qgn / vs / greenshot
A Greenshot alternative that also records.
Greenshot has been the quiet favourite on Windows for years. QGN keeps the speed and adds the things Greenshot never set out to do.
Greenshot is good software. It is free, open source under GPL-3.0, and still maintained: 1.3.323 shipped in October 2026. It captures a region, a window or the full screen, lets you annotate, highlight and obfuscate, and then sends the result to a file, the printer, the clipboard, an email or an Office program.
What it does not do is record. And its editor is from a time when a screenshot went into a document, not onto a gradient in a launch tweet. Those are the two gaps QGN was built around.
side by side
| Greenshot | QGN | |
|---|---|---|
| capture | region, window, full screen | region, window, or full display |
| to clipboard | one of several destinations | always, the moment you release |
| editor | annotate, highlight, obfuscate | arrows, shapes, text, callouts, redaction, crop, all editable later |
| backgrounds and frames | no | gradients, wallpapers, browser and window frames |
| screen recording | no | yes, with mic and system audio, MP4, WebM, GIF, WebP |
| preview after capture | a destination menu | a floating card you can drag out or pin |
| export destinations | file, print, email, Office, upload plugins | clipboard, and a folder if you want |
| source | open, GPL-3.0 | open, MIT |
| price | free | free |
| platforms | Windows | Windows |
what you gain
- Recording. ctrl+shift+q records a region. Pause and resume, mic and system audio, an optional countdown. Then trim it and add zooms made from your own clicks. See screen recording.
- Frames and backgrounds. Compose puts a capture on a gradient or wallpaper, inside a browser or window frame, with padding and a shadow. See mockups.
- Marks you can still change.Click an arrow you placed ten minutes ago, move it, recolour it. Redaction is a solid block by default, so the reader can't undo it. See annotation.
- Window snapping. Hover a window and QGN outlines and names it. Click to take exactly that window. Edges snap while you drag.
what you give up
- Destinations. Greenshot can print, email or open a capture in Office directly. QGN gives you the clipboard.
- Plugins and uploads. Greenshot has upload plugins. QGN uploads nothing, anywhere.
- Size. Greenshot is small. QGN is an Electron app, and the installer is about 85 MB.
- Maturity. Greenshot has years of releases behind it. QGN is still at 0.1.x.
switching
Greenshot sits on PrtSc. QGN uses ctrl+q, so you can keep both for a week and see which one your fingers reach for. Any QGN hotkey can be rebound in its settings.
questions
Is Greenshot still maintained?
Yes. Greenshot 1.3.323 came out in October 2026, and newer 1.4 builds are being published as pre-releases. It is a living project.
Does Greenshot record the screen?
No. Greenshot takes screenshots only. QGN records a region with Ctrl+Shift+Q, with microphone and system audio.
Are both free and open source?
Yes. Greenshot is GPL-3.0. QGN is MIT.
Can QGN send a capture to Office or print it like Greenshot?
No. QGN copies to the clipboard and can auto-save to a folder. From there you paste or drag it wherever you want.