When comparing Gnome Screenshot vs Spectacle, the Slant community recommends Spectacle for most people. In the question“What are the best screenshot programs for UNIX-like systems?” Spectacle is ranked 3rd while Gnome Screenshot is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Spectacle is:
Spectacle is licensed under MIT with source code available on [GitHub](https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle).
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Quick and easy screen capture, flawless
Captures either whole screen, current window or selected area. Fast and clean.
Pro Lightweight
Takes only 6MB memory to install and leaves small footprint on system.
Pro Takes screenshots with keyboard shortcuts
Grabbing screenshots is easy with the shortcuts:
Prnt screen key to take a screenshot of desktop
Alt+prnt screen keys to take a screenshot of a window
Shift+prnt screen keys to take a screenshot of an area you select
Ctrl key for copying the screenshot image into clipboard
Pro Simple and sober GUI
Doesn't contain too many options in GUI which can confuse beginners.
Pro Default screenshot program in many distros
Debian, MXLinux, Ubuntu and many other distros use it as their default screenshot program.
Pro Free and open source
Spectacle is licensed under MIT with source code available on GitHub.
Pro Simple hotkeys
Spectacle offers easy-to-remember preset hotkeys.
Pro Mouseless
All windows in Spectacle can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, so no mouse is needed. This makes for a fast way to control windows.
Pro Great UX
Spectacle is easy to use and configure. It's plug and play.
Pro Low footprint
Spectacle only uses up 18-19 MB of RAM, which means there is not much overhead by using this app.
Pro Multi-monitor support
Pro 7+ years of use
Using it for 7 years
Cons
Con Doesn't always work with fullscreen videos
Con No editing
Cannot edit the screenshots, can only capture whole screen, current window or selected area.
Con Not maintained
The software is free, but no longer seems to be maintained.
Con Impossible to add new functions
While keyboard shortcuts can be changed for the available actions, there is no way to add custom actions which in turn limits the functionality of the app.
Con Limited window sizing capabilities
You can use 1/2 of the screen vertically and horizontally (divide into 4 parts). You can also use the screen in thirds too, but only the left and right third: you can't use the 1/3 in the center. There is no way to do a more granular distribution.
Con Breaks on macOS High Sierra / Chrome or Firefox
Doesn't support side by side windows.
Con Doesn't work with any Adobe products
There are some apps like Adobe Reader that do not work with Spectacle. Basically, any app with a heavily customized UI that breaks OS X accessibility will not work correctly under Spectacle.
