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Snapzy

The free alternative toScreen Studio,CleanShot X

🟢 Beginner⏱️ ~5 min to installYou save €25/mo

Snapzy is a light Mac app that replaces both CleanShot X and Screen Studio. For screenshots: an area, a window, the whole screen or a full scrolling page, the text in an image copied with one shortcut, then you annotate and blur (it spots sensitive info by itself). For video: you record as video or GIF with your Mac's sound, the microphone and your webcam as an overlay. The editor adds zooms that follow your mouse and a background, in vertical format if you want. Link sharing goes through your own Amazon S3 or Cloudflare R2 storage. Snapzy runs on macOS 13 and later, BSD licensed, with no paid version at all. What it does not do yet compared to Screen Studio: smoothing and enlarging the cursor after recording, motion blur, automatic subtitles and audio cleanup.

Screenshot of Snapzy, the free open source alternative to Screen Studio and CleanShot X
GitHub stars3,555
View on GitHub ↗

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 ↗

How to install it (even from zero)

A native Mac app, signed and notarized by Apple: one Homebrew command or a .dmg file, then the screen recording permissions.

  1. 1

    Paste this prompt into Claude (Code or Desktop)

    It installs the app from the official repo, helps you grant the permissions and walks you through your first Screen Studio style video:

    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.
  2. 2

    If permissions break after an update

    macOS sometimes asks for screen access again after an app update. The repo ships a script that resets the permissions, and the website explains the steps.

  3. 3

    Connect your storage to share by link

    To send a video by link without going through a third party, add your Amazon S3 or Cloudflare R2 storage in the settings: your files stay with you.

What you actually do with it

Your product demos with no subscription

Record your screen, add zooms that follow your mouse and a nice background: the Screen Studio look, without the 29 dollars a month.

Your annotated screenshots in two seconds

An area, an arrow, some text, a blur on sensitive info, and it is copied: the CleanShot X habit, for free.

Videos ready for social media

Pick the vertical format at export, keep your webcam as an overlay: your demo goes out as is as a Reel or a TikTok.

Project health, at a glance

Before installing an open-source tool, one question matters: is the project alive? These scores are computed from public GitHub data. They are not made up.

72/100

Good

Healthy, followed project: a good everyday choice.

Activity
100

Is the code moving? (commits in the last 30 days)

Maintenance
100

How fresh is the latest update? Fresher is better.

Community
65

Stars and contributors: people around means help and fixes.

Maturity
55

Project age. Old enough to be solid, still alive.

Momentum
39

Current pace versus its usual pace: speeding up or dozing off?

The repo in numbers

GitHub stars
3.6k
Forks
209
Contributors
36
Commits
1.4k
Project age
0.8 yrs
Last commit
4 d ago
Size
55.5 MB
License
BSD-3-Clause

Built with

  • Swift 98.1%
  • Shell 1.7%

Scores computed automatically from the GitHub API (last-30-days activity, update freshness, community size, project age). Refreshed daily.

Loucash’s take

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.

It’s for you if: 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.

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