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The best Lightshot alternatives for Mac are CleanShot X for power users, ScreenSnap Pro for polished sharing, and Monosnap or Greenshot for free, lightweight options.
Last time I checked, I had hundreds of screenshots on my Mac that took up a few gigabytes of storage space. After all, who doesn't rely on screenshot apps for work? My favorite tool was Lightshot, but as my projects grew bigger, I found myself needing something with more advanced features.
So, I tested dozens of Lightshot alternatives for Mac and narrowed it down to eight that actually hold up.
Below are the best Lightshot alternatives for Mac that I found. Some apps are great for quick, basic screenshots and sharing, while others are geared toward power users and content creators. The focus is on the most important features you would expect from a screenshot tool, like scrolling screenshots, screen recording, OCR (optical character recognition), annotation tools, cloud sharing, and how well each app fits into a modern Mac workflow.
Here's a quick overview of Lightshot vs. the top Mac alternatives before we go into details:
| App | What's best for? | And the cost? |
| Lightshot | Quick basic screenshots and sharing | Free |
| CleanShot X | Power users and content creators | Included with Setapp Membership ($8.99/month + tax) |
| Snagit | Tutorials and documentation | $39 per year for individuals |
| Monosnap | Budget-friendly screenshot workflows | Free plan; paid plans start at $2.5/month |
| SnapNDrag | Simple Mac-native screenshot management | Free plan; paid plan is $11.99 |
| Greenshot | Lightweight everyday screenshots | $1.99 one-time fee |
| ScreenSnap Pro | Professional-looking screenshots | One-time $29 via Setapp Marketplace |
| Microsoft OneNote | Screenshot organization and note-taking | Free plan, Microsoft 365 plans start at $19.99/year |
While I was testing these Lightshot alternatives, I also ran a few quick questions through How to Screenshot on Mac — mostly keyboard shortcuts I kept forgetting. It's a handy GPT assistant if you just need a fast answer instead of digging through settings.
CleanShot X is the best all-around Lightshot alternative for Mac. It combines screenshots, screen recording, and scrolling capture in one app
Using the app feels like using an app developed by Apple. In other words, it's super easy to use. For example, right after you take a screenshot, you’ll get a floating preview so you can immediately edit, copy, blur, highlight, or share the image. You won’t have to open another app because you can do everything inside CleanShot X.
And the scrolling capture feature lets you capture an entire website, long documents, chats, or spreadsheets in one image.
The app is a recommended pick if you’re making YouTube videos, tutorials, documentation, or social media content. If you’re a creator, you’ll love the recording tools because they remove all the annoying steps from making a video. You’ll get webcam overlays, click highlighting, keystroke display, internal audio recording, GIF export, and quick video trimming.
I'd recommend reading our full breakdown of how to take a scrolling screenshot if you want to see CleanShot X's capture in action.
Snagit is an app you should know about if your work involves creating tutorials, documentation, onboarding materials, or walkthroughs.
The best thing about this app is its editing and annotation tools. You take a screenshot and then add any elements you want, like arrows, highlights, effects, text, and step numbers. There's a cool feature called Step Capture that can automatically generate step-by-step guides from your clicks.
Additional features include scrolling capture, OCR text recognition, GIF creation, webcam recording, screen recording, and a searchable capture library. These tools can save you a lot of time if you spend your day explaining things visually.
Price: $39 per year billed yearly for individuals, and $48 for businesses
What if your budget is tight and you need a simple screenshot tool? Then Monosnap is an awesome pick for you. It comes with built-in cloud sharing and upload integrations. For quick walkthroughs or visual explanations, the app also includes screen recording and GIF recording.
Getting used to the app shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. You’ll be able to capture full screens, specific windows, or selected areas, then add arrows, text, blur effects, and highlights.
The app is also great for remote teams and client work because you can upload screenshots and videos directly to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and Monosnap Cloud Storage.
Price: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $2.5/month for non-commercial use and $5/month for commercial use.
SnapNDrag is a screenshot app with an interesting story behind it. It started as a simple tool for taking screenshots, but over time, it evolved into a screenshot manager with tools for annotation, organization, and sharing. The good thing is that it remained easy to use and lightweight.
As a Mac-native app, it works smoothly. You can capture screenshots, organize them into folders, annotate them, and drag them into other apps. It’s a solid option if you work with screenshots all day. Teachers, designers, researchers, support teams, and content creators have a lot to benefit from the app. You can also export files in different formats like PNG, JPEG, and TIFF.
