Clacky vs CleanShot X
CleanShot X is a well-made screenshot and screen recording app. Clacky records and captures too, and adds live click and keyboard sounds, captions made on your Mac, website analytics, a post calendar and Boop, all in one plan.
Clacky is the friendly companion for making things on your Mac. Five places in one app: click, scroll and keyboard sounds with a ripple on every click, a Studio that records, captions and cuts, Ask Boop, a Dashboard with cookie-free website analytics and a calendar for your posts, and Clackyland, a little harbour town. One plan with every feature. 7 days free, cancel anytime.
Try free for 7 daysWhy Clacky wins
Clicks you can hear and see
37 click sounds with their own press and release, 8 scroll styles, 29 keyboard sounds, plus double-click, long press and drag, and a ripple under the cursor on every click. Keyboard sounds never record which keys are typed.
A recorder that keeps your clicks
Record the whole screen, one window or an area, with your Mac’s sound, your clicks and ripples right in the video. Pause when you need to, stop from the notch. Recordings stay on your Mac.
Captions and quick edits
Captions are made on your Mac, word by word. Split, speed up, trim and crop in the clips lane, then make it 9:16 with the captions out of the way.
Screenshots, done right
A screenshot editor, Scrolling Capture for whole pages, and Grab Text to copy text from anything on your screen.
Your website and your posts
Cookie-free analytics for your websites (visitors, sources and sales) and a calendar to plan and schedule posts to your social accounts, right next to your work.
Ask Boop, and let your AI help
Ask Boop how to do anything with ⌘K. Connect Claude, Claude Code, Cursor or Codex over MCP and your AI can record, grab text and schedule posts. It’s off until you turn it on.
Clackyland
Using Clacky bakes cookies. Spend them in a little harbour town, unlock achievements, open the daily treat and visit your friends. The fun part, never in your way.
One plan, every feature
Every feature is on every plan; the price only grows with your website traffic. 7 days free, the app in 14 languages, on 2 Macs, and a real person answers your email.
| Clacky | CleanShot X | |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial on your Mac | Yes7 days, starts with a card, cancel anytime | No · 30-day money-back instead |
| Price | YesOne plan by usage: from $4.99/mo or $39/yr ($3.25/mo), or $99 once | Yes$35 once (1 year of updates), or Cloud Pro $10 per user a month, billed yearly |
| Runs on | YesMac, on 2 Macs | YesMac only |
| Built-in screen recorder | YesClicks and ripples in the video | YesScreen, window or area, with mic and Mac audio |
| Click ripple on screen | Yes | YesClick highlight in recordings |
| Mouse & trackpad click sounds | Yes37 sounds, press and release | Not stated |
| Keyboard sounds | Yes29 sounds | Not stated · Shows keystrokes on screen |
| Video editor | YesStudio, with a clips lane | YesSmart zooms, smooth cursor, backgrounds |
| Auto captions | YesMade on your Mac | Not stated · Transcripts in CleanShot Cloud |
| Quick edits: trim, split, speed | YesSplit, speed, trim, crop, 9:16 | YesTrim; landscape, square or vertical |
| Screenshot editor | YesPlus Scrolling Capture | YesAnnotate, blur, Scrolling Capture |
| Copy text from the screen | Yes | YesOn your Mac, 30+ languages |
| Works with your AI (MCP) | YesClaude, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex | Not stated |
| A companion character | Yes | Not stated |
| App languages | Yes14 | Not stated |
| Every update included | Yes | No · Basic: 1 year, then $19 a year; Cloud Pro: always |
| Needs | YesmacOS 13+ (recorder 15, screenshots 14) | YesmacOS 13+ |
| Refunds | YesBy email, through Polar | Yes30-day money-back |
Where CleanShot X is better: CleanShot X is a focused, polished capture tool you can buy once for $35. It shows your keystrokes on screen, and CleanShot Cloud adds share links, comments, password-protected links and team sign-in (SSO, SCIM). It is also part of Setapp.
Sources
- CleanShot X: cleanshot.com
- CleanShot X: cleanshot.com/features
- CleanShot X: cleanshot.com/pricing
Checked on 2026-10-14 from each app’s own website or App Store page. “Not stated” means we couldn’t find it there, not that it’s missing. Apps change: check their page before you buy.
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