ScreenToGif vs ShareX

ScreenToGif

• Short GIFs for bug reports, documentation and tutorials
• Windows users who want a free recorder with a built-in editor
• Removing or annotating individual frames before exporting

ShareX

• Windows users who capture, annotate and share screenshots many times a day
• People who upload captures to their own storage or a self-hosted service
• Recording short clips or GIFs for bug reports and documentation

ScreenToGif

• Windows only: it needs Windows 10 or 11 and the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime or newer.
• The developer describes it as a quick, small recorder and recommends other software for recordings longer than a few minutes.
• The developer's site now marks ScreenToGif as legacy and presents a newer app, N-Studio, as its successor.
• It is a one-developer project supported by donations and sponsors.

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.

ScreenToGif

Screen recorder

A hollow window is placed over the area to capture and can snap to another window. The frame rate is set from 1 to 60 fps, and the frame can be moved while recording.

Webcam recorder

Captures the video feed from a webcam chosen from the connected video devices; resizing the window changes the size of the recording.

Board recorder

A canvas for drawing with a pen whose color and tip size can be changed. Strokes are recorded automatically as they are drawn.

Frame-based editor

Shows every frame of a recording so unwanted ones can be removed, and adds annotations such as captions and free drawing. It can also import GIFs and videos.

Export to GIF, APNG, video, PSD or PNG

A finished project is saved as an animated GIF or APNG, a video, a PSD file or PNG images, and single frames can be exported as images.

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.

ScreenToGif

• ScreenToGif$0

  The complete app, downloaded from the developer's site or GitHub, or installed from the Microsoft Store, Chocolatey or FossHub.

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.