Our picks of really good Screen Capture and Annotation tools for Chrome (2024)

Best tools for screen capture and annotation.

Published on July 12, 2024

byJ. Benjamin D'souza

Table of Contents

Introduction

We're in a world where things happen so fast compared to 100 years ago. This is especially true for how information travels—it's incredibly fast, like the speed of light. As you're reading this sentence, the words I think are read by you. Good and clear communication is crucial, especially for remote or team work.

With all these advancements, there's still a lot of room for miscommunication. Words can be easily misinterpreted. Have you heard of that experiment where 10 people stand in a line, and the first person says, "I like sushi"? By the time it reaches the last person, it turns into "I like plushies."You've probably experienced something like this before, so you know how common it is.

Now imagine this happening at work. Your manager asks you to update a file, but due to a misunderstanding, you change the wrong thing. I've experienced this, and you probably have too.

So how do we fix this? The answer is annotations! They work well both in real life and online.

In this post, I'll share a few annotation and screen recording tools for Chrome.

But why Chrome?

Well, it is a popular browser, used by millions of people everywhere. Chrome also has mature and very large browser extensions or addon stores. You can literally find anything there. And it is convenient because all you need to do is install it and you don't even have to download a separate application. It's cross-platform too - if it works on Windows, it'll also work on the Mac.

Quick rundown

Best Chrome Extention for Screen Capture and Annotation

I'll give it to you straight, I won't make you scroll through a whole post just to find the tool you're looking for. You can if you like but I'm sure you have other important things to do. Below is a list and below that you'll find the one we recommended.

  1. Instacap - Generous free plan and Pro plan at $12/month
  • Annotation Tool & Screenshot Editor
  • Full Page Screen Capture & Snipping Tool
  • PDF Annotation
  1. Screenity.io - Free and open source
  • Unlimited Recordings - Record your tab, specific areas, desktop and camera etc
  • Annotation - Draw anywhere and more -Comprehensive Editor - add or remove audio
  1. MarkupHero - Free with limited access, Pro plan at $4/month
  • Screenshot Capture & Scrolling Screenshots
  • Annotations & Editing
  • File Integration & Sharing - Upload and share images, websites and more
  1. thisShot - Completely free to use.
  • Full Page Screenshots - Capture entire web pages, including scrolling long pages
  • Annotation Tools
  • Multiple Save Formats - PNG, JPG and PDF

So what's our recommendation for the best Screen Capture and Annotation for Chrome?

Well comparing all the features, pricing and pros and cons it seems like Screenity.io is the one we like.

If you do want a deep dive into the features, read on. I'll dive into each and every features and also mention the pricing. And below that we'll do a comparison of tools.

Instacap

Instacap is a user-friendly screenshot editor and annotation tool that simplifies visual feedback. Capture full-page screenshots, annotate PDFs, and add visual comments effortlessly. Edit screenshots with text, circles, arrows, and drawings. Securely share your work with a screenshot blur tool and instant sharing capabilities for quick collaboration.

Who is Instacap for?

  • Professionals: Ideal for designers sharing project feedback or team leaders coordinating with remote workers.
  • Educators: Perfect for teachers annotating PDFs and other materials for students.
  • Students: Useful for organizing and enhancing study materials.
  • General Use: Suitable for anyone needing clear and efficient visual communication.

Instacap features

  • Annotation Tool & Screenshot Editor: Easily annotate and edit screenshots with text, circles, arrows, drawings, and more via a simple UI.
  • Full Page Screen Capture & Snipping Tool: Capture scrolling full-page screenshots or crop images to any size you need.
  • Screenshot Blur Tool: Add image blur to obscure parts of your screen capture for secure and easy sharing.
  • Instant Visual Feedback: Instantly share a link to your screen capture for quick visual feedback and annotations.
  • Instant Loom Video/Audio: Instantly share screen recordings or videos for immediate visual feedback and annotations.
  • PDF Annotation: Upload and annotate PDFs, images, and other files for clear in-context discussions.

Instacap Pricing

Has a generous free plan. Pro plan starts from $12/month

Screenity.io

Screenity.io is a privacy-focused screen recorder that makes video creation and editing simple and efficient. With no time limits, an intuitive interface, and powerful features. Screenity is perfect for anyone who needs to record and annotate their screen. Screenity ensures complete privacy by not collecting any data and allowing users to self-host the tool, as it is open source. You can capture, annotate, edit, and share videos effortlessly, all without needing to sign in.

Who is Screenity for?

