Snipaste — The Complete Guide: Screenshots and Floating Pinned Captures Above Any Program
Snipaste is a screenshot tool for Windows, macOS and Linux that automatically detects windows and UI elements as you select, so the capture is cut at pixel precision. Its distinguishing feature is pinning: any capture becomes a floating window that stays above all programs.
Snipaste
Snipaste
Screenshots with automatic UI element detection and pinning captures as floating windows above all programs.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Element detection — select a window, a button or a table with one click, without dragging a frame by hand.
- Pinning — a capture or clipboard content becomes a floating window you can zoom, rotate or make translucent.
- No window switching — pin a data table or a clause of a standard next to your model and type values directly.
- Markup — shapes, text and blur on the capture.
- Colour picker and history — grab a colour code and go back to earlier captures.
What is free and what is not
Snipaste is not free for every use. The free version is for personal use. According to the site, business use of version 2.x needs a paid Pro licence priced by the number of devices, while version 1.x remains free for business use too. An engineer using it at the office has to choose between version 1.x and a Pro licence. Also note that the tool has no video recording.
Related tools
For a fully free alternative on Windows, business use included — Greenshot or ShareX. For open source on every operating system — Flameshot.
Greenshot
Greenshot team
A lightweight Windows screenshot tool with arrows, highlights, blurring and export to file, printer or Office.
Get it from the vendor
ShareX
ShareX team
Screenshots and screen recording for Windows — annotate with arrows and labels, and extract text with OCR.
Get it from the vendor
Flameshot
Flameshot project
Cross-platform screenshots with in-place markup — arrows, text, blur and numbering, ideal for marking up drawings.
Get it from the vendor
ksnip
ksnip project
Open-source screenshots with annotation, the same tool on Windows, macOS and Linux, including Wayland sessions.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Snipaste’s pinning saves real time when working against tables and standards, but business use of version 2.x means paying or staying on version 1.x.