Clowd vs Snipping Tool.

Snipping Tool is already on every Windows 11 PC. Clowd goes further, with a full image editor, a video editor and a Mac version.

Download

More download options

View on GitHub

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: Precise capturesRecordings you can editSharing and presenting

Snipping ToolBuilt-in Windows screenshot and basic recorder · Microsoft

Price: Free with WindowsFree, bundled with Windows 11 and updated through the Microsoft Store.
Status: Updated with WindowsUpdated through the Microsoft Store along with Windows.
Best for: Zero installOccasional screenshotsQuick text copy

Feature by feature.

Every Snipping Tool verdict comes from its own documentation.

Clowd vs Snipping Tool: feature comparison
Feature	Clowd	Snipping Tool
Capture
Region capture	YesPress PrtScn and drag. Edges can be placed to the pixel while zoomed.	YesRectangle and freeform.
Window snapping	YesHover a window and click, or press W.	Yes
Full-screen capture	YesF for the monitor under the cursor, A for all monitors, Ctrl+PrtScn for the active screen.	Yes
Magnifier	YesScroll to zoom the frozen screen from 1× to 256×.	No
Color picker	YesPress H on any pixel. The Color Editor copies HEX, RGB or HSL and has an eyedropper.	PartialCopilot+ / Windows 11 AI+ PCs only.
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.	YesOn-device Text actions (copy text / copy all text), with text extraction from the capture bar in Insider testing.
Delay timer	NoThere is no capture timer yet.	Yes1-5 seconds.
Annotate
Image editor	YesEvery capture opens in the image editor. Objects stay editable and sessions autosave.	PartialBasic markup only.
Shapes, arrows and text	YesCurved arrows and lines, a Bezier pen, text, sticky notes and a highlighter.	PartialPen, highlighter, shapes and emoji. A text tool was in Insider testing in Nov 2025 and is not in Microsoft's support docs.
Blur and pixelate	YesMosaic, blur or solid. It only affects the image underneath, never your annotations.	PartialQuick redact automatically blacks out email addresses and phone numbers. No manual blur.
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.	YesRectangle region, plus window mode (rolling out from 11.2507.14.0).
GIF	YesAny recording converts to a GIF in one click from Recents.	YesGIF export of recordings, limited to the first 30 seconds.
System audio	YesRecorded as its own track.	Yes
Microphone	YesRecorded as its own track, with a live level meter.	Yes
Edit
Trim and cut	YesTrim, split, ripple delete and Ctrl+K to split every track.	YesStart/end trim only.
Multi-track timeline	YesVideo, audio, text, image, zoom, speed, cursor and keyboard rows on one timeline.	NoHands off to Clipchamp.
Present
Draw on screen	Yes9 tools, click-through on Esc, an eraser and one undo history across monitors.	NoQuick Markup annotates the frozen capture overlay, not the live desktop.
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
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.	PartialWindows share sheet only. No hosting.
Your own storage	YesAmazon S3 and S3-compatible, Azure Blob, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2 and more.	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.	No
Linux	NoNot available yet.	No
Free	YesFree. No trial, no tiers, no watermark.	YesBundled with Windows.
Open source	YesMIT licensed. The part that runs text recognition and the AI effects is GPL-3.0.	No

Sources9Checked Oct 19, 2026

Product names are trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify them. Spotted something out of date? Open an issue.

Where Snipping Tool wins.

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

Nothing to install, with hotkeys already set.
Freeform (lasso) snips.
Quick Markup before the capture is taken.
Hand-off to Clipchamp for captions.

Where Clowd goes further.

Capture Overlay

A PrtScn with more behind it.

Both answer PrtScn. Clowd adds 256× zoom, window picks with clean rounded corners, and a color picker on any PC, not just Copilot+ PCs.

More about the capture overlay

Text Recognition

OCR that shows its work.

Snipping Tool's text actions copy text and hide emails and phone numbers. Clowd shows what it read over the capture so you can check it, then copies, searches or shares it.

More about text recognition

Screen Recording

Recordings you can edit.

Snipping Tool records and trims, with GIFs up to 30 seconds. Clowd keeps screen, webcam and audio on separate tracks, opens them in a full editor and turns any recording into a GIF.

More about screen recording

Image Editor

Markup that goes further.

Snipping Tool's markup covers a pen, highlighter, shapes and emoji. Clowd's editor adds text, numbered steps, curves, measuring, redaction and layers.

More about the image editor