Background: Why Consider Migrating from CleanShot X
CleanShot X is one of the best screenshot and screen recording tools on macOS. It's polished, feature-rich, and well worth its price for many users. But it's also closed-source commercial software — you pay for it, you depend on the developer's update schedule, and you can't inspect or modify anything under the hood.
Capso is a direct answer to that. Built with Swift 6.0 and SwiftUI, it's a fully native macOS app that targets the core CleanShot X workflow without the price tag. The project's own framing is blunt about its purpose: "Every macOS screenshot tool worth using costs money — CleanShot X is $29, Cap is $58. They're excellent apps, but a core productivity feature shouldn't be locked behind a paywall."
If you're comfortable with the trade-offs of an early-stage open-source project, Capso offers a compelling path to drop the subscription.
1. Installation
Capso requires macOS 15.0 or later and is built for Apple Silicon.
Install via Homebrew (recommended)
brew tap lzhgus/tap
brew install --cask capsoOr download the DMG
Grab the latest signed and notarized DMG from the GitHub Releases page.
On first launch, Capso will prompt for Screen Recording, Camera, and Microphone permissions. Grant what you need — screen recording is required for capture and recording to work.
2. From CleanShot X to Capso: Feature Mapping
The core workflow is very similar. Here's how common CleanShot X actions map to Capso:
| CleanShot X Action | Capso Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Area / Window / Fullscreen capture | Same options, triggered from the floating capture HUD |
| Scrolling capture | Supported — stitches long pages and threads |
| Inline annotation | Built-in annotation editor with arrows, shapes, text, pixelation |
| OCR (text extraction) | Instant OCR copies text directly; Visual OCR highlights text blocks |
| Screen recording with webcam PiP | MP4 and GIF recording, with configurable PiP shapes and presentation mode |
| Screenshot beautification | Background color, padding, rounded corners, shadow |
| Quick Access after capture | Floating preview with copy, save, annotate, OCR, pin, and drag-to-send |
Note: Capso does not currently replicate CleanShot X's cloud sharing, team libraries, or advanced integrations. It's a local-first tool focused on capture, annotation, and recording.
3. Basic Workflow
Taking a screenshot
Trigger the capture HUD (via your configured shortcut), then choose from:
- Area: drag to select, with dimension display. Press R to cycle aspect-ratio presets (1:1, 16:9, custom fixed sizes).
- Fullscreen: one click.
- Window: click any window to capture.
- Scrolling: capture full-length pages into a single stitched image.
After capture, the Quick Access floating preview appears. From there you can copy, save, annotate, run OCR, pin the image, or drag it directly into another app without saving first.
Screen recording
Capso supports MP4 and GIF recording, with:
- Webcam PiP in four shapes (circle, square, portrait, landscape), draggable and snappable to corners.
- Camera presentation mode: click the PiP to expand it fullscreen, click again to restore.
- System audio + microphone capture.
- Recording controls: pause, stop, restart, delete, timer.
- A 3-2-1 countdown overlay before recording starts.
Annotation
The built-in editor supports arrows, rectangles, ellipses, text, freehand drawing, pixelate/blur, crop, highlighter, and numbered counters. Undo/redo is there, along with color and stroke controls. You can also annotate inline during an area capture, before the original is saved.
4. Unique Features Worth Knowing
A few things Capso does that are genuinely useful and worth calling out:
Capture & Translate
Select any area on screen, extract the text via OCR, and get a translated result in a floating card. You can change the target language from the result card, pin it above other windows, or trigger it from Quick Access.
Raycast Integration
If you use Raycast, Capso has a dedicated extension that lets you trigger area, window, and fullscreen captures, OCR, screen recording, scrolling capture, and screenshot history directly from Raycast. It uses native URL schemes (capso://) without needing Accessibility keystroke permissions.
Screenshot History
A persistent local library for browsing, filtering, copying, saving, and deleting all your captures in one place. Retention controls let you manage how long history is kept.
Modular Architecture
Capso is built as reusable SPM packages — CaptureKit, AnnotationKit, OCRKit, RecordingKit, CameraKit, ExportKit. If you're a developer, you can drop these into your own Swift apps.
5. Troubleshooting
❓ Screen recording permission denied
Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording and enable Capso. If you're building from source or integrating CaptureKit into your own app, you may need to trigger the permission prompt explicitly first.
❓ Build errors with Swift 6 concurrency
Capso targets Swift 6 strict concurrency. If you're building from source and hit errors, make sure your toolchain and project settings match the requirements. The project uses XcodeGen — run xcodegen generate --spec project.yml after checking that project.yml isn't modified.
❓ Where do I report bugs or request features?
Use the GitHub issue templates:
6. What Capso Doesn't Do (Yet)
Being honest about the gaps matters:
- No cloud sharing or team collaboration. CleanShot X has a cloud service for sharing screenshots and recordings via links. Capso is local-only.
- No iOS companion app. CleanShot X's ecosystem extends to mobile. Capso is macOS-only.
- Less mature. Capso is an actively developing open-source project. Expect rough edges, and check the GitHub issues before relying on it for critical workflows.
If those are dealbreakers, CleanShot X remains the better choice. If you mostly need fast, local capture + annotation + recording, Capso covers the core well.
Final Thoughts
Capso is a genuinely native, Swift-built alternative to CleanShot X that covers the majority of everyday use cases — area, window, fullscreen, and scrolling capture; annotation; OCR; MP4/GIF recording with webcam PiP; screenshot beautification; and a searchable history.
The trade-off is clear: you give up cloud features and ecosystem polish in exchange for zero cost, full source access, and a modular architecture you can build on. For developers, privacy-conscious users, or anyone tired of subscription fatigue for basic utilities, it's an easy recommendation to try.
⚠️ A note on maturity: Capso is still early. Back up your workflows, check the release notes, and keep CleanShot X around until you're confident Capso handles everything you need.