So, you need to take a screenshot of an entire webpage. Do you use built-in keyboard shortcuts? Do you record a video of scrolling through the page? Do you use Developer Tools? None of these are ideal or efficient. The best option would be to get a full-page screenshot extension.
This is the point where you might visit the Chrome Webstore and start searching for the right extension. But you’re quickly inundated with too many free options. Plus, many of these extensions have issues like bugs, or spyware. So, it becomes tough to get one that’s safe and reliable.
We’ve made things easier for you in this article by rounding up eight of the best extensions available today.
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Feature breakdown
If you don’t want to read the full reviews, here’s a quick feature breakdown that you can browse through.
| Extension | Annotation | Cloud | Video | Starting Price | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoFullPage | Yes (Pro Only) | No | No | Free | 2.05MB |
| Nimbus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | 20.15MB |
| NinjaCapture | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free | 3.09MB |
| Bardeen | No | No | Yes | Free | 13.2MB |
| FireShot | Yes (Pro Only) | No | No | Free | 4.5MB |
| Paint Tool | Yes | No | No | Free | 227KB |
| Clipular | Yes | Yes | No | Free | 597KB |
| Plerdy | Yes | Yes | No | Free | 78KB |
You might think that all these extensions do more or less the same thing, but the little things make a huge difference. Besides capturing the page and making saving and sharing easier, these extensions will also allow you to add further context to the screenshot, like blurring some parts, adding text, or annotation features like shapes and text.
Moreover, they also try to cater to different kinds of users. Whereas some are developed to streamline the process, some have the sharing mechanic down to a tee, and others are developed with a focus on team collaboration or personal creativity. It just boils down to your needs. If you want to read more about each of them, let’s dive in…
1. GoFullPage
Best for: Overall
If you want an absolute no-frills full-page screenshot tool, this is the one. It’s as simple as it gets. Install it, pin it, and whenever you want to capture a full-page screenshot, just click on the icon or use the shortcut Alt+Shift+P. It’ll scroll through the page and open it in a new tab. From there, you can save it directly to your computer as a PNG image or PDF file.
If you want to add more context to that screenshot, you'll be happy to know that they recently also added an in-built editor. It has all the features you need, like cropping, shapes, blurring, and padding, along with annotation features like adding text, emoji, lines, and more. This is how it looks.
Keep in mind, you'll need to sign up for a 7-day free trial ($1 per month after that) if you want to actually download the edited image. Fortunately, non-edited images can be downloaded freely.
Many extensions struggle to not bug out when capturing complex web pages with inner scrollable elements and embedded iframes, but this one breezes through it without breaking a sweat. It's just that reliable and solid.
If you’re expecting more features beyond what was just mentioned, like video capture and cloud support, you might want to scroll further and look at more advanced options. But, if you’re happy with this simplicity, feel free to download and start using it!
Pros:
- Quick and easy to use
- Free installation
- Multiple image formats
- No limitations on page length
Cons:
- Just one size of screenshot
- No built-in editing tools
- No direct link for sharing the screencap
2. Bardeen
Best for: Automations
All of the extensions we’ve discussed in this article can take a full-page screenshot for you, no problemo. But, there’s one constraint that holds them back: you need to be present in front of your computer and activate it manually. What if this could be automated?!
But wait, there’s more: what if that screenshot could also be shared to another platform too? Maybe sent in a Slack channel, emailed to someone, or stored in a special Google Drive folder? If that caught your attention, Bardeen is for you!
A browser workflow automation extension, it’ll allow you to take full-page screenshots, perform the capturing action in bulk, and automatically upload the screenshots to the cloud. Here are the respective pre-built automations.
Along with these pre-built workflows, you can customize your own to take automated screenshots on your favorite websites. The only disadvantage of this extension is that it doesn’t allow for annotations or video recording… yet. If those are necessary features for you, consider other options.
Pros:
- Quick and easy to use
- Free installation
- Screenshots can be shared on multiple platforms
- Screenshots can be set to be taken periodically and automatically get uploaded to Google Drive
Cons:
- It doesn’t allow for annotations or video recording
3. Nimbus
Best for: Video recording
When we think of screenshots, it’s usually a static image. But it’s also possible that you want to capture a feature in action or demonstrate something on your computer. For that, you’ll need to create a video instead. This is where Nimbus can come in handy.
It does what any other extension on this list can do—take full-page screenshots, edit, and annotate—but it excels when it comes to video capturing. It also breaks out of your browser, with the ability to capture your webcam or other active programs. Here’s an example of a screenshot taken with Nimbus.
After you click on the icon, you can choose the area you want to capture and go about recording or capturing it. Once done, you can edit it as required. There's also a premium plan available, which unlocks features like being able to crop videos, adding your own watermark, converting from WebM to MP4 or GIF, and many more.
Since it's connected to Nimbus Note, you’re able to save your captured content to the cloud and then get a shareable link to it. All in all, this is an extension that can do both—video and static screenshots—and can thus always come in handy.
Pros:
- Support screenshot capture, video, webcam, and audio
- Customizable and powerful
Cons:
- Limited annotations
- Clunky and difficult UX
4. NinjaCapture
Best for: Do-It-All
Developed by 500apps, NinjaCapture almost does it all. Once you click on the icon, you’ll see four drop-down menus: Screenshot Capture, Video, Webcam, and Audio. Capture Screenshot lets you take a full-page screenshot, the visible part, or a selected area. You can hover your mouse over the subsequent options to get access to other features.
