Best Screenshot Tool Windows

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Screenshots of a web page can be extremely useful for different kinds of reasons. While majority of the current day operating systems come with integrated screen capturing feature (Press Print Screen key to take full screenshot or Press Windows key + Shift + S for taking part screenshot).

  1. Greenshot is a light-weight screenshot software tool for Windows with the following key features: Quickly create screenshots of a selected region, window or fullscreen; you can even capture complete (scrolling) web pages from Internet Explorer. Easily annotate, highlight or obfuscate parts of the screenshot.
  2. 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.

Lightshot Free and Best Screenshot Capture Tool for Windows Lightshot is on the top in my list. Not because it is better among all, but because almost all the required features which we need while capturing screenshot are present in it.

For the advanced functionalities, you would need the assistance of third-party apps and plugin tools that help you to fine-tune your screenshot by selecting a certain area of the screen or a complete web page.


Best Screenshot Tool Windows

There are umpteen screen capture tools available online, but, if you are looking for a software full of features and specially designed for Windows, we have a list for you.

ShareX

ShareX is a free and open source screen capture tool that's designed chiefly as a file uploader. It supports a whole lot of services for you to upload your files and the list is endless. We especially like the capture mode that helps preserve the screen content as it was when you began capturing the default. In addition, it also allows the user to record unlimited video with all the options as available for usual image capture.

Among its major features are, capturing with annotation along with automation allowing powerful workflows, capturing screenshots, editing the same, converting to PNG format, deleting the background to make a transparent version, saving in Google Drive, creating images in all sizes, or uploading thumbnails.

Price: Free and open source

Awesome Screenshot

Awesome Screenshot is an extension for browsers like Chrome and Firefox that can capture a certain section of the screen (of a website), the visible section in the browser window, or the complete web page at one attempt. The software features an integrated editor that helps you to add shapes, pointers and annotations providing blur effect to the graphics.

Bonus – it features customizable keyboard shortcuts. In addition, it allows you to save the images in JPG or PNG formats to a certain directory, or to its own free cloud storage space.

Price: Free

Greenshot

Greenshot is again a free and open source screen capture tool that comes with a classic user interface layout making it user-friendly. One of its major features is the function to freeze the screen as you capture. Which means, as you enter a capture mode, the screen content is saved in the same way as it was when you started capturing.

Among its other features are, option to annotate, highlight, and obfuscating screenshots, ability to capture the entire page in one single image by scrolling through the page, instead of simply capturing a portion of the page, selecting a captured area by just pressing the print screen button, and a user-friendly selection tool accompanied with a magnifier to select only the required part of the screen.

Price: Free and open source

Nimbus Screenshot

Nimbus Screenshot is another great option that's browser based and goes with all the major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and as a Windows desktop app. It allows you to not just take screenshots of the complete browser window, but also a selected section of the webpage or the full webpage. In addition, it lets its users edit and annotate screenshots using its integrated tools.

What's more? You can also get printouts of images, save images to the system drive or clipboard, upload to cloud storage and share them easily. The desktop app includes screencasting features for those who wish to record video clips.

Price: Free

FireShot

The FireShot software allows its users to screen capture a selected section of the page, an extended screenshot of a full web page, or across the visible area of the browser window. It's compatible with all major browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and the Internet Explorer.

The best part about this software is that it allows you to save the screenshots in multiple formats. You can also share the screenshots to different social media platforms. What's more? You can also add arrows, shapes or text, or even draw over the images using the software's internal editor. Moreover, you can set the tool to automatically open your favorite external image editor while taking screen captures.

Price: Free version available; Pro version available for $39.95

Screenshot Captor

Screenshot Captor is an aesthetic looking screen capturing tool that's not just free of cost, but is also feature packed. It offers a multitude of screen capture options and integrated editing tool. It allows the users to take screenshots from the complete screen, active window, selected section, or even extract images from a scanner.

You can then apply different special effects, crop, rotate, blur, or even annotate these images. The best part is, the tool is also available in a portable version for free. However, to access the software, you must sign up to DonationCoder's forum for a free license key.

Price: Free

SnapCrab

SnapCrab is a useful screen capture tool for Windows that helps you to capture screenshots at any place on your desktop. It allows you to save the images in different formats such as, JPEG, PNG, or even GIF. Best of all, it allows you to highlight the screen area that you wish to be captured or capture the full screen.

The software enables you to capture translucent windows and web pages from your browser by connecting via Sleipnir. It also features a self-timer option that helps you keep track of every moment. Bonus – its integrated social features allow you to share your screen across different social media platforms.

Price: Free

Snipaste

Snippet is a screen capturing tool that's multipurpose and allows you to capture the complete window or a selection. It allows you to either use, edit, or annotate it in the same manner as the regular screenshot, or paste it back onto your desktop in the form of a floating image window.

This screen capturing tool features a magnifier, and colour picker, while the image editor features basic annotation utilities like the shapes, texts, blur effects, and markers. Snipped images can also be pasted to the desktop in the for of image windows, and translucent or click-through windows for quick reference.

Price: Free

LightShot

LightShot is another addition to the free screen capturing tools that works wonders on your PC. It features a responsive and easy to use interface that lets you capture screenshots in just two clicks. All you need to do is to hot up a hotkey, and the software will capture a screenshot of a portion of your screen or the complete screen.

This tool also features an editor tool for adding text annotations and other edits, just like the other screen capturing programs. Moreover, you can also create a free account helping you to have your own online gallery for quick and easy reference, link sharing, and for online backup.

