Switch to OpenScreenShot if you take screenshots of web pages in Chrome or Firefox and want full-page capture, blur, and PDF export, with files that stay on your device. Stay with Lightshot if you capture other apps or your whole desktop: Lightshot has desktop apps for Windows and Mac, and OpenScreenShot captures web pages in the browser only. Also stay if you depend on its instant short links. OpenScreenShot has no upload service, so you share a capture by pasting it or attaching the file.

OpenScreenShot is our product. The facts about Lightshot on this page are as of 9 October 2026 and come from its Chrome Web Store listing, its website, its Firefox add-on page, and the manifest of version 7.0.1 from Google’s update server.

Lightshot and OpenScreenShot side by side

Lightshot OpenScreenShot
Price Free Free
Open source No (custom license) Yes, MIT
Install-time site access All websites (required *://*/*) None. Access to the current tab when you start a capture
Full-page capture No; the listing describes area selection Yes
Annotation and blur Edit in place Shapes, arrows, text, step numbers, blur, crop
PDF export No Yes
Tab recording No Yes, in Chrome (the Firefox build captures screenshots only)
Account or cloud Optional upload to prnt.sc for a short link; save to disk offered No account, no uploads
Desktop capture Yes, with the Windows and Mac apps No

The Lightshot Chrome extension was last updated on 23 July 2024.

Lightshot can upload a screenshot to prnt.sc and give you a short link. No account is needed to view an upload. In 2021, Kaspersky reported that the URLs were sequential, so a changed character could open another image, and that “Anyone can see published screenshots without authentication.” AIN.UA reported the same issue that year. We did not check whether this still applies in 2026.

OpenScreenShot has no upload step. It processes and stores captures in your browser, and an exported file goes to your downloads folder. Nobody sees a capture until you paste or attach it somewhere. The privacy section has the details.

What you keep

The quick region capture stays. Press Ctrl+Shift+E (⌘⇧E on macOS) or right-click the page and choose Selected Region, then drag a rectangle and press Enter. The editor opens with arrows, text, shapes, and a highlighter. Copy puts the image on the clipboard, ready to paste into a chat.

To skip the editor, set After capture to Clipboard. Each capture then goes straight to the clipboard, which is close to a capture-and-paste habit.

What changes

You can capture more of a page. Full Page scrolls and stitches the whole page into one image. Capture element captures one card, table, or chart at its exact bounds. Visible Area captures what is on screen in the tab.

The editor adds Blur (B) with a soft blur, a mosaic, or the Solid fill, which covers private data completely. Step number badges count up on their own. Click Save image to open the Export dialog and save PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF.

Install-time access is smaller. OpenScreenShot uses activeTab for one tab at a time, and it cannot capture browser settings pages, extension pages, or anything outside the browser. For a desktop app or another program window, you still need a desktop tool.

How to switch

  1. Install OpenScreenShot from the Chrome Web Store or from Firefox Add-ons.
  2. Pin the icon to the toolbar.
  3. Try a first capture. A click on the icon starts a Full Page capture with the default One-click Express mode. For an area, use Ctrl+Shift+E or the right-click menu.
  4. Set After capture in Settings: Clipboard to paste at once, Editor to annotate, or Download to save a PNG.
  5. If you keep a desktop screenshot app for other programs, make sure it does not use the same keys as OpenScreenShot. In Chrome, you can change the extension’s keys at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

For quick images in support replies, see screenshots for customer support. For posts, see screenshots for social media. If you need desktop capture, see the Snagit alternative page for what a desktop tool covers.