Shottr vs TextSniper

Shottr

• Designers and front-end developers who measure pixels and colors on screen
• Capturing long pages or chats as one scrolling screenshot
• Buyers who prefer a one-time license to a subscription

TextSniper

• Copying text out of videos, screenshots, scanned PDFs and slides
• Mac users who want text recognition that runs on the device
• Buyers who prefer a small one-time price to a subscription

Shottr

• Mac only, and the vendor calls a Windows or Linux version unlikely. Its pages disagree on the minimum macOS: 10.15 on the homepage, 12 in the knowledge base.
• The free version asks you to consider buying after 30 days, and commercial use requires a paid license.
• Shottr Cloud uploads are public to anyone with the URL and carry no storage guarantee. Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and FTP are not supported.
• The interface is not localized; the vendor says it is intentionally avoiding other languages for now.

TextSniper

• Mac only, requiring macOS Catalina or newer, and the languages it recognizes depend on the macOS version installed.
• There is no standalone trial: the vendor points to Setapp's free week and offers a 7-day money-back guarantee on direct purchases.
• The vendor says it can misread text with a lot of symbols, such as computer code.
• A license is bought once, but the vendor says major upgrades and features come at an additional upgrade cost.

Shottr

Scrolling screenshots

Captures a long web page or chat conversation as one image, in any app or window. A manual scrolling mode covers systems where automatic capture does not work.

Annotations and backdrops

Adds text, arrows, freehand drawings, highlights, spotlights and a magnifier callout, and the Backdrop tool sets a screenshot on a gradient with shadows and rounded corners.

Text recognition and QR codes

A hotkey lets you select an area of the screen; Shottr recognizes the text in it and copies it to the clipboard. The same feature reads QR codes.

Screen ruler and color picker

Arrow keys measure horizontal and vertical distances on a screenshot, and the Tab key copies the color under the cursor. A contrast checker supports WCAG 2.0 and APCA.

Pixelate, erase and pin

Hides parts of an image behind pixelation or removes them, and pins screenshots as floating, always-on-top borderless windows for reference.

Upload and link sharing

Uploads a screenshot to Shottr Cloud or any S3-compatible storage and copies its public URL. Shottr Cloud needs a free access token tied to your email.

TextSniper

Screen text capture

Press the shortcut, drag over any part of the screen, and the text inside the selection is recognized and copied to the clipboard, ready to paste into another app.

On-device recognition

The App Store listing says recognition runs on the device with no internet connection, and the privacy policy says screenshots and text are not stored or sent to outside servers.

QR code and barcode reader

Captures a QR code or barcode shown on screen and converts it to text. An option in the settings opens captured links automatically.

Text to speech

Has the Mac read recognized text aloud, with a dedicated shortcut for capturing text with speech switched on.

Languages by macOS version

English only on macOS Catalina, growing to more than 25 languages on recent macOS versions, with vertical Chinese, Japanese and Korean text recognized from macOS Sonoma.

Menu bar access and shortcuts

Runs from the menu bar without a Dock icon, and the capture shortcut can be changed. An iPhone or iPad camera can also be used to capture text and send it to the Mac.

Shottr

• Free$0

  Most features with no time limit. After 30 days the app starts asking you to consider upgrading.

• Basic Tier$12

  one-time purchase

  A license for one user on up to five computers. Required for commercial use; the vendor says the activated version gives a better overall experience.

• Friends Club$30

  one-time purchase

  Adds access to experimental features and better support. A Basic license cannot be upgraded to this tier.

TextSniper

• License for 1 Mac$7.99

  one-time purchase

  A direct license for a single Mac, sold through Gumroad. One button on the homepage still shows $6.99; the checkout price is $7.99.

• License for 3 Macs$9.99

  one-time purchase

  A direct license for up to three Macs, sold through Gumroad and described as suited to multi-device, home and office use.

• Unlimited License$9.99

  one-time purchase (US Mac App Store)

  The Mac App Store version. The homepage lists it at $11.99, but the US store listing shows $9.99.

• Setapp$14.99

  per month, through a Setapp membership

  TextSniper with the rest of the Setapp catalog, free for 7 days. Setapp also lists a TextSniper-only subscription from $6.00 a year.