Jing? Snagit? or Camtasia?

Recently, I was asked by a colleague what I thought of Jing and Camtasia by TechSmith.  It's a question I asked myself in the past when I first started researching screencasting tools.

Last year, I started using Jing, and for a free product, there's lots to love.  It's simple and easy to use for your first dabble in screencasting.

With Jing, you can take screenshots of your desktop and add annotations to get your message across.  You can also record what you're doing on the computer.  You can easily share your captures via email, your social network, or host your videos on their Screencast.com website.

However, it is a beginner's tool so if you're looking to do more, then you might consider Snagit or Camtasia.  What's the difference, and do you want to pay more?

Obviously. paying more means more features.  For example, with Jing, you're limited to a five minute video but Snagit has no such limit.  Also, with Snagit, you have full image editing capabilities, and I have to say, those tools are very cool to have.

How about Snagit and Camtasia?  There are two major differences upon first glance.  You can use Snagit to capture images.  You can't with Camtasia.  However, Camtasia has video editing capabilities.  Snagit does not.  Of course, there are many other features that differentiates the two, and  I think this TechSmith employee's explanation is well-written and quite detailed.

Here's also TechSmith's product comparison chart on their various products, which includes Jing, Snagit, and Camtasia.

Snagit and Camtasia both come with a 30-day trial so it's a great way to try them out if you aren't sure which one you want.  They also have an educator's discount so if you decide Jing isn't enough for you, try Snagit or Camtasia at their reduced price.