Price: There's a free plan, and the paid plan is $11.99 on the Mac App Store
Greenshot is one of the most well-known screenshot tools out there. Its popularity comes from it being lightweight, free, open source, and packed with useful features.
It comes with all the regular features you’d expect from a screenshot app, like capturing selected areas, full screens, or specific windows using hotkeys. You can also add arrows, text boxes, highlights, speech bubbles, and blur effects right after taking a screenshot.
The app is especially popular among developers, project managers, support teams, and technical writers. Why? Because you can quickly copy screenshots to the clipboard, save them as files, send them via email, or export them to Office and other programs.
Price: $1.99 one-time fee
ScreenSnap Pro is the best Lightshot alternative for Mac if you want pro-looking screenshots without a subscription.
What if you need professional-looking screenshots? What if, to you, screenshots are not just simple bits of information you need to quickly share with a colleague? In that case, you need a tool like ScreenSnap Pro. It’s a newer screenshot app that’s ideal if you post screenshots on social media, share mockups with clients, create tutorials, or paste screenshots into tools like Slack and Jira.
What surprised me was how good the background feature looked straight out of the box. I didn't expect a one-time-purchase app to match the polish of subscription tools. You can take a screenshot and instantly place it on top of beautiful gradients and styled backgrounds. There are more than 160 backgrounds to choose from!
Apart from that, it also comes with annotation tools like arrows, blur, shapes, text, emojis, and highlights. You can also do screen recording, GIF recording, OCR text extraction, drag-and-drop sharing, and more.
Here’s also the guide to the best screen recorders for Mac, if you need video on top of static screenshots.
Need screenshots that look client-ready, not just functional? ScreenSnap Pro adds 160+ styled backgrounds, annotation, and OCR — no subscription required. Get ScreenSnap Pro standalone via Setapp Marketplace — one-time $29, no membership needed.
You might be wondering: what is a note-taking tool doing on this list? Well, it turns out that Microsoft OneNote can be a great fit if your workflow involves constantly collecting screenshots for research, work notes, tutorials, studying, brainstorming, or project management. Instead of just taking a screenshot and forgetting about it, you can organize everything into notebooks, sections, pages, and subpages.
It’s widely used by students, office workers, researchers, and teams. You can drag screenshots anywhere on a page, write notes around them, highlight parts of images, attach files, create checklists, and sync everything across devices.
Another great feature is OCR. OneNote can recognize text inside screenshots and images, which makes searching through old notes much easier.
And we’ve come to the end of the list! Seven awesome screenshot tools, some built for simple use and others for more advanced workflows. But which one should you choose? Well, that depends on your needs and the way you work.
If you need something lightweight, apps like Monosnap or Greenshot may be enough. If you create tutorials, documentation, or content for clients and social media, tools like CleanShot X, Snagit, or ScreenSnap Pro offer more advanced features. And if you need a tool that fits into your research or note-taking workflow, then Microsoft OneNote is a great choice.
Found your next screenshot app? It's already on Setapp. CleanShot X, and 270+ other hand-picked Mac apps — one membership, one trial. Start My 7-Day Trial. Or get ScreenSnap Pro standalone if you only need one app.
The best screenshot app for Mac for you depends on what you need. CleanShot X is a great option that combines screenshots, screen recording, scrolling capture, annotations, and OCR. If your needs are simpler, try Monosnap or Greenshot.
If you want a tool that's similar to Lightshot, then Greenshot and Monosnap are the closest alternatives. But if you want more advanced tools like scrolling capture and recording, CleanShot X is a stronger option.
Tools like GoFullPage and Awesome Screenshot are popular choices because they can capture full webpages directly inside Chrome or Safari. But if you regularly take screenshots outside your browser too, a dedicated Mac app like CleanShot X or ScreenSnap Pro will give you far more flexibility and features.
Yes, Lightshot works on Mac. Just keep in mind that the macOS version is more limited than the modern screenshot apps available today. Some of the reasons many users switch to apps like CleanShot X, Monosnap, or ScreenSnap Pro are better performance and more features.
Yes, there are plenty of great alternatives depending on what you need. CleanShot X is one of the best all-around choices for Mac users, while Snagit is great for tutorials and documentation. If you’re on a budget, Monosnap and Greenshot are solid, lightweight options that still cover the basics really well.
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