17 Best Free Screenshot Tools to Use [2024]
Try Movavi Screen Recorder to take a screenshot!
Capture your screen with one click
Take scrolling screenshots
Easily save and share your screenshots
As the demand for screenshots increases daily, you would require a great screenshot tool to help you with your task. Here are some of the best free screenshot tools that you can choose.
Quick summary
Best for simple UI: Movavi Screen Recorder
Best for taking fast screenshots: Lightshot
Best for easy annotation: Awesome Screenshot
Here’s what Movavi’s team does to provide you with verified information:
When selecting products to include in our reviews, we research both demand and popularity.
All products mentioned in this article have been tested by Movavi Content Team.
When testing, we aim to highlight the best features of a product and what it’s best suited for.
We study user reviews from popular review platforms and make use of this information when writing our product reviews.
We collect feedback from our users and analyze their opinions of Movavi software as well as products from other companies.
Movavi Screen Recorder
Best for:
simple UI
Operating system:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free trial, $69.95 for a lifetime version
4.5 out of 5, 50 reviews
Movavi Screen Recorder is here to help you take screenshots with ease. You can also record your screen with the help of this screenshot software. You can set up all your recording parameters. Simply choose the area you want to capture, and you are good to go. The best thing about this application is that it has editing options. You can also take screenshots while recording a video. You can add text, lines, arrows, shapes, and change colors. After editing, you can export the screenshot to your desired location. All of these features make it one of the best screenshot tools with free trial.
Key features:
Pros:
A handy tool to ramp up productivity with digital media capture
Smooth running on any Windows or Mac compute
Taking and editing partial or scrolling screenshots in a snap
Cons:
No limits to your creativity in the full version of the program
Windows Snipping Tool
Best for:
basic screenshot needs
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
Windows Snipping Tool is one of the best free screenshot tools for taking easy screenshots. With this tool, you can edit or add notes to screenshots. Windows Snipping Tool allows users to utilize the various snip modes according to their usage. It allows using Paint 3D to rotate, resize, and enhance your screenshots. It is free screenshot software that permits users to take screenshots with a click. There are various snip types like Free-form snip, Window snip, Rectangular snip, and Full-screen snip. With the Free-form snip, you can draw any free-form shape on your screen to capture that area. Rectangular snip will let you drag the cursor around the area you want to snip to form a rectangular frame. With Window snip, you can select a specific window you desire to capture. If you want to capture the full screen, the Full-screen snip is your option.
Key features:
Pros:
Easy snipping tool for Windows
Various snipping modes
One-click screenshot
Cons:
Lacks editing features
Extremely basic features
Windows Snip and Sketch
Best for:
easy editing
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
3 out of 5
If you are looking for a free snapshot tool with easy editing features, Windows Snip and Sketch is a great option. It’s one of the best free screenshot software and comes built into Windows. If you cannot find this tool in your Windows OS, you can download the same from the Microsoft Store. You can launch this screenshot tool by pressing the Window key + Shift + S. The interface comes with a flat design and simple elements. The bar that you will find at the top of your screen will provide you with various capture options as you launch the tool. You can capture the whole screen, a custom portion, or a window. The best thing about this tool is that it comes with a timer of three seconds and ten seconds. It will give you plenty of time to set what appears on the screen and take perfect screenshots. After you finish taking your screenshot, the editor opens. There are various useful tools to modify your screenshots. Also, it comes with a protractor and ruler tool to keep your changes symmetrical and nice. You can crop your screenshots as per your liking. You can save your screenshots as JPG, GIF, or PNG files.
Key features:
Pros:
Comes with a highlighter, measurement, and eraser tools
Easy capturing and annotation of screenshots
Export screenshots to social media
One of the best free screenshot tools for Windows
Cons:
No option to capture video
No option to capture scrolling windows
Does not support voice recording
Aiseesoft Screen Recorder
Best for:
variety of editing tools
Operating system:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free trial version, $62.45 for the full version
4.5 out of 5
If you’re looking for a screenshotting tool with a lot of editing capabilities, this one's for you. It lets you choose any color and draw on the screenshot however you like. But if you’re in a hurry, the app gives you all the basic shapes and tools you may need: from arrows and circles to typing text over the image. The program is definitely worth trying out!
