Skip to main content

Painlessly capture screenshots with these free apps for Mac and PC

best free screen capture apps mac pc download tools copy
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There many things in life that are hard to believe without concrete evidence, even those that are discovered on the computer. Other times, mundane data sets or other information needs to be shared. With the proper screen capture tool, saving a photo of whatever it is you need isn’t as tough as you might think. Some screen capture tools, as you can imagine, are better than others. The key differences between screen capture tools often lie in ease of use and their innate functionality. They essentially all perform the same function — capturing a still frame of whatever happens to be within a specified region of the desktop — but each differs given its unique set of annotation options, convenient keyboard commands, assorting sharing features, and other software facets. 

Here are our top picks for the best screenshot utilities available for Windows and Mac OS X, so photo evidence will always be close at hand. Furthermore, take a look at our sweeping guides on how to take a screenshot on a PC and how to take a screenshot on a Mac if you’re in need of comprehensive directions.

Recommended Videos

PicPick (Windows)

PicPick
PicPick (Windows) Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Good: Robust feature set.

The Bad: Few annotation-specific options.

PicPick is a great screenshot program, which is likely why it gets a lot of use at Digital Trends. With PicPick, users can capture the full-screen images of the entire desktop, including the Start menu and application-specific taskbars, or restrict the screenshot to a specific window size, window region, or an otherwise specified area drawn by hand. The software does more than capture screenshots, though. Users can also edit the images immediately after they’ve been captured, utilizing robust editing features such as the ability to add drawings and text in the process.

Once users capture an image, they can crop it, resize it, or rotate it among other common options. Aside from basic edits, users can also magnify images to ensure accurate edits, easily applying various effects like blur, sharpen, color balance, and others along the way. Programmable hotkeys — keyboard shortcuts that activate certain computer features — are also included, allowing users to capture full-screen, window, and other size selections. Screenshots can then be shared via popular social-networking channels like Facebook or Twitter, or saved into a folder directory of the user’s choice. PicPick is incredibly extensive, yet despite it’s robust capabilities, the German developer manages to offer it at a cost everyone can afford: Free.

Skitch (Windows/Mac OS X/Android/iOS)

skitch
Skitch (Windows/Mac OS X/Android/iOS) Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Good: Robust annotation options.

The Bad: Difficult hotkeys.

Skitch is a favorite among many Mac users, but it’s also quite popular among Windows users. The Evernote-designed app is simple and easy to use, allowing users to take a picture with their computer’s webcam, mobile tablet, or smartphone prior to annotating. Once captured, users can add text, arrows, and little icons like hearts and question marks to images, as well as place boxes or circles around various parts of an image, crop, blur, or highlight.  However, Skitch doesn’t tout the same level of intuitiveness as PicPick when it comes to hotkeys given users must directly program the functionality within the program. With Skitch, users can still take a screenshot of the whole screen (and crop it) or use a crosshair feature to drag a box encompassing the desired screenshot. Once saved, users can post the screenshot to Facebook or Twitter from within the program. It might not possess all the grandiose features of other options on our list, but the ones it does posses work exceptionally well.

Jing (Windows/Mac)

jing
Jing (Windows/Mac) Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Good: Persistent interface.

The Bad: The software places a colored box around text annotations.

Jing is one of the easiest screenshot tools to use on the go. When you open Jing, a transparent menu resembling the sun rises to the top of the screen and remains there until you quit the program, allowing you to capture images, view history, and a few other noteworthy features accessible when hovering over the sun with the cursor. Although the More option simply takes you to the main menu, the Capture utility opens up a pair of crosshairs, allowing you to select the portion of the screen you want to capture. The History button, though valuable, merely shows you a list of previously-captured screens. The application works quickly and is surprisingly unobtrusive as well, despite the constant menu, which only hinders tabbed browsing and a few other common computing tasks. 

Once you’ve captured your screenshot, users can add boxes, text, arrows, and highlights prior to uploading image to Screencast. Once there, the website saves the image with its own unique, sharable link, allowing the screen capture to be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube once you change the software’s default settings. With Jing, you can also capture screenshots video style, instead of just capturing the images statically. Annotating features are basic, and though the software won’t allow you to add text without placing a colored box around it, it’s still a capable program.

LightShot (Windows/Mac OS X)

lightshot
LightShot (Windows/Mac OS X) Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Good: Simple and quick functionality.

The Bad: Poor annotation options.

LightShot may function as a quality screen capture tool on the desktop, but it shines as a simple browser add-on for Google Chrome and Firefox. Although users can easily download and install the desktop incarnation of the software for use within the system tray, installing the application as an add-on places a purple quill in the top-right corner of your selected browser, capturing a specified portion of the screen once clicked.

Once you’ve made your selection, you can draw lines, highlight, freeform draw, add text, and add arrows. None of the annotations are particularly attractive aside from the text offerings, but they’re manageable and easy to use. Once annotated, you can upload images to the Web and obtain a custom link for sharing via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Screen captures can also be saved to the desktop, obviously, or used to search for similar images on Google. Although most users will rarely use the latter utility, but it’s a welcome LightShot exclusive all the same.

What do you think of our selection of the best free, screen capture tools? Did we leave your favorite off the list? Let us know in the comments below.

Thor Benson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Thor Benson is a writer for Digital Trends. He enjoys writing about tech related to music, culture, politics and more. His…
Is the M4 Mac mini Apple’s first true gaming PC?
Mac Mini with M4

The M4 Mac mini made its big splash last week. Among the normal Apple marketing content, however, I noticed something I'd never seen before. It's the image above that I'm talking about -- and by now, you've probably noticed the same thing that caught my eye. The PS5 controller.

Sure, you've always been able to connect up a game controller and use it for Mac gaming, but never have I seen it promoted by Apple itself. By putting this so forward in the marketing materials, Apple is not-so-subtly implying that these are PCs that are at least to some degree built for gaming. Is this Apple's first true attempt at taking a real step into the world of PC gaming? There's more evidence than you might think.
Building momentum

Read more
Apple just acquired this beloved Mac app
Editing a photo in Photometer.

Popular photo-editing app Pixelmator published a blog post today announcing its plans to join Apple. The post was spotted by 9to5Mac.  The acquisition is still pending approval, and the Pixelmator team has confirmed that it won't be making any changes to its apps "at this time."

The company offers two apps -- a professional image editing tool called Pixelmator Pro and a free photo-editing app called Photomator. Pixelmator Pro is available for a one-time fee of $50, making it much more affordable and easier to buy than competitors like Photoshop.

Read more
I tested the most popular free antivirus apps for Mac. Here are the very best
A MacBook Air is shown with the Bitdefender for Mac dashboard open.

The best free antivirus software for your Mac offers robust protection without breaking the bank. Although macOS was once an unlikely target for hackers, that's changing. As Apple computers become more popular, malware prevention is increasingly important to safeguard your personal and financial data.
Finding the best antivirus software can be challenging. While subscription prices are affordable, your budget might already be tight. Thankfully, there are several good, free malware solutions for macOS. Here are our top picks for free antivirus software for Mac, with each specially tailored to protect your Apple computer. If you use Windows, we also have a list of free antivirus software for PC.
Avast One Basic

While Avast One Basic is free and shows no ads, this powerful antivirus software still protects your Mac from malware infections, and blocks new threats before they become a problem. Perhaps more impressive is the Web Shield feature that identifies malicious downloads and prevents access to hazardous websites, halting phishing attempts and other online dangers.

Read more