Flameshot vs Greenshot
We give Flameshot a 3.6 GPA and Greenshot a 3.4, out of 4.0. Flameshot grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Greenshot
Free, open-source screenshot tool for Windows with an editor
Free plan · from $1.99 one-time
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAFlameshotExcellent | 3.4GPAGreenshotVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source, with the main code under GPLv3+. There's no paid version, and the project says it doesn't even accept direct donations. | AFree on Windows under the GNU GPL, for private and commercial use. The Mac app is $1.99 once on the Mac App Store, priced to cover the team's costs. Hard to argue with either number. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole app is free on Windows, macOS and Linux. Nothing is kept back for a paid tier, because there isn't one. | AThe full Windows app costs nothing, at home or at work, and there's no trial clock. Only the Mac version is paid. |
| Features | AIt does one job, the marked-up screenshot, and does it fully. Drag a box, then add arrows, text, shapes, highlights, a counter and blur that turns into pixelation. It keeps a history, uploads to Imgur, and has terminal commands for scripting and key binds. | BRegion, window and full-screen capture, an editor with arrows, text, highlighting and blur, and export to a file, the clipboard, a printer, email, Office or Jira. Solid. But scrolling capture is only documented for Internet Explorer, and the OCR plug-in leans on a part of Office 2003 and 2007. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. Launch, drag, annotate, save. On a Mac you have to grant screen recording permission first, and GNOME users need an AppIndicator extension to see the tray icon. | BNo store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. Press the Print key, drag, and the capture opens in the editor. Sending shots to Jira takes some configuring first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, macOS and Linux, which is three unrelated systems, plus Imgur upload and a command line. Downloads are 64-bit only. There are no phone apps, and Wayland support on GNOME and Plasma is labelled experimental. | BWindows and Mac, with ties to Jira, Microsoft Office and Flickr. But the Mac app is a separate one with fewer features that was last updated in June 2020, and the FAQ says no Linux version is planned. |
| Best for | free marked-up screenshots on any desktop | 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: Flameshot and Greenshot. How we grade
Where they differ
- Flameshot is free. Greenshot starts at $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store).
- Only Flameshot lists a Linux app.
In commonFree planWindowsmacOSOpen sourceScreenshots
At a glance
| Flameshot | Greenshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store) |
| Free plan | The whole app is free and open source, with its main code under GPLv3+. The project says it does not accept direct donations. | 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 | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Flameshot contributors | Thomas Braun, Jens Klingen and Robin Krom |
| Price read from | flameshot.org | getgreenshot.org |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Flameshot
- People who want the same free screenshot tool on Windows, macOS and Linux
- Marking up a capture with arrows, text and pixelation before saving it
- Scripting screenshots or binding them to custom keys from the terminal
Greenshot
- Windows users who want a free screenshot tool with a built-in editor
- Technical writers, testers and developers documenting software
- Teams that attach screenshots to Jira tickets
Worth knowing
Flameshot
- GNOME Wayland and Plasma Wayland support is described as experimental, and GNOME 41 or later asks to share the screen on every capture.
- It relies on a system tray; GNOME users need an AppIndicator extension to see the icon.
- The upload tool sends images to Imgur anonymously, and the shared client ID can run into Imgur's hourly quota.
- Downloads are 64-bit only, and on macOS it must be granted screen recording permission before it can capture anything.
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
Flameshot
- Area capture with in-place editing
- Launch it, drag a selection box over the area you want and annotate directly on screen before saving the shot, without opening a separate editor.
- Annotation tools
- Arrows, lines, pencil, marker highlights, text, rectangles, circles, solid color boxes and an incrementing counter, plus a blur tool that turns into pixelation at larger sizes.
- Customizable interface
- A configuration dialog sets the interface color, which tool buttons appear, the keyboard shortcuts and how images are saved.
- Command-line interface
- Terminal commands capture a region or the full screen without opening the GUI first, with options for a delay, a save path and copying to the clipboard.
- Upload to Imgur
- Uploads a selection to Imgur after a warning and lets you delete it afterwards. Since version 11.0.0 you can set your own Imgur Client ID for a separate upload quota.
- Tray icon and history
- Runs in the background with a system tray icon for configuration, and keeps a screenshot history that a shortcut opens.
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
Flameshot
Flameshot$0
The complete app as a Windows installer or portable build, a macOS dmg or Homebrew cask, and a Linux AppImage, Snap, Flatpak or distribution package.
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.
