OpenCapture FAQ
What it does, what it never does with your data, and what the one paid feature costs. Still stuck? Open an issue.
What is OpenCapture?
A browser extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox that captures a full page as a single image, then lets you crop, annotate, and export it — entirely on your device.
Is OpenCapture free?
Yes. Capture, crop, annotate, blur, undo, and export are free for everyone, with no account required. The only paid feature is the tiled watermark tool, a one-time Supporter unlock — $5 for 1,000 credits.
Do I need an account to use it?
No. Full-page, visible-area and selected-area capture, cropping, annotation, blurring, and PNG or PDF export all work signed out. Signing in is needed for exactly one thing: unlocking the paid Supporter watermark.
What does the Supporter unlock include?
A tiled logo or text watermark across your exports, with adjustable opacity, position, and angle. It costs $5 for 1,000 credits, paid once, and never expires.
How does the one-time unlock actually work?
You buy 1,000 credits for $5, and unlocking the watermark deducts them once. That is the whole transaction — no subscription, no renewal, and no charge per export. Payment is handled on our account server by a payment processor, never inside the extension, so OpenCapture never sees a card number, a wallet seed phrase, or a private key.
What sign-in options are there?
Three, each handled by its own provider rather than by OpenCapture. Google sign-in, where Google authenticates you and shares your email address with our account server to identify your account. A crypto wallet using SIWE, where your wallet signs a login message and your public address identifies you. And Nostr, where your public key identifies you.
Does OpenCapture upload my screenshots anywhere?
No. Every capture is rendered and edited locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server unless you choose to buy credits for the Supporter unlock.
What does the extension never collect?
The content of any page you capture. Your browsing history, the URLs you visit, or which sites you use it on. Analytics, telemetry, crash reports, or usage tracking of any kind. Keystrokes, form data, or passwords. Advertising identifiers — there are no ads and no ad-tracking code in the extension.
What is stored on my device?
Three things, in your browser’s own extension storage, none of which is transmitted anywhere: your capture history, up to the last 50 screenshots so you can reopen them, deletable individually or all at once from the History page; your save preferences, meaning the filename and folder you chose; and whether you have already been asked to rate the extension, so it does not ask more than twice. Uninstalling the extension removes all of it.
What permissions does it ask for, and why?
Four, and each one maps to a single job:
activeTab— to capture the tab you are actively viewing when you click a capture button.scripting— to inject a short-lived script into that tab, only when you start a capture, to prepare the page and draw the selection overlay.downloads— to save your finished screenshot to your Downloads folder.storage— for the local preferences and history described above.
Access to our own account server is separate and optional. It is requested only if you choose to sign in for the Supporter unlock, and you approve it at that moment. The full wording is in the privacy policy.
Which browsers does OpenCapture support?
Chrome, Edge and Firefox, both under Manifest V3.
Is OpenCapture open source?
Yes, the core extension is licensed AGPL-3.0-or-later, so anyone can read exactly what it touches and what it sends. The watermark module is a separate, proprietary component.
What formats can I export to?
PNG or PDF. See saving a webpage as a PDF for how that compares with your browser’s print dialog.