Productivity Tools

5 Best Alternatives to Windows Snipping Tool

windows snipping tool

Are you a Windows user looking for a highly-rated, multi-use snipping tool as an alternative to Windows Snipping Tool? Fortunately for you, there are numerous apps like Snipping Tool available with a variety of special features and services. You can find snipping tools for Windows with cloud storage, image editing tools, screen recording capabilities, and integrations with other productivity and messaging apps. Use our guide below to find the right Windows snipping tool for your needs and budget. 

Native Snipping Tools for Windows

First, let’s learn how to use Windows Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch. These clipping tools are automatically installed on your Windows PC. We will discuss the uses and features of both snipping tools as well as their drawbacks. If you already know about Windows Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch and are looking for snip tool alternatives, skip to the next section.

Windows Snipping Tool

Windows Snipping Tool is free snipping tool software that lets you take screenshots, edit your snips, and share them with others. You can find Snipping Tool through your Windows search bar or by adding it as a shortcut. You can take rectangle snips of a specific part of your screen, a single window, or your full screen, or you can take free-form snips that can be of any shape. Screen capture can also be delayed by up to 10 seconds so you can switch to the screen you want to snip.

To use Windows Snipping Tool, simply drag your cursor over the portion of your screen that you wish to capture. Once you make your snip, the tool opens an editing screen where you can use a pen, highlighter, cropping tool, ruler, or protractor. If you have a touchscreen device, you can enable touch writing with your finger or pen. Your snip can then be saved to your computer, shared with a nearby device, or sent via email or another app.

Snip & Sketch: Snipping Tool for Windows 10

snip & sketch logo

Microsoft introduced a snip tool for Windows 10 called Snip & Sketch. Snip & Sketch contains all the same features as the new Windows Snipping Tool on Windows 11. However, Snip & Sketch is not on Windows 11. If you have Windows 10, then you can use either Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch. Keep in mind that Windows 10 Snipping Tool does not have as many features as Windows 11 Snipping Tool or Snip & Sketch.

One of the biggest drawbacks with both Windows Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch is their lack of cloud storage capabilities. If you take several screenshots every day, then your desktop screen can fill up rather quickly with files. It can also prove time-consuming to sort screenshots or find them if you need quick access. Additionally, Windows’ snipping tools do not include screen recording capabilities or any integrations with work productivity apps.

Overall, Windows Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch are good free snipping tools for users who make the occasional snip for personal reasons but poor Windows snipping tools for businesses that rely on quick and efficient screenshot editing, storage, security, and sharing to communicate effectively with customers and team members. 

Here is our list of the 5 best snipping tools for Windows.

Picking the Best Alternative to Snipping Tool on Windows

Droplr 

Best for businesses and enterprise customers looking for a high-resolution snipping tool that includes cloud storage, enterprise-level security, and screen recording for a low cost.

droplr logo

Droplr is a highly-rated, low-priced snipping tool for Windows that also includes screen recording and GIF creation. Droplr saves screenshots and recordings directly to the cloud and creates a short link for your snip that can be instantly shared with others. All of your snips are displayed on your online Droplr account and can be sorted using boards and tags. You can also change the privacy settings for your snips, boards, and tags to limit access. Best of all, Droplr includes enterprise-level security with encryption and SSO. 

Droplr includes over a dozen integrations so that you can drop your snips directly into various messaging and productivity apps. For example, you can integrate Droplr with Intercom to drop your snips directly into a chat with a client or with Slack to share snips instantly with co-workers. You can also integrate Droplr with Photoshop if you need more snipping tool mark-up options then the arrows, emoticons, text function, pencil, highlighter, and shapes included with Droplr. 

Droplr is available on Windows, Mac, and Chrome Extension. The snipping tool shortcut can be accessed on the menu bar of  your screen on Mac. Droplr offers a 3-day free trial for any of its products.

Droplr’s pricing begins at $6/month for individuals and includes all of the above core products along with 1TB of file storage, 500GB/month of bandwidth, and click analytics. Higher-priced plans increase the amount of file storage and bandwidth, add more analytics, and include custom branding. For large businesses that need unlimited file storage and bandwidth, single sign-on (SSO), or custom domains, you can contact the sales team for custom pricing.

Snagit 

Best for businesses that use visual instructions to convey information to customers and team members.

techsmith snagit

Snagit is a Window snipping tool developed specifically for businesses to create visual instructions. The snipping tool also lets users take panoramic shots that can capture scrolling webpages and create videos using screenshots and audio. Snagit can extract the text from a screenshot so that you can paste it in another document. The mark-up tool features a number of professional annotation tools such as preset and custom templates, step tools, and text editing.

Snagit’s snipping tool includes a dozen integrations with products such as Microsoft Suite, Google Drive, and Facebook to allow easy sharing. However, unlike Droplr, Snagit’s snipping tool does not integrate with most work productivity apps.

