Make Mac BetterCompare
A CleanShot X alternative inside an all-in-one app
CleanShot X is the reference for screenshots on the Mac: capture, annotate, record, share to the cloud. If you mainly need to capture and annotate, Make Mac Better already includes it alongside its other tools. Here is an honest look at both.
| Feature | CleanShot X | Make Mac Better |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $35 one-time with one year of updates (then optional $19/year); Pro team plan by subscription | €19.99 once for the whole app |
| Area, window and full-screen capture | Yes | Yes (⌃⇧4, ⌃⇧5, ⌃⇧3) |
| Annotate: arrows, text, steps, pixelate, crop | Yes, very complete | Yes |
| Background and padding for sharing | Yes | Yes, with a default background for every capture |
| Copy text from the screen (OCR) | Yes | Yes (⌃⇧2), on the Mac |
| Screen recording and video editor | Yes | Not yet |
| Cloud links for sharing | Yes (1 GB on Basic, more on Pro) | No: captures stay on your Mac |
Where CleanShot X is better
If you record screen videos, need scrolling captures, cloud links for clients or a team plan, CleanShot X is more complete and worth it. Make Mac Better does not record video yet.
Where Make Mac Better fits
For the everyday case — capture, mark up a bug or a step-by-step, put a nice background and paste it — Make Mac Better does it in a couple of seconds, and also adds “Edit” to the standard macOS screenshots (⇧⌘3/4/5). Everything stays on your Mac.
What else you get
The same purchase includes window management (scrolling strip or tiling), a second Dock with widgets, 38 local file tools, a smart file library, phone-to-Mac transfer and keep-awake.
Bottom line
Choose CleanShot X if you need screen recording, scrolling capture or cloud sharing. Choose Make Mac Better if capture and annotate is enough and you want the other utilities too.
Reviewed October 2026. Prices and features of other apps can change; check their websites.