Bandicam vs ShareX Comparison 2026
Bandicam skips the screenshot and upload workflow entirely and focuses on recording video and games at a high frame rate, free with a watermark or under a $33.26 annual licence. ShareX captures a region, a window or a scrolling page, records short video and GIFs, then runs whatever happens next automatically: annotate, upload, copy the link back, all for free with no account. Bandicam adds macOS support. ShareX only runs on Windows.
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Bandicam | ShareX | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $33.26 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Not stated |
Bandicam
A recorder sold as a licence
Bandicam records the screen, a game at high frame rates or an external capture device, and it is one of the few recorders still sold outright rather than rented. The free download records with a watermark and a time limit on each clip. A licence removes both, and the perpetual one keeps working on the version it was bought for.
Our note
OBS Studio does most of this for nothing and is the better default. Bandicam earns its money on the game-capture path, and for anybody who would rather buy software once than subscribe to it.
ShareX
Screen capture and recording, open source
ShareX captures a region, a window, a scrolling page or the whole screen, records video and GIFs, and then runs whatever steps you set afterwards: annotate, upload, copy the link back. It has been in development for eighteen years and it uploads to a long list of destinations, including one you host yourself. Windows only, free, and it wants no account.
Our note
For capture and share on Windows nothing paid does the job better, and the custom uploader support is genuinely rare. The moment a recording has to look edited rather than raw, it is the wrong tool.
Why people weigh these two
- ShareX instead of Bandicam
- Open source screen capture and recording, entirely free; the obvious first stop before paying Bandicam's $33.26 licence.
- Bandicam instead of ShareX
- Bandicam sells a licence with a free tier to try first, starting at $33.26, for someone who wants a paid safety net ShareX's free tool does not offer.
Which one should you pick
Pick Bandicam for recording a game at a high frame rate or a long session you want saved as a clean local file, on Windows or macOS. The free version watermarks every clip; removing that costs $33.26 a year or $53.90 for a version owned outright. It has no upload-and-share workflow at all, so a screenshot habit is better served by ShareX.
Pick ShareX for screenshots and quick captures that need to go somewhere immediately: a scrolling page, a region, a GIF, uploaded and linked without opening a second app. It is free, open source and asks for no account, and its custom uploader support, including your own server, is rare even among paid tools. It runs on Windows only.
Common questions
- Is ShareX or Bandicam free?
- ShareX is fully free with no paid tier, no account and no watermark. Bandicam's free download works too, but every clip carries a watermark and a time limit until you pay $33.26 a year or buy a perpetual licence for $53.90.
- Does Bandicam upload and share captures like ShareX does?
- No. ShareX chains steps automatically: capture, annotate, upload, copy the link, including to your own server. Bandicam saves a local video file and stops there, with no upload workflow built in.
- Can I run ShareX on a Mac?
- No. ShareX is Windows only. Bandicam covers both Windows and macOS, so a Mac user who wants this kind of capture has to use Bandicam or another tool entirely, since ShareX is not an option.
- Which is better for recording a game, ShareX or Bandicam?
- Bandicam. It hooks the graphics API to record games at a high frame rate without dragging down performance, which is its specific strength. ShareX records video and GIFs too, but it is built around screenshots and after-capture workflows rather than sustained high frame rate game footage.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.