ShareX vs Snagit Comparison 2026
ShareX is free forever, open source software that captures a region, a window or a scrolling page and chains whatever happens next, annotate, upload, copy the link, with no account and no paid tier at all. Snagit costs $39 a user a year with no monthly option, and adds templates that turn six screenshots into a document, step-numbered annotations and a starter library of royalty-free assets. ShareX is the free, scriptable tool for somebody who enjoys a settings screen. Snagit is the polished, supported version aimed at documentation as an actual job.
At a glance
- Only ShareX has a free tier.
Side by side
ShareX | Snagit | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $39 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Paid subscription |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Not stated | Annual only |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
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.
Snagit
The screenshot tool that grew an editor
Snagit is for the thousand small captures that are not worth opening a video editor for: a scrolling grab of a whole page, a numbered set of steps, an arrow pointing at the button somebody keeps missing. It records short video too, and hands off to Camtasia when a clip turns into a project. TechSmith has sold it for decades and it shows in the unglamorous places, like the templates that turn six screenshots into one document.
Why people weigh these two
- Snagit instead of ShareX
- Snagit pairs the screenshot with a built-in editor for marking it up afterward, starting at $39, a paid step up from ShareX's free capture-and-upload loop.
- ShareX instead of Snagit
- ShareX costs nothing and is open source, built for the same kind of small, frequent capture Snagit charges to do.
Which one should you pick
Choose ShareX if the budget is zero and Windows is the only platform that matters: custom uploaders send captures to your own server, and after-capture workflows chain annotation and upload without touching the mouse again. It has stayed free and ad-free through eighteen years of development, funded by donations, but Mac users cannot run it at all and the settings screen assumes a certain patience.
Choose Snagit if documentation is a real, recurring part of the job and a small yearly cost is not the obstacle: $39 a year, under four dollars a month, buys templates, step-numbered annotations and a starter asset library, on both macOS and Windows. It hands short video off to Camtasia rather than trying to edit it, so anybody who only wants ShareX's free scrolling capture and scripted uploads is not missing much by staying there.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper, ShareX or Snagit?
- ShareX, since it has no paid tier at all and costs nothing forever. Snagit is $39 a user a year with no monthly option, still cheap at under four dollars a month, but not free.
- Can Snagit upload captures to my own server like ShareX can?
- Not in the same way. ShareX's custom uploaders are built specifically for sending captures to your own server or storage bucket. Snagit is more self-contained, focused on annotation and templates rather than scripted destinations.
- Does ShareX run on a Mac?
- No, it is Windows only. Snagit runs on both macOS and Windows, which matters for a mixed-platform team or anybody who switches machines.
- Which one turns several screenshots into one document?
- Snagit does, with templates built for exactly that: six screenshots become one document without opening a design tool. ShareX has no equivalent templating feature; its strength is capture and scripted after-capture steps rather than document assembly.
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.