The free Jing
never came back.
This is the closest thing. Free capture, free annotation, free share — with no upsell funnel pointing you at a subscription.
Maxisnap is the modern free Jing. TechSmith retired Jing and funneled users to Snagit's paid subscription. Maxisnap keeps the original value proposition — free, fast, hotkey-driven capture with a shareable link — with Windows and Mac builds, no Adobe Air dependency, and no upsell maze.
Jing was quietly killed to funnel you to Snagit. Here's the free tool without the upsell funnel.
— the reason this page exists
And what Maxisnap still does, free
Fast hotkey capture
Jing's PrintScreen-style hotkey got you from "I want to show this" to "here's the link" in seconds. Maxisnap keeps this: Ctrl+Alt+5, 6, 7 on Windows; Cmd+Opt+5, 6, 7 on Mac.
Annotation on every capture
Arrows, text, shapes, blur, numbered pins — all free, all unlimited. No separate upgrade for basic tools.
Share via URL
Every upload returns a short URL you can paste into Slack, email, or a ticket. Maxisnap Cloud on the free tier, or route to your own SFTP/S3.
No Adobe Air
Jing died partly because its Adobe Air runtime was killed. Maxisnap is a native compiled app — PyInstaller single-exe, no runtime-of-the-week dependency.
Jing questions
Is Jing still available?
No. TechSmith retired it and redirected users to Snagit. The Adobe Air dependency also made it effectively unusable on modern Windows and Mac.
What replaced Jing?
TechSmith pointed users to Snagit ($48/yr subscription). Maxisnap fills the free-tool gap Jing left — free, with Mac and Windows, and no upsell funnel.
Is there a free version of Snagit?
Time-limited trial only. After the trial, continued use requires subscription. Maxisnap Free is a real permanent product — unlimited captures, annotation, and self-host uploads.
What does Maxisnap cost?
Free: $0 forever — unlimited captures, unlimited SFTP/S3, 100 cloud uploads/month. Pro: $4/month for unlimited cloud. No renewal emails, no expiring license.
Can I record video like Jing?
Yes. On Windows, Maxisnap records a region (Ctrl+Alt+3) or the full screen (Ctrl+Alt+4) with system audio and mic mixed into one track — no virtual audio driver needed. Stop, then trim and export to MP4, GIF, or WebM. Free, no watermark, no time limit — the quick Jing-style video, back at last. Recording is Windows-only today; the macOS build is still in development. More on recording.
Free capture, the way Jing meant it.
No trial clock. No upsell funnel. Just the tool.
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