TL;DR: I built Lasso, a $9.99 one-time Mac app for drawing on the screen you already have open. Press Option-Shift-A, mark the thing, press Escape. Viewers see the marks in Zoom, Meet, or Teams if you share the entire display. I compared it with Presentify, DemoPro, ZoomIt for Mac, Zoom's built-in tools, and macOS Markup. Some of those beat Lasso at specific jobs. I'd pick Lasso for a simple overlay that works in every call app, a one-time price, numbered steps, and a local MCP server for AI agents. I'm the person who makes it.
If you present, teach, or demo on a Mac, you've had this moment. You say "this part, right here," and the other person is still hunting for your cursor. On a compressed shared screen, a thin pointer is a weak teaching tool.
A lot of people reach for Zoom's Annotate button, or they jump into a separate whiteboard and redraw the problem from scratch. I use a dedicated overlay every day, because I built one. This is not a neutral review. I'll be straight about where the others are stronger.
You should be able to stay on the page you're already presenting from.
How Lasso works, in one paragraph
Press Option-Shift-A and draw over whatever is on screen: slides, a browser, VS Code, a PDF. You get a pen, highlighter, arrows, shapes, text, numbered steps, a laser pointer, an eraser, and a blur for anything you'd rather not show. Escape clears the marks. Press S, or Shift-S for an area, to keep an annotated screenshot. There's a whiteboard if you need a blank page. It lives in the menu bar. It's $9.99 once, including tax as shown at checkout, with no account and no subscription. It runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.
Viewers only see the marks if you share the entire display. A single-window or tab share can leave them out. That same catch applies to most overlay apps. DemoPro's FAQ says so explicitly, and Epic Pen's FAQ says the same thing on Windows.
The comparison, at a glance
"Not listed" means I didn't find that feature on the official page. Presentify and DemoPro both work with Zoom, Meet, and other call apps, same as Lasso, when you share the whole screen. Zoom's own tools only exist inside Zoom.
Presentify, if you need a cursor halo and zoom
Presentify is the overlay a lot of people already know. On the US Mac App Store it is $14.99 once. It also sells through Setapp and the developer's site. It runs on macOS 13 Ventura or later, one version older than Lasso.
It draws over any app, has a whiteboard, and then goes further than Lasso on presenter aids: a customizable cursor highlight (a ring, squircle, or rhombus), a spotlight that dims the rest of the screen, and a zoom that follows the pointer. I don't ship a persistent cursor halo or live magnification. I have a fading laser pointer. If the halo and the zoom are the job, Presentify is the better pick.
DemoPro, if you want hold-to-draw at a lower price
DemoPro is $3.99 once on the Mac App Store, with no subscription and free updates. That's less than Lasso. The current listing requires macOS 15 or later.
The signature move is press-and-hold. Hold a hotkey, draw, release, and you're back in the app you were showing. It has cursor highlight styles (ring, disc, laser, spotlight), a whiteboard or blackboard, a break timer, and an optional toolbar that stays out of the screen share. Annotations can auto-clear after a delay.
It also takes a hard line on privacy: it does not take screenshots or zoom, so it never asks for Screen Recording permission. If you want to capture a marked-up still, that's a Lasso job (or ZoomIt's, or Presentify's), not DemoPro's. If you're already on macOS 15 and you want the cheapest paid overlay, DemoPro is easy to recommend.
ZoomIt for Mac, if free zoom and recording matter more
ZoomIt used to be a Windows-only Sysinternals tool. Microsoft now ships a Mac version. It's free, MIT-licensed, and needs macOS 14 or later. You can install it with Homebrew, and Microsoft's ZoomIt page links a Mac download.
The Mac app does static and live zoom, drawing and typing, screenshots, OCR, a break timer, and MP4 recording with an optional webcam inset. If you need to magnify a tiny control, then draw, then record the walkthrough, it covers a lot of ground for $0. It isn't the simplest "circle this and keep talking" tool, but "free, and it zooms and records" is a real win.
Epic Pen is a Windows story right now
People still search for Epic Pen on a Mac, and for good reason. The free Basic plan (pen, highlighter, eraser, screenshots, hotkeys, 16 colors) is a generous deal, and Pro is a subscription with shapes, text, a whiteboard, fading ink, and a highlighted cursor. They do not offer a one-time Pro purchase.
There was a 2022 blog post announcing a Mac version. The current official site and FAQ describe it as a Windows 10 and 11 app, and I couldn't find a Mac download today. If you're on a PC, start there.
The tools you already have
macOS Markup, in Preview or on a screenshot thumbnail, is excellent for an image you already captured. It is not a live overlay.
Zoom's own annotation tools are free if annotation is enabled in the meeting. The host can let participants draw too, which none of the overlay apps do. The catch is obvious: those tools live in Zoom. They don't follow you into Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.
There's also ScreenBrush, a free Mac App Store overlay with a $6.99 Plus in-app purchase for shapes, text, and undo, plus pressure-sensitive strokes and a remote for Keynote and PowerPoint.
What you pay, once
Lasso is $9.99 once, including tax as shown at checkout. Presentify is $14.99 on the US App Store. DemoPro is $3.99. ZoomIt is free. I left Epic Pen Pro off this chart because it's a subscription, and their public pricing page didn't show a fixed dollar amount in my region. Check epicpen.com/pricing for the current rate.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Markup for a still, Zoom's Annotate when you're only in Zoom and other people need a pen, ZoomIt when you want a free Mac tool that zooms and records, Presentify when you'll actually use the cursor halo, spotlight, and zoom, and DemoPro when you're on macOS 15 or later and you want a $3.99 hold-to-draw overlay with a break timer.
Pick Lasso when you want a simple shortcut, marks that work in every call app (if you share the whole display), numbered steps, a screenshot of those marks, a blur for anything you shouldn't show, and, if you use an AI client on the same Mac, a local MCP server that can see what you circled and draw an arrow back. That's the job I built it for.
What Lasso does not do
It's Mac only. Your audience does not get a pen. If they need to write, use the meeting app's tools for that part. It does not magnify the screen or put a persistent halo around the cursor.
If people can't see your marks, it