Windows Snipping Tool
Ranked 4 of 8 screenshot tools by recommenders
Built into Windows, opened with Win+Shift+S, it handles quick screenshots and screen recording. Critics say it now starts slowly and is oversized.
Built into Windows, opened with Win+Shift+S, it handles quick screenshots and screen recording. Critics say it now starts slowly and is oversized.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 13
- approval share
- 35%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces third-party screenshot apps
“If all you need is screen recording, as per your parent, and you're on windows the default screenshot tool (Win + Shift + S) does screen recording.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “OBS Studio Gets a New Renderer” “they're quite solid and have become everyday tools that eliminated the need to reach for some other third party apps”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11” Dependable, does the job
“they're quite solid and have become everyday tools that eliminated the need to reach for some other third party apps”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11” “Snipping tool is pretty great though”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “a perfectly serviceable piece of kit”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow to open and select
“It now takes multiple seconds to initialize, plus additional delay in actually selecting what you want to capture.”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Windhawk Windows classic theme mod for Windows 11” “That is 4 infuriating seconds for something that should be (and I'm sure used to be!) virtually instant.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11” “On my very rasonably spec'd laptop it often takes 20 seconds for the snipping tool selection to pop up.”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)” - Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Windhawk Windows classic theme mod for Windows 11”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11”
Bloated at 449 MB
“The new Snipping tool for instance is 449 MEGABYTES, whereas it used to be only a few KB in size.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability” “re-created it as a bloated UWP version that is an insane 449 MEGABYTES in size”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability” Bugs including multi-monitor capture
“When Microsoft decided to rewrite the screenshot app from Win32 to WinUI, it had plenty of bugs”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Last Week on My Mac: Losing confidence” “it stopped working across 2 monitors, you can only snip in one of the two monitors”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Flameshot” “capturing over-exposed screenshots when playing videogames”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Flameshot”
Other screenshot tools people recommend
The four most recommended other screenshot tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flameshot | 44 | 19 | 70% | 4 | 5 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| KDE Spectacle | 21 | 7 | 75% | 8 | — | Approved |
| ShareX | 10 | 2 | 83% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Windows Snipping ToolThis page | 7 | 13 | 35% | 5 | — | — |
| CleanShot X | 6 | 2 | 75% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“that one isn't as useful to me”
“The new Snipping tool for instance is 449 MEGABYTES, whereas it used to be only a few KB in size.”
“re-created it as a bloated UWP version that is an insane 449 MEGABYTES in size”
“a perfectly serviceable piece of kit”
“now with AI in notepad, paint, snap tool, etc”
“it stopped working across 2 monitors, you can only snip in one of the two monitors”
“At least microsoft updated snipping tool now, but the usability is nothing close”
“capturing over-exposed screenshots when playing videogames”
“Snipping tool is pretty great though”
“It takes about 2 seconds to load.”
“they're quite solid and have become everyday tools that eliminated the need to reach for some other third party apps”
“That is 4 infuriating seconds for something that should be (and I'm sure used to be!) virtually instant.”
“If all you need is screen recording, as per your parent, and you're on windows the default screenshot tool (Win + Shift + S) does screen recording.”
“they skip the step of needing a renderer at all”
“When Microsoft decided to rewrite the screenshot app from Win32 to WinUI, it had plenty of bugs”
“On my very rasonably spec'd laptop it often takes 20 seconds for the snipping tool selection to pop up.”
“Pressing Shift+Win+S is pretty instantaneous for taking screenshots”
“there is a lot of unnecessary delay trying to take a screenshot”
“It now takes multiple seconds to initialize, plus additional delay in actually selecting what you want to capture.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.