{"slug": "flameshot", "name": "Flameshot", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "Open-source, cross-platform screenshot tool with built-in annotation and editing features.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 8, "warners": 1, "score": 4.478, "rising": -1.96, "first": "2026-01-29", "latest": "2026-06-18", "why": "Loved as a go-to daily screenshot tool on Linux and Mac, with instant hotkey startup and easy markup for screenshots sent to co-workers.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Daily driver", "Hotkey integration"], "caveat": "Wayland support", "short_quote": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot", "official_url": "https://flameshot.org", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Flameshot"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved as a go-to daily screenshot tool on Linux and Mac", "cites": [{"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749167152, "item_id": 46822947, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46822947", "by": "major505", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great little app for taking screenshots on mac", "excerpt": "I use it daily. Great little app for taking screenshots on mac, since the macapp is terrible, and the keyboard binding is even worse.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063792, "item_id": 46816487, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816487", "by": "garymoon", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever.", "excerpt": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever. I use it on my work and personal laptops (Debian+xfce4)", "context": "Debian+xfce4 on work and personal laptops", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "Shutter", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063088, "item_id": 46816443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816443", "by": "vzaliva", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Flameshot is great!", "excerpt": "Flameshot is great! It was one of the reasons I have not switched to Wayland. Although it seems now they have wayland support in beta.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"text": ", with instant hotkey startup and easy markup for screenshots sent to co-workers.", "cites": [{"id": 749093265, "item_id": 46818329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46818329", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "compared to Flameshot being instant", "excerpt": "Spectacle is great. I tried to switch to it from Flameshot a few months back since it has all the features that I use regularly in Flameshot but ran into an issue where it would 2-3 times longer than Flameshot to start up when starting it up through the CLI. I use keymapper to map all my keyboard shortcuts and starting Spectacle using Qdbus is very slow compares to flameshot, like 1-2 seconds of waiting after pressin", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749084112, "item_id": 46817757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46817757", "by": "morkalork", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time", "excerpt": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time for ridiculously marked-up and snarky screenshots to send co-workers or attach to JIRAs. Part of me wants to believe the \"flame\" in flameshot is for flaming people, like yes, you see this shit here? How about a nice big arrow so you don't fucking miss it", "context": "", "use_case": "annotated screenshots for coworkers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is Wayland support, which held some users back but is reportedly now in beta", "cites": [{"id": 749106320, "item_id": 46819145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819145", "by": "b1temy", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was broken for me with fractional scaling. This is the main reason why I switched", "excerpt": "I used to really like this software, and I still do. But there were a couple of dealbreakers for me. 1) As others mentioned, Wayland support. But it seems that it's gotten a lot better since I last used it. I resisted using Wayland for a long time because of several software breaking, but I've switched over now that most of the things I use now work (or because I've stopped using things that don't work). 2) it was br", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063088, "item_id": 46816443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816443", "by": "vzaliva", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Flameshot is great!", "excerpt": "Flameshot is great! It was one of the reasons I have not switched to Wayland. Although it seems now they have wayland support in beta.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"text": ", plus bugs with fractional scaling and with adding multiple text boxes.", "cites": [{"id": 749106320, "item_id": 46819145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819145", "by": "b1temy", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was broken for me with fractional scaling. This is the main reason why I switched", "excerpt": "I used to really like this software, and I still do. But there were a couple of dealbreakers for me. 1) As others mentioned, Wayland support. But it seems that it's gotten a lot better since I last used it. I resisted using Wayland for a long time because of several software breaking, but I've switched over now that most of the things I use now work (or because I've stopped using things that don't work). 2) it was br", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Daily driver", "summary": "Commenters call it their go-to screenshot tool and use it daily at work and home.", "quotes": [{"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749167152, "item_id": 46822947, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46822947", "by": "major505", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great little app for taking screenshots on mac", "excerpt": "I use it daily. Great little app for taking screenshots on mac, since the macapp is terrible, and the keyboard binding is even worse.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063792, "item_id": 46816487, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816487", "by": "garymoon", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever.", "excerpt": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever. I use it on my work and personal laptops (Debian+xfce4)", "context": "Debian+xfce4 on work and personal laptops", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "Shutter", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"label": "Hotkey integration", "summary": "It fits keyboard-driven setups, including replacing the default Print Screen binding.", "quotes": [{"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749093265, "item_id": 46818329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46818329", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "compared to Flameshot being instant", "excerpt": "Spectacle is great. I tried to switch to it from Flameshot a few months back since it has all the features that I use regularly in Flameshot but ran into an issue where it would 2-3 times longer than Flameshot to start up when starting it up through the CLI. I use keymapper to map all my keyboard shortcuts and starting Spectacle using Qdbus is very slow compares to flameshot, like 1-2 seconds of waiting after pressin", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"label": "Easy markup", "summary": "Users like it for marking up screenshots with arrows to share with co-workers or attach to tickets.", "quotes": [{"id": 749084112, "item_id": 46817757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46817757", "by": "morkalork", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time", "excerpt": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time for ridiculously marked-up and snarky screenshots to send co-workers or attach to JIRAs. Part of me wants to believe the \"flame\" in flameshot is for flaming people, like yes, you see this shit here? How about a nice big arrow so you don't fucking miss it", "context": "", "use_case": "annotated screenshots for coworkers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"label": "Instant startup", "summary": "One commenter found it starts instantly from a hotkey, faster than Spectacle.", "quotes": [{"id": 749093265, "item_id": 46818329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46818329", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "compared