Screenity is ideal for professionals, educators, students, and content creators who value privacy and flexibility. It's particularly useful for:

  • Educators creating tutorials and presentations
  • Remote teams sharing feedback and demonstrations
  • Content creators making product demos and walkthroughs
  • Anyone needing to record and annotate their screen for work, education, or personal use

Core Features:

  • Unlimited Recordings: Record your tab, specific areas, desktop, any application, or camera with no limits on the number or length of recordings.
  • Audio Recording: Record your microphone or internal audio and use push-to-talk features.
  • Annotation Tools: Draw anywhere on the screen, add text, arrows, shapes, and more for clear annotations.
  • AI-Powered Enhancements: Use AI-powered camera backgrounds or blur effects to enhance your recordings.
  • Zoom Functionality: Smoothly zoom in on specific areas during recordings to highlight important details.
  • Privacy Features: Blur out sensitive content to keep your recordings private.
  • Comprehensive Editor: Remove or add audio, cut, trim, or crop your recordings with an in-depth editing tool.
  • Highlighting Tools: Highlight clicks and cursor movements and use spotlight mode to draw attention.
  • Recording Controls: Set alarms to automatically stop recordings, and customize UI elements.
  • Export Options: Export recordings as mp4, gif, and webm, or save directly to Google Drive to share a link.
  • Data Privacy: Only you can see your videos; Screenity doesn’t collect any data and can even be used offline.
  • Open Source and Self-Hostable: Screenity is open source, and users can self-host by accessing the GitHub repository.

Screenity Pricing

Screenity is completely free to use and is open source.

Markup Hero

MarkupHero is a versatile screenshot and annotation tool for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome. It supports capturing desktop, application, or selected areas with scrolling screenshots, PDF, and Google Drive integration.

Who is Markup hero for?

Markup Hero is ideal for individuals, professionals, teams, and educational institutions that require a reliable tool for capturing, annotating, and sharing visual content. It caters to:

  • Designers and developers
  • Project managers and team leads
  • Educators and students
  • Marketing professionals
  • Anyone needing to share detailed visual feedback

Markup hero features

  • Screenshot Capture: Take desktop, application, or selected area screenshots using free apps for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome.
  • Scrolling Screenshots: Capture entire webpages with the scrolling screenshot feature for comprehensive feedback on full-page designs.
  • File Integration: Upload and share images, websites, PDFs, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.
  • Annotations & Editing: Add and edit annotations with text, arrows, highlighters, icons, and more from any web-enabled device.
  • Collaboration: Collaborate easily by allowing others to add annotations to your shared markups.
  • Advanced Tools: Quickly sign PDFs, blur sensitive information, and crop files to the perfect size.
  • Sharing: Instantly share your markups via email, Slack, SMS, social media, and more using built-in share links with thumbnail previews.
  • Multi-Page Support: Create and add multiple pages by importing multi-page PDFs, uploading multiple images, or pasting clipboard screenshots.
  • Notion Integration: Take screenshots of any website and instantly embed them into a Notion page with the free integration.
  • Save, Export & Duplicate: Save markups as PNGs, export to PDF with multi-page support, or duplicate to add and edit annotations on shared markups.

Markup Hero Pricing

  • Free Plan: Ideal for individuals needing basic tools and features, including up to 30 markups per month.
  • Professional Plan: $4/month for professionals, teams, and schools requiring unlimited access to all tools and features for unlimited usage.

thisShot

thisShot is a powerful browser extension designed to effortlessly capture screenshots of web pages. Whether you need to capture scrolling long pages, visible areas, selected areas, or entire windows, thisShot provides a seamless experience. It's completely free and easy to use, making it a must-have tool for anyone needing to take and annotate screenshots quickly and efficiently.

Who is thisShot for?

thisShot is perfect for professionals, students, bloggers, designers, and anyone who frequently needs to capture and annotate screenshots from their browser. It's particularly useful for:

  • Web developers and designers needing to capture and annotate web page designs
  • Bloggers and content creators looking to include annotated screenshots in their posts
  • Educators and students for capturing and annotating educational content
  • Business professionals for creating visual reports and presentations

thisShot Features

  • Full Page Screenshots: Capture entire web pages, including scrolling long pages, for comprehensive documentation.
  • Visible Area Screenshots: Capture only the visible portion of the web page for quick and focused screenshots.
  • Selected Area Screenshots: Select and capture specific areas of a web page or other interfaces.
  • Window Screenshots: Capture screenshots of interfaces outside the current web page, such as computer desktops, documents, other applications, and tabs.
  • Annotation Tools: Easily mark up your screenshots with lines, arrows, and other annotation tools to highlight important information.
  • Multiple Save Formats: Save your screenshots in PNG, JPG, or PDF formats according to your needs.
  • Clipboard Support: Copy screenshots to the clipboard for easy pasting into blogs, documents, and other applications.
  • Local Image Annotation: Select and annotate local images, providing flexibility beyond web screenshots.

Pricing

thisShot is completely free to use, offering all its powerful features at no cost. There are no premium plans or hidden fees, ensuring that users have access to all functionalities without any limitations.

Which screen capture tool is completely free to use for Chrome?

Screenity.io and thisShot are two free tools. Both of them are completely free as of July, 2024. Screenity is open source as well.

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