Top PrtScr Alternatives for Enhanced Screen Capture
PrtScr offers a direct, easy-to-use, and stylish solution for screen capture, moving beyond the limitations of built-in tools like Microsoft’s Snipping Tool, especially its inability to capture overlay windows. While PrtScr excels in its simplicity and features like custom hotkeys, various capture modes, annotation, and flexible export options, users might seek a PrtScr alternative for broader platform support, advanced features, or open-source solutions. This article explores some of the best alternatives available.
Best PrtScr Alternatives
Whether you're looking for more robust editing tools, cloud integration, or simply a free and open-source option, there's a screen capture tool out there to meet your specific needs. Let's dive into some of the top contenders that can admirably replace PrtScr.
ShareX
ShareX is a free and open-source PrtScr alternative available on Windows, Chrome, Steam, and Firefox. It's a comprehensive tool for capturing or recording any area of your screen and sharing it with ease. Key features include screenshot OCR, a built-in image editor, automatic uploads, image annotations, GIF recording, and direct file uploading to various cloud services like Dropbox, Imgur, and OneDrive, making it incredibly versatile for both personal and team use.
Greenshot
Greenshot is a small, freemium, and open-source PrtScr alternative for Mac and Windows. It's highly regarded for its lightweight nature and robust features, including OCR support, Office export capabilities, extensive annotations, and the ability to enumerate steps in a workflow. Its portability and multi-language support also make it a convenient choice for a wide range of users.
LightShot
Lightshot is a free and easy-to-use PrtScr alternative available for Mac, Windows, Chrome, Wine, and Firefox. It stands out for its instant editing capabilities, automatic online upload for sharing, and a convenient browser extension. Features like annotation, downscaling for Retina Displays, and the ability to override the print-screen hotkey make it a quick and efficient choice for sharing screenshots.
Snipping Tool
For Windows users, Snipping Tool is a free, built-in PrtScr alternative that offers simplicity and reliability. While PrtScr itself addresses some of Snipping Tool's limitations, this native Windows application allows users to capture, annotate, save, and share snips of any object on their screen with ease. It's a solid, straightforward option for basic screenshot needs.
Flameshot
Flameshot is a free and open-source PrtScr alternative, particularly popular among Linux users (openSUSE, Arch Linux, Void Linux, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Docker). It boasts a user-friendly interface with extensive editing tools like free drawing, arrows, lines, circles, and a blur filter. It also includes a built-in color picker and allows direct uploads to Imgur, making it a highly configurable and efficient tool for annotating and sharing screenshots.
Snagit
Snagit is a powerful commercial PrtScr alternative available for Mac and Windows, renowned as an ultimate screen capture tool. It simplifies the process of creating engaging visuals with its advanced capture, edit, organize, and share technology. Key features include scrolling capture, freeform capture, extensive editing capabilities, and direct uploads to platforms like Dropbox and YouTube, making it ideal for professional use.
PicPick
PicPick is a full-featured PrtScr alternative available for free personal use on Windows and PortableApps.com. It combines a screen capture tool with an intuitive image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel-ruler, protractor, crosshair, and whiteboard. Its customizability, image editing capabilities, and portability make it a versatile tool for capturing, editing, and sharing screenshots.
Evernote Web Clipper
Evernote Web Clipper is a free PrtScr alternative primarily for web users, available as a browser extension for Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. While not a standalone desktop app like PrtScr, it excels at saving anything from the web – text, links, and images – directly into your Evernote account. Features include saving web pages for offline use, screenshot tools, OCR for screenshots, and instant editing, making it great for research and note-taking.
FastStone Capture
FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight, and full-featured PrtScr alternative for Windows (free for personal use). It allows users to easily capture and annotate anything on the screen, including windows, objects, and menus. Its portable nature, support for FTP, mouse pointer capture, image annotations, and screen recording capabilities make it a robust choice for various screenshot needs.
CloudApp
CloudApp is a freemium PrtScr alternative available for Mac, Windows, and Web, with integrations for Jira, Trello, and Zendesk. It's an excellent tool for screenshot editing and video screen recording, allowing you to capture anything on your screen as an image, GIF, or high-quality video. Features like automatic uploads, custom domains, flexible customizations, integrated file sharing, and team collaboration make it ideal for professional and team-based workflows.
Each of these PrtScr alternative options brings its unique strengths to the table, from robust editing and cloud integration to open-source flexibility and powerful video recording. Consider your operating system, specific capture needs, and desired features to select the best PrtScr alternative that seamlessly integrates into your workflow.