Once you dive into the settings, you’ll find that you can customize video resolution and frame rate, and even add a timer! When you’ve captured what you want, you also get a shareable link for it. Besides saving it to NinjaCapture Cloud or downloading it, you can also save it to Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box.
In regards to annotation, we found the interface to be generally clunky and more difficult to use compared to other options. Nevertheless, the basic features are there: crop, draw, shape, text, icon, and more. So, if you need to add more context to your screenshot, you definitely can.
We know, your head must be reeling with features by now, but we've barely scratched the surface. In a nutshell, if you want a jack of all trades, NinjaCapture might be the one to go for.
Pros:
- Advanced settings for screencasting
- Free for installation (basic features)
Cons:
- To use the coolest features and advanced editing tools, you need to buy the Premium package
- It takes more time to take a screenshot than with a simple screenshot extension
5. FireShot
Best for: Multi-functional
Looking for a versatile and reliable full-page screenshot extension that packs tons of features? FireShot is worth a try. Although it doesn’t exactly stand out in any specific regard, it serves the overall purpose very well.
With the basic and free version of the extension, you can take full-page screenshots and then save them in multiple formats. Or you can send them to OneNote or copy them to the clipboard. So, the whole process—editing, saving, exploring, uploading, and printing—can be taken care of in the extension itself! Talk about convenience.
There's also an upgrade available in this extension. It gives you access to features like being able to capture all tabs in one click, add annotations, and add page information to screenshots like URL, title, time, and domain.
We aren’t exactly stoked to know that annotations are hidden behind an upgrade. If you can overlook that, you still get access to most of the features you need. So, it’s still a solid and reliable screenshot extension overall.
Pros:
- Quick sharing without registering on the website
- Multi-functionality
- Works offline
Cons:
- Takes a long time to get to your required setting
- Has an unattractive interface
6. Paint Tool
Best for: Design
Ever wished that you could have good ol' MS Paint built right into Chrome? This is the extension for you. You can capture a screenshot (only visible area), but it has multiple built-in tools like pencil, bucket fill, ellipse, eyedropper, and a color palette.
You can basically unleash your creativity by drawing figures, lines, squares, and circles and adding text to the screenshot of the webpage. If you go into artist mode and forget to save your work, don't worry, since it also has an autosave feature. If you want quick access to each tool, you'll appreciate hotkey access as well. Those with a knack for design can end up creating a masterpiece! Here’s what we came up with.
Less than one megabyte in size, it's light on system resources and is as easy to use as MS Paint itself. So, feel free to go ahead and take it for a test drive!
Pros:
- Very simple and lightweight Software and easy to recognize features
- Easily customizable tools. You can rename the tools and create the shortcuts easily
Cons:
- Doesn’t support the full page screenshots
7. Clipular
Best for: Bookmarking
There are many users who take full-page screenshots as an alternative to bookmarking. Defined as ‘screen capture mixed with bookmarking’, Clipular is perfect for that purpose. Whenever you come across something interesting on the web, be it a hilarious tweet, a useful YouTube video, or an interesting Reddit post, just use Clipular.
With it, you can capture a part of the page, all the visible content in a tab, or the full page, and then bookmark it. If you end up creating a huge backlog of screenshots, Clipular offers features to alleviate that headache of management too.
With each screenshot you take, relevant metadata is captured accordingly to make it easily identifiable. To add more helpful context to your screenshot, you can annotate it using the Magic Wand icon or specify a tag.
For sharing it, you can drag and drop it to Gmail, or share it directly to social media networks like Facebook and Twitter from within the Chrome extension itself. If you just want to save it locally, you can perform a drag-and-drop action from the extension to your desktop.
All screenshots are auto-saved to the Clipular website. You can also set it up to save all your screenshots into Google Drive after a one-time setup! Everything considered, Clipular is perfect for those who love to take little slices of the Internet and save them. If you’re one of them, Clipular was developed with you in mind.
Pros:
- Auto-save all clips in the Clipular library with the option to export them locally
- Add tags to every screenshot to organize them properly
- Filter and search through your collection of screenshots in your account
Cons:
- Limited features
8. Plerdy
Best for: Team collaboration
Are you working with a team or collaborating with a client? If yes, wouldn't it be amazing if you can add comments and tag other members on the screenshot itself? That is what Plerdy is capable of. It streamlines and consolidates the process of gathering feedback for heuristic assessments, design audits, and user testing.
It works just like any other extension: go to the webpage you want to capture and click the icon. After the webpage is captured, you’ll see a sidebar which will allow you add new team members (similar to social media tagging) and share its public link. To add a comment, simply click and drag across any part of the screenshot and a text box will appear.
It’s also available on Firefox, if you’re interested. Overall, Plerdy is geared towards a special type of use case. If you just want a simple screenshot extension, this one might be overwhelming for you. But if you’re working with a team and want to make sure everyone is on the same page (literally!), this one will make things easier.
Pros
- Straightforward and fast installation
- Lots of free features for beginner marketers
- Selection of tools designed for improving one’s website
- Can be integrated with various online platforms
Cons
- Occasionally low loading speeds
Conclusion
Not all Chrome screenshot extensions are created equal. There are all the general-purpose ones, like FireShot and NinjaCapture. Then there are also more specific ones, like Plerdy and Paint Tool.
At their core, they all do the same thing, but the extra features they offer can be useful to you depending on your use case. Of course, Chrome extensions are easy to install and remove, and these ones are fairly light ones in size. So, don’t be reluctant to try out all of them to find which one works best for you!
If you want to explore more time-saving possibilities that Bardeen offers beyond just automating screenshots, you’ll find further info in this article.
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