Flameshot vs ShareX

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

ShareX

• Windows users who capture, annotate and share screenshots many times a day
• People who upload captures to their own storage or a self-hosted service
• Recording short clips or GIFs for bug reports and documentation

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.

ShareX

• Windows only: the site describes it as a screenshot tool for Windows, with downloads on the website, GitHub, Microsoft Store and Steam.
• Files are uploaded to third-party services the user chooses and configures, so each destination's own terms and privacy policy apply.
• OCR can only use the recognizer languages installed in Windows.
• The docs say scrolling capture can fail or produce inaccurate results on pages with static, animated or hover-triggered elements.

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.

ShareX

Capture methods

Captures the full screen, the active window or monitor, a drawn region, the last or a custom region, or a scrolling page, and has an auto capture mode.

Screen recording and GIFs

Records the screen as video or as an animated GIF. Bundled tools include a video converter, a video trimmer and an animated GIF trimmer.

Annotation and image editor

Region capture and the built-in editor add arrows, text, step numbers, highlights and speech balloons, and hide details with blur, pixelate or a smart eraser.

After-capture and after-upload tasks

Each capture can run a set chain of tasks: copy to the clipboard, save to a file, open in the editor, run an action, upload, then shorten or copy the resulting URL.

Uploads and custom uploaders

Uploads images, text, files, folders and URLs to a chosen destination. Custom uploaders, shared as .sxcu files, send uploads to services that are not built in.

OCR and other tools

OCR uses the engine included with Windows and runs locally. Other tools include a color picker, ruler, QR code scanner, hash checker and pin to screen.

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.

ShareX

• ShareX$0

  The complete app as a setup or portable download, or from the Microsoft Store or Steam. Open source under the GPL-3.0 license.