ShareX for Mac: there isn't one, and what to use instead

ShareX is Windows-only. Its own site calls it a screenshot tool for Windows, and every build it ships, including the Microsoft Store and Steam versions, is a Windows build. There is no Mac version and no Linux version. If that is what you came looking for, the honest answer is that you need a different tool, and the alternative worth knowing about is a browser-based one: CobaltCapture works the same on Mac, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS because it runs in a tab.

What ShareX does well

ShareX is not really a screenshot tool. It is a capture and upload automation system that happens to start with a screenshot, and on Windows nothing else has its range. Region, window, scrolling and full-screen capture. Screen recording to MP4 or GIF. OCR that pulls text out of an image. An annotation editor. Then the part that makes people loyal to it: a configurable pipeline where a hotkey can capture a region, watermark it, upload it to a destination you chose from a list of dozens, shorten the URL, and put the link on your clipboard, without you touching anything after the shortcut.

It is free, open source, has no account and no paid tier, and the people who use it heavily are not exaggerating when they say nothing else does what it does. This page is not an argument that ShareX is bad.

Where it stops

It stops at Windows. That is the whole of it, and it is not a limitation anyone is going to fix, because ShareX is built on Windows-specific frameworks rather than a cross-platform toolkit. Running it in a virtual machine or under a compatibility layer is possible and is not something you want in the path of a tool you reach for twenty times a day.

For a mixed team the cost is not just that the Mac users cannot have it. It is that the shared habit breaks. The Windows half of the team sends short links from their own upload destination and the Mac half sends attachments, and nobody's bug reports look like anybody else's.

There is a second gap that has nothing to do with platform. ShareX is exceptional at moving pixels somewhere. It has no opinion about what you say about them. Your explanation of why the screen is wrong, what you expected instead, and which page it happened on lives in whatever chat window you pasted the link into, and it is gone the next time someone needs it.

The same capture in CobaltCapture

CobaltCapture uses the browser's native screen-capture API. Choose a window or a screen, drag a rectangle to crop, and the frame becomes an item in a review. No install, no license, no signup to try it, and the flow is identical in Chrome on Windows, Chrome or Safari on a Mac and Firefox or Chrome on Linux. If the image is already on your clipboard, paste it in instead.

Then you explain it. Every screenshot carries its own comment, which you can dictate out loud in Chrome or Edge rather than type. You can drop numbered pins and draw arrows, boxes, circles and text labels over the image, and all of that is burned into the exported picture so it survives being pasted into a ticket.

The output is a link rather than a file. Every review has a public URL and a cleaner stakeholder URL at /s/<slug> with the editing controls stripped out. From there, export to PDF or Word for people, push it into a repository as a GitHub issue, or export Markdown, which is what an AI coding agent can read. That is the one thing this whole category is missing: hand an agent a ShareX upload and it sees an image it cannot reason about; hand it a CobaltCapture review and it reads your screens and your notes as text. For QA bug reports going to a coding agent, that is the entire difference.

If all you want is the ShareX reflex, capture something and get a link on your clipboard immediately, there is a single-screenshot flow at /shot that does exactly that: capture, drop one pin, type one line, and copy an image that is also a link to the full review.

Who should stay on ShareX

If you are on Windows and you use the automation, stay. Custom upload destinations, chained workflows, OCR, GIF recording and scrolling capture are real features that a browser tab cannot offer, and they are free. Nothing here replaces them.

The switch makes sense when the operating system is the blocker, or when what you owe someone is a written review with the reasoning attached rather than a link to an image. Many people end up running both, ShareX for the fast local capture on the Windows machine and CobaltCapture when the audience is a mixed team, a client, or a coding agent.

Feature comparison

	ShareX	CobaltCapture
Windows	Yes	Yes, in the browser
Mac	No build	Yes, same as Windows
Linux	No build	Yes, in the browser
Install required	Yes	None
Cost	Free and open source	Free to try, Pro from $5 a month
Screen recording	Yes, MP4 and GIF	No, stills only
OCR and workflow automation	Yes	No
Custom upload destinations	Dozens	Hosted, with a public review URL
Per-screenshot commentary	No	Yes, typed or dictated
Stakeholder-only URL	No	Yes, at /s/<slug>
Export formats	Image and video files	Markdown, PDF, Word
Readable by an AI coding agent	No	Yes, native Markdown

Category facts change. Check each vendor's own site for the current state of their downloads and pricing.

Get started

cobaltcapture.com. Free to try, no install and no signup. Free reviews stay live for seven days; Pro keeps them live and is $5 a month.

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Frequently asked questions

Does ShareX work on Mac?

No. ShareX is a Windows application. Its own site describes it as a screenshot tool for Windows and every download it offers, including the Microsoft Store and Steam listings, is a Windows build. There is no Mac version, no official port, and no announced plan for one. The usual workarounds people suggest, running it under a virtual machine or a compatibility layer, technically work and are miserable for something you use twenty times a day.

Is there a ShareX for Linux?

No, for the same reason. ShareX is built on Windows-specific frameworks. On Linux the closest native tools are Flameshot and Spectacle for capture, or a browser-based tool like CobaltCapture if you also need to share the result and write up what is wrong with it.

What is the closest ShareX alternative for Mac?

Nothing matches ShareX feature for feature, because very little else tries to be a capture tool, a recorder, an uploader and a workflow automation system at once. Split the job instead. For local capture and annotation on a Mac, look at Shottr, CleanShot X or Snagit. For capturing screens, explaining each one and sending someone a link, CobaltCapture does that in any browser with no install.

Is CobaltCapture free like ShareX?

It is free to try, with no signup needed to make your first review, but it is not open source and it is not free without limit the way ShareX is. Free reviews stay live for seven days from when they are created; Pro, at $5 a month or $50 a year, keeps every review on your account live. ShareX is free forever and always will be. If cost is the deciding factor and you are on Windows, that is a fair reason to stay.

Does CobaltCapture need an install or an extension?

No. It uses the browser's own screen-capture API, so there is no desktop app and no browser extension, and you do not have to sign up to try it. On a phone or tablet, where no browser can screen-capture at all, you take a normal device screenshot and add it to a review from the photo picker.

Can CobaltCapture record video like ShareX?

No. It captures still frames only. If screen recording is the main thing you use ShareX for, this is not a replacement for that part of your workflow. The argument for stills is that a reviewer reads five annotated screenshots in thirty seconds and has to sit through a five-minute recording, and an AI coding agent can read the screenshots and cannot watch the recording.

When should I stay on ShareX?

Stay on ShareX if you are on Windows and you use what makes it unusual: custom upload destinations, the workflow and hotkey automation, OCR, the scrolling and GIF capture, or its per-region recording. Nothing browser-based comes close to that surface area, and it is free. The case for switching starts when your team is not all on Windows, or when the artifact you owe someone is a written review rather than a file.