CleanShot X vs Screen Studio

CleanShot X vs Screen Studio, and where Dolly fits.

CleanShot X is the best screenshot tool on the Mac and now records with smart zooms. Screen Studio is a dedicated video app. Dolly is a dedicated video app for €5. Here's how to choose.

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	Dolly	CleanShot X	Screen Studio
Price	Free · €5 once · Pro €19 once	$35 once, 1 year of updates (then $19/yr) · Pro $10/user/mo	$29 a month or $108 a year
Made for	Screen video	Screenshots, plus recording	Screen video
Screenshots, OCR, scrolling capture	No	Yes	No
Automatic zoom on clicks	Yes	Studio Mode	Yes
Redrawn cursor styles	25 sets	—	Yes
Timeline with several takes	Yes	No	—
Captions and transcript	Yes	—	Yes
Camera layouts	Yes	Webcam overlay	Yes
Cloud share links	Free in beta	Yes	Yes
Free version can export	Up to 1440p, short end card	No free plan	No

Dolly

Price: Free · €5 once · Pro €19 once
Made for: Screen video
Screenshots, OCR, scrolling capture: No
Automatic zoom on clicks: Yes
Redrawn cursor styles: 25 sets
Timeline with several takes: Yes
Captions and transcript: Yes
Camera layouts: Yes
Cloud share links: Free in beta
Free version can export: Up to 1440p, short end card

CleanShot X

Price: $35 once, 1 year of updates (then $19/yr) · Pro $10/user/mo
Made for: Screenshots, plus recording
Screenshots, OCR, scrolling capture: Yes
Automatic zoom on clicks: Studio Mode
Redrawn cursor styles: —
Timeline with several takes: No
Captions and transcript: —
Camera layouts: Webcam overlay
Cloud share links: Yes
Free version can export: No free plan

Screen Studio

Price: $29 a month or $108 a year
Made for: Screen video
Screenshots, OCR, scrolling capture: No
Automatic zoom on clicks: Yes
Redrawn cursor styles: Yes
Timeline with several takes: —
Captions and transcript: Yes
Camera layouts: Yes
Cloud share links: Yes
Free version can export: No

Prices and features as listed on each product's own website in October 2026, before tax. Check them before you buy; they change often.

CleanShot X: screenshots first

CleanShot X is a Swiss army knife: screenshots, scrolling capture, text recognition, annotations, a cloud for quick links, and screen recording. Since version 5.0 its Studio Mode adds animated zooms with motion blur to recordings. At $35 once (one year of updates, then $19 a year if you want more) it's great value if you take screenshots all day and record now and then.

Screen Studio: video first

Screen Studio is built only for screen video: auto zoom, cursor smoothing, camera layouts, captions, transcript editing, share links. It goes deeper than CleanShot's Studio Mode on every video feature, and costs $29 a month or $108 a year.

So which one?

Mostly screenshots, short clips now and then: CleanShot X.
Video is your main output, and budget isn't an issue: Screen Studio.
Video is your main output, and you'd like to pay once: that's what we built Dolly for. Auto zoom, 25 cursor sets, a real timeline, captions, camera layouts and GIF export, for €5 once.

Plenty of people run CleanShot X for screenshots and a dedicated recorder for video. They don't conflict: Dolly records with ⇧⌘2, which CleanShot doesn't use by default.

Questions

Is CleanShot X better than Screen Studio?

For screenshots, yes. For video, Screen Studio goes much further: deeper zoom editing, cursor styles, camera layouts, captions and transcript editing.

Does CleanShot X have auto zoom?

Yes, Studio Mode (since CleanShot 5.0) adds animated zooms with motion blur to recordings.

Can I use CleanShot X and Dolly together?

Yes. Many people use CleanShot for screenshots and Dolly for screen video.

Keep comparing

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Roll camera.

Free to use, with no time limit. Everything for €5, once.

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First time: open Dolly, click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (macOS 13–14: right-click Dolly → Open). Once only. Installation help