The words, not the picture
A stack trace, an error dialog, a label in a language you don't read, a paragraph locked inside a scan. What comes back is text you can paste, search and run a prompt on, not pixels you have to retype.
CompareCleanShot X
Khint vs CleanShot X,OCR with AI on top
CleanShot annotates screenshots. Khint pulls out the text and runs AI on it.
KhintPalette
Sprint 24
/
Capture
Drag a box, and the words land on your clipboard
The page behind the palette is a scan with no text layer: nothing in it can be selected, and no amount of annotation would change that. The row that runs here opens no window and produces no file. It gives you the words, and that's the whole row.
Drag a box,
then ask it something
CleanShot hands you a picture. Khint hands you the text, and keeps the image pinned so you can keep asking about it. Same gesture, and the answer lands on your clipboard.
Two rows, and neither opens a window
Extract text goes straight to the clipboard with a small overlay confirming it. Capture & ask keeps the image pinned so you can keep asking about the same screenshot. There's no third app to learn.
Then ask it something
The captured text goes into the same agents you already wrote: explain the error, translate it, turn it into a ticket. One press, and the prompt is yours rather than a menu item.
CleanShot can stay exactly where it is
Khint doesn't draw arrows, blur faces, record the screen or host share links, and none of that is coming. Keep Cmd+Shift+5 for annotated shots and reach for the palette when you want the words instead of the image.
What Khint won't do
Six rows of the table go to CleanShot outright, and every one of them is about the picture. Khint's half is the words inside it, and what you can do once they're out.
See pricingNo annotation: no arrows, callouts or blur
No scrolling capture, no screen recording, no GIFs
No cloud upload and no share links: the result is your clipboard
The capture happens on your Mac; reading it needs the network
About one credit a capture, out of the same monthly wallet
Khint free, then from €7/mo · CleanShot X $30 once, Setapp included
Captured text can feed an agent, a workflow or a Jira write
macOS 13+ on any Mac, plus Windows 10 22H2+
What you do with what you captured
The split is clean: one of these tools cares about the picture, the other about the words inside it.
Khint: act on the text
Khint's half of a capture is the words inside it. They land on your clipboard, and from there they can feed an agent, a workflow or a Jira write without anyone retyping them.
- A stack trace, an error dialog, a UI label in a language you don't read, a paragraph locked inside a PDF. Captured as text, not pixels.
- Hit Cmd+Shift+K and run Explain this error, Translate to English or Summarize for a ticket on what you just captured.
- The capture stays on your Mac until you trigger the action yourself. Nothing is uploaded in the background.
Create issueCleanShot X: perfect the picture
CleanShot's deliverable is the image itself, and six rows of the table go to it outright. A one-time license against a subscription is a real argument too, and this page won't pretend otherwise.
- Arrows, callouts, redaction, blurred faces. The deliverable is the screenshot itself.
- Scrolling captures, screen recordings, GIFs, and share links through CleanShot Cloud.
- A one-time $30 license, also bundled in Setapp. No subscription to think about.
Eleven capabilities,
two captures
OCR engine, annotation, recording, AI follow-up, pricing. Including the six rows where CleanShot wins outright.
Capability
Khint
CleanShot X
Screen capture shortcut
KhintPalette row (Cmd+Shift+K)
CleanShot XCmd+Shift+5 / custom
OCR engine
KhintBuilt-in OCR shortcut
CleanShot XOCR add-on, paid tier
OCR offline
KhintNo (requires network for text extraction)
CleanShot XYes (local)
AI on captured text
KhintYes, runs agents on the text
CleanShot XNo
Annotation (arrows, blur, callouts)
KhintNo
CleanShot XYes (best-in-class)
Scrolling capture
KhintNo
CleanShot XYes
Screen recording
KhintNo
CleanShot XYes (incl. GIFs)
Cloud upload / share links
KhintNo (local clipboard)
CleanShot XYes (CleanShot Cloud)
Pricing
KhintFree + paid plans from €7/mo
CleanShot X$30 one-time (Setapp incl.)
Free tier
KhintYes (300 credits a month)
CleanShot XTrial only
Platform
KhintmacOS 13+, Windows 10 22H2+
CleanShot XmacOS
See how Khint stacks up
Same product, four other lenses. Each page is the honest version, including what Khint doesn't do.
Khint vs Raycast
A launcher with AI bolted on, against a palette that was an AI tool from day one.
Khint vs RewindRecording everything you ever did, against remembering the task you chose.
Khint vs GranolaNotes for the meeting, against context for the whole week around it.
Khint vs Apple IntelligenceFree and already installed, against your own prompts wired to your tools.
Common questions
Does Khint replace CleanShot X?
Not for everyone. CleanShot X is the reference for Mac screenshot annotation: arrows, blur, callouts, scrolling capture, screen recording, share links. Khint does none of that. What Khint replaces is the CleanShot OCR tier: the palette shortcut captures screen text and you can immediately run AI actions on the captured text. If your job is annotated screenshots and recordings, keep CleanShot. If your job is pulling text out of a screen and doing something with it, Khint is enough.
Can Khint annotate screenshots?
Not today. Khint's OCR pillar is text-only: it captures pixels, extracts text, and lets you act on it (paste, send to an agent, save to a session). Drawing arrows, callouts, blurring sensitive regions, or producing share-ready PNGs isn't in scope and not on the short-term roadmap. CleanShot remains the right tool for annotation.
Does Khint OCR run offline?
Partially. On macOS, Khint captures the screen on-device, so the screenshot stays on your Mac. The image is then sent to our AI provider to extract the text, and nothing is stored beyond that single call. You need a connection for that step, and again if you then run an agent on the text that came back.
Which has better OCR accuracy?
Both run accurate OCR on standard screen text. CleanShot's OCR ships in a paid bundle. Khint's OCR ships in the free tier (about 1 credit a capture) and integrates the text directly into the same palette you use for AI actions, so there's one less paste step.
Is there a free CleanShot alternative with AI?
Yes. Khint is a free CleanShot OCR alternative built around turning a screenshot into text on your Mac and acting on it, rather than annotating it. The free tier covers 300 credits a month, about 10 AI actions a day, with captures drawn from the same balance, and your full local history kept on device. If you outgrow the free tier, paid plans start at €7/month, with Pro at €29/month for 4,000 credits a month; every plan includes all the work integrations.
Capture the text, not just the pixels
Free with 300 credits a month. No credit card. macOS 13+. CleanShot can stay exactly where it is.