Kap vs ShareX (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Kap grades higher than ShareX: 3.0 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
Kap grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Kap if
- Fits if you record short Mac screen clips and share them as GIFs
- Works for people comfortable getting help from a GitHub issue tracker
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Windows or Linux, as it is Mac only
- Not for you if your Mac is older than macOS 12
- Too light for you if you want to edit video beyond trimming
- Watch out: support goes through GitHub issues, not a paid channel
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
| 3.0GPAKapVery good | 2.6GPAShareXGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source. No paid plan is listed. | 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 whole app is free, with no limit or trial. | 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 | CRecording with audio, click highlights, trimming and four export formats, plus share plugins. It does the recording job, but the site describes no full video editing. | 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 | BInstall, pick an area and record. Nothing to set up, though no store rating is on record. | 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 | CMac only, Apple silicon and Intel. No Windows, Linux or phone 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 Mac screen recorder that exports GIFs | 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: Kap and ShareX. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kap has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ShareX has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Kap scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other desktop utilities on the chart, none scores higher than Kap 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 also covers screenshots and file sharing.
In commonFree planOpen sourceScreen recording
At a glance
| Kap | ShareX | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | None | 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 | Wulkano | ShareX Team |
| Price read from | getkap.co | getsharex.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Kap
- Mac only; there are no Windows, Linux or mobile versions.
- Requires macOS 12 or later.
- The site describes recording, trimming and export, not full video editing.
- Free and open source, so support runs through the GitHub project's issue tracker rather than a paid channel.
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
Kap
- Several export formats
- Export a recording as GIF, MP4, WebM or APNG, with optional audio.
- Click highlights and trimming
- Highlight mouse clicks while recording and trim the clip before exporting.
- Plugin sharing
- Plugins send recordings to Giphy, Streamable and Vercel; the site links the plugin projects on GitHub.
- Open source
- The code is public on GitHub under the MIT license, so anyone can read it, report issues or contribute.
- Apple silicon and Intel builds
- Separate downloads are offered for M1-class and Intel Macs; macOS 12 or later is required.
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
Kap
Free$0
Open-source under the MIT license, with downloads for Apple silicon and Intel Macs and no paid tier.
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, Kap or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Kap and ShareX are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Kap or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Kap and ShareX have a free plan.
Which platforms do Kap and ShareX run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Kap lists a macOS app and only ShareX lists 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.