to Flameshot being instant", "excerpt": "Spectacle is great. I tried to switch to it from Flameshot a few months back since it has all the features that I use regularly in Flameshot but ran into an issue where it would 2-3 times longer than Flameshot to start up when starting it up through the CLI. I use keymapper to map all my keyboard shortcuts and starting Spectacle using Qdbus is very slow compares to flameshot, like 1-2 seconds of waiting after pressin", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Wayland support", "summary": "Lack of Wayland support kept some users on X11, though it is reportedly now in beta and improving.", "quotes": [{"id": 749106320, "item_id": 46819145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819145", "by": "b1temy", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was broken for me with fractional scaling. This is the main reason why I switched", "excerpt": "I used to really like this software, and I still do. But there were a couple of dealbreakers for me. 1) As others mentioned, Wayland support. But it seems that it's gotten a lot better since I last used it. I resisted using Wayland for a long time because of several software breaking, but I've switched over now that most of the things I use now work (or because I've stopped using things that don't work). 2) it was br", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063088, "item_id": 46816443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816443", "by": "vzaliva", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Flameshot is great!", "excerpt": "Flameshot is great! It was one of the reasons I have not switched to Wayland. Although it seems now they have wayland support in beta.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"label": "Fractional scaling", "summary": "One user switched away because it broke with fractional scaling on a second monitor.", "quotes": [{"id": 749106320, "item_id": 46819145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819145", "by": "b1temy", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was broken for me with fractional scaling. This is the main reason why I switched", "excerpt": "I used to really like this software, and I still do. But there were a couple of dealbreakers for me. 1) As others mentioned, Wayland support. But it seems that it's gotten a lot better since I last used it. I resisted using Wayland for a long time because of several software breaking, but I've switched over now that most of the things I use now work (or because I've stopped using things that don't work). 2) it was br", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}, {"label": "Text box bugs", "summary": "It can be buggy when adding more than one text box to a screenshot.", "quotes": [{"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}], "who": [{"by": "iLemming", "context": "daily Emacs hacker", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593074", "date": "2026-06-18"}, {"by": "greuceanu42069", "context": "Ubuntu user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "date": "2026-01-30"}, {"by": "garymoon", "context": "Debian+xfce4 on work and personal laptops", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816487", "date": "2026-01-29"}], "tags": ["for Linux users", "for Mac users", "for annotating screenshots", "for keyboard-driven workflows"], "use_cases": ["screenshots", "screenshot capture", "screenshots on macos", "annotated screenshots for coworkers"], "compared": [{"slug": "spectacle", "name": "Spectacle", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46815297", "title": "Flameshot", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48542784", "title": "Emacs, how it all started (for me)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 6, "warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 777489186, "item_id": 48593074, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593074", "by": "iLemming", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "select an area of my screen (with Flameshot)", "excerpt": "> I have zero desire to hack around in it for fun You just sit here stiff-necked without even the slightest clue of what I'm talking about. I don't hack for \"fun\", I hack with a purpose. Here's a practical anecdote. I was pair programming with Matthew over Zoom and he was showing me certain things. He would navigate to different sites, switch between terminal and his editor, run some scripts etc. I just couldn't bear", "context": "daily Emacs hacker", "use_case": "screenshot capture", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs, how it all started (for me)"}, {"id": 749181488, "item_id": 46823843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46823843", "by": "greuceanu42069", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu.", "excerpt": "This is my go-to screenshot tool for Ubuntu. I've even gone as far as replacing the default printscreen with this using Custom Shortcuts. Word of warning, however: it is somehwat buggy when trying to add more than 1 text boxes on the screenshot.", "context": "Ubuntu user", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749167152, "item_id": 46822947, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46822947", "by": "major505", "date": "2026-01-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great little app for taking screenshots on mac", "excerpt": "I use it daily. Great little app for taking screenshots on mac, since the macapp is terrible, and the keyboard binding is even worse.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749106320, "item_id": 46819145, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819145", "by": "b1temy", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was broken for me with fractional scaling. This is the main reason why I switched", "excerpt": "I used to really like this software, and I still do. But there were a couple of dealbreakers for me. 1) As others mentioned, Wayland support. But it seems that it's gotten a lot better since I last used it. I resisted using Wayland for a long time because of several software breaking, but I've switched over now that most of the things I use now work (or because I've stopped using things that don't work). 2) it was br", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749093265, "item_id": 46818329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46818329", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "compared to Flameshot being instant", "excerpt": "Spectacle is great. I tried to switch to it from Flameshot a few months back since it has all the features that I use regularly in Flameshot but ran into an issue where it would 2-3 times longer than Flameshot to start up when starting it up through the CLI. I use keymapper to map all my keyboard shortcuts and starting Spectacle using Qdbus is very slow compares to flameshot, like 1-2 seconds of waiting after pressin", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749084112, "item_id": 46817757, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46817757", "by": "morkalork", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time", "excerpt": "I love flameshot and use it at work all the time for ridiculously marked-up and snarky screenshots to send co-workers or attach to JIRAs. Part of me wants to believe the \"flame\" in flameshot is for flaming people, like yes, you see this shit here? How about a nice big arrow so you don't fucking miss it", "context": "", "use_case": "annotated screenshots for coworkers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063792, "item_id": 46816487, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816487", "by": "garymoon", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever.", "excerpt": "I love flameshot, before it I used Shutter and I don't regret switching to Flameshot whatsoever. I use it on my work and personal laptops (Debian+xfce4)", "context": "Debian+xfce4 on work and personal laptops", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "Shutter", "story": "Flameshot"}, {"id": 749063088, "item_id": 46816443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46816443", "by": "vzaliva", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Flameshot is great!", "excerpt": "Flameshot is great! It was one of the reasons I have not switched to Wayland. Although it seems now they have wayland support in beta.", "context": "", "use_case": "screenshots", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flameshot"}]}