A free CleanShot X alternative for Mac

Ferrocast is a free, open-source Mac launcher that also takes screenshots, including scrolling captures, copies the text in a capture on your Mac, pins captures above your windows, annotates them and records your screen with automatic zoom. It has no cloud upload, no share links and no capture history, and screen capture needs macOS 14.

CleanShot X is a polished paid app and this page does not claim to replace everything it does. According to its site (28 October 2026) CleanShot Basic is $35 once, with one year of updates, and Pro is $10 per user per month billed annually. I build Ferrocast; it is independent and not affiliated with CleanShot X.

Download FerrocastFree · MIT · Apple Silicon · capture needs macOS 14

What you get, feature by feature

Ferrocast and CleanShot X compared feature by feature
	Ferrocast	CleanShot X
Price	Free (MIT)	$35 one-time with 1 year of updates, then an optional $19 a year; or Pro at $10 per user per month billed annually
Trial	Free, nothing to trial	No trial; 30-day money-back guarantee; Setapp has a 7-day trial
Area, window and full screen	Yes	Yes
Scrolling capture	Yes, vertical; stops when the content stops moving or after 60 screens	Yes, vertical and horizontal
Copy text from an image	Yes, on your Mac with Apple’s Vision framework	Yes, on-device; lists 30+ languages and QR codes
Pin a screenshot	Yes, always on top, zoom 25–400 %, several at once	Yes, always on top, size and opacity, lock mode
Annotate	Arrows, lines, boxes, ellipses, highlights, freehand, numbered labels, magnifier, text, callouts, image stamps	Also lists pixelate, blur and spotlight
Screen recording	MP4 or GIF, auto zoom on clicks, camera, microphone and system audio, on-device transcript	MP4 or GIF, clicks, keystrokes, camera; editor with smart zooms
Cloud and share links	No	Yes (1 GB on Basic, unlimited on Pro)
Capture history	Not documented; captures are PNG files in a folder	Up to 1 month
macOS	Capture needs macOS 14; Apple Silicon only	macOS 13 or newer

Ferrocast: screen capture docs and Annotate docs. CleanShot X: cleanshot.com/pricing and cleanshot.com/features. Checked on 28 October 2026.

Take a scrolling screenshot and copy its text

Install and allow permissions. Install Ferrocast, then allow Screen Recording; scrolling capture also needs Accessibility. There are no default shortcuts: set them in Settings → Capture → Shortcuts.
Run Capture Scrolling. Open the launcher with ⌥ Space, run Capture Scrolling and choose the area that scrolls. Ferrocast scrolls it and joins the strips.
Use the Capture window. Copy (↵), Save (⌘S), Annotate… (⌘⇧A), Background… (⌘⇧B), Copy Text (⌘T) or Pin (⌘P).
Copy the text. Press ⌘T. Ferrocast reads the text with Vision on your Mac and shows “Copied N characters”.

Install Ferrocast with Homebrew

brew tap drumst0ck/ferrocast
brew install drumst0ck/ferrocast/ferrocast
ln -sfn "$(brew --prefix)/opt/ferrocast/Ferrocast.app" \
  /Applications/Ferrocast.app
open /Applications/Ferrocast.app

Screenshots

Capture Area shows a crosshair and the size in pixels (Space switches to window mode), Capture Window and Capture Screen do what they say. Captures are PNG files at the display’s native size in ~/Pictures/Ferrocast Captures.

Capture Scrolling stops when two strips are identical or after 60 screens. Ferrocast sends vertical scroll events, so I only claim vertical capture; CleanShot also lists horizontal scrolling.

Copy text, pin and annotate

Copy Text puts the text on the clipboard in reading order; the image is not sent anywhere. Which languages it reads and whether it reads QR codes are not documented, so I do not compare them with CleanShot’s 30+ languages.

Pin opens a borderless always-on-top window; Esc closes it. For hiding sensitive data, Ferrocast has Redact image for faces and text with blur or a solid colour; I have not documented a direct route to it from the Capture window.

Record your screen with auto zoom

Record Screen, Area or Window at 60 or 30 fps. Auto zoom starts 0.4 s before the first click of a group and returns after 1.2 s without clicks or cursor movement (2× by default). Export is MP4 (H.264 or HEVC, up to 4K at 60 fps) or GIF. Ferrocast logs shortcut keys, never plain typing; CleanShot lists capturing all keys or only command keys, so I do not compare the two. More in the Screen Studio alternative page (en español).

What CleanShot X does that Ferrocast doesn’t

Cloud upload and share links, with a searchable library on its Cloud plans.
A capture history of up to a month, and a Quick Access Overlay after every capture.
A self-timer for screenshots; Ferrocast documents a countdown for recordings only.
Horizontal scrolling capture.
macOS 13 support: Ferrocast capture needs macOS 14.
Pixelate and spotlight tools in its annotation editor.

Price

Ferrocast is free, with no paid plan. CleanShot X costs $35 (Basic, one year of updates, $19 a year to renew) or $10 per user per month billed annually (Pro), according to cleanshot.com/pricing on 28 October 2026.

Related guides

Questions

Is there a free alternative to CleanShot X?

Yes. Ferrocast is a free, open-source (MIT) Mac app that takes area, window, screen and scrolling screenshots, copies the text in a capture on your Mac, pins captures above other windows, annotates them and records the screen with automatic zoom on clicks. It has no cloud upload or capture history, and screen capture needs macOS 14 or later.

How much does CleanShot X cost?

According to cleanshot.com (28 October 2026), CleanShot Basic is a $35 one-time purchase with one year of updates, renewable at $19 a year, and CleanShot Pro is $10 per user per month billed annually. There is no free trial, but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Can I copy text from a screenshot on a Mac without uploading it?

Yes. In Ferrocast’s Capture window, Copy Text (⌘T) reads the text with Apple’s Vision framework on your Mac and puts it on the clipboard. The image is not sent anywhere.

Can I take a scrolling screenshot for free?

Yes. Capture Scrolling in Ferrocast scrolls the area you choose and joins the strips into one image, stopping when the content stops moving or after 60 screens. It is vertical only and needs the Accessibility permission.

Can I pin a screenshot above other windows?

Yes. Pin (⌘P) opens the capture in a borderless always-on-top window that you can zoom from 25 % to 400 %; you can have several at once and Esc closes one.

Can I record the screen with automatic zoom?

Yes. Ferrocast zooms toward your clicks, starting 0.4 seconds before the first click of a group, and exports MP4 or GIF. It is free.

Which macOS and Macs does it need?

Screen capture needs macOS 14 or later and an Apple Silicon Mac; Intel Macs are not supported. CleanShot X lists macOS 13 or newer on its pricing page.