LICEcap vs ShareX (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, LICEcap 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
LICEcap 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.
LICEcap
Lightweight free tool that records a screen area to an animated GIF
Free
Which one is for you
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
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
| 3.0GPALICEcapVery good | 2.6GPAShareXGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree software under the GPL. No paid edition 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 program is free, with the source included in each download. | 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 | 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. | 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 | BMove the frame over the 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 | CWindows and macOS, computers only. No Linux, phone or web 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 | quick screen-to-GIF recording | 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: LICEcap and ShareX. How we grade
Price against what you get
LICEcap 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.
LICEcap scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other desktop utilities on the chart, none scores higher than LICEcap 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 planWindowsOpen sourceScreen recording
At a glance
| LICEcap | 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 | Cockos Incorporated | ShareX Team |
| Price read from | cockos.com | getsharex.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
LICEcap
Free$0
GPL free software for Windows and macOS; each download package includes the source.
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, LICEcap or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both LICEcap and ShareX are free to use.
Which has a free plan, LICEcap or ShareX?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both LICEcap and ShareX have a free plan.
Which platforms do LICEcap and ShareX run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only LICEcap 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.