Price: Free

Screenpresso

Screenpresso is a free screen capturing program with all features available. The best part about this tool is its integrated image editor that allows you to add arrows, balloons, numbered steps, and more.

It's a lightweight program offering options for capture and good captured screen editor. M, it can create video sin MP4 format.

Price: Free version available; Upgrade starts from 28.89 €per user.

Gadwin PrintScreen

Gadwin Printscreen is one of the well-known screen capture apps that comes packed with state-of-the-art image editing and annotation functions, all covered in a user-friendly interface. While the default key is PrintScreen, there are a host of other hotkeys combos to work with.

The tool allows you to capture either the compete screen or a portion of the window. Once you have finalized your favorite combo, you can skip to the Destination tab to either have get the screen printed immediately, copy to the clipboard, or store it on a particular folder. Not just that, the tool also allows to choose from the 6 customizable image formats. What's more? You can also share the screenshot via email.

Price: 30-Day free trial available; Upgrade starts from $6.45

ScreenTake

ScreenTake is another efficient yet free screen capturing program that not just allows you to upload your screen captures to cloud and create a shareable link, but also allows capturing animated GIFs.

Adding to it, it allows annotations, smart sensing (automatic selection of the screenshot), moving resizing, or modifying the drawings added, easy to share by simply clicking 'choose a picture and upload' option from the program icon and share, support for Google WebP, adding transparent effects to your drawings, fast, simple, and handy interface, support for multiple languages and screens, and so on.

Price: Free

Icecream Screen Recorder

Icecream Screen Recorder helps you highlight specific areas or sections of a captured image. It's a highly innovative, professional, and up-to-date screen recording software for Windows. it's a great alternative to the usual screen capture tools available in the market. This tool is perfect for those using multiple browsers while surfing internet daily.

Some of its best features include, the option to capture an image of a selected portion of the page or the full window, all standard screen capture functionalities, recording of online videos, ability to capture different video formats from sources like YouTube, Vimeo, or Dailymotion, ability to capture videos in a single click, ability to add annotations like arrows, and circle line boxes in videos, ability to save screenshots directly to hard drive, and the option to save the screenshots in different file formats.

Price: Free version available; Pro version available at $29.95

PickPick

If you are looking for a user-friendly tool rich in features, then there could be nothing better than Pick-Pick. Apart from helping you capture and edit screenshots, it's known for the host of editing features that all come packed in the same interface. All you need to do is to simply select from the list that includes screen capture tool, protractor, color picker, pixel ruler, whiteboard, image editors, etc.

From adding text annotations or drawing arrows to even drawing shapes, or apply advanced edits, you can do a lot with the integrated editor. Moreover, the software is free to use and is portable. This helps you to save it on a flash drive and use it on any machine without any installation.

Price: Free version available; Pro version available at $29.99

Snagit

Although its neither a free nor a cheap tool, but Snagit justifies its price tag every bit with its features. Its one of the best screen capture software around that has improved a lot with its new version 11 that also works with Windows 10. It offers a Smart Window Detection feature that crops images for you to automatically select to capture an entire window or just a portion of the window.

This tool also offers a unique feature that is, OneClick tool that can be pinned at the top of all windows. This makes it convenient for you to capture screenshots and a host of annotation tools. Moreover, it also offers a wide range of features that help you with sorting, tagging, and screen sharing.

Price: $50

FastStone Capture

FastStone Capture is another screen capturing utility that comes with great capture flexibility, from entire screen to any part of the screen. It's an extremely lightweight and intuitive tool that offers a perfectly functional scrolling window, in-built image joining, scanner support, favourable magnified preview as you set boundaries, and support for video capturing and editing.

What's interesting is, that it's always available via hotkey, and doesn't impede with any other programs or operations. It features onboard editing or output to external programs.

Price: 30-Day Free Trial; Upgrade available for $19.95

OBS

OBS is a free and open source screen capturing software that offers you the closest experience to a studio quality, business level solution, free of cost. It offers complete support for multiple scenes, simple and effective overlays especially for a new product with easy learning curve but tough to master, chroma keys, and built-in animation.

Best of all its easy to use, and also available for Mac and Linux in addition to Windows.

Price: Free

With tons of screen capturing tools for Windows around, it can be a tough choice to choose the right one. But, if you know your requirement and want to avail the best features at lowest price or for free, you can choose from the above list and get going with your screen capture mission.

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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:

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.

Moreover, Snagit 2020 comes complete with a wide array of pre-made layouts and templates to help you create professional-looking technical documentation and instructional content right inside the app.

👆 SPECS:

Works on: Windows and macOS
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

PROS:

  • Simple editor
  • Customizable screenshots

⛔️ CONS:

  • Image capture only
  • Windows only

3. 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

PROS:

  • HD Video Capture

⛔️ CONS:

  • Branding in a free version
  • Limited image editor

4. 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

PROS:

  • Simple user interface
  • Custom editing

⛔️ CONS:

  • Image capture only
  • Dated look

5. 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

PROS:

  • Powerful editor
  • Intuitive interface

⛔️ CONS:

  • Image capture only
  • Windows only

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

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

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

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

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

PROS:

Best Screenshot Windows 10

  • 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.

Screenshot Tool For Windows

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.

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

CMD + SHIFT + 4
helps you capture selected area as a screenshot

CMD + SHIFT + 5
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

ALT + PrtScn
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.

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