# Snipaste review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Screenshot tool that pins images to the screen as floating windows Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Snipaste is a snipping tool for Windows, macOS and Linux that can also pin a screenshot, or clipboard text, colors or images, back onto the screen as a floating window. Snipaste 2 is free for personal use; business use needs a one-time PRO license, which also unlocks features added after the 1.x line. - **Category:** Desktop Utilities - **Made by:** Snipaste - **Website:** https://www.snipaste.com/ - **Runs on:** Windows, macOS, Linux - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if it is for business use, as that needs a PRO licence. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Snipaste has a free plan, and paid plans start at $8.99 one-time, 1 device. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Snipaste 2 is free for personal use only, with bug-fix updates and the core snipping, pinning and annotation tools. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | Read from https://www.snipaste.com/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Snipaste before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **20% off the second license type** (Other savings): Buyers of the desktop or the Microsoft Store license can email a receipt for 20% off the other version. Source: https://docs.snipaste.com/pro ## Key features - **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. ## Good for - Developers and designers who pin reference images beside their work - Keyboard-driven screenshot capture on Windows, Mac or Linux - Personal users, who can stay on the free version ## Worth knowing - 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 3.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Snipaste snips the screen and pins screenshots, text or colors as floating windows. But Snipaste 2 is free for personal use only, new features arrive in PRO, and a licence doesn't cover a future major version. - **Value for money: A.** Free 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: B.** The core snipping, pinning and annotation tools are free for personal use. Business use needs PRO or the older 1.x line. - **Features: B.** Snipping 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: B.** Install and press a hotkey, with nothing to set up. No store rating is on record. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Windows, macOS and Linux, computers only. No phone or web version. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Snipaste's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among desktop utilities - Snipaste's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 154 of the 186 other desktop utilities we grade, and level with 27. - It stands best on value for money (A, above 55 of 186) and worst on platforms and integrations (C, above 111). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/utilities ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Nothing Snipaste does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 3 things listed below take a company. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 3.0 is higher than 154 of the 186 other desktop utilities we grade. It costs $8.99, paid once. - You could not: Capture tools hooked into the operating system. - You could not: Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Listary **Tags:** Screenshots, Keyboard-first, One-time purchase, Works offline ## Alternatives - [PicPick](https://toolgpa.com/tools/picpick): Windows screen capture, image editor and design tools in one app. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/picpick-vs-snipaste) - [ShareX](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sharex): Free, open-source screenshot and screen recording for Windows. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/sharex-vs-snipaste) - [Greenshot](https://toolgpa.com/tools/greenshot): Free, open-source screenshot tool for Windows with an editor. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/greenshot-vs-snipaste) - [Shottr](https://toolgpa.com/tools/shottr): Small Mac screenshot tool with annotation, OCR and a ruler. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/shottr-vs-snipaste) - [Lightshot](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lightshot): Screenshot tool for selecting an area and sharing a link. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/lightshot-vs-snipaste) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.snipaste.com/ - https://docs.snipaste.com/pro Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/snipaste Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).