Snipping tools are useful for everyone from students to content creators, but which one is the best for you? In this guide, we'll take a look at some of the best free snipping tools you can use.
Quick summary
A fully-featured snipping tool and screen recorder: Movavi Screen Recorder
A simple online snipping tool: Screencapture.com
Browser-based screenshotting tool: Movavi ScreenShot
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.
Best for:
users who want a fully-featured snipping tool and a screen recorder
OS:
Windows, Mac
Price:
free trial, full version from $42.95
4.5 out of 5, 50 reviews
If you're looking for a screen snipping tool for Windows or Mac, Movavi Screen Recorder should be on your list. This multifunctional app is both a snipping tool and a screen recorder in one, capable of recording online calls and webinars, creating original video content, and snapping partial or full snapshots of your screen. The app has a free trial, so you can test it out before purchasing.
Key features:
Pros:
A handy tool to ramp up productivity with digital media capture
High-quality video recordings – up to 4K
Gives high performance on both Windows and Mac computers
Cons:
Only the full-featured version lets you get the most enjoyable experience
ShareX
Best for:
users who want a free, open-source snipping tool
OS:
Windows
Price:
free
4.5 out of 5
ShareX is often regarded as one of the best free snipping tools for Windows 10 available. It's a completely free and open-source tool for Windows 7 to 11 that you can use to capture your screen in a variety of ways, e.g. take a picture from a video or capture a particular window.
Key features:
Multiple capture options
An open-source app
No ads or hidden fees
Pros:
Lightweight and quick to set up
Easy to use
Always free for everyone
One of the best snipping tools that’s free
Cons:
No ads or hidden fees
Screenpresso
Best for:
users with multiple monitors
OS:
Windows
Price:
free version, premium version from $29.99
4.5 out of 5, 27 reviews
Screenpresso is another free Windows snipping tool that is lightweight, quick to install, and easy to use. It offers image and video capture and built-in editing, so you can enhance your captures with arrows and annotations. It's also a great tool for people with multiple monitors, as you can capture different windows and image regions across each screen with ease.
Key features:
One-click capture
Built-in editing tools
Drag & drop sharing
Pros:
Useful for multiple monitor set-ups
Quick and easy online sharing
Top quality images and videos
Cons:
No Mac or Linux support
ScreenRec
Best for:
users who want a one-button snip tool
OS:
Windows, Mac, Linux
Price:
free
4.9 out of 5, 5 reviews
ScreenRec is one of the best snipping tools for Windows that you may want to consider. This tool stands out for its speediness and convenience. It's really straightforward to use and captures screenshots with a single click or keyboard shortcut. You can also instantly upload your screenshots to the cloud, with 2 GB of storage space. ScreenRec is cross-platform, so you can use this advanced snipping tool on Linux and Mac as well.
Key features:
One-click capture
Multiple capture methods
2 GB cloud storage
Pros:
Quick and easy to use
Instant capture with a click or keyboard shortcut
Free cloud storage included
Cons:
Cloud has some privacy issues
Lightshot
Best for:
users who want a snipping tool with intuitive editing
OS:
Windows, Mac
Price:
free
4.7 out of 5, 103 reviews
Lightshot is one of the best Windows snipping tools also available for Mac. The best thing about this snipping tool is its built-in editor, allowing you to adjust, enhance, and annotate your captures with ease before you save or share them online.
Key features:
2-click capture
Share screenshots online
Built-in editor with various editing tools
Pros:
Really easy to use
Runs on both Windows and Mac
Powerful and intuitive editing
Cons:
Lots of pop-up notifications
PicPick
Best for:
users who want an all-in-one design tool
OS:
Windows
Price:
free version, premium version from $2.50/month
3.5 out of 5, 137 reviews
Next up, we have PicPick. This is more of an advanced design tool than a simple screenshot tool. It's capable of capturing screenshots, but also offers much more, like graphical special effects, whiteboard features, and other design tools aimed at a designer audience.
Key features:
All-in-one design tool
Includes snipping, image editor, whiteboard, and more
Special effects and graphical tools
Pros:
Lots of useful features
Great customer support
Advanced design elements
Cons:
Only available for Windows
Greenshot
Best for:
users who want a very user-friendly snipping tool
OS:
Windows, Mac
Price:
free
4.8 out of 5, 143 reviews
Greenshot is another snipping tool for Windows and Mac. It's free and open-source, and it stands out for its user-friendly design and sleek interface, as well as its wide range of screenshot modes and capture methods, including scrolling screenshots.
Key features:
Free and open source
Multiple capture methods
Take scrolling screenshots
Pros:
Very beginner-friendly
Always free to use, with no hidden fees
Useful for different screenshot types and sizes
Cons:
Lacks recording features
Aiseesoft Screen Recorder
Best for:
users who want to take screenshots for free without a watermark
OS:
Windows, macOS
Price:
free trial, lifetime license for $49.96
4.5 out of 5 stars. 2 reviews
Aiseesoft Screen Recorder works to capture online videos, games, webinars, lectures, Skype calls, videoconferences, and webcam videos. You can record in full screen or set customized screen size parameters.
Aiseesoft offers all you need to take a screenshot: different capture modes, a selection of output formats and an ease of use.
Download Aiseesoft Screen Recorder
Key features:
Various image formats for screenshots
Works on both Windows and Mac
Pros:
Easy to take snapshots
No watermark with the free version
Hotkeys
Cons:
Less than stellar reports from customer service interaction
Unintuitive user interface
Action! - screen and game recorder
Best for:
users who want to be able to screenshot, screencast, and edit with just one program
OS:
Windows
Price:
30 days free, licences from $19.77
4.8 out of 5, 12 reviews
Action! Screen Recorder is a Windows screen recorder by Mirillis. It has high resolution recording capabilities and comes with a 30-day free trial. You can take screenshots of a full screen, web player, and/or a specific section of the screen. It also comes with a free Android app that lets you control your recording while it’s in progress without touching your computer.
