CleanShot X vs Gifox

CleanShot X

• Mac users who take and annotate many screenshots
• Buyers who prefer a one-time license to a subscription
• Support and product teams sharing quick captures by link

Gifox

• Short GIFs for bug reports, support replies and presentations
• Mac users who want fine control over GIF size and quality
• Buyers who prefer a one-time license to a subscription

CleanShot X

• macOS only, requiring macOS 13.0 or newer. The vendor says there are no plans for a Windows version.
• There is no free trial; purchases are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• The $35 Basic license includes one year of updates; later updates need an optional $19 per year renewal.
• Unlimited cloud storage, custom domains, team features, SSO and SCIM need the Pro subscription.

Gifox

• Mac only, for macOS 10.15 Catalina or later.
• The free Basic plan limits each screen recording to 10 seconds and adds a watermark.
• Gifox 3 is announced at $24 with one year of free updates; Gifox 2 licenses bought within 12 months of its release switch for free.
• Mac App Store and direct-download versions use different licensing and are not compatible with each other.

CleanShot X

Screenshots and scrolling capture

Capture an area, a window, the full screen or scrolling content in either direction, with a self-timer, crosshair and magnifier.

Screen recording

Record to MP4 or GIF with microphone and computer audio, a camera overlay, and keystrokes and clicks shown on screen.

Built-in video editor

Add zooms, refine cursor movement and adjust backgrounds on a screen recording without leaving the app.

Annotation and backgrounds

Highlight or hide parts of a screenshot, add annotations, and place captures on styled backgrounds from 20 presets.

Text recognition

Copy text out of any image and read QR codes, with on-device recognition in more than 30 languages.

CleanShot Cloud

Upload a capture to get a share link with password protection, self-destruct timers and video transcription. Basic has 1 GB; Pro is unlimited.

Gifox

Free-area and window selection

Free-area mode captures any part of the screen, and window-snap mode records one app window at its exact pixel size.

Status bar menu

Recording, importing and sharing all run from the menu bar. Videos and image sequences dropped on it become GIFs, which can be dragged into other apps.

Integrated editor

Crops, cuts, trims, duplicates and rearranges recorded or imported videos, then exports them again without leaving the app.

Capture settings

Chooses what appears in a recording: the cursor, mouse clicks, keyboard input, the window shadow and the desktop picture.

Compression control

Sets playback speed and frame rate, the number of colors, resizing and dithering to trade output quality against file size.

Sharing to cloud services

Connects to Dropbox, Google Drive and Imgur to share a GIF from inside the app. Nothing is uploaded unless a recording is explicitly shared.

CleanShot X

• CleanShot Basic$35

  one-time payment; optional update renewal at $19 per year

  The Mac app to keep, with one year of updates and 1 GB of CleanShot Cloud storage. A license is active on one Mac at a time.

• CleanShot Pro$10

  per user / month, billed annually

  Always up to date, with unlimited cloud storage, custom domain and branding, team features, SSO and SCIM.

Gifox

• Gifox Basic$0

  Free forever, with 10-second watermarked screen recordings, unlimited file conversion and the crop, trim, split and clone editing tools.

• Gifox Pro$14.99

  one-time purchase per license, taxes included

  Everything in Basic plus unlimited screen recording and a removable watermark. The app is kept forever, including all minor versions.

• Gifox Co-founder$150

  one-time purchase, lifetime license for 1 Mac

  A limited crowdfunding license with Gifox 2 and 3, all future core upgrades and priority support. Tiers for 2 and 3 Macs cost $300 and $450.

CleanShot X

• Lifetime license

  One-time license for $35

  CleanShot Basic is a pay-once license that keeps working indefinitely. It includes one year of updates, and renewing updates afterwards is optional at $19 per year.

• Annual discount

  17% off Pro with yearly billing

  The pricing page marks yearly billing for CleanShot Pro as 17% cheaper than monthly, at $10 per user per month billed annually.

• Education

  30% educational discount

  Entering a university-issued email address gives 30% off. For Cloud Pro or update renewals, CleanShot asks students to email from their university address.

• Other savings

  20% off for PixelSnap customers

  Existing PixelSnap 2 customers get 20% off CleanShot, according to the pricing page.

• Other savings

  Included with Setapp

  CleanShot is also available through a Setapp subscription, which bundles it with more than 200 other apps.

Gifox

• Lifetime license

  Pro is a one-time purchase at $14.99

  The pricing page says the app is yours forever, including all minor versions, with no subscriptions or repeating payments.

• Education

  30% off for students and teachers

  Students and teachers get a 30% discount by emailing the team from a .edu address, according to the pricing page.

• Lifetime license

  Founding licenses with lifetime upgrades

  A crowdfunding campaign sells a limited number of lifetime licenses at $150 for 1 Mac, $300 for 2 and $450 for 3, covering Gifox 3 and all future core upgrades. No refunds.

• Other savings

  Included with a Setapp subscription

  The pricing page says Gifox is also available in the Mac App Store and with a Setapp subscription.