Clowd vs Epic Pen.
Epic Pen is a pen overlay for Windows classrooms. Clowd draws on screen too, for free, and adds capture, recording and editing.
- Price
- FreeFree. No trial, no tiers, no watermark.
- Status
- Very active4.10.0 released Oct 19, 2026. In development since 2015.
- Best for
- Shapes, text and steps for freeLive keystrokesRecording what you draw
- Price
- Free · Pro €24/yrBasic is free. Pro, with text, shapes, whiteboard and fading ink, is €24 per year per device.
- Status
- MaintainedRecent releases are stability and multi-monitor fixes. macOS last appears in the changelog in 2023.
- Best for
- Classrooms and touch panelsPen pressureSchool-wide deployment
Feature by feature.
Every Epic Pen verdict comes from its own documentation.
| Feature | Clowd | Epic Pen |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | ||
| Region capture | YesPress PrtScn and drag. Edges can be placed to the pixel while zoomed. | YesBasic screenshot tool with region capture (including ink). |
| Color picker | YesPress H on any pixel. The Color Editor copies HEX, RGB or HSL and has an eyedropper. | NoPro has a custom ink color picker, but it's not a screen color picker. |
| Scrolling capture | YesRewinds to the top first, and sticky headers appear once. Scrolls whole windows, not panes inside them. Needs Accessibility permission on macOS. | No |
| Text recognition (OCR) | YesOn-device. The text lifts off the capture so you can check it, then copy, search or share it. OCR and the AI effects need Windows or a Mac with Apple Silicon. Latin, Greek, Chinese and Japanese kana. Cyrillic and Korean aren’t supported yet. | No |
| Annotate | ||
| Image editor | YesEvery capture opens in the image editor. Objects stay editable and sessions autosave. | No |
| Blur and pixelate | YesMosaic, blur or solid. It only affects the image underneath, never your annotations. | No |
| Step numbers | YesNumbered steps. Drag from a step to pull an arrow out of it. | No |
| Record | ||
| Screen recording | YesRegion, window or screen, with a live frame-rate meter. | No |
| GIF | YesAny recording converts to a GIF in one click from Recents. | No |
| Webcam | YesRecorded as a separate track you place in the editor. | No |
| Edit | ||
| Trim and cut | YesTrim, split, ripple delete and Ctrl+K to split every track. | No |
| Present | ||
| Draw on screen | Yes9 tools, click-through on Esc, an eraser and one undo history across monitors. | YesPen, highlighter, eraser, pressure and multi-touch, Ghost Mode click-through, multi-monitor. Fading ink, whiteboard, and blackboard are Pro. |
| Presentation zoom | PartialZoom on a frozen screen (the capture overlay or Draw on Instant Screenshot). There is no live presentation zoom. | No |
| Share a region | YesAny rectangle, in any meeting app that can share a window. Blur or black it out live. Viewer frame rate is limited by the meeting app. | No |
| Live keystrokes | YesThe same keycap renderer as the video editor, in 9 screen positions. | No |
| Share | ||
| Upload and share | YesCaptures, recordings, text, files and folders. Image and video uploads need a storage destination; text pastes work out of the box. | No |
| Platform & price | ||
| Windows | YesWindows 10 and later, x64 and ARM64. | Yes |
| macOS | YesmacOS 13 and later, Apple Silicon and Intel. OCR and the AI effects need Windows or a Mac with Apple Silicon. Default hotkeys use PrtScn. Rebind them in Settings → Hotkeys on a Mac keyboard. | NoThe current site lists Windows only (older builds had macOS). |
| Linux | NoNot available yet. | No |
| Free | YesFree. No trial, no tiers, no watermark. | PartialBasic is free, while text, shapes, whiteboard, fading ink, and the highlighted cursor need Pro. |
| Open source | YesMIT licensed. The part that runs text recognition and the AI effects is GPL-3.0. | No |
Sources4Checked Oct 19, 2026
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Where Epic Pen wins.
If these matter most to you, Epic Pen may be the better pick.
Pen pressure and multi-touch for tablets and interactive panels.
Fading ink, whiteboard and blackboard modes (Pro).
Teams licensing with silent mass deployment.
Where Clowd goes further.
Draw on Screen
Shapes, text and steps, free.
Epic Pen's text, arrows and shapes are part of Pro. Clowd's Draw on Screen includes them all, plus numbered steps and an eraser, for free.
More about Draw on Screen
Draw on Screen
Freeze the frame.
Both draw over live apps. Clowd can also freeze every screen, so you can mark up a video or dashboard that won't hold still.
More about Draw on Screen
Draw on Screen
Ink that is recorded and shared.
Your marks show up in Clowd's recordings and region shares, while its own toolbars stay hidden from viewers.
More about Draw on Screen
Other comparisons.
Clowd vs Keystro
A small overlay that shows your keystrokes live, highlights the cursor and plays keyboard sounds.
Clowd vs ZoomIt
Mark Russinovich's free utility for live zoom, drawing on screen, snips and simple recording.
Clowd vs PowerToys
Microsoft's free utility suite, with Text Extractor, Color Picker, Screen Ruler and ZoomIt inside.