Snagit’s single license pricing is a $62.99 flat fee that lets you install it on two machines. Discount pricing is available for businesses with several users, education services, and governments and non-profits. Snagit’s 2022 upgrade costs an additional $34.99 for current users. Unlike Droplr, all your snips are saved to your local drive with limited free cloud storage that is upgradeable for $99.99 per year available through Snagit Screencast.

CloudApp 

Best for businesses and enterprise customers who are looking for a snipping tool alternative that integrates with the work apps they already use.

cloudapp logo

Similar to Droplr, CloudApp is a cloud-based snipping tool, screen recorder, and GIF maker. CloudApp uploads your screenshots and recordings to your personal cloud account and creates a shareable URL that you can send to grant access to them. It also includes mark-up tools such as arrows, emoticons, basic drawing tools, and blurring tools for sensitive information.

CloudApp integrates with over 30 apps including Zapier, Trello, Sketch, and WordPress. Their clipping tool is available on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Linux, and as a Chrome extension. CloudApp includes a free version with the above features and 90-second limit for screen recordings, 15 second limit for GIFs, 100 MB/file upload size, .5 GB/link/day bandwidth, and 50 drop limit. CloudApp’s paid plans begin at $9.95/month for unlimited video recording and drops, 1 minute GIFs, 1 GB/file uploads, 2 GB/link/day bandwidth, and custom branding.

You can read more about CloudApp for teams and CloudApp for enterprises on our How-To’s page.

Greenshot

Best for individuals looking for a free snipping tool with more features than Windows Snipping Tool.

greenshot logo

Greenshot is a free snipping tool for Windows (with a paid version for Mac) that includes mark-ups and integrations. Greenshot can take fullscreen and window shots, snips of a selected area, and scrolling web pages on Internet Explorer. Greenshot’s mark-up tool includes arrows, text, drawing, image manipulation, blurring, paint, and shapes. After annotating your snip, you can save it on your computer, print it, copy it to your clipboard, email it, or upload it to photo sites or Microsoft Office programs. Greenshot includes free plug-ins with Jira, Box, Imgur, and Microsoft Office.

Overall, Greenshot is an excellent free alternative to Windows Snipping Tool with enhanced markups and integrations. However, it is not frequently updated (the last update was in August 2017) and does not include integral features for businesses such as cloud storage and enterprise-level security.

PicPick

Best for artists and graphic designers looking for a snipping tool alternative with professional-level markup tools.

picpick logo

PicPick is another snipping tool made specifically for Windows that includes fullscreen shots, snips, and scrolling shots along with mark-up tools. Comparing PicPick vs Snipping Tool, PicPick offers a lot of additional features at a low cost. PicPick’s snip tool includes an extensive list of markup tools such as a color palette, pixel ruler, magnifier, protractor, whiteboard, crosshairs, text, image size and brightness manipulators, highlighter, blur, arrows, and shapes. PicPick integrates with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook, and Microsoft Office. Your snip can also be copied to the clipboard or print it directly from the tool.

PicPick offers both a free home version and a $29.99 product for professionals. The paid version allows for commercial use and includes auto-updates, lifetime upgrades, technical support, and no ads. PicPick’s paid version is the best Microsoft snipping tool for freelance graphic designers or small businesses for internal purposes that need enhanced image editing options but don’t require cloud storage or screen recording tools. 

What About Mac Snipping Tools?

Droplr, CloudApp, and Snagit all work on Mac, and Greenshot is available for Mac as well (but at a price). Windows Snipping Tool and PicPick are Windows-only snip tools. If you would like to look at more of the best clipping tools for Mac, you can check out our article 5 Best Snipping Tools for Mac.

Additionally, if you want more information about snipping tools and how to use them, check out our article How to Use a Snipping Tool.

What is the Best Snipping Tool for Windows?

There are many options for snipping tools on Windows, but in general, the snip it apps above will do an excellent job capturing and annotating screenshots. Whether you are a single user, small team, or large enterprise, features are pretty consistent among these tools. The differences among them will come down to price, security, and integrations, so here’s a table to guide your selection so you can choose the best Windows snipping tool for your needs. You can also use this table to compare Windows Snipping Tool vs Snagit, Droplr, CloudApp, Greenshot, and PicPick.


PriceSecurityIntegrationsMark-upsOther features
Window Snipping ToolFreeLow securityNo integrationsBasic toolsFreeform snips, touch writing
DroplrLow priceHigh security12+ integrationsBasic toolsScreen recorder, cloud storage
SnagitHigh price; flat feeMedium security15+ integrationsAdvanced tools Screen recorder, added fee for cloud storage
CloudAppMedium priceHigh security30+ integrationsBasic toolsScreen recorder, cloud storage
GreenshotFreeLow security4 integrationsBasic toolsNo special features
PicPickFree personal license, medium price commercial license, flat feeMedium security5 integrationsAdvanced tools No special features


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