FastStone Capture vs Greenshot (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Greenshot grades higher than FastStone Capture: 3.0 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
FastStone Capture grades higher on features. Greenshot grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FastStone Capture
Windows screen capture, annotation and screen recorder
Free trial · from $29.95 one-time
Greenshot
Free, open-source screenshot tool for Windows with an editor
Free plan · from $1.99 one-time
Which one is for you
Pick FastStone Capture if
- Fits if you want a one-time purchase for screenshots on a Windows PC
- Works for people who capture scrolling pages and mark them up before sending
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you use a Mac, Linux or a phone, since there is no version for them
- Skip it if you want a free plan: after 30 days a license is required
- Too light for video work beyond MP4 and WMV recordings
- Watch out: it needs Windows 10 or 11
Pick Greenshot if
- Fits if you want a Windows screenshot tool with an editor, at no cost even at work
- Works for teams that attach marked-up screenshots to Jira tickets
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're on Linux, as there's no version and the FAQ says none is planned
- Not for you if you're on a Mac and want the full thing, since the $1.99 Mac app has fewer features and dates from June 2020
- Too light for capturing long scrolling pages, which is only documented for Internet Explorer
- Watch out: the OCR plug-in depends on Microsoft Office Document Imaging, an optional part of Office 2003 and 2007
- Not for you if you want it on a phone or in a browser, since there are no phone apps or web version
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAFastStone CaptureGood | 3.0GPAGreenshotVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$29.95 once for a lifetime license with free upgrades, under a year of this category's middle subscription. A family license for up to 5 computers is $69.95. | AFree on Windows under the GNU GPL, for private and commercial use, as a plain download. The Mac app is $1.99 once on the Mac App Store, priced to cover the team's costs. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 30-day trial, then a license is needed. There is no free plan for Capture. | AThe full Windows app costs nothing, at home or at work, and there's no trial clock. Only the Mac version is paid. |
| Features | BCapture modes, an editor, a screen recorder, text capture and pinning. The listing names no gap in the core job, though recordings are limited to MP4 and WMV. | CThe still screenshot is covered: region, window and full screen, an editor with arrows, text, highlighting and blur, and export to a file, the clipboard, a printer, email, Office or Jira. The gaps are in the listing: scrolling capture is documented for Internet Explorer only, and OCR needs a part of Office 2003. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating is on record, but it is a program you install and start using with nothing to set up. | BNo store rating is on record, but there's nothing to set up: press the Print key, drag, and the capture opens in the editor. Only sending shots to Jira needs configuring first. |
| Platforms and integrations | DWindows only. The vendor lists no Mac, Linux or mobile version, and it needs Windows 10 or 11. | CWindows and Mac, but both are computers and that's the whole list: no phone apps, no web version. The Mac app is a separate, thinner one last updated in June 2020, and the FAQ says no Linux version is planned. Jira, Office and Flickr are the only things it talks to. |
| Best for | Windows screenshots and recordings for a one-time price | free Windows screenshots with a built-in editor |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: FastStone Capture and Greenshot. How we grade
Where they differ
- FastStone Capture can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Greenshot is open source, according to its own site.
- FastStone Capture also covers screen recording and video editing.
In commonWindowsScreenshots
At a glance
| FastStone Capture | Greenshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29.95 one-time | $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store) |
| Free plan | None | Greenshot for Windows is free and open source under the GNU GPL, at no charge for private or commercial use. Only the Mac version is paid. |
| Free trial | 30-day trial, then a license is required | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Made by | FastStone Corporation | Thomas Braun, Jens Klingen and Robin Krom |
| Price read from | faststone.org | getgreenshot.org |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
FastStone Capture
- Windows only: the vendor lists no Mac, Linux or mobile version.
- The vendor says it requires Windows 10 or 11.
- After the 30-day trial a license is required; there is no free plan for Capture.
- Screen recordings save only as MP4 or WMV, with MP3 for audio-only.
Greenshot
- The full version is for Windows. The Mac app costs $1.99, was last updated in June 2020 and has fewer features, per its App Store listing.
- There is no Linux version, and the FAQ says none is planned.
- Capturing a complete scrolling web page is documented only for Internet Explorer.
- The OCR plug-in depends on Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI), an optional component of Office 2003 and 2007.
Key features
FastStone Capture
- Capture modes
- Grab windows, objects, menus, the full screen, rectangular, freehand or fixed-size regions and scrolling windows or web pages.
- Built-in editor
- Annotate with text, arrows, highlights, callouts and step numbers, blur an area, and apply edge effects, resizing and cropping.
- Screen recorder
- Record screen changes, microphone, speaker audio, webcam and mouse clicks to MP4 or WMV, with a timer and a basic video editor.
- Text capture and pinning
- Pull text from an image with OCR and pin a screenshot on top of other windows like a sticky note.
- Send and save options
- Send captures to a file, clipboard, printer, email, an FTP server, or OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
- Screen tools
- Includes a color picker, magnifier, crosshair and screen ruler, plus global hotkeys and automatic file naming.
Greenshot
- Region, window and fullscreen capture
- Captures a selected region, the active window or the whole screen with the Print key and its modifiers, and can capture the last region again.
- Image editor
- Opens each capture in an editor for drawing rectangles, ellipses, lines, arrows and freehand lines, adding text, cropping and enlarging the image.
- Highlight and obfuscate
- Highlights text or an area, turns the surroundings to grayscale or magnifies a selection, and hides sensitive details by pixelizing or blurring them.
- Export destinations
- Saves to a file, copies to the clipboard, prints, attaches the image to an email, sends it to Office programs or uploads it to photo sites.
- Jira upload
- Can be configured to upload screenshots to a Jira Server or Jira Cloud instance, and lists recently viewed tickets in the destination picker.
- Mac version
- A separate Mac app captures a region, window or the full screen, annotates and obscures parts of the image, and exports to a file, the clipboard or email.
Plans
FastStone Capture
Single license$29.95
one-time
Lifetime license for one user, with free upgrades; the order page also lists a volume discount.
Family license$69.95
one-time, for up to 5 computers
Lifetime license for home users covering up to 5 computers.
Greenshot
Greenshot for Windows$0
The full Windows app, free and open source under the GNU GPL for private and commercial use.
Greenshot for Mac$1.99
one-time purchase (US Mac App Store)
A separate macOS app, priced to cover the team's costs. Its listing warns that it has fewer features than the Windows version.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, FastStone Capture or Greenshot?
As of Nov 13, 2026, FastStone Capture starts at $29.95 one-time, and Greenshot starts at $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store).
Which has a free plan, FastStone Capture or Greenshot?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Greenshot has a free plan. FastStone Capture does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do FastStone Capture and Greenshot run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Greenshot lists a macOS app. Both list a Windows app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.