Instant capture
One hotkey freezes the screen instantly. Drag to select, then move or resize with handles. The size shows as you go.
Free · Open source · macOS 14+
Screenshot, mark up, paste. In two seconds.
ShotMate is a tiny, native Mac screenshot tool. Press a hotkey, select an area, add an arrow or a note, and paste it anywhere with ⌘V.
842 × 516
⌨️ Hotkey→🖱️ Select→✏️ Mark→📋 Copy→⌘V Paste
Everything a screenshot needs. Nothing it doesn’t.
ShotMate lives quietly in your menu bar and does one job really well.
Simple markup
Pen, arrow, box and text in six colors and three thicknesses. Clean defaults that look professional.
Straight to clipboard
Press Enter and it’s copied as an image. Paste into Slack, VS Code, ChatGPT, Notion, Mail or Messages.
Retina sharp, every monitor
Captures at native pixel density on Retina and external displays, with correct coordinates across multiple monitors.
Your shortcut
⇧⌘S by default. Change it to any combination in one click. ShotMate warns you about conflicts with macOS shortcuts.
Private by design
No account, no cloud and no analytics. Your screenshots never leave your Mac.
Built for the keyboard
Barely touch the mouse. Every action has a shortcut.
Start a capture⇧⌘S
Copy & finishEnter
Pen · Arrow · Rectangle · TextPART
Undo last mark⌘Z
Save as PNG⌘S
Nudge selection←→↑↓
CancelEsc
Your screen stays yours.
ShotMate is a fully local, open-source Mac app. Every line of code is public, so you can check it yourself.
- No uploads, servers or cloud storage
- No account, sign-in or tracking
- No network access needed at all
- Native Swift and Apple frameworks, no third-party code
Install in under a minute
Works on macOS 14 Sonoma and later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Download
Get ShotMate.dmg, open it and drag ShotMate into Applications.
Open
Launch ShotMate. If macOS can’t verify it, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
Allow & capture
Turn on Screen Recording for ShotMate when asked, reopen it, then press ⇧⌘S.
Why the extra step? ShotMate is free and isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS asks you to confirm the first launch. Prefer to build it yourself? Clone the repo and run Scripts/build-app.sh.
Questions
Is ShotMate free?
Yes. ShotMate is free and open source under the MIT license. There is no account, subscription or upsell.
Which Macs does ShotMate support?
macOS 14 Sonoma and later, natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Does ShotMate upload my screenshots?
No. ShotMate works completely offline. Screenshots go to your clipboard or a folder you choose and are never uploaded, logged or sent to analytics.
How do I change the screenshot shortcut?
Click the ShotMate icon in the menu bar, choose Change Shortcut and press the key combination you want. The default is ⇧⌘S.
macOS says it can’t verify ShotMate. How do I open it?
ShotMate isn’t notarized by Apple yet. After the first launch attempt, open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to ShotMate. You only need to do this once.
Is ShotMate a good Lightshot alternative for Mac?
Yes. ShotMate keeps the same select, mark and copy flow, but it’s a native macOS app with Retina-sharp captures, multi-monitor support and no cloud upload.
Can I save screenshots as files?
Yes. Press ⌘S for a save dialog, or set After Capture to “Save to File” or “Copy + Save” in the menu bar. PNG files are saved to the last folder you used.
Take a better screenshot.
Free, tiny and private. Get started in under a minute.