ScreenshotEdits vs Lightshot (2026)
Lightshot captures screenshots. ScreenshotEdits edits them. They solve different problems — here's how they compare.
Quick verdict
Lightshot hasn't had a meaningful update since 2019. It still captures screenshots fine, but that's about it — no blur, no beautification, no real editing. Its cloud sharing sends screenshots to public URLs anyone can guess. If you just need to grab a region of your screen quickly, Lightshot works. If you need to actually edit what you captured, you need something else.
Feature comparison
What each tool actually does (and doesn't do).
| Feature | ScreenshotEdits | Lightshot |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | macOS | Windows, macOS, Chrome extension |
| Price | Free (€19 to remove watermark) | Free |
| Last meaningful update | 2026 | ~2019 |
| Screenshot capture | Built-in + paste from clipboard | Region capture (primary feature) |
| Blur / redaction | Gaussian blur, pixelate, solid fill | None |
| Annotation tools | Arrows, text, shapes, highlights | Arrows, text, lines, marker |
| Background beautification | Gradients, shadows, padding, corners | None |
| Cloud sharing | None (local only) | prntscr.com (public URLs) |
| Privacy | 100% local | Uploads to public cloud by default |
| Image search | No | Yes (Google similar image search) |
Capture speed
Lightshot
Lightshot's one real strength is speed. Hit the hotkey, drag a region, done. The overlay appears instantly and you can grab any part of your screen. On Windows, it replaces the PrtScn key. On Mac, it works as a menu bar app. The Chrome extension captures browser tabs. It's genuinely fast at the one thing it does.
ScreenshotEdits
We don't try to replace macOS's built-in capture. Command+Shift+4 already works perfectly. Instead, we pick up where capture ends. Paste your screenshot with Command+V and you're editing in under a second. The speed comes from what happens after capture, not during it.
Editing tools
Lightshot
Lightshot gives you a floating toolbar right after capture: arrow, line, rectangle, text, marker pen, and a color picker. That's everything. No blur, no crop, no resize, no backgrounds. It's enough to point at something and label it. Not enough to prepare a screenshot for documentation or a presentation.
ScreenshotEdits
Full editing suite: blur and pixelate for redaction, crop and resize, arrows and text for annotation, gradient backgrounds and shadows for beautification. You can take a raw screenshot and turn it into something you'd put in a pitch deck. Every tool is accessible from the same canvas — no modal dialogs, no secondary windows.
Privacy and cloud sharing
Lightshot
Here's the thing about Lightshot that most people don't know: when you click "Upload to prntscr.com," your screenshot gets a short URL like prntscr.com/abc123. These URLs are sequential. People have built scrapers that enumerate them. Your "private" screenshot share is effectively public. If you ever uploaded something with sensitive data through Lightshot, it may still be accessible.
ScreenshotEdits
Nothing gets uploaded. Ever. ScreenshotEdits runs in your browser or locally on your desktop with zero network calls. Your screenshots stay on your machine — copy to clipboard or save to disk. No cloud, no accounts, no analytics.
Who should use Lightshot?
Who should use ScreenshotEdits?
Verdict
Lightshot captures. ScreenshotEdits edits. If all you need is a quick way to grab a region of your screen, Lightshot works — though macOS's built-in screenshot does the same thing without installing anything.
The bigger concern with Lightshot is the lack of updates and the privacy issue. An app that hasn't been updated in years, uploading your screenshots to guessable public URLs, is a tough recommendation in 2026.
If you're on Mac and need to do anything beyond basic capture — blur sensitive info, add annotations, make screenshots look professional — ScreenshotEdits handles all of that locally and privately.
Related comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Is Lightshot still being updated?
Lightshot hasn't had a meaningful update since around 2019. The app still works, but the feature set is frozen. The Chrome extension gets occasional maintenance patches, but no new features.
Is Lightshot safe to use?
Lightshot uploads screenshots to prntscr.com by default when you use the share feature. Those URLs are sequential and publicly accessible — anyone can guess them. If you share sensitive screenshots through Lightshot's cloud, they're essentially public. ScreenshotEdits never uploads anything.
Does Lightshot work on Mac?
Yes. Lightshot has a Mac app and a Chrome extension. The Mac app is more limited than the Windows version but handles basic region capture and simple annotation.
Can Lightshot blur screenshots?
No. Lightshot's editing tools are limited to arrows, text, lines, rectangles, and a marker pen. There's no blur, no pixelation, and no redaction tool.
Which is better for sharing screenshots quickly?
Lightshot is faster for quick capture-and-share — two clicks and you have a link. ScreenshotEdits is faster for capture-edit-share — when you need to blur something, crop, or add context before sharing.
Can I use both together?
You could, but there's not much point on Mac. macOS's built-in screenshot (⌘⇧4) captures just as fast as Lightshot. Then paste into ScreenshotEdits for editing. Adding Lightshot to that chain doesn't help.
Is Lightshot free?
Yes, completely free. No paid tier, no watermarks. The tradeoff is that your screenshots may be uploaded to public URLs if you use the sharing feature. ScreenshotEdits is also free with an optional €19 license to remove the watermark.
Edit screenshots, not just capture them
Free to start. Blur, crop, annotate, beautify. No account needed.