Key features:
Pros:
Comprehensive interface
Flexible editing
Saving images to many popular formats
Cons:
The trial version limits the recording time to 3 minutes
Action! – Screen and Game Recorder
Best for:
in-game screenshotting
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free trial version, $11.84 for the full version
4.8 out of 5, 12 reviews
Action! was designed as a screen recording and streaming tool for gamers. With its cool design, flexible settings, and low CPU usage, it’s a great beginner option. Its screenshot functionality is rather limited, but what matters is that you can take snapshots without any issues while streaming to Twitch, YouTube, or another platform.
Key features:
Pros:
The app is great for capturing gameplay because of its low CPU usage
Can save screenshots of the entire desktop region, even on multi-display setups
Lets you take screenshots of the devices connected to your PC, e.g., from a console connected through a capture card
Cons:
No screenshot editing tools
ScreenRec
Best for:
instant sharing
Operating system:
Windows, macOS, Linux
Price:
free
4.9 out of 5, 5 reviews
ScreenRec is a free screenshot tool that allows users to easily record their screens or take screenshots. The interface of this tool is pretty basic. Users can start to record using one hotkey. After recording or taking the screenshot, you can save the file or share it anywhere. The primary downside of this great tool is that it does not come with any editing tool. You can save your screenshots in any basic format you like. The platform generates a link that you can share with other people so that they can access your screenshots directly from the cloud. The best thing is that the link comes with encryption, and only people with the password can access the files. There is no limitation on taking screenshots. If you are searching for a go-to screenshot and screen recording software, ScreenRec could be a great option.
Key features:
Pros:
Free usage
Easy to use UI
No limitation on screenshots
Cons:
There is no feature to edit
Lightshot
Best for:
fast screenshot
Operating system:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free
4.7 out of 5, 103 reviews
Lightshot is one of the best screenshot editors that’s free for your PC or laptop. With the help of this tool, users can edit their screenshots, add texts, and draw anything they want using the freehand tool. The interface is quite basic that is easy to use. It allows faster screenshots of selected areas. The screenshot tool comes with a powerful editor with which you can edit all your screenshots. You can add colorful lines and objects in the screenshots. Lightshot comes with a similar image searching feature that will help you find similar images to the ones you capture. You can easily upload the screenshots to the server and generate shorter links for quick sharing. Users can share their screenshots on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. The tool is available for both macOS and Windows.
Key features:
Pros:
Lightweight UI
Several editing options
Provides browser extension
Easy uploading to cloud storage
Free download for Windows 10
Cons:
No option to change the capture mode
No separate tool to edit images
ShareX
Best for:
lightweight UI
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.5 out of 5
ShareX is a free screenshot capture software with various screen capture options like a window, full screen, scrolling, region, etc. The best aspect of this screenshot tool is that you can decide whether you want to include the cursor or not in your screenshots. You can set up a timer to delay your screenshots. Users can easily record onscreen activity like an animated GIF or video. The workflow of this tool is quite seamless, and you can customize all kinds of settings as per your need. You can also add image effects or your custom watermark if you want. You can edit all your screenshots in the image editor.
Key features:
Pros:
Various sharing options
Provides screen recording and capture
Capture scrolling page
Cons:
No game recording or capturing
It might be fiddly to configure
Awesome Screenshot
Best for:
easy annotation
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.6 out of 5, 24,642 reviews
Awesome Screenshot is a superb tool to record and capture your screen. You can record your current tab, desktop, or only camera. It functions as a Chrome extension that can ease your task of taking screenshots. You can screenshot any page you visit, selected area, full page, or visible area. It also comes with a delay feature that helps in timing your screenshots. Users can crop or resize the screenshots according to the size they need. It can help annotate your captures with circles, lines, rectangles, arrows, etc. If you want to blur out sensitive information, you can do so with this awesome tool. You can save your captures as JPG or PNG.
