1. Built‑in macOS methods (keyboard shortcuts + UI)

macOS includes a robust built‑in screenshot utility (from Mojave onward, and enhanced in later versions). Here are the main ways to use it:

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
⇧ + ⌘ + 3	Capture the entire screen(s)	Creates a PNG file on the desktop (or configured folder)
⇧ + ⌘ + 4	Capture a selected area	After pressing, drag a rectangle; release to take screenshot
⇧ + ⌘ + 4, then press Space	Capture a window	Hover over the window (it highlights), then click
⇧ + ⌘ + 5	Brings up the Screenshot UI	You can choose area/fullscreen/window, timer, options, and screen record
⇧ + ⌘ + 6 (on Macs with Touch Bar)	Capture the Touch Bar	Saves as an image to the usual location

When you trigger one of these, macOS shows a thumbnail pop-over in the corner (for a few seconds). You can click it to crop, annotate, or share quickly.

The default behavior is to save the screenshot to the desktop as a .png file, named with “Screen Shot [date] at [time].png”. If you drag the thumbnail into a document or folder, it moves/copies the file.

You can also right-click (or control-click) in the thumbnail to get “Save to” or “Delete”.

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2. How it works via Terminal (and behind the scenes)

Under the hood, macOS uses the screencapture and screenshot commands (depending on version) for the same functionality.

Here are some examples:

# Capture the whole screen and save to ~/Desktop/screen.png
screencapture ~/Desktop/screen.png

# Capture a selection interactively (you drag a region) and save
screencapture -i ~/Desktop/sel.png

# Capture a window (you click a window) with shadow
screencapture -iW ~/Desktop/window.png

# Capture after 5 seconds delay
screencapture -T 5 ~/Desktop/delayed.png

# Capture with screen recording (video) – newer macOS use `screenshot`:
screenshot video ~/Desktop/myrecording.mov

You can also change default screenshot settings via defaults commands:

# Change default save location
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Screenshots

# Change default image format (png, jpg, tiff, pdf, gif, bmp)
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

# Disable the thumbnail preview popover
defaults write com.apple.screencapture show-thumbnail -bool FALSE

# To apply changes (restart system UI server)
killall SystemUIServer

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3. Limitations of the built‑in macOS screenshot tool

The built-in tool is convenient and well-integrated, but it has trade‑offs. Here are some of the limitations:

• Annotation & editing are limited
• No scrolling capture / stitching
• Sharing / cloud / links
• Limited video capture features
• No OCR (text extraction from images)
• No fancy backgrounds / “clean framing”
• No versioning / screenshot history

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4. Comparison: Third-party screenshot / capture tools

Below I compare a selection of popular screenshot / capture tools for Mac, covering your requested categories: Price, Platforms, Public Link Sharing, Ease of Use, Customization, Supported Formats, Best Suited For.

CleanShot (CleanShot X)

Overview
CleanShot X is often lauded as a “super‑power screenshot + recording” tool for macOS.
It lets you hide desktop icons, choose background styles, scroll capture, video capture, and more.

Feature	CleanShot X
Price	One‑time USD 29 (includes one year of updates). Optionally renew for USD 19/year.
Platforms	macOS only
Public Link Sharing	Built-in CleanShot Cloud upload: get a shareable link.
Ease of Use	Very smooth. After capture, a floating quick-access overlay appears.
Customization	High. Choose backgrounds, hide icons, padding, shadows, window styles.
Supported Formats	PNG, JPG, GIF, MOV
Best Suited For	Power users, integrated screenshot + video + sharing + annotation.

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ScreenStudio

Overview
ScreenStudio is more video-oriented, primarily a screen recording tool.

Feature	ScreenStudio
Price	Paid (check site)
Platforms	macOS (possibly cross-platform)
Public Link Sharing	Export/share manually
Ease of Use	Moderate
Customization	High for video
Supported Formats	MP4, MOV, GIF
Best Suited For	Users focused on screen recording / tutorials.

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Shottr

Overview
Shottr is lightweight, fast, optimized for Apple Silicon, with annotation and scrolling capture.

Feature	Shottr
Price	Paid
Platforms	macOS
Public Link Sharing	Yes
Ease of Use	Very fast, minimalist
Customization	Decent (annotation, backgrounds, shadows)
Supported Formats	PNG, JPG
Best Suited For	Fast, efficient screenshots with annotation.

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Lightshot

Overview
Lightshot is a minimal, cross-platform screenshot utility.

Feature	Lightshot
Price	Free
Platforms	macOS, Windows
Public Link Sharing	Yes (via prnt.sc links)
Ease of Use	Very easy
Customization	Limited
Supported Formats	PNG, JPG
Best Suited For	Quick, free, no-frills screenshot + share.

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Xnapper

Overview
Xnapper emphasizes “beautiful screenshots instantly” with styling and OCR.

Feature	Xnapper
Price	Paid
Platforms	macOS
Public Link Sharing	Supported
Ease of Use	Intuitive
Customization	Background gradients, blur, presets
Supported Formats	PNG, JPG
Best Suited For	Designers, bloggers wanting polished images.

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Snagit

Overview
Snagit is a veteran tool with powerful editing, templates, and effects.

Feature	Snagit
Price	Paid (license)
Platforms	macOS, Windows
Public Link Sharing	Yes
Ease of Use	Moderate (learning curve)
Customization	Very high
Supported Formats	PNG, JPG, GIF, MP4
Best Suited For	Professionals, technical writers, teams.

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5. Summary & Recommendations

• Best all-in-one: CleanShot X
• Fast + minimal: Shottr or Lightshot
• OCR & polished output: Xnapper
• Video / content creators: ScreenStudio or Snagit
• Cross-platform teams: Snagit