hypershot vs. CleanShot X
CleanShot X is the tool you get recommended the moment you say you want more from a Mac screenshot. It is genuinely good: crisp capture, scrolling capture, a clean editor, and cloud links. It is also a Mac that happens to have a Windows-shaped hole in it. The moment your team, your handoff, or your next laptop has the other logo, the "best tool" stops covering your actual life.
The short answer
CleanShot X is an excellent macOS-only tool. If you need the same tool on macOS and Windows — one license, one muscle memory, the same live editing, a crop you can drag back out later, and frame scrubbing on both — hypershot covers both platforms with a one-time purchase and no subscription.
hypershot
one-time purchase
7-day free trial · no subscription
macOS + Windows
Where hypershot is different
Burst capture
While you drag the selection, hypershot keeps a rolling clip of the last moment. Scrub the timeline to the exact frame — the hover state that closed when you blinked, the animation mid-motion.
The crop is never final
A region capture keeps the whole screen, so you can drag the crop back out later and everything you left out is still there, even after you reopen the file. Then add padding, swap the background, drop in window chrome.
Edits like a design app
A real canvas, not a markup sheet. Zoom and pan, marquee-select, move, resize and rotate with handles, bring to front or send to back, snap the crop to edges in the shot. Every change undoes, 500 steps deep by default.
Non-destructive, all the way down
Nothing gets burned in until you export. Every mark stays an object, the crop and background stay live, and the burst stays with the capture. Save a .hypercapture, reopen it next week, and move an arrow, re-crop, or pick a different frame.
Feature by feature
| Feature | hypershot | CleanShot X |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-platform | ✓ | — |
| Region / window / full screen | ✓ | ✓ |
| Burst capture: scrub to the perfect moment (multi-frame timeline) | ✓ | — |
| Re-crop any time: a region capture keeps the whole screen, so the crop drags back out | ✓ | resize only: pixels outside the crop are gone |
| Restyle after the shot: padding, background, window chrome | ✓ | resize + padding in editor |
| Annotation toolkit (arrow, pen, highlight, text, counter, spotlight, redact, shapes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sticky notes: comments on the shot that grow as you type, recolored to sort feedback | ✓ | — |
| Preview folder: recent captures with quick actions in a screen corner | ✓ | Quick Access Overlay |
| Share to any app (OS share panel, drag & drop, clipboard) | ✓ | cloud links, drag & drop, clipboard |
| 8K output (up to 8192px per side) | ✓ | native screen resolution |
| Non-destructive: reopen later with every mark, the crop and the frames still editable | ✓ | annotations stay editable in .cleanshot project files |
| Scrolling capture | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR (on-device) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Composite capture (windows as layers, experimental) | ✓ | — |
| Video recording | Coming soon | ✓ |
| Pricing | one-time | one-time |
✓ supported · — not supported · other labels mean “with a catch”. We grade ourselves too: rows where cleanshot x wins are unmarked, on purpose. ★ the things hypershot is built around.
Where CleanShot X is the right tool
- CleanShot Cloud: upload a capture and get a share link in one step
- Screen recording and GIFs on Mac today (hypershot’s screen recording is coming soon)
Where it leaves you wanting
- macOS only: Windows users on your team are out of the club
- Optional paid updates after the first year
- No frame scrubbing: the frame you want is the frame you grabbed
- The crop is final: you can resize the image, but every pixel outside your selection is gone, so a crop that came out too tight means taking the shot again
Switching from CleanShot X
Nearly everything you do in CleanShot X has a direct counterpart in hypershot, usually under the same name. Install hypershot, give it Screen Recording permission, move your shortcuts over (or keep hypershot’s, which stay clear of the system’s), and save the CleanShot project files you still edit as images, because they only open in CleanShot. What doesn’t come with you is CleanShot Cloud, and screen recording until hypershot’s arrives soon.
What maps to what
| CleanShot X | hypershot | Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| Capture Area | Region captureHold the mouse button to keep a burst of frames. | ⌘⇧2 |
| Freeze screen | Region capture (frozen)Or press Space during any region capture; again to unfreeze. | ⌘⇧X |
| Capture Window | Window captureShadows on or off in Settings → Captures. | ⌘⇧W |
| Capture Fullscreen | Screen capture | ⌘⇧1 |
| Scrolling Capture | Scrolling capture | ⌘⇧J |
| Self-Timer | Delayed captureRegion, screen or window, 1–30 seconds. | ⌘⇧7 |
| Capture Text (OCR) | OCR capture | ⌘⇧O |
| Reading QR codes | Scan codesQR codes and barcodes, every one on screen. | ⌘⇧B |
| All-In-One mode | Quick Access Panel | ⌘⇧P |
| Quick Access Overlay | Preview folder | ⌘⇧L |
| Annotate | The editorArrow, pen, highlighter, text, counter, spotlight, redact, shapes, plus sticky notes. | |
| Background tool | ArtboardPress B: background, padding, shadow, window chrome, rounded corners. | |
| Combine images | MediaPaste or drop another image onto the canvas. | |
| Floating Screenshots | Pin to screen | |
| Color picker | EyedropperSamples anything on screen; copies the hex. | |
| .cleanshot project files | .hypercapture filesThey also keep the burst and the screen outside your crop. | |
| CleanShot Cloud links | Share, drag, copyNo hosted links: the share panel, drag and drop, the clipboard. | |
| Screen recording, GIFs | Coming soon |
Making the move
- Install hypershot from the download page and allow Screen Recording when macOS asks. Every feature is free for 7 days, so you can run both apps side by side before you decide.
- Pick your keys. hypershot’s defaults stay clear of macOS’s own and are listed above. If your hands know CleanShot’s, turn those off in CleanShot first, then set the same keys in hypershot’s Settings → Shortcuts. Taking over ⌘⇧3 or ⌘⇧4 needs Accessibility permission. How shortcuts work.
- Save what you still edit. CleanShot’s project files open only in CleanShot, so export the ones you’re not done with as PNGs. The annotations become part of the image; anything you mark up from now on stays editable in a .hypercapture.
- Set where captures go. hypershot saves every capture to Pictures/hypershot; change it under Settings → General → Save directory. If you used CleanShot to copy and move on, set Settings → Captures → After capture to Only Copy.
- Rebuild your look. CleanShot’s background presets become the artboard: twelve gradient presets, your own colors, or a gradient taken from the capture itself.
- When you’re sure, remove CleanShot from your login items so the two don’t compete for keys.
What stays behind
- CleanShot Cloud: hypershot has no hosted share links. Links you already made live on CleanShot’s service.
- Screen recording, GIFs and the video editor: hypershot’s screen recording is coming soon.
- Auto-scroll: in hypershot you scroll the page yourself, and it stitches best scrolling down.
- Your settings and presets: nothing imports, so set them once with the steps above.
The verdict
CleanShot X is a lovely Mac app. If you use Windows or Mac, and love some good UX/UI, however, you might want to entertain hypershot.