Yes. Snow Shot is completely free and open source (GPL-3.0). There is no subscription, no account, and no watermark on captures or recordings.

Does Snow Shot work on Windows 11?

Yes. Snow Shot runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11, with separate builds for x64 and ARM64 PCs. You can install it from an installer, run the portable version without installing, or use WinGet: winget install --exact --id mg-chao.snow-shot.

Is there a Mac version of Snow Shot?

Yes. There are DMG downloads for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs, and a Homebrew cask: brew install --cask mg-chao/tap/snow-shot.

Can Snow Shot take scrolling screenshots?

Yes. Scrolling capture is one of its capture modes, alongside full screen, window, region and delayed capture — see the scrolling screenshot guide on this site.

Does the OCR work offline?

The offline installer includes the default OCR resources, so text recognition and table recognition run locally on your machine. With the smaller online installer, some features download the first time you use them.

What is the difference between Snow Shot and Snow Shot Mini?

Mini is a lighter edition focused on screenshots, annotation, pinning and recording. It leaves out QR and table recognition, and its text recognition downloads on first use instead of being bundled.

Is Snow Shot safe to download?

Downloads on this page link directly to the official GitHub releases of the open-source project, and every release publishes SHA-256 checksums so you can verify the file you received is the file that was published.

Snow Shot — the free screenshot & screen recording tool for Windows and Mac

Capture, annotate, extract text, and record your screen in one calm workflow. Snow Shot is the open-source screenshot tool that turns a moment into something worth sharing — no account, no subscription, no watermark.

⬇ Download for Windows ⬇ Download for Mac All downloads

Version 1.3.5 · Windows x64 & ARM64 · macOS Apple Silicon & Intel · Portable version available

100% free Open source · GPL-3.0 6,000+ GitHub stars No signup OCR built in

Why people switch to Snow Shot

Built-in screenshot shortcuts capture pixels; Snow Shot finishes the job. Every capture can be annotated, pinned on top of your other windows, searched later from your screenshot history, or turned into clean text with built-in OCR — and when a picture is not enough, it records video with cursor context and clean audio. It is the daily-driver tool behind thousands of bug reports, tutorials, support replies and design reviews.

01 / EXPLAIN IN SECONDS

Make every screenshot easy to understand

Add arrows, highlights, blur, and text in one clean pass. Turn a raw capture into a clear explanation immediately — the difference between "it's broken" and a screenshot a teammate can act on.

See the annotation tools →

Arrows, shapes, freehand draw✓

Highlight & mosaic blur✓

Text labels & step numbers✓

Copy result instantlyCtrl+F1

02 / CAPTURE IMMEDIATELY

Choose a mode. Capture in one move.

Full screen, window, region, scrolling page, or delayed capture. Global hotkeys and a floating toolbar keep every mode one move away, on Windows and macOS alike.

All capture modes →

Full screenWindowRegionScrollingDelayed 3sMulti-monitor

Default screenshot hotkeyF1

Capture & copy to clipboardCtrl+F1

03 / REUSE WHAT YOU SEE

Turn pixels into usable text

Recognize text — and even structured tables — directly from an image, translate it, and copy clean results in one step. No retyping error messages, invoices, or screenshots of code ever again.

How screenshot OCR works →

OCR text recognitionBuilt in

Table recognition✓

Text translation✓

Runs locally (offline package)✓

04 / SHOW IT & KEEP IT

Record the fix, pin the reference

Capture a focused video with cursor context and clean audio instead of describing a bug in paragraphs. And pin any capture — a screenshot, document or note — above all other windows while you work from it.

Recording & pinning →

Screen recording with audio✓

Pin images, files, clipboardF3

Screenshot history & search✓

Full-screen canvas mode✓

Snow Shot or Snow Shot Mini?

	Snow Shot	Snow Shot Mini
Best for	Full daily workflow: capture, OCR, tables, translate, record	A lighter footprint: capture, annotate, pin, record
Text recognition (OCR)	Bundled	Downloads on first use
Table & QR recognition	Included	Not included
Windows x64 installer size	25.8 MB online · 53.0 MB offline	22.9 MB online · 32.0 MB portable

Not sure? Start with the full version — you can switch any time. More about Snow Shot Mini → · Go to downloads →

Install in under a minute

Download the package for your system from the download page — installer, portable, Microsoft Store, WinGet, Scoop and Homebrew are all supported.
Run it. The portable version needs no installation at all; the offline installer includes every feature, ready for offline environments.
Press F1 (or Ctrl+F1 to capture and copy) and take your first screenshot. That is the whole setup.

Snow Shot FAQ

Is Snow Shot free?: Yes — completely free and open source under GPL-3.0. No subscription, no account, no watermarks.
Does Snow Shot work on Windows 11?: Yes, on Windows 10 and 11, with separate x64 and ARM64 builds. Install it, run it portably, or use WinGet: winget install --exact --id mg-chao.snow-shot
Is there a Mac version?: Yes — DMG downloads for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, plus a Homebrew cask: brew install --cask mg-chao/tap/snow-shot
Can it take scrolling screenshots?: Yes — scrolling capture is a built-in mode. See our scrolling screenshot guide.
Does the OCR work offline?: The offline installer includes the default OCR resources, so recognition runs locally. With the online installer, some features download on first use.
Is it safe?: Every download here links to the official GitHub release, and each release ships SHA-256 checksums for verification. The full source code is public on GitHub.

Start your next piece of work with a better screenshot

Free forever · Windows & macOS · Two minutes to install

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