CleanShot
Every screenshot and short screen recording on the Mac, annotated and shareable in one gesture.
CleanShot is a Mac capture tool: screenshots, scrolling captures, screen recordings, annotation, a cleaned-up desktop while you shoot, and a link the moment you are done. It is sold either as a one-off licence at thirty-five dollars with a year of updates, or as a ten dollar a month subscription with unlimited cloud storage and team features.
What it is for
- Send a link instead of a fileCapture, annotate, and the URL is on the clipboard. It removes the attachment step, which is the step where a bug report becomes a meeting.
- Capture a page that scrollsScrolling capture produces one image of a long page, which no built-in shortcut does well.
- Record a short walkthrough without ceremonyScreen recording with a hidden desktop and clean cursor, for the thirty second answer that would otherwise be a call.
What I measured
- Published price, read 18 Sep 2026: thirty-five dollars once for the Mac app with one year of updates and 1 GB of cloud, or ten dollars per user per month billed annually for unlimited cloud, custom branding and team management.
- The one-off licence keeps working after the year, it just stops receiving updates. That is the honest way to read a pay-once price in this category.
- A 30-day money-back guarantee is published on both routes.
What it is not for
- You are not on a Mac. It is macOS only.
- You need a produced video with layouts and a transcript edit. That is a different tool in this same category.
- The built-in screenshot key already does everything you need, which for some people is honestly true.
What it costs, as the vendor publishes it
| CleanShot Basic | 35 dollars, paid once | Mac app, one year of updates, 1 GB cloud storage |
|---|---|---|
| CleanShot Pro | 10 dollars per user, per month, billed annually | always up to date, unlimited cloud, custom domain and branding, SSO |
- The one-off licence is per user and does not expire, but updates stop after a year.
- The subscription is what buys the shared cloud and the team controls.
- 30-day money-back guarantee, macOS 13 or newer.
Vendor list price, read on their pricing page on 18 Sep 2026. Their pricing page. Read 18 Sept 2026.
No video on this one yet. When there is one it goes here, recorded on the real account. The page says so either way.
Questions people ask
One-off or subscription?
Pay once at thirty-five dollars if you want the app and you will host the images yourself. Subscribe at ten dollars a month if you want the sharing links, unlimited storage and branding.
What happens after the year of updates?
The app keeps working, it stops getting new versions. That is the trade in every pay-once Mac licence.
Does it do scrolling screenshots?
Yes, and it is one of the two things that make it worth paying for over the built-in shortcut, the other being the instant link.
Windows?
No. Mac only.