As expressive as images themselves are, sometimes, adding a little something extra to them can go a long way, especially when you’re trying to explain something complicated. This is where screenshot & annotation software come into play, making it possible to add everything from directional arrows, to textual labels to the images. For a long time, the vastly popular Skitch has been the favorite screenshot editing tool of many. However, the app was canceled back in 2016 and there is no hope that the app will make any type of comeback from its death. But worry not, as there are tons of great alternative applications, both for Windows and Android, that you can use in place of Skitch. So, if you are interested, here are the 12 best Skitch alternatives that you can use for your Windows and Android device.
If you don’t want to use any third-party apps, both Windows and Android now come with powerful screenshot tools of their own. Click on the links below to learn how to use them. We have also mentioned official method for macOS for people who are using Macs.
With that out of the way, let’s begin, shall we?
1. Greenshot
From freehand regions to active windows, and from full-screen areas to scrolling windows, Greenshot can capture everything. The captured screenshots can be then loaded up in Greenshot image editor, which can be then used to apply extensive annotations, such as speech bubbles, arrows, highlights, and focus borders. Other effects like image outlines, selective region obfuscation, along with basic edits are available as well. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Greenshot comes pre-configured with a handful of plug-ins that make it possible for the edited images to be directly uploaded to a variety of cloud storage and image sharing services, such as Box, Dropbox, Imgur, Photobucket, and Flickr. Other features include a wide range of keyboard shortcuts, automatic saving of edited images, and stuff like that. Greenshot supports all popular image formats, such as JPG, BMP,PNG, and TIFF.
2. Lightshot
Price: Free
If you’re looking for a versatile screen capture and editor tool, it’s hard to go wrong with FastStone Capture. The fact that it can be used as a portable application makes it even more amazing.
It might not be the swankiest looking application out there, but as a well rounded and easy to use Skitch alternative, PicPick works extremely well. It has a pretty good feature set, and is lightweight as well.
Download
Platform Availability: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP; Mac OS X 10.9 and later
While certainly third-party tools are much more feature-rich, the native Windows application, Microsoft Paint has gone through a sea change in the last few years. Now it’s no longer just about painting mountains and rivers, but you can also use it as an annotation tool on Windows 10. With the addition of crop, resize tool, boxes and of course, colors, MS Paint has become the perfect alternative to Skitch for Windows users. I primarily use MS Paint for my annotation needs so I can vouch for its reliability and feature sets.
Apart from that, just like Skitch and other apps on this list, you can directly paste a screenshot on Paint with the Windows hotkey. Isn’t that really helpful? Further, MS Paint now supports a long list of image extensions including WEBP, 8-bit BMP image and more. Having said all of that, what I love about MS Paint is that you can also obfuscate a part of the screenshot using the Watercolor or Oil effect. Simply put, if you want a simple screenshot editing tool on Windows then the native MS Paint might be the best alternative to Skitch.
7. Screen Master
When it comes to editing and annotating, the app offers a ton of control. You can add text, mark up the picture, add stickers, and more. The app is also free to download and use if you can deal with ads. There is also a paid version which removes the ads which is a good thing. Overall, I quite like this app and highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a worthy Skitch alternative on Android.
9. Screenshot Easy
As the name suggests, Screenshot Easy is truly one of the easiest annotation apps on Android and very similar to Skitch in its functions and feature sets. The app is not just about editing a screenshot, but also about making the screenshot taking experience much easier. For example, the app allows you to take screenshots in multiple ways. You can take a screenshot by just tapping on a notification panel or by shaking the phone or through an overlay icon. Of all these options, I love the overlay icon because it’s always there on the screen and it’s instant to execute the action.
8. iMarkup
After Screenmaster, if there is another app that can give Skitch a good run for the money then it’s iMarkup. First of all, iMarkup is quite modern in its design and the way it behaves. Other than annotation, you can also make it the default screenshot app for your Android device. You can take long screenshots, annotate directly on a webpage and invoke the app through notification panel or from an overlay menu. Coming to annotation features, you can crop, add text, draw arrows, circles, boxes, pixelate images and more.
10. Snap Markup
Snap Markup is one of the most uncomplicated annotation tools on Android. It does not have a modern user interface like Skitch or iMarkup, but it works pretty well and has a straightforward approach. You can take a screenshot and open the app directly to edit images in one tap. Even if the image size is too high, you don’t need to crop the image to annotate comfortably. The app handles large size images without any issue. Furthermore, you are offered various shapes like rectangle, line, arrow, circle and more.
Other than that, there is a Blur effect to pixelate an image, Focus for highlighting a part of the screenshot, crop tool, etc. Furthermore, what I love about this app is that there are no intrusive ads whatsoever which make the experience even better. So if you are looking for an Android annotation app that has the same reliability as Skitch then Snap Markup is the best tool at your disposal.
Platform Availability: Android 5.0 and later
When installed, Droid Screenshot is set up as the default screenshot manager, and constantly keeps on monitoring the device. If a screenshot is taken, it’s automatically loaded up in Droid Screenshot Free for editing. Other than that, you can also load existing screenshots in the gallery for editing, and even take pictures directly from the device’s camera and then edit them. The app comes with a wide range of tools (accessible via an expandable bar on the left), which can be used to add annotations like highlights, free-form lines, stamps, and text to the image. Other than that, shapes (e.g. rectangle, ellipse) and arrows can be added as well. Once you’re done making the changes, the screenshot can be saved to the device, or shared via numerous services like Google+, Hangouts, and Google Drive.
