ShareX vs Snipping Tool: Which Screenshot Tool to Use?

For most people, Snipping Tool is enough: it's built into Windows 11, opens with Win+Shift+S, and handles region and window captures, markup, screen recording and copying text out of a screenshot. Install ShareX if you need what Snipping Tool's documentation doesn't list: scrolling capture of long pages, GIF recording, automatic actions after every capture, or uploading to an image host. ShareX is free and open source, but it has far more settings to learn.

Neither tool keeps a history of what you've copied. That's a clipboard manager's job, covered at the end.

Quick comparison

What Snipping Tool does

Snipping Tool comes with Windows 11. You can start it from the Start menu, or skip the window entirely:

• Windows logo key + Shift + S opens the capture overlay.
• Windows logo key + Shift + R starts a video recording of a screen area.
• Print Screen copies a full-screen image to the clipboard.

After a capture, the image opens in the Snipping Tool window, where you can draw with pen and highlighter, add shapes and emoji, crop, and use Text actions to extract text. Microsoft says text recognition runs locally, and Text actions can also redact email addresses and phone numbers. Press Ctrl+C to copy the snip or Ctrl+S to save it; captures are also saved automatically to your Screenshots folder, which you can change in Snipping Tool's settings.

On Copilot+ PCs, Snipping Tool adds Perfect screenshot, which tightens the capture area around content, and a Color picker. Microsoft lists both as requiring a Copilot+ PC.

Print Screen vs Win+Shift+S vs Snipping Tool explains which shortcut puts what on the clipboard. If Win+Shift+S stops responding, see Win+Shift+S does nothing; if the Snipping Tool app itself won't open or save, Snipping Tool not working has the repair steps.

What ShareX does

ShareX is a free, open-source screenshot tool for Windows, also available from the Microsoft Store and Steam. It goes well beyond capture:

• 14 capture methods, including scrolling capture, auto capture, screen recording and GIF recording.
• 22 after-capture tasks you can combine: open in the image editor, copy the image, copy the file, copy the file path, save, pin to screen, recognise text, scan a QR code, upload, and more.
• After-upload tasks such as shortening the URL, copying it to the clipboard, or showing a QR code.
• Over 30 tools, including a colour picker, ruler, image combiner, GIF maker, video converter and OCR.

The power is in automation. You might set one hotkey to capture a region, save it, copy it to the clipboard and upload it, all in one step. The trade-off is setup time: ShareX's settings are extensive, and a wrong after-capture task is the usual reason someone says "ShareX didn't copy my screenshot".

When to choose ShareX before a clipboard manager covers who benefits most.

Which should you use?

You don't need to choose only one. Many people keep Win+Shift+S for quick snips and use ShareX for scrolling captures and uploads, giving ShareX different hotkeys so the two don't clash. For a long web page you may not need ShareX at all; how to take a scrolling screenshot on Windows 11 covers the browser options too.

Copy the image, the file or the path?

Both tools put screenshots on the clipboard, but ShareX lets you choose what goes there, and that choice decides where you can paste it:

• Copy image to clipboard puts the picture itself on the clipboard. Chat apps, documents and image editors accept it.
• Copy file to clipboard puts the saved file on the clipboard, as if you'd copied it in Explorer. Paste it into a folder or as an email attachment.
• Copy file path to clipboard puts the text path. Use it in tickets, scripts or terminals.

Snipping Tool's Ctrl+C copies the image. How to put a screenshot on the clipboard covers the differences in more detail.

Where a clipboard manager fits

A screenshot tool creates images; a clipboard manager remembers what you copied. When you take a second screenshot, the first one is no longer on the clipboard unless something kept it.

• Windows clipboard history (Win+V) keeps up to 25 recent items, including screenshots, but only images of 4 MB or less. Large, high-resolution screenshots may never appear in Win+V, and unpinned items are cleared on restart.
• A third-party manager keeps more items across restarts. Edge Drop, made by the team behind this site, keeps screenshots as cards on a screen-edge shelf that you can drag into other apps; using ShareX with a clipboard shelf shows that setup.

If you save every capture to disk, as both tools can, the Screenshots folder is already your long-term archive.

FAQ

Is ShareX safe?

ShareX is open source under GPL-3.0, and its source is on GitHub. Download it from getsharex.com, GitHub, the Microsoft Store or Steam rather than a third-party download site. Check its upload settings before use on a work PC, so screenshots aren't sent to a public host by accident.

Can Snipping Tool take a scrolling screenshot?

Microsoft's Snipping Tool documentation doesn't list scrolling capture. ShareX has a dedicated scrolling capture mode.

Can Snipping Tool record GIFs?

Snipping Tool records video, which you can save or edit in Clipchamp. Microsoft's documentation doesn't list GIF recording; ShareX records GIFs directly.

Related reading

• Print Screen vs Win+Shift+S vs Snipping Tool (Windows 11)
• Is ShareX a Clipboard Manager? When to Choose ShareX
• ShareX After-Capture Tasks: Best Clipboard Settings
• How to Copy a Screenshot to the Clipboard in Windows 11

Sources

• Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots (Microsoft Support) — shortcuts, modes, markup, Text actions, auto-save, video, Copilot+ features.
• ShareX — capture methods, after-capture and after-upload tasks, tools, price.
• ShareX on GitHub — GPL-3.0 licence and install channels.
• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — Win+V item and size limits.

Copy. Stack. Drop.

Transform your clipboard into an interactive edge shelf. Stack, pin, and drag assets into any app with zero friction.

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How to Install Guide · First 10 Minutes Guide · Drag & Drop Guide · Edge Drop vs Win+V · Support