Shotomatic vs Scribe: Local Mac Guides or Hosted Collaboration?

Shotomatic and Scribe take different approaches to visual documentation. Shotomatic provides a local Mac capture, editing, and file-export workflow. Scribe creates guides that live in a hosted Workspace and can be shared through links, embeds, teams, and permissions.

Use this comparison to decide whether the main requirement is local Mac document creation or online collaboration and distribution.

TL;DR: Choose Shotomatic when you want to capture and edit on Mac, review the pages locally, and export files through your existing systems. Choose Scribe when hosted guides, links, embeds, shared workspaces, and online collaboration are the main requirements.

Shotomatic vs Scribe at a glance

The comparison uses official public Scribe documentation rather than a paid desktop test. Verify the current plan page for any entitlement that affects your decision.

Compare desktop capture availability

Shotomatic Action Capture is a Mac desktop feature. Free supports up to 5 saved steps per session, saves the fifth step before pausing, and lets the user open the document or activate Pro and continue the same session.

Scribe's desktop capture guide says Mac and Windows desktop apps are available on Pro and Enterprise. Its Basic plan captures browser workflows through an extension.

Scribe's extension documentation says Chrome and Edge browser extensions are available on all plans. Choose based on whether the workflow stays in supported browser pages or moves through Mac desktop applications.

Compare the editing model

Shotomatic keeps the captured session as an ordered local document. Free includes page organization, titles and descriptions, Text, Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Framing, Action Focus, undo, and redo. Pro adds Blur, Click Marker, and Step Numbers.

Scribe's basic editing guide documents title and description changes, added and reordered steps, tips, alerts, headers, GIFs, and step text for all users. Its Pro feature guide adds screenshot crop, annotation, redaction, and click-target movement.

Shotomatic's editor is centered on screenshot pages and file output. Scribe's editor is connected to a hosted guide and broader online document structure.

Compare sharing and collaboration

Shotomatic exports files for the user to store or share through an existing help center, ticketing system, shared drive, email, or client handoff. It does not provide a hosted team Workspace for live guide permissions.

Scribe's sharing documentation covers private documents, team access, invited individuals, Enterprise organization access, and anyone-with-link viewing. Its public guides also document embeds into tools such as Confluence, SharePoint, and Notion.

Choose Shotomatic when the organization already has a publication or collaboration system and wants the capture output as files. Choose Scribe when the documentation product itself should own online sharing, permissions, embeds, and team access.

Compare export and offline use

Shotomatic exports PDF, PNG, JPG, WebP, and ZIP on Free and Pro. The result can be stored offline, attached to another system, or uploaded after review.

Scribe documents PDF, Word, HTML, Markdown, and Confluence exports for eligible plans. Its PDF export guide notes that exported files are static and must be exported again after the original guide changes.

Choose file export when the reader needs offline, printed, attached, or independently stored instructions. Choose hosted sharing when one current online guide should serve many readers and the service's access model fits the organization.

Compare privacy review points

Shotomatic lets the author review and edit the local document before choosing an export destination. Free includes Framing and Action Focus; Pro adds Blur. The author is still responsible for safe source data, device security, backups, and where files are sent.

Scribe documents manual redaction and browser Smart Blur for Pro and Enterprise in its redaction guide. Enterprise also has additional controls described in Scribe's support materials.

Do not reduce the privacy decision to local versus cloud. Review what the tool captures, when data enters a service, who can access the guide, how it is deleted, and which external systems receive exports or embeds.

Choose Shotomatic or Scribe

Choose Shotomatic when you need Mac desktop capture, local page review, five-step support on Free, and file export through systems you already use.

Choose Scribe when browser or plan-dependent desktop capture should feed a hosted Workspace with links, embeds, Pages, permissions, and team collaboration.

The products can also occupy different stages. A team can create and redact a file-based guide locally, then publish the approved output in an existing knowledge base. A Scribe team can capture and maintain the guide inside Scribe, then export a static copy when offline delivery is required.

See Action Capture and the broader Shotomatic feature set for current product details, Local vs Cloud Process Documentation Tools for the storage-model decision, and current Shotomatic plan details without relying on a fixed quoted price.