MacShot - free, open-source screenshot tool for macOS that actually replaces CleanShot X
I've been using macOS for years and the built-in screenshot tool has always felt half-finished - no annotation, no scroll capture, no quick upload. CleanShot X fixes all of that but costs $29+/year. Shottr is great but nags you to pay.
So I built my own. But with even more features. Already at 380 stars on GitHub in 2 weeks.
MacShot is a native Swift + AppKit screenshot & screen recording tool. Fully free, open source (GPLv3), no telemetry, no account, no nag screens. Ever.
Here's what it does:
Capture
- Global hotkey (Cmd+Shift+X) freezes screen -> select region -> annotate -> copy/save/upload
- Window snap detection (hover and click to capture any window)
- Scroll capture - auto-scrolls and stitches into one tall image
- Multi-monitor support, full-screen capture, capture delay (3/5/10/30s)
18 Annotation Tools
- Arrow (5 styles), Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, Pencil, Marker/Highlighter
- Text with rich formatting (bold, italic, alignment, background color)
- Numbered labels (auto-incrementing), Emoji stamps
- Pixelate, Blur, Smart Erase (samples surrounding color for invisible redaction)
- Pixel ruler, 2x Magnifier loupe, Color sampler
- Rotation, bezier curve bending on arrows/lines, line styles (solid/dashed/dotted)
Screen Recording
- MP4 (up to 120fps) or GIF
- System audio + microphone capture
- Mouse click highlighting
- Built-in video editor for trimming before export
Smart Features
- Auto-redact PII (emails, phone numbers, SSNs, API keys, credit cards) in one click
- OCR with translation to 30+ languages
- QR/barcode detection with decoded payload
- Face & people detection for auto-blurring
- Background removal (macOS 14+)
Output & Upload
- PNG, JPEG, HEIC, WebP with quality control
- One-click upload to Google Drive, imgbb, or any S3-compatible service (R2, AWS, MinIO)
- Beautify mode - 30 gradient background styles including mesh gradients
- Floating thumbnail after capture, pin screenshots on screen, screenshot history
Performance
- ~8 MB memory at idle. Lives in your menu bar, no dock icon
- Pure Swift + AppKit - no Electron, no web views
- macOS 12.3+, Apple Silicon & Intel
Install with Homebrew:
brew install sw33tlie/macshot/macshot
Or grab the DMG from the GitHub releases page.
GitHub: https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot
Website: https://macshot.io
I'd love feedback - especially on what features you'd want next. Been shipping updates almost daily.