Add Awesome Screenshot to Chrome
Key features:
Pros:
Add shapes or texts to your screenshots
Get shareable links
Easy basic editing
Cons:
The UI is not clean
Serves basic purpose
Nimbus
Best for:
quick sharing
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.6 out of 5, 16,241 reviews
Nimbus is an easy-to-use screenshot tool that can make taking screenshots easier. You can capture full screen or partial screen of any size. The powerful editing tool can help in improving the quality of your screenshots. You can annotate all your captures and share them with anyone you want. It is possible to change the background color and text color and make your captures more colorful. One of the best features of this screenshot tool is that it allows scrolling while you capture from web pages. If you need to record your screen, you can do that with this tool. You can crop and resize your screenshots, followed by the addition of text boxes and graphics. If you need to add watermarks to your screenshots, you can do the same with the premium version. Uploading to Dropbox is also available in the premium version. But you can upload your captures to Google Classroom and Google Drive without any hassle and for free.
Key features:
Pros:
Basic editing
Annotation feature
Easy sharing
Cons:
Professional tools are available with the premium version
Greenshot
Best for:
capture a complete webpage
Operating system:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free for Windows, $1.99 for macOS
4.8 out of 5, 142 reviews
Greenshot is a screenshot tool that installs easily and needs no setup. The tools use the Print Screen key as the hotkey. The tool is powerful enough to capture any region you select or a complete browser window. It provides the option of drag and drop that allows easy sharing. After taking your screenshots, you can edit the same in the image editor.
Key features:
Pros:
Comes with interesting tools like blur, sequence number, and so on
Easy sharing
Great for basic editing
Cons:
No video recording feature
The program window might freeze at times
TinyTake
Best for:
cloud storage
Operating system:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free
4.5 out of 5
With the help of TinyTake, you can capture anything that you see on your screen. You need to select a region or window that you would like to capture, and you are good to go. It comes with a quick sharing feature that makes sharing your captures seamless. You can drag and drop your local drive pictures and annotate the same. You can draw attention, blur sensitive areas or content, and make your screenshots attractive using the highlighter tool. TinyTake also comes with a screen recording feature that will let you capture any area of your screen or from a webcam for 120 minutes. The annotation tool is available for your videos as well. You can save the screenshots on a local drive, copy them to a clipboard, attach them to mail or send them to a printer. You can share up to 2 GB at once. To share your screenshots, simply drag them into the Files tab. The tool zips any large folder and uploads the same to cloud storage. You can also get a personal shareable link if you want. The best thing about this tool is that you can directly share your content on YouTube.
Key features:
Pros:
Screen recording with screenshot feature
One-click sharing
Share bulk files at once
Direct sharing to YouTube
Cons:
It might lag at times
PicPick
Best for:
enhance screenshots
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
3.5 out of 5, 137 reviews
PicPick is a free screenshot tool that can help you take screenshots. You can modify all your captures according to your need. The interface is quite handy and comes with plenty of editing features. You can select from various tools like the magnifying glass, color picker, pixel ruler, viewfinder, etc. You can capture anything available on the screen. You can make a copy of the whole screen, any region of the screen, or a scrolling window. It is quite simple to add text, shapes, arrows, and more with the integrated editor. The highlight feature will let you add frames, shadings, blur, watermarks, and more. You can save and share your captures via email, Google Drive, Dropbox, and well-known social media platforms. It comes with a capture bar that will make it easier to take screenshots.
Key features:
Pros:
Easy sharing
Graphic accessories
Customizable settings
Cons:
There is no form of support for the free version
Screenpresso
Best for:
capture scrolling windows
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.5 out of 5, 27 reviews
If you want to have a seamless screenshot tool, Screenpresso can help you. Simply press the Print Screen button and find out how easily the tool assists you in capturing your screen. The cursor turns into a crosshair and will help highlight all those areas you would like to capture. It is well-known for sharp edge snipping that can provide great screenshots. You can capture a part of your screen, the entire screen, or a window using the same hotkey. The stitching mechanism of Screenpresso allows users to capture scrolling windows. You can also delay capture to capture the context menu. You can use the screen recorder if you want to record your screen apart from taking screenshots. You can capture your screen in MP4 without any hassle. It’s one of the best free screenshot apps and can serve all your basic needs.
