ShareX vs Snipaste (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Snipaste 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
ShareX grades higher on the free plan. Snipaste grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Snipaste
Screenshot tool that pins images to the screen as floating windows
Which one is for you
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
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
| 2.6GPAShareXGood | 3.0GPASnipasteVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | 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 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. | BThe core snipping, pinning and annotation tools are free for personal use. Business use needs PRO or the older 1.x line. |
| Features | 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. | 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 | 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. | BInstall and press a hotkey, with nothing to set up. No store rating is on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | CWindows, macOS and Linux, computers only. No phone or web version. |
| Best for | free screenshots on Windows that file and share themselves | 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: ShareX and Snipaste. How we grade
Where they differ
- ShareX is open source, according to its own site.
- Snipaste can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- ShareX also covers screen recording and file sharing.
At a glance
| ShareX | Snipaste | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $8.99 one-time, 1 device |
| Free plan | The whole app is free and open source, with no advertisements and no account. The team says donations are its only source of income. | 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 | ShareX Team | Snipaste |
| Price read from | getsharex.com | snipaste.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
ShareX
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, ShareX or Snipaste?
As of Nov 13, 2026, ShareX is free, and Snipaste starts at $8.99 one-time, 1 device.
Which has a free plan, ShareX or Snipaste?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both ShareX and Snipaste have a free plan.
Which platforms do ShareX and Snipaste run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Snipaste lists macOS and Linux apps. 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.