Shootout: Free Screenshot Apps Reviewed!
Quick, what’s the built-in OS X screen capture keyboard shortcut? All I know is that it involves twisting your fingers like a pretzel and hitting at least three keys at the same time. It also saves in a weird format as a default, and doesn’t have many options.
This is why I’m glad that there’s so much high-quality freeware in the Mac world. If you have serious screen capture demands, you should go right ahead and buy the market leader, the $29 Snapz Pro X 2 from Ambrosia Software (non-video version). If you only need to capture web sites, you can use the free Paparazzi. Otherwise, you may find that one of the four free programs reviewed here meets your needs (all four in one chart are in this graphic.)
| Applications | ScreenCaptureX | CaptureMe |
|---|---|---|
| Current version and last update | 1.4, PowerPC, March 2007 | 1.4.1, Universal, March 2007 |
| OS X version required | 10.3.9 or higher | 10.4 or higher |
| File formats | JPG, PNG, PICT | JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF |
| Resizes images? | No | Yes, manually for each capture |
| Auto-naming and increments (file01, file02) | Custom name; increments | Always “CM Capture”; increments |
| Save location | Anywhere automatically; customizable | Desktop automatically; any folder if set for each capture |
| Keyboard Shortcuts? | No | Yes |
| Capture area | Selection, window or screen; delay option | Selection or screen; delay option |
| Captures stills from DVD Player? | Yes | Yes |
| Unique Features | Add caption | Records 1-minute screen movies |
ScreenCaptureX from SlidesNow! is a bare-bones screen capture program. Its VersionTracker listing claims it works with Intel Macs, but OS X identified the program as PowerPC. It may run fine on Intel Macs, but it’s not Universal. It’s the only one of these programs that saves to the PICT format, and it can add a caption below your captured area. It does also run under Panther.
CaptureMe from Chimoosoft is the granddaddy of the surviving free screen capture programs, first appearing in July of 2002. It was completely rewritten in Cocoa/OpenGL in the fall of 2006. It’s donationware, so you’ll get a nag screen every few launches asking for a $15 donation. It gives you a translucent window to resize and click in to capture; your file can be automatically saved to your desktop. You may also be interested in its screen movie feature, or its support of GIF files.
| Applications | SnapNDrag | InstantShot |
|---|---|---|
| Current version and last update | 2.2, Universal, April 2007 | 2.4, Universal, March 2007 |
| OS X version required | 10.3.9 or higher | 10.4 or higher |
| File formats | JPG, PNG, TIFF | JPG, PNG, TIFF |
| Resizes images? | Only in $5 Pro version | Yes, can be set for all captures |
| Auto-naming and increments (file01, file02) | Custom name; increments | Custom name; increments |
| Save location | Manual save to any folder for each capture | Anywhere automatically; customizable |
| Keyboard Shortcuts? | Only in $5 Pro version | Yes, customizable |
| Capture area | Selection, window or screen; delay option | Selection, window, or screen; delay and timed multiple shot options |
| Captures stills from DVD Player? | Yes | Yes |
| Unique Features | Time stamp; integration with other Yellow Mug program | Timed multiple shots; hide desktop or show background window; restrain image width; no dock icon (lives in menubar); very customizable |
SnapNDrag from Yellow Mug Software has you click a button to create the screenshot, then click another one to save the file. SnapNDrag keeps a gallery of all your screenshots in a history drawer, and you can drag any of those icons out to another location. If you want keyboard shortcuts, resizing capability, menubar access, or just to get rid of the text ad across the bottom of the window, you’ll need the $5 Pro version. There are plenty of hooks into Yellow Mug’s other products for framing, cropping, and file sending, which can be removed from the toolbar if you don’t have them. It does work in Panther. It’s a decent enough program, but I found its metaphor awkward and too manual.
InstantShot! from DigitalWaters takes up an icon’s worth of space in your menu bar, and doesn’t appear in your dock at all. You can activate InstantShot! from the menu bar, or through user-set keyboard shortcuts. The file is automatically saved anywhere based on your preferences. As you can see from the feature chart, it has the most features and user-set preferences of any of these free tools.
InstantShot! will take a snapshot and have it named and saved automatically with the fewest keystrokes. It’s my favorite of these programs, and the only one I continue to use.
There are also lots of programs that improve OS X’s built-in screen capture features, but why put lipstick on a pig? For an outstanding free screen capture program that’s easy to use but has lots of options and custom features, you won’t go wrong with the very impressive InstantShot!.
“It also saves in a weird format as a default”
PNG is a weird format? Since when? I guess 10.3 and lower had PDF as the default, and that is sort of weird. The shortcut keys are not hard to remember either. I’d suggest that the benefits of auto-resizing and automatic multi-grabs is worth using a 3rd party app, but otherwise there’s little reason to replace something that’s already built in.
hey, you forgot about the amazing “screenshot plus” widget – and also the free flysketch app that functions as a screencapture tool with way cool advance features for marking up captures with text and boxes on the fly!
yea the screenshot plus widget is what i use it has most of those stuff and is very wonderful! Although this review was probably made as reviewing screenshot applications not widgets even if i prefer Screenshot Plus as my tool for screen captures..check it out. Ill check out CaptureMe because clicking to capture the window behind it and resizing the capture is a pretty kewl feature …but ill stick with Screenshot Plus for sure!
Capture (Widget) http://vanillasoap.com/widgets/ is an extremely powerful capture utility. Unfortunately it’s PPC so has a bit of lag on Intel computers.
It captures JPEG, Tiff, PNG, GIF, JP2, Pict, BMP, QTIF, PSD , PDF and clipboard.
It allows you to choose where the captures will be saved, the quality of the graphics and the size (dimensions) of the capture.
Brilliant product – I only hope the soon offer a Universal Binary in the near future.
The “market leader” doesn’t mean it’s good. Snapz Pro is sooo problematic. I would so much rather use the buiolt-in screen shot method, or a freeware thing before using Ambrosia’s POS software.
How can you forget about Copernicus?! http://danicsoft.com/projects/copernicus/
This is one area where paying for more than you need is worth it. I’ve tried all the apps mentioned, and more. NONE come even close to the stability, features and reliability as SnapZ Pro.
I don’t like paying for the video version (it’s expensive), and I don’t like that they haven’t updated SnapZ in ages. But it works flawlessly EVERY TIME even on my MacPro. You would think it would have problems with Intel Macs, but it doesn’t.