Key features:
Pros:
Capture scrolling windows
Feature to delay capture
Smooth workflow
Cons:
Basic editing features
Icecream Screen Recorder
Best for:
multi-screen recording
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.2 out of 5, 24 reviews
Icecream Screen Recorder is a basic screen recorder that allows users to record any screen area or take screenshots. You can record video tutorials, games, live streams, webinars, and more with the help of this tool. The tool comes with an easy annotation feature that will let you add shapes, arrows, and texts to your captures. With the pro version, you can add a logo or watermark to your screenshots, record games, and add mouse effects. The application is pretty basic for recording screens.
Download Icecream Screen Recorder
Key features:
Pros:
Permits screen annotation
Add logo with the pro version
Cons:
Basic editing features
Professional tools are available with the pro version
Snipaste
Best for:
precise screenshot
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
Snipaste is a handy screenshot freeware that can make taking screenshots an easy task. The best aspect of Snipaste is its speed. It provides customizable keyboard shortcuts that will let you open selection sessions or perform other tasks. The tool is powerful enough to detect any element available on the screen, making it easier to grab an icon, window, or shape on the screen. You can also opt for freehand selection. After you finish the selection, you can annotate them using various tools like a pen. Overall, it is a superb application that can serve your basic needs. The keyboard shortcuts can help streamline your workflow. You can get this screenshot program for free.
Key features:
Pros:
Fast UI
Simple and easy to use
Cons:
Cannot record screen
Droplr
Best for:
automatic cloud saving
Operating system:
Windows
Price:
free
4.1 out of 5, 227 reviews
Droplr is one of the easiest screen grab tools. It will also let you record your screen. After taking screenshots, it will automatically go to the cloud for storage. You can paste your screenshots and share the same with anyone. Or you can download your screenshots as PNG. The image editor will let you add circles, lines, boxes, and arrows. You can also add more than thirty emojis to your screenshots. You need to create a Droplr account, add the extension to your Google Chrome browser, and you are good to go.
Key features:
Pros:
Capture any screen area
Annotation tools
Completely free screenshot tool for Windows 10 and Windows 7
Cons:
Serves basic usage only
How to choose the best free screenshot app
If you face any confusion or dilemma regarding which screenshot tool to choose, you can easily select one from the list of tools above. All of these tools can serve your purpose of taking screenshots. Some screenshot tools can provide various features, and others can provide great support or usability. Selecting from a wide array of collections might be a tough thing to do. Here are certain things to remember before you go for one.
Features: you will need to ensure that the tool you opt for can take screenshots easily without any hassle. It should also have some basic features like editing tools, annotation, etc. Try to go for an application that can provide everything under one roof. For example, if you want to take scrolling screenshots, try out Movavi Screen Recorder.
Usability: the software or application you select should be simple and easy to use. Complex UI or too many features might make your work harder. Try to make sure that the application runs on your OS.
Price: finding a screenshot tool within your budget is not that tough. The majority of tools provide free versions. You can use them first to be sure they match your needs. There are completely free tools that work better than paid ones.
Support: having good technical support is always great. You might need assistance when the tool stops working or if you need any other help regarding the same. So, it is better to check if any support is available for the application you choose. For instance, you can get a chat or email support.
Summary
We hope this article has helped you choose screenshot software. Before buying anything, make sure you’ve browsed through all the programs, their features and advantages. This will ensure that you’ll find the best print screen software that’s free.
Movavi Screen Recorder
Disclaimer: Please be aware that Movavi Screen Recorder does not allow capture of copy-protected video and audio streams.
Frequently asked questions
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