Yep — free for 30 days, then a one-time $4.99 to keep it forever. No subscription, no auto-renew, no surprise charge.

Why do I need iShot when my Mac already takes screenshots?

Your Mac captures — it doesn't make captures useful. iShot pulls text off any screen, decodes QR codes, translates, annotates, redacts, records with a camera bubble, and scroll-captures long pages. Text recognition, QR, and annotation run entirely on your Mac; translation runs through the AI key you add. The built-in tool stops at the picture; iShot starts there.

Which Macs does it run on?

Any Mac on macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer. There's one Universal download that covers both Apple Silicon (M1–M4) and Intel Macs — it picks the right one automatically.

Can I grab text and links out of a screenshot?

Yes. Select any text in your capture and copy it with ⌘C, or pull everything off the screen at once with the on-device OCR panel — in a bunch of languages. Point it at a QR code and it'll decode the link, so you can open or copy it straight from the shot.

Can I record my screen with a camera bubble?

Yes. Record your screen and mic, and optionally float your webcam in a round bubble you can drag and resize — turn it off in one click. You can also drop your capture on a clean custom background and mute notifications while you record.

Does it work offline?

Mostly, yes. Grabbing text from screenshots (OCR) and scanning QR codes run entirely on your Mac, no internet needed. Only translation needs a connection.

Is my data safe? What happens to my screenshots?

They stay on your Mac. OCR and QR scanning run entirely on-device — nothing is uploaded and nothing trains a cloud model. Only translation needs an internet connection. The app is notarized by Apple, and downloads come straight from the official site.

How do I capture a long page?

Hit scroll capture, scroll down or sideways yourself at your own pace, then press your finish key. iShot stitches everything into one tall, seamless image and copies it ready to share.

Comparison · Shottr

Shottr vs iShot: cheap and fast, but what's missing in 2026

Name: iShot
Brand: iShot
Price: 4.99 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Author: Tuan Tran

Shottr is a two-megabyte app that opens faster than you can finish pressing ⌘⇧4. At its price it is arguably the best value in the category — if what you need is exactly what it does. So let's be precise about what that is.

Disclosure: I built iShot, so I am not neutral here. Every claim about Shottr on this page comes from their own site or store page, last checked September 2026. WhereShottr is the better tool, I say so.

Shottr was free for years on donations, moved to a paid model in late 2024, and remains the cheapest serious option in the category. One developer builds it, and that shows in the best way: the app does a curated list of things extremely well and nothing else at all.

The curated list is the catch. Shottr is a screenshot and markup tool. It is not a recorder, not a cloud, not a beautifier. Buyers who discover that after standardizing on it end up running two apps, which quietly cancels the savings.

Side by side

iShot vs Shottr vs macOS built-in
Feature	iShot	Shottr	macOS built-in
Price model	⚠️ One-time, no subscription	⚠️ free to use; paid tiers are one-time	⚠️ Free
Capture speed / footprint	⚠️ fast, native	⚠️ best-in-class — 2 MB, near-instant	⚠️ instant, built in
Copy text out of a screenshot	✅	✅	⚠️ partial — after opening the file
Translate text in a screenshot	⚠️ partial — bring your own AI key	❌	❌
Scrolling capture	✅	⚠️ partial — window scrolling, no full-page browser capture	❌
Screen recording	⚠️ partial — screen + mic + camera bubble	❌	⚠️ partial — screen only
Pixel ruler / magnifier	❌	✅	❌
Annotate / blur / backgrounds	✅	⚠️ partial — solid markup, no backgrounds	⚠️ partial — basic markup only
Clipboard history	✅	❌	❌

Feature and pricing data checked against official sites in September 2026. Apps change; if something here looks stale, tell me and I’ll fix it.

What Shottr does well

Speed. Two megabytes, instant open, instant capture.
Pixel measurement tools are the best on the Mac — hover any edge for size, spacing, and color. Front-end developers live in this.
OCR and scrolling capture included, at the lowest paid price in the category.
QR reading and a pin window are both genuinely useful.

Pricing as published on shottr.cc — Free to use; $8 Basic, $30 Friends Club (one-time). Shottr's own purchase page lists $12 for the top tier.

Where it falls short

No screen recording, period. Not limited — absent.
No cloud or link sharing; it's been on the roadmap a long time with no release.
Scrolling capture works on scrollable windows, but there's no automated full-page web capture.
Annotation is functional, not polished: no beautified backgrounds or social presets.

The verdict

Choose Shottr if you're a developer who wants rulers, magnification, and fast captures, and you'll record and share through other tools anyway. The honest price is on shottr.cc's own purchase page.

Choose iShot if your workflow crosses into translation of foreign-language screenshots, recording with a camera bubble, or full-page capture — things Shottr doesn't attempt. And honestly: if your needs are exactly Shottr's list, buy Shottr. It's cheaper, and it's excellent.

Questions people ask

Is Shottr free?

You can use it for free with occasional purchase reminders; the paid tiers remove them. Prices are on the official purchase page, checked September 2026.

Does Shottr do OCR?

Yes, and well. Like iShot and CleanShot X, it uses Apple's on-device text recognition for copying text out of images.

Does Shottr record screen?

No. For any kind of screen recording on Mac you'd need a different app — Quick Time (built in), or one with recording built in.

Looking for how-tos instead of head-to-heads? The guides cover copying text from screenshots and scrolling capture step by step.

More comparisons

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