A free, offline toolbox for creators: clip, trim and merge videos, make voiceovers, transcribe and write scripts, all on your own PC.
ShotMate
Desktop appFree
A free screenshot app for Mac: press a hotkey, select, mark it up and paste it anywhere with ⌘V.
- Price
- Free
- Works on
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later
- Chips
- Apple Silicon and Intel
- Licence
- MIT, open source
- Account needed
- None
- Open source
- macOS
- Screenshots
- Productivity
What it does
Everything in one click.
Instant capture
One global shortcut (⇧⌘S by default) freezes the screen right away.
Precise selection
Drag to select, then move, resize with handles or nudge with the arrow keys, with a live size readout.
Simple markup
Pen, arrow, rectangle and text, in 6 colours and 3 thicknesses, with undo.
Copy to clipboard
Press Enter and paste anywhere. No file in between, and it takes you back to the app you were in.
Save as PNG
Optional: a save dialog that remembers your last folder, or automatic saving.
Retina and multi-monitor
Captures at native pixel density on every display, with no blur or offset.
Your shortcut
Change it in one click. It warns you about clashes with macOS and other apps.
Private by design
No account, no network, no analytics. Screenshots never leave your Mac.
The details
Built for power users.
- Lives in the menu bar, under 1 MB on disk
- Native Swift, AppKit and SwiftUI on ScreenCaptureKit, no third-party code
- Keyboard first: P, A, R and T switch tools, ⌘Z undoes, Esc cancels
- Click without dragging to capture the whole display
- After capture: copy, save to file, or both
- Launches at login (you can turn it off)
- Universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel
Who it’s for
Who gets the most out of it.
- Developers pasting screenshots into VS Code, ChatGPT or a pull request
- Designers and PMs pointing at exactly what needs to change
- Support teams answering with an annotated screenshot
- Anyone on a Mac who misses Lightshot
Private by design.
ShotMate has no network code at all. Screenshots go only to your clipboard, or to a folder you choose. There is no account and no analytics.
FAQ
Good questions.
Is it really free?
Yes. It’s open source under the MIT licence, with no account, subscription or ads.
Is it a good Lightshot alternative for Mac?
Yes. It keeps Lightshot’s select, mark and copy flow, but it’s a native Mac app with Retina-sharp captures, multi-monitor support, a custom hotkey and no cloud upload.
macOS says it can’t verify the app. Is it safe?
ShotMate isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks once. Go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. Or build it yourself from the source.
Why does it need Screen Recording permission?
macOS asks for it for any app that captures the screen. Without it, ShotMate can only see your wallpaper. The capture happens entirely on your Mac.
Does it work on Windows?
No, ShotMate is Mac only. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel.
Free. Go grab it.
Open source, no signup and no catch. Install it and start in a minute.
More tools
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Queue up prompts and let ChatGPT answer them one by one, automatically. Then collect the replies.
