Thinking of dropping Droplr but not sure what to use instead? No need to panic - we’ve got you covered with this deep dive into the three best alternatives out there.
Now, don’t get us wrong. Droplr is terrific at what it does best.
But is it the best fit for your use cases?
In this blog, we’ll spell out what’s great and not-so-great about the tool, and compare it to these three solutions that challenge different aspects of Doprlr’s functionality.
Why look for Droplr alternatives?
Droplr is a tool for capturing screenshots and video recordings, with a cloud-based file-sharing system attached.
If you need to collaborate with colleagues and customers on visual designs, user interfaces, layouts, or similar activities you’ll know why the “print screen” button can’t measure up to a dedicated tool.
What is Droplr great at?
Droplr has a lovely, intuitive interface for taking, organizing and sharing screenshots. The “Boards” you create to store and arrange your images provide you with a sort of private version of Pinterest for your team.
Boards are easy to create and it’s simple to drag and drop files between them.
As a screenshot app, Droplr is hard to fault (apart from some in-browser/out-of-browser quirks we look at in the next section).
It provides lots of options for what you can clip, and lots of options for editing and marking up what you copy.
Droplr also lets you film your desktop and webcam (similarly to Sendspark's Desktop app), and organize and share those files online. If you want to share them outside your workspace, there are buttons to share files to social media or you can copy a shortened URL.
What is Droplr not so great at?
Is it a browser extension? Or is it a download?
Droplr seems to be both - with different functionalities in each. As far as I can tell, you **don’t** have to download the app to get started…
The browser extension lets you take screenshots and capture video. It’s not as easy to use as some comparable tools (eg how long will it take you to realize clicking “Full Desktop” or “Current Tab” is what starts the recording?).
It’s also strange that there’s no countdown shown for when you start recording. It just begins immediately.
When you complete a recording, you’re taken to your cloud-based file directory. From here you can view, share, copy links to, and order your files. You can also trim the start and ends of your videos - which is the only video editing feature Droplr offers.
But what’s strange is that there’s a whole load of other functions you can only use via the downloaded application - and if the web app talks about them anywhere, I couldn’t find it!
If you want to mark up or edit your screenshots, some links take you to the app - others to the browser. They have the same functionality, so why the difference?
If you want to create an animated GIF from your screen, you can only find that option from this offline menu (and many reviewers complain that Droplr’s GIFs have an unwatchable, uneditable frame rate).
This gives Droplr an “unfinished” feel as if it’s halfway through a cloud migration...
In fact, that sums up Droplr’s weaknesses: when you use it, you feel like you’re using a bunch of different tools cobbled together, rather than getting a seamless, integrated experience.
Who is Droplr for?
One of Droplr’s big attractions is the price. At just $6 per month for individual users - or $7 per month per person for teams - it’s not going to break the bank.
Even when you take the extra charges for add-ons into consideration ($2 per month for analytics, $25 per year for a bespoke domain in your links) Droplr’s going to come out cheaper than most of the competition.
There is a three-day free trial, but be warned: you have to submit your card details when you sign up and cancel before the trial is over if you don’t want to end up paying!
With such a low entry price, Droplr is naturally attractive to smaller companies, particular those with visual collaboration needs.
Having said that, the file-sharing functionality means that individual users can’t get all of the benefits. Lone designers, for example, might be better looking elsewhere.
Best Droplr Alternatives #1: Sendspark
If Droplr’s video capabilities disappoint or confuse you, Sendspark has been sent to rescue you!
Sendspark is a dedicated video messaging platform that has been designed for sales, marketing, and customer success users - and which has just had some awesome new features added.
What is Sendspark great at?
Sendspark has some very cool features:
- It’s by far the easiest video capture tool on this list to use. Everything runs via a browser extension and nearly every function is just one or two clicks away
- There is no length limit on the videos you can record, even on the free version
- Extensive customization options, that we’ll look at in the next section
Not only that, Sendspark has recently added two whole new sets of features.
Firstly, advanced analytics through Viewer Insights. On top of stats for total page views, video plays, call-to-action clicks, and likes, this adds:
- Broken-down data by viewer session
- Track viewers by device, location, browser, and IP address
- Track individual users’ behavior if they are logged-in Sendspark users
The second area is Video Heatmaps, which lets you see exactly which parts of your videos your viewers are watching - along with data on how far through your videos they got.
Videos can be shared within a team workspace, and new users are provided with a wide range of pre-designed templates they can adapt to their own needs to help get started more quickly.
Why try Sendspark as an alternative for DropIr?
Sendspark isn’t a screenshotting tool (yet…!). You’d only use it as an alternative to Droplr if you found that Droplr’s video capabilities weren’t up to scratch.
The main difference is that Sendspark has been designed to make video an efficient means of communication.
When you share a video created in Droplr, you can’t customize the landing page it’s hosted on. You get a very boring, generic page like this:
With Sendspark, you have loads of invaluable customization options to make that video more appealing:
- Add your logo or the recipient’s logo
- Add a welcome headline and an explanatory message
- Add a Call-To-Action, to drive recipients to take the next step
- Edit the color scheme to suit your preferences
And it’s not just the landing page where Sendspark outperforms Droplr. If you want to email a Droplr video to someone, you can either download the file and attach it to a message or add a link to a page like that shown above.
