Just Color Picker vs ShareX (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Just Color Picker grades higher than ShareX: 3.2 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
Just Color Picker grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Just Color Picker
Free portable color picker and editor for Windows and macOS
Free
Which one is for you
Pick Just Color Picker if
- Fits if you want a free picker that shows several color formats at once
- Works for people who need to check text readability against a color
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Linux or a phone, as neither is listed
- Not for you if you want screen freeze on a Mac, since freeze and click-to-capture are Windows only
- Watch out: on macOS it needs the Screen Recording permission and keeps settings in a hidden ~/.config folder
- Watch out: macOS needs 64-bit 10.8 or later
Pick ShareX if
- Fits if you capture, mark up and share screenshots many times a day on Windows
- Works for bug reports and how-to docs that need a short clip or a GIF
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're on a Mac or Linux, as it's Windows only
- Not for you if you want sharing to work with no setup, since you choose and configure each upload destination
- Tight if you need OCR in many languages, because it only reads the ones installed in Windows
- Watch out: scrolling capture can fail or come out wrong on pages with animated or hover-triggered parts
- Watch out: uploads go to third-party services you pick, so each one's own terms and privacy policy apply
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAJust Color PickerVery good | 2.6GPAShareXGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFreeware, with no registration and no personal data collected, per the vendor. | AIt costs nothing and anyone can download and run it. Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 licence, with no advertisements, and the team says donations are its only source of income. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe full program is free with no cap or trial clock. | AThe complete app is free and needs no account, as a setup or portable download, or from the Microsoft Store or Steam. There's no paid edition to grow into and no cap. |
| Features | BMany color formats, magnifier, color list, editors, scheme generator, readability check and gradient tool. The listing names no gap in the core job. | CScreen capture is its job: region, window, monitor and scrolling captures, video and GIF recording, an editor with arrows and blur, task chains ending in an upload, plus OCR and a ruler. Its docs admit scrolling capture can fail on animated pages. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating is on record, but the Windows build is portable and needs no installation. | CNo store rating on record, and much of it is what you set up: the after-capture chain and custom uploaders, shared as .sxcu files, are yours to configure. A plain screenshot is a hotkey away, but the rest takes configuring. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWindows 7 to 11 and macOS 10.8 or later, but computers only. No phone, web or Linux version. | DWindows only. It uploads to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Cloudflare R2 and YouTube, and custom uploaders reach services that aren't built in. Nothing for Mac or Linux. |
| Best for | a free color picker for Windows and Mac | free screenshots on Windows that file and share themselves |
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: Just Color Picker and ShareX. How we grade
Price against what you get
Just Color Picker has no paid plan and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ShareX has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Just Color Picker scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other desktop utilities on the chart, none scores higher than Just Color Picker for less, and none scores higher than ShareX for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- ShareX is open source, according to its own site.
- ShareX also covers screen recording, screenshots and file sharing.
In commonFree planWindows
At a glance
| Just Color Picker | ShareX | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The vendor describes it as 100% freeware with no registration and no personal data collection. | The whole app is free and open source, with no advertisements and no account. The team says donations are its only source of income. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Made by | AnnyStudio.com | ShareX Team |
| Price read from | annystudio.com | getsharex.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Just Color Picker
- Supports 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 to 11 and 64-bit macOS 10.8 or later; no Linux version is listed.
- Screen freeze and click-to-capture are Windows only.
- On macOS it needs the Screen Recording permission and stores settings in a hidden ~/.config folder.
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.
Key features
Just Color Picker
- Color code formats
- HEX, RGB, HSB/HSV, HSL, HWB, CMY, CMYK, Oklab and TColor.
- Magnifier and keyboard control
- 3x, 9x and 15x magnifier, with keyboard control of the cursor for precision.
- Color list
- Save and catalog picked colors, add comments, and open or save Photoshop .aco and GIMP .gpl palettes.
- Editors and schemes
- RGB, HSV and HSL editors, color wheels, a harmonious scheme generator and gradients between two colors.
- Readability check
- A text tool for judging font and background color combinations.
- Screen freeze and point lock
- Screen freeze is Windows only; point lock watches the color at a fixed screen spot.
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.
Plans
Just Color Picker
Just Color Picker$0
Freeware; the Windows version is a portable app and the macOS version comes as a disk image.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Just Color Picker or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Just Color Picker and ShareX are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Just Color Picker or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Just Color Picker and ShareX have a free plan.
Which platforms do Just Color Picker and ShareX run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Just Color Picker 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.