Download Action! - screen and game recorder
Key features:
Supports screenshots, recording, and streaming
Plenty of output formats
Pros:
Feature-rich
Includes editing features
Cons:
Needs a decent PC to perform well
Snipping tools for a PC: Free online apps
Screencapture.com
Best for:
users who want an online snipping tool
OS:
any (web-based)
Price:
free version, premium version for $9.95 /month
4.7 out of 5, 637 reviews
Screencapture.com is an online screen recorder you can use to capture videos and images of your screen. It offers high-quality recordings, strong privacy protection for your files, rapid video saving in HD quality, and the option to capture audio and video via your mic and webcam, if needed.
Key features:
A versatile online screen recorder
Privacy protection for your recorded files
Mic and webcam support
Pros:
Really easy to use
Runs in your browser
Top quality images and recordings
Cons:
You have to pay for the full version
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
Best for:
users who want a snip tool with real-time editing
OS:
any (web-based)
Price:
free version, premium version from $29.95/month
4.5 out of 5
Next up, we have Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder, another online screenshot app you can use to capture your screen for free, although there is a premium version that has more features and capabilities. This app lets you capture your screen's content, as well as work with mics and webcams for extra audio and video.
Go to Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
Key features:
Record video and capture images of your screen
Capture both video and audio simultaneously
Real-time editing
Pros:
User-friendly interface
Top quality recording
Easy on-the-fly editing and annotations
Cons:
Many features locked behind paywall
Best browser snipping tools for free
Movavi ScreenShot
Best for:
users who want to take screenshots directly in the browser
OS:
any
Price:
free
4 out of 5, 36 reviews
It's also possible to find free snipping tool browser extensions, like Movavi Screenshot. This extension can be added to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and used for capturing snaps and images of your browser windows at the touch of a button. It allows you to capture, edit, and save images in a variety of formats and share them to OneNote or via email. You can use this extension on both Windows and Mac. So, if your tool for screenshots is not working on a Mac, Movavi Screenshot will help you out.
Add Movavi ScreenShot to Chrome
Key features:
Capture and save files easily
Uploads to OneNote or email
Take full or partial captures
Pros:
Runs in both Chrome and Firefox
Perfect for capturing anything in your browser
Quick to install and easy to use
Cons:
Doesn't run in other browsers
Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder
Best for:
users who want a screenshot and screen recorder extension
OS:
any
Price:
free
4.6 out of 5, 24,715 reviews
Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder is another browser extension that runs in Google Chrome. It doubles up as both a snipping tool and screen recorder, so you can take videos in addition to capturing screenshots and snapshots of your browser. It's free and easy to use, with no ads to worry about.
Add Awesome Screenshot and Screen Recorder to Chrome
Key features:
Screen capture and recording
Can capture audio as well as video
Multiple capture modes
Pros:
Great for making quick videos and captures
Excellent customer support
Useful guides for beginners
Cons:
You may not need all of the different features
Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder
Best for:
users who want a trusted snipping tool for Chrome
OS:
any
Price:
free
4.6 out of 5, 16,314 reviews
Last but not least, we have Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder. The extension is available in Google Chrome, so you can access it from any device with this browser, e.g. you can use it for screen capture on a Chromebook. The tool lets you capture full or partial web page screenshots, record screencasts, and edit your screenshots as needed with trimming, cropping, and annotations.
Add Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder to Chrome
Key features:
Built-in editor
Record videos and take screenshots
Instant uploads and sharing
Pros:
A fully-featured extension
Lots of functions like recording and editing
Enhance and adjust your captures with ease
Cons:
Only on Chrome
How to choose a snipping tool?
If you're still not sure which tool is right for you, try to focus on these important factors to help you make your decision much easier:
Ease-of-use: snipping tools should be easy to use. They shouldn't be complicated or complex in any way, so try to find one that matches your skill level and is convenient for you to use.
Features: some snipping tools are very basic and only offer simple screenshots, while others come with many more features like multiple screenshot modes, screen recording, built-in editing tools, and scrolling screenshots.
Support: check to see if any kind of support is provided by the developer, such as a live chat system you can contact if you have any queries or problems.
User reviews: it's also a good idea to read through some user reviews of the different snipping tools you might like to use in order to learn about how well they work and see if any bugs or other issues are present.
We hope that this guide has provided you with many answers to the question of “What is the best snip tool to use?” and has helped you choose the best software for your needs. For simple screenshotting, it’s better to choose online tools since they require no download. For advanced editing, use desktop programs.
Movavi Screen Recorder
Snipping Tool is a useful free snipping tool for a PC, but there are other tools out there with even more features and functions, like Movavi Screen Recorder, ShareX, Screenpresso, and Lightshot.
Yes, Windows Snip and Sketch is a free-to-use tool on Windows devices.
Microsoft Snipping Tool is a built-in app on Windows 10, and it is free.
Windows 11 comes with an included snipping tool called Snip & Sketch. It’s virtually the same, only an advanced version of the Snipping Tool app on Windows 10. You can open it by pressing Windows + Shift + S. If it doesn’t show up, you can find it in the Microsoft store.
Movavi Screen Recorder
The perfect way to record anything from your screen
An easy way to record from your screen in HD. Make video footage of any application, record online streaming video, webinars, even Skype calls, and save clips in all popular formats.
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