera. You’ll require a TinyTake account to log in and use the tool.
Great list! I’ve been using Snagit for years and it’s definitely one of the best screenshot tools out there. It makes capturing screenshots, annotating them, and sharing them with others so easy. Highly recommended!