Sendspark gives you other options that make your messages far more clickable:
- For HTML 5 email clients, you can embed an inline video that will play inside the email
- For other email systems, you can add in an animated GIF preview of the video (which is itself customizable with text and logos)
These features make Sendspark ideal when you’re aiming to send videos outside of your organization - in a sales, marketing, or customer success capacity.
If you’re sending footage to a colleague who knows it’s coming or otherwise **has to** watch it, then Droplr’s low-key approach might be enough.
Unlike Droplr, Sendspark has a free-forever version available. If you want the page customization options, you’ll need the Pro package which starts at $12 per month.
Best Droplr Alternatives #2: Snagit
Techsmith’s Snagit is the closest like-for-like alternative to Droplr on our list. It too is first and foremost a screenshot tool, which also includes video functionality.
But which is better? Let’s find out.
What is Snagit great at?
Snagit has some great features in its screenshot repertoire:
- Combine multiple screenshots into single images, or add images into videos and GIFs
- Add voice narration over GIFs
- Excellent editing capabilities, along with the ability to share templated styles within teams
- Preset filters to apply automatically to screenshots
- Blur tool to obscure sensitive background material
The video functionality also feels more successfully integrated into the whole package than is the case with Droplr - primarily due to the ability to combine media mentioned above.
Beyond that, video editing capabilities are restricted to basic trimming, but Snagit integrates very straightforwardly with Techsmith’s Camtasia product if you want a lot more functionality (a bundle of the two products is available for $274).
As a software download, Snagit also has the advantage of being useable offline - the same as Droplr **if** you don’t just go for the browser extension. (See more about Snagit alternatives)
Why try Snagit as an alternative for DropIr?
Snagit is unusual in this space as it’s charged on a one-off fee basis after a 15-day free trial rather than as a monthly subscription.
Not only does it have an old-school pricing model - but it also has an old-school UI. We’re talking a kinda Windows 95 vibe here… 😱 If you want something funky and fresh-looking, Snagit is not going to do it for you.
Having said that, Snagit has some major points in its favor over Droplr:
- OCR for converting screenshot images to text
- A much wider range of file export types
- Better video options - including the ability to stop and start the webcam mid-recording, and to select a particular area of the screen to record (great for if you need your script on-screen!)
Snagit doesn’t have the team workspace functionality or nice-looking boards for compiling your screenshots, but from a strictly functional point of view, it outperforms Droplr.
And with a one-off price of around $60 per license, it becomes more cost-efficient the longer you keep using it.
Best Droplr Alternatives #3: ShareX
Like your tools to be open source? And free? Then maybe you should take a look at ShareX.
ShareX has screen capture, video recording, and a wide range of sharing options. What’s not to like? 😉
What is ShareX great at?
It may be even uglier-looking than Snagit, but ShareX delivers the goods where it counts:
- Fullscreen, custom region, active window, and scrolling capture modes for screenshots. Be warned though - quite a few reviews say that the scroll feature doesn’t always work properly
- Advanced image editing options
- Video can be saved as a GIF as well as conventional movie formats
- The ability to define hotkeys as shortcuts for different actions while you’re recording
- You can set up automated workflows that will take care of repetitive tasks and save you a lot of time if you’re a heavy user once they’re set up
- Unlike Droplr, ShareX has OCR functionality
Where Droplr has opted for a clean, intuitive interface, ShareX has all the wires and moving parts exposed. That will appeal to some types of users (eg developers) and horrify others (eg designers).
Why try ShareX as an alternative for DropIr?
Well, because it’s free for starters! 😆
Plus, as an open-source application, ShareX not only allows your developers to customize the code to your precise needs - it also gives you access to a whole ecosystem of community mods and extensions.
The flipside of those benefits are:
- ShareX has known glitches and issues that you have to work around using community advice (eg it’s incompatible with AVG antivirus software)
- It’s Windows-only
- The UI is challenging to say the least. ShareX has a steep learning curve if you want to make the most of the advanced functionality it offers
If you’re prepared to put in the time to figure out a less user-friendly application, ShareX will pay off as a screen capture tool.
And with 80 “share to” destinations as default, the lack of a shared workspace is not a problem.
As a video recorder though, it has a serious deficiency: no webcam capture.
If you’re looking to keep spending to a minimum, if you want to build your own integrations, or you just need a screenshot tool and don’t mind using something else for video, then ShareX is a definite contender.
Conclusion
Droplr has a niche where it truly excels.
That niche is creating, marking up, annotating, and sharing screenshots at a very affordable price.
But Droplr also does a bunch of other things - notably video screen capture - where it’s outclassed by dedicated apps.
If you’re looking to upgrade your video capture and sharing capabilities, the Sendspark is one of the best Droplr alternatives available.
Don’t just take our word for it. Sign up now for free, add the Sendspark extension to your browser, and put it to the test.
We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised…
