Greenshot vs Snipaste (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Greenshot and Snipaste 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 whether you care more about the free plan, where Greenshot grades higher, or features, where Snipaste does.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money, 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
Snipaste
Screenshot tool that pins images to the screen as floating windows
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 Snipaste if
- Fits if you want to pin a screenshot beside your work while you type
- Works for personal use on Windows, Mac or Linux
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if it is for business use, as that needs a PRO licence
- Watch out: new features arrive only in PRO, and 1.x stays at version 1.16.2
- Watch out: a licence doesn't cover new major versions, and the vendor only promises a discount for a future 3.0
- Tight if you want to use it on several machines: 3 devices is $19.99 and the Microsoft Store licence is a separate purchase
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAGreenshotVery good | 3.0GPASnipasteVery 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 for personal use, and PRO is $8.99 one-time for one device, far under a year of this category's typical subscription. |
| 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. | BThe core snipping, pinning and annotation tools are free for personal use. Business use needs PRO or the older 1.x line. |
| 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. | BSnipping with UI detection, pinning, annotation and a portable build. Nothing in the listing is missing from the job, though some capture extras are PRO. |
| 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. | BInstall and press a hotkey, with nothing to set up. 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, macOS and Linux, computers only. No phone or web version. |
| Best for | free Windows screenshots with a built-in editor | pinning screenshots to the screen |
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 Snipaste. How we grade
Where they differ
- Greenshot is open source, according to its own site.
- Snipaste can be bought with a one-time purchase.
At a glance
| Greenshot | Snipaste | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store) | $8.99 one-time, 1 device |
| 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. | Snipaste 2 is free for personal use only, with bug-fix updates and the core snipping, pinning and annotation tools. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Thomas Braun, Jens Klingen and Robin Krom | Snipaste |
| Price read from | getgreenshot.org | snipaste.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.
Snipaste
- Free for personal use only; business use needs a Snipaste 2 PRO license or the older 1.x line.
- Snipaste 1.x stays at version 1.16.2, and new features arrive only in PRO.
- A license does not cover new major versions; the vendor promises a discount for a future 3.0.
- The Windows-only Microsoft Store license and the desktop license are separate purchases.
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.
Snipaste
- Snip with UI detection
- Capture a region with automatic detection of windows and interface elements, pixel-level control, a color picker and multi-screen support.
- Pin as floating windows
- Paste a screenshot, clipboard text, HTML, color info or an image file as a floating window you can zoom, rotate, flip and make translucent.
- Annotation tools
- Free includes rectangles, ellipses, arrows, pencil, marker, text, mosaic, blur and eraser; PRO adds counters, magnify and re-editing.
- PRO capture extras
- PRO adds text extraction, QR and barcode decoding, super-snip with no hotkey, fixed-ratio capture and rounded-corner screenshots.
- Portable and customizable
- Portable builds run without installing, with theme color, tray icon and hotkey settings; PRO adds more hotkey bindings.
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.
Snipaste
Free$0
Personal use only. Includes region capture, window detection, pinned image windows and basic annotation.
PRO, 1 device$8.99
one-time, 1 device (Windows, Mac or Linux)
Business use allowed, plus the PRO features such as text extraction, super-snip and more annotation tools.
PRO, 3 devices$19.99
one-time, up to 3 devices (Windows, Mac or Linux)
Same PRO license for three devices; includes minor-version updates, with a discount promised for a future version 3.
PRO, Microsoft Store$19.99
one-time, up to 10 Windows 10 or 11 devices
Tied to your Microsoft account. It is a separate license from the desktop version and not interchangeable with it.
Ways to pay less
Greenshot
No public discounts listed.
Snipaste
- Other savings
20% off the second license type
Buyers of the desktop or the Microsoft Store license can email a receipt for 20% off the other version.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Greenshot or Snipaste?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Greenshot starts at $1.99 one-time for the Mac version (US Mac App Store), and Snipaste starts at $8.99 one-time, 1 device.
Which has a free plan, Greenshot or Snipaste?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Greenshot and Snipaste have a free plan.
Which platforms do Greenshot and Snipaste run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Snipaste lists a Linux app. Both list macOS and Windows apps. 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.