Greenshot vs LICEcap (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Greenshot and LICEcap share a 3.0 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on which features you need.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
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
LICEcap
Lightweight free tool that records a screen area to an animated GIF
Free
Which one is for you
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
Pick LICEcap if
- Fits if you only need short GIFs of your screen with no extras
- Works for people who want a tiny download
Look elsewhere if
- Too light for you if you want MP4 or audio, since neither is mentioned
- Skip it if you run a new Mac, as support is named only up to macOS 12.x
- Watch out: the latest release listed is v1.32 from June 2022
- Not for you if you want to edit the capture, as editing is limited to a title frame and text messages
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAGreenshotVery good | 3.0GPALICEcapVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | AFree software under the GPL. No paid edition is listed. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe full Windows app costs nothing, at home or at work, and there's no trial clock. Only the Mac version is paid. | AThe whole program is free, with the source included in each download. |
| Features | 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. | CRecords to GIF or LCF, with pause, text messages and mouse press display. It does that one job, a smaller one: no MP4 export or audio. |
| Ease of use | 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. | BMove the frame over the area and record. Nothing to set up, though no store rating is on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | CWindows and macOS, computers only. No Linux, phone or web version. |
| Best for | free Windows screenshots with a built-in editor | quick screen-to-GIF recording |
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: Greenshot and LICEcap. How we grade
Where they differ
- Greenshot also covers screenshots.
- LICEcap also covers screen recording.
In commonFree planWindowsmacOSOpen source
At a glance
| Greenshot | LICEcap | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store) | Free |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Made by | Thomas Braun, Jens Klingen and Robin Krom | Cockos Incorporated |
| Price read from | getgreenshot.org | cockos.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
LICEcap
- The page lists only GIF and LCF output; MP4 export and audio recording are not mentioned.
- The latest release listed is v1.32 from June 2022.
- The macOS build is listed for macOS 10.7 through 12.x; newer versions are not named.
- Editing is limited to a title frame and inserted text messages.
Key features
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.
LICEcap
- Record to GIF or LCF
- Save directly to an animated GIF, or to the native LCF format, which allows higher compression and more than 256 colors per frame.
- Movable capture frame
- Move the capture frame while recording, so the recorded area can follow what you are showing.
- Pause and text messages
- Pause and restart a recording with a global hotkey, and insert text messages or a basic title frame.
- Mouse presses and elapsed time
- Optionally show mouse button presses and the elapsed time in the recording.
- Frame-rate limit
- Set a maximum recording frame rate to throttle CPU use on slower machines.
Plans
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.
LICEcap
Free$0
GPL free software for Windows and macOS; each download package includes the source.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Greenshot or LICEcap?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Greenshot starts at $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store), and LICEcap is free.
Which has a free plan, Greenshot or LICEcap?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Greenshot and LICEcap have a free plan.
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.