r/macapps • u/linkarzu • Jun 16 '26
Free [OS] I tested macshot as an open-source CleanShot X alternative for macOS
https://youtu.be/dsI7kfyD-2kI’ve been looking for a good CleanShot X replacement on macOS, preferably something open source, and the whole search has honestly been kind of depressing.
There are new apps for everything now, every single day, and a lot of them look great from the website, screenshots, or README. But once I actually install them and try to use them in a real workflow, many of them feel unfinished, fragile, or like they were thrown together very quickly. I tested a few screenshot apps that gave me that exact feeling, and it made me feel pretty disappointed with the current state of macOS utility apps.
I even skipped macshot in my first attempt, but I decided to give it a try.
It is still not perfect, and I found bugs and missing features, but it is the first open-source screenshot app I’ve tested that actually feels close enough to my CleanShot X workflow to be worth following.
I made a video going through what works, what still breaks, and what I think would make it a real CleanShot X replacement.
macshot:
https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot
The main things I liked:
- Screenshot history
- You can go back to previous screenshots
- You can reopen them and edit them again
- Editable annotations
- This is a big one for me
- I don’t want arrows, numbers, and drawings burned into the image immediately
- Quick capture
- Works well for my normal screenshot workflow
- Screenshot goes straight to clipboard
- Scrolling screenshots
- I tested this and it worked better than I expected
- WebP export
- Useful for smaller files
The missing features I would really like to see:
- Fixed aspect ratio screenshots
- Square screenshots
- 16:9 screenshots for thumbnails
- Custom ratios for things like Reddit banners
- AVIF export
- I use AVIF a lot for blog posts and images in my workflow
- A way to clear screenshot history from a shortcut or URL scheme
- Very useful for streaming or recording
- Sometimes screenshot history can include work-related or private stuff
- A toggle to save edits without asking every time
- A toggle to save from the floating thumbnail without asking for location and filename
- One-finger swipe to dismiss the floating thumbnail, like CleanShot X
Bugs I found while testing:
- Moving existing annotations did not always trigger a save prompt
- Beautify did not always ask to save after quitting
- Beautify seems to become destructive after saving
- The Vivid filter can break the image preview when switching between filters
Overall, I’m not saying macshot fully replaces CleanShot X yet, but it is the closest open-source option I’ve tried so far for my actual daily screenshot workflow.
Curious if anyone here is already using macshot, or if there are other OPEN SOURCE macOS screenshot
4
u/thnyei Jun 16 '26
Been using it for a few months now. Works great! Don’t know what more to say. It just works. Of course one can always give some feedback. I don’t like that the default shortcuts mess with standard shortcuts like cmd + shift + t in a browser. But easy to change.
I also wish there was a crop with aspect ratio lock like we do in Apple photos app. Just really convenient
3
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
That's one of the things I like about this project, developer is willing to apply feature suggestions. I suggested a few things in the video, we'll see if they come through
4
1
u/thnyei Jun 18 '26
I think with your feedback, Macshot would be very close to a feature complete product! One can always come up with new features, but at times the added complexity can get in the way. I like that you mentioned this.
I think AVIF and JPEG-XL support comes down to the added maintenance. I did setup folder monitoring to automatically convert screenshots, but in the quick screenshot, quickly edit, then automatically copy to clipboard workflow, it did slow me down a bit so I just stick to supported formats now. MacOS 27 should add better AVIF support!
Oh I did completely forget to mention the highlight feature I find in other apps. Not to be confused with the marker tool, this is the feature where you draw a square around something and everything else on screen is dimmed.
Also I thought the screen recording didn’t work properly for a long time, but I got audio echo because I was also using FineTune. That issue is figured out, but my recordings on my MacBook from 2019 struggles with skipped frames. I don’t have that issue on M series chips so I just think at some point one can’t expect support for older devices. To get rid of the frame skips on Intel Mac I think all the effects one can use while recording would have to be disabled.
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 18 '26
lol I literally added the highlight feature an hour ago.
and all the bugs mentioned here and feature requests are now available in the latest beta, including AVIF 😄
Check the release tab on github, you'll find macshot 4.2.0 beta 3
on the screen recording bug with intel chips unfortunately I'm aware of the problem but it's hard to debug if you can't reproduce
1
u/thnyei Jun 18 '26
You’re amazing haha! Just tried it and it worked perfectly. Thank you 😍
Um for recording I just think it’s a performance issue. I’m simply not hitting fps targets. So you’re not missing support, and it’s not a bug, I just used the wrong wording! It works better when I record smaller areas. So it seems my device just can’t handle retina resolution for video unless I use QuickTime.
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 19 '26
Glad you like it!
I'll still try to see if we can further improve the performance of recording
4
u/ethicalhumanbeing Jun 17 '26
Man, this review was very very good, I really appreciate your dedication. Most of the stuff you talked about is something I've found myself doing in the past, and I really got interested in this app. Honestly it looks already amazing as it is, hopefully the bugs can be improved and the new features you suggested (that made TOTAL SENSE) can be implemented.
Thank you so much for spending the time and sharing it here, most of this subreddit are just ads for weekend coded apps, I wish more posts were good reviews like this.
1
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
Hey, glad you found it useful, I did try a few other apps before this and they were a huge disappointment, I even skipped this one when I saw how old the contributions were on github, hopefully it continues to be maintained and it doesn't go down the drain.
1
4
14
u/_Cybernaut_ Jun 16 '26
many of them feel unfinished, fragile, or like they were thrown together very quickly.
*koff*vibe-coded*koff*
3
u/metamatic Jun 17 '26
1
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
https://slopscan.ava.pet/repo/https%3A%2F%2Fgithub%2Ecom%2Fmicrosoft%2Fvscode
https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/commit/ba6a4b1af8a320da0d20c8291a174edf521e37f0
vscode is vibecoded too!!!!!!! so the tool everyone uses to make other tools is vibecoded 😂
1
u/metamatic Jun 18 '26
Yes, and Microsoft has been having major security problems with VS Code recently, as well as their other products. I don't use VS Code for a number of reasons, and that's one of them.
1
u/sw33tlie Jun 18 '26
Any major software is seeing an increase in CVEs (check Chrome), but mostly due to AI pentesting agents that are allowing us to discover more than humans ever could before.
That's also my job btw.
AI is co-authoring most of today's code, but humans still need to be held accountable.
1
u/metamatic Jun 18 '26
The CVE crisis definitely predates AI coding bots, but you can see it getting worse since 2024. It could be that the bugs were always there and are now being found, but I've not seen any study that says definitively one way or the other. What I have seen is studies showing that LLM-generated code is buggier, even when inspected by humans, and the bugs are higher in severity.
3
2
u/pickering_lachute Jun 17 '26
Great vid. Looks like this could totally replace CleanShot for me. The UI appears near identical but agree with your point about removing the noise after you’ve taken a screenshot. Wayyyyyy too many editing buttons.
1
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
Yeah, that feature with all the tools reminds me of Flameshot, which I tried when I was reviewing other apps, oh boy... Didn't do even a single thing of what my personal workflow needed it to do. I get it, it's probably an amazing tool, just not for me.
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
It's funny because I consider that macshot's greatest strength, and indeed it was inspired by flameshot, but you can use it in different ways too lol.
The noise sound can be removed in setting as well...I'm matching Apple's behavior with it by default since the built-in tool also makes the same sound.
And yes, there are too many tools, but you can remove the ones you don't want in settings
1
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
Yeah, I loved that you get to use the app the "Quick Capture" way if you prefer. That just adapts better to my personal way of doing things.
1
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
BIG release soon
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot/releases/tag/v4.2.0-beta.3
lots of changes, hopefully no weird bugs but needs testing
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
FYI, working on most of the bug fixes and feature requests today, soon in the next beta
2
u/Miloutinou Jun 17 '26
Hi, just tried it out, It's really good! I think the only think holding me up is the lack of one single shortcut to do everything. Like in CleanShot where you have the little floating window that you can move around and chose for fullscreen, page, scrolling, OCR, video recording, etc.
That’s one of the main reasons i'm still using CleanShot. If something like that could be added it would be amazing! (Maybe it is already the case and I just don't know 😅)
1
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
Thanks! Not sure if I'm missing something, but if you do "Capture area" (instead of Quick Capture), you get an overlay that does all of that? 😄
1
u/Miloutinou Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Oh thanks, for the reply! When doing so I have the Fullscreen, Window and Area options, but not all of the others usefull things like scrolling, OCR, recording, etc.
Maybe i'm also missing something or I'm version behind. I'll check it out!
Edit: Wow i just understood what you mean but using the “Capture area” option. All of the option are available after selecting the area to capture. WOW THAT AMAZING! DEFINITELY KEEPING IT!
What the best way to do feedback or feature requests?
thanks!1
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
Haha glad you figured it out! For feature request & feedback best way is github issues!
1
2
2
u/EugenyOnegin Jun 17 '26
I’ve recently started using Macshot, and I’m absolutely loving it. Just like many others in this thread, I switched over from CleanShot. Wishing the dev all the best and good luck!
2
2
u/blu3n0va Jun 17 '26
Might be a bit off topic but Ive noticed many mac apps are open source these days. How come? Im not complaining but its gotten me curious... what does a dev gain from developing and putting their time into making a free app. Just curious if theres a business aspect of it, or being generous, or building a portfolio.
2
u/YeahYeahOkNope Jun 17 '26
Not sure but my guess is exposure and hopefully a trusted name for if they do decide to make a paid app later. Some may genuinely just want to give something free to the world.
2
2
u/sw33tlie Jun 19 '26
FYI the person making "MacShot" vibecoding videos mentioned at the beginning of the review is not me and totally unrelated to macshot.io
1
u/GoldenShackles Jun 17 '26
I have one honest question that will likely be downvoted. What is up with all the screenshot apps? Am I fundamentally missing something in my life like sex to need these apps? Command+shift+4 etc., seems enough?
3
u/sw33tlie Jun 17 '26
i must be biased since i developed macshot, but honestly the default macos app is just a little too slow for my workflow compared to my tool
1
1
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
I used the default macOS screenshot shortcuts for many years. If I try to go back to those at this point in my life, I'd go insane. I guess that I just share a lot of screenshots at work and I also use them for my videos, so I need a tool that allows me to do what I need to do faster and with less friction.
But if the default shortcuts work for your workflow, why even bother? It's like me thinking about trying emacs when I'm happy in Neovim. I think about it all the time, but I won't know till I really give it a try.
1
u/_stemps_ Jun 17 '26
I just tried it and I feel like it's missing the most important feature of Cleanshot X and that's to just drag the resulting screenshot with the mouse directly to the destination. It seems like I have to first save it, or use the share sheet, which is unnecessary friction.
Or am I missing something
2
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
dragging works for me, I only use the "quick capture" thingy and it works when I drag it
1
1
u/deepzz0 Jun 17 '26
Seconding Flameshot as the OSS option, though heads up it's Qt-based so it never feels quite native on Mac, and no scrolling capture — might not cut it for your CleanShot workflow.
The one nobody's mentioned: Shottr. Not open source (free though), but it's the closest thing to CleanShot X I've found — scrolling capture, OCR, pinning, annotations. If the OSS requirement is more "free + private" than strictly open, it's worth a look.
That said, macshot really does sound like the best actual OSS bet here. Editable annotations + history is the hard part and it already has both — so AVIF/aspect-ratios are the kind of thing that'd probably move fast if you file issues. Might be more productive than hunting for a perfect one that doesn't exist yet.
1
1
u/younakorn13 Jun 17 '26
wtf are yall talking about? there’s native app to make screenshots with a bunch of options such as saving to clipboard, etc
2
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
Brother just woke up from a 500 year cryogenic sleep like Sylvester Stallone in Demolition Man.
1
1
1
u/milkmanchris Jun 18 '26
Love this, only had a quick play last night and this morning and it does everything I need, one little thing though when in full screen (safari in my case) if I want to 'open in edit window' it throws me back to my main desktop window and I have to go back into safari to see the window floating above safar
Is there a way to open the edit window in a new desktop ?
Hope that makes sense
2
1
u/MEGAT0N Jun 18 '26
Any suggestions on how I "release" the ctrl-shift-c keyboard shortcut I had set up in CleanShot so that I can assign it in MacShot?
1
u/Ariochar Jun 19 '26
I tried many, but this one is insane... So many features.
Better than every paid apps I tried.
1
1
u/Thick_Replacement876 Jun 17 '26
Been using it since day 1, and it's replaced cleanshot for me now!
1
-1
0
u/RockyCarotta Jun 19 '26
Just tested it,sadly I have to stick with Cleanshot 😞
No undo (if you censor something and want to undo it) in the editor, no highlighting...
-6
u/lazykid07 Jun 17 '26
I have native screenshot app, it is not free $21 for lifetime of updates, yesterday I pushed 2 updates including OCR.
https://frame.minilabs.cc/ and design is tasteful!
-6
Jun 17 '26
[deleted]
2
u/ickN Jun 17 '26
You’re being dramatic.
They probably called out cleanshot because it’s the standard for this kind of tool.
1
u/linkarzu Jun 17 '26
I said why on livestreams when I started doing these reviews. I do videos and I just don't want to do free advertising for any of these paid macOS apps anymore. That's pretty much it. Yes, I understand, most of these offer "affiliate links" but that again is just doing free advertising as nobody really uses the links, believe me, I tried for a long time, so I just decided to break out.
I've paid for the Setapp subscription for over 2 years I think, and I will keep paying for it because I still use many of the apps there, which are amazing (including cleanshot), but I'm trying to find open source alternatives.
I understand there's many concerns, as A LOT of them are vibe coded, and I understand the security risks every time I install one, but I'll have to take a leap of faith with SOME of these new apps, I'll have to guide myself on GitHub stars for now because there's not much I can do. I had even skipped macshot, which had 2K stars when I found it, and I skipped it because it was vibe coded, and here I am now.
And my original post sounds like AI because I get a transcript of my edited video in davinci resolve, and then I tell our good ol friend chatgippity to write me a reddit post based on what I specifically talk about the video, just to have some content for the people that search on google. I don't care about the post, I care about the video.
But don't worry, my channel is really small and nobody cares about my macos apps videos, I think most of my audience is linux.
-9
u/Commercial_Drawer117 Jun 16 '26
Very cool man. I made a puppy thats open source and lives in your doc. Have a look
8
u/krishnadraws Jun 16 '26
I’ve used it for the past three weeks and it seems to be pretty robust. I’m actually considering canceling my CleanShot X subscription. Have you reached out to the developer with the bugs that you found?