There’s no shortage of free and paid ways to capture images and recordings on your computer thanks to screen-capture utilities. But even with that stiff competition, the excellent Droplr stands out from the pack. This affordable, subscription-based tool makes it easy to capture and share images and recordings across a variety of devices, for yourself or with a team. The feature-rich Snagit remains our Editors’ Choice pick for screen-capture apps, but Droplr is worth checking out.
Price and Platforms
Droplr is a subscription screen capture utility, most similar to Screencast-O-Matic out of the competitors we’ve tested. Unlike Screencast-O-Matic, Droplr lacks a free option, but it offers a three-day trial.
The Pro Plus plan lets individuals use Droplr for $6 per month. For $7 per month, up to 15 users can access Droplr’s Team plan. This option also grants a handful of extra features, such as custom branding, domains, and SSO account management. Enterprise customers receive even more features, such as larger team sizes and unlimited bandwidth and storage. You’ll need to request a quote for that tier. Prices go up if you choose to get billed monthly rather than annually, $8 per month for Pro Plus and $9 per month for Team.
If you only need Droplr for a few months, you may end up paying less compared to competitors. Ashampoo Snap and our Editors’ Choice pick Snagit sell their software for a flat rate, $39 and $49, respectively. Note that those products tend to update yearly, and while existing owners typically receive a discount, they’ll still need to pay extra to receive the updated features. As a result, the flat rate model isn’t very different from a subscription if you wish to keep the service updated. Windows Snip and Sketch is a totally free app, but it’s also much less capable. Vimeo Record is also free, but it only records video, not screenshots.
Alongside the base subscription, Droplr offers several premium add-ons for subscribers. If you’re willing to pay more per year, you can access new features, such as logos for your uploaded files ($7 per year), a domain for your shared public page ($25 per year), and analytics tools ($24 per year). The tools are more targeted to professional users. As with Droplr itself, you can test these add-ons for free.
Droplr works on a variety of platformers. Like Vimeo Record, I primarily used it as a Google Chrome extension. However, you can also download it for the Edge browser or as a desktop app for Windows and Mac. Android and iOS users can download mobile companion apps to take advantage of built-in screen recording features. Anything you record on one device syncs across all devices for easy cloud access. Snagit and Screencast-O-Matic sync with their respective mobile companion apps, but Ashampoo Snap’s Android app is virtually standalone.
Image and Video Capture
As a Chrome extension, Droplr brings up an unobtrusive window in the right corner of your browser window with all of your screen capture options. You can capture the selected area, the whole application, the whole screen, or use scrolling capture to take a screenshot of an entire long page. Save the image to your desktop, as well as cloud storage if you want.
After capturing a screenshot, you use Droplr’s image editor to mark it up. You can add text, draw colorful shapes, and even drop in emojis. Add images that also serve as links if users click on them. You can change text size, but there’s only one font style. So it’s not ideal for, say, filling out a form with a digital signature. Unfortunately, there’s no Optical Character Recognition (OCR) support, so Droplr can’t recognize and edit text on the page like you can with Ashampoo Snap and Snagit.
Droplr’s video recording is similarly easy. You can record just your screen, or turn on your webcam and microphone to record yourself along with your screen. I found the default icons a little small, but you can resize them. You can also modify what camera and microphone Droplr should use. Record up to 4K video (maximum file size is 10GB), or turn your videos into unlimited animated GIFs (this must be done through the desktop apps). There’s no real editing options, though, beyond trimming your video. Screencast-O-Matic offers a more substantial video editor as a premium add-on, with features such as live video annotation, green screen filters, and access to asset libraries. Droplr exports files in the PNG, MP4, and WebM formats. Those are pretty standard file types, but Snagit supports 19 file types.
I found Droplr incredibly intuitive but if you do run into trouble, read its handy how-to guides to learn everything from how to record on your phone to how to use screen recordings to supplement your hybrid work model.
Sharing and Collaborating
Droplr doesn’t just let you capture screenshots and recordings; it also lets you share and organize files for yourself, with your team, or even with the public depending on the privacy and collaboration settings you pick. Non-enterprise tiers enjoy 100GB of storage and 500GB of bandwidth per month, similar to what Screencast-O-Matic offers.
Your dashboard displays all your files, pulled from all devices synced to your account. Here you can markup image files you still aren’t pleased with, as well as download and share files with shortened URLs. To organize files, sort them into different themed “Boards” you create, such as images for a mood board or videos for specific projects. You can also tag files with relevant metadata. For particularly sensitive files, schedule them to self-destruct after a certain amount of time.
This kind of file-sharing functionality adds great utility to a paid screen capture utility, because many professional users who need to capture their screen are doing so to share information with other team members. It’s so much easier and faster to just share a video of what you’re doing than describing it step by step. Adding to the convenience, Droplr integrates with other programs such as Gmail, Google Docs, Photoshop, and Slack. Share files to social media.
Although Droplr let me manually upload files outside of the file types it exports by default, those files didn’t always playback correctly. For example, two different AVI videos I uploaded wouldn’t play on my laptop, and when I tried to play them through Droplr’s mobile app I only heard sound without visuals. However, I could markup JPEG images I uploaded. Your mileage may vary, but may want to stick to PNG and MP4 to ensure proper compactivity.
Pick It Up, Don’t Drop It
When it comes to excellent, screen-capture subscription services, Droplr and Screencast-O-Matic are on par. Screencast-O-Matic has a free option, but Droplr is a bit more intuitive, especially for professional users across a variety of devices. For the best all-around screen-capture tool, check out Snagit. You’ll pay more upfront, but Snagit’s power and versatility make it the reigning Editors’ Choice pick for screen-capture utilities.For more, check out How to Capture Screenshots in Windows 11.
