Clowd vs PowerToys.

PowerToys is Microsoft's free utility suite. Clowd puts capture, editing, recording and drawing behind one tray icon.

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ClowdScreen 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: One capture workflowEditing images and videoWindows and macOS

PowerToysWindows power-user utility suite · Microsoft

Price: FreeFree and open source (MIT).
Status: Very activev0.101 shipped in August 2026, with weekly preview builds.
Best for: Single-purpose Windows utilitiesPixel measuringPower users

Feature by feature.

Every PowerToys verdict comes from its own documentation.

Clowd vs PowerToys: feature comparison
Feature	Clowd	PowerToys
Capture
Region capture	YesPress PrtScn and drag. Edges can be placed to the pixel while zoomed.	YesThrough the ZoomIt module's snip.
Color picker	YesPress H on any pixel. The Color Editor copies HEX, RGB or HSL and has an eyedropper.	YesSystem-wide Color Picker with history and many formats.
Scrolling capture	YesRewinds to the top first, and sticky headers appear once. Scrolls whole windows, not panes inside them. Needs Accessibility permission on macOS.	YesZoomIt panorama.
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.	YesText Extractor (Win+Shift+T, Windows OCR language packs) and ZoomIt OCR snip.
Annotate
Image editor	YesEvery capture opens in the image editor. Objects stay editable and sessions autosave.	PartialDraw over the screen with ZoomIt before snipping. No image editor (Microsoft recommends Snipping Tool).
Blur and pixelate	YesMosaic, blur or solid. It only affects the image underneath, never your annotations.	YesZoomIt blur pen.
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.	YesThrough ZoomIt.
GIF	YesAny recording converts to a GIF in one click from Recents.	YesThrough ZoomIt.
Webcam	YesRecorded as a separate track you place in the editor.	YesThrough ZoomIt.
Edit
Trim and cut	YesTrim, split, ripple delete and Ctrl+K to split every track.	YesZoomIt trim editor.
Multi-track timeline	YesVideo, audio, text, image, zoom, speed, cursor and keyboard rows on one timeline.	No
Zoom effects	Yes1× to 5× with eased ramps. Zoom rows stack. Zooms are placed by hand with a fixed focus. There is no auto-zoom or cursor-follow.	PartialLive zoom while recording only.
Speed changes	Yes0.25× to 10× per segment, with pitch-corrected audio.	No
Backgrounds	Yes10 background styles, including animated ones.	No
Present
Draw on screen	Yes9 tools, click-through on Esc, an eraser and one undo history across monitors.	YesZoomIt.
Presentation zoom	PartialZoom on a frozen screen (the capture overlay or Draw on Instant Screenshot). There is no live presentation zoom.	YesZoomIt.
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.	PartialCrop And Lock creates a live cropped window of another window that can be shared in meeting apps. ZoomIt DemoMirror mirrors to a second monitor.
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.	NoPowerToys is Windows-only (ZoomIt for Mac is a separate app).
Linux	NoNot available yet.	No
Free	YesFree. No trial, no tiers, no watermark.	Yes
Open source	YesMIT licensed. The part that runs text recognition and the AI effects is GPL-3.0.	YesMIT.

Sources7Checked Oct 19, 2026

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Where PowerToys wins.

If these matter most to you, PowerToys may be the better pick.

Screen Ruler for pixel measurement.
Crop And Lock for live cropped windows.
A live mouse highlighter with click ripples.
30+ other utilities in the same install.

Where Clowd goes further.

Capture Overlay

One overlay instead of five modules.

In PowerToys, text extraction, color picking and snipping are separate tools. In Clowd they start from one selection: press PrtScn, pick a region, then one key for what comes next.

More about the capture overlay

Draw on Screen

A drawing toolbar with click-through.

PowerToys draws through its ZoomIt module. Clowd's Draw on Screen has a toolbar with 9 tools, step badges and live keystrokes, and leaves the ink up while you click through.

More about Draw on Screen

Share Region

A shared region with a panic button.

Crop And Lock makes a cropped window you can share. Clowd shares any rectangle, lets you blur or black it out without stopping, and reframes it without re-sharing.

More about Share Region