Is Snapzy really free?

Yes. Snapzy is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Screen Studio, on the other hand, costs €25 a month.

Do I need to code to install Snapzy?

No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Screen Studio?

Snapzy does most of what Screen Studio does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Screen Studio

Screen Studio costs €25 a month. Here are the 2 open source tools that replace it for free, best one first.

Public entry price, taken from Screen Studio’s website (screen.studio). Over a year, that is €300 that stays in your pocket.

What replaces Screen Studio

The main alternative

Snapzy

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installSave €25/mo

Snapzy is a real Mac app, light and living in the menu bar, that brings two paid tools together. On the screenshot side, CleanShot X style: an area, a window or the whole screen, a scrolling capture for a full page, the text in an image copied with one shortcut, a cut out subject, then an editor to add arrows, shapes, text, highlighter, counters, blur (it even spots sensitive info by itself), and a nice background in one click. On the video side, Screen Studio style: recording as video or GIF with your computer's sound and the microphone, your webcam as an overlay (your iPhone can be the camera), your clicks and keyboard shortcuts highlighted. The editor adds zooms that follow your mouse or that you place by hand, speed ups, a background, padding, a shadow, rounded corners and the dimensions you want, vertical format included. After each capture, a small panel lets you copy, edit or drag the file into another app, and the history keeps everything. The interface speaks French, link sharing goes through your own Amazon S3 or Cloudflare R2 storage, and nothing leaves your Mac without your consent. The project is BSD licensed, with more than 3,000 stars on GitHub in under a year, funded by donations: there is no paid version at all. It runs on macOS 13 or later, on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, and the app is signed and notarized by Apple. What it does not do yet compared to Screen Studio: smoothing the cursor and enlarging it after recording, motion blur, automatic subtitles and audio clean up.

Loucash’s verdict on Snapzy

8/10

For a free tool, Snapzy does a lot: CleanShot X's annotated screenshots, plus a good part of Screen Studio, with zooms that follow the mouse, backgrounds and the vertical format. Everything stays on your Mac, with no account and no subscription. What I like: it is a real Mac app, light and notarized by Apple, installed with one command. And link sharing goes through your own storage, not their servers. Why 8 and not more: it still lacks what makes Screen Studio magic, the smoothed cursor you enlarge afterwards, motion blur, subtitles and audio clean up. The project is under a year old and moves fast, with releases almost every week. And it only runs on Mac.

Who it is for: You make annotated screenshots and video demos on a Mac, and you no longer want to pay for CleanShot X or the Screen Studio subscription. If you sell very polished videos where the cursor must glide perfectly, Screen Studio keeps an edge.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

Also in the library
Cap
🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installSave €25/mo
Cap is the open source alternative to Loom, and the project says so itself. You hit record, it captures your screen, your webcam and your mic, and you get a video to share. Two ways to work. Instant mode uploads the video while you talk, and the link is already copied when you stop: that is the Loom reflex. Studio mode records locally, in 4K if you want, then opens an editor: background, automatic zoom on your clicks, blur on sensitive areas, captions, export to a file. Nothing leaves for a server until you ask for a link. The app runs on Mac, Windows and, recently, Linux. The code is AGPL-licensed with close to 22,000 stars on GitHub, and the web part deploys on your own server with Docker Compose: your videos, your database, your storage. There is also a screenshot mode, and a command line so Claude Code can record for you.
See the full page →See the tool ↗

Snapzy versus Screen Studio: the match

Price
Snapzy
€0, no subscription
Screen Studio
€25/month, or €8/month yearly
Zooms that follow the mouse
Snapzy
Yes, adjustable
Screen Studio
Yes, the reference
Cursor smoothed and enlarged afterwards
Snapzy
No
Screen Studio
Yes

Screen Studio ↗

VS	Snapzy	Screen Studio ↗
Price	€0, no subscription	€25/month, or €8/month yearly
Zooms that follow the mouse	Yes, adjustable	Yes, the reference
Cursor smoothed and enlarged afterwards	No	Yes
Backgrounds, padding, vertical format	Yes	Yes
Annotated screenshots	Yes, CleanShot X style	No, video only
Link sharing	Through your S3 or R2 storage	Links included
Subtitles and audio clean up	No	Yes, on your machine

The prompt that installs Snapzy

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Installe Snapzy sur mon Mac : c'est l'app open source de captures et d'enregistrement d'écran qui remplace Screen Studio et CleanShot X (dépôt GitHub duongductrong/Snapzy, site snapzy.app). Vérifie d'abord que mon Mac est sous macOS 13 ou plus récent. Installe-le avec Homebrew (brew install --cask snapzy) ou, si je n'ai pas Homebrew, télécharge le dernier fichier .dmg depuis github.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/releases et place l'app dans Applications. Guide-moi pour donner les autorisations d'enregistrement de l'écran, du micro et de la caméra dans les Réglages Système, puis relance l'app. Mets l'interface en français et montre-moi les raccourcis utiles : capture d'une zone, capture défilante, texte à copier, enregistrement. Vérifie aussi qu'ils n'entrent pas en conflit avec les raccourcis de captures de macOS. Ensuite, fais avec moi une première vidéo façon Screen Studio : un enregistrement avec les clics mis en valeur, puis, dans l'éditeur, des zooms qui suivent la souris, un fond, des marges et un export au format vertical pour les réseaux. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

Is Snapzy really free?: Yes. Snapzy is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Screen Studio, on the other hand, costs €25 a month.
Do I need to code to install Snapzy?: No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Screen Studio?: Snapzy does most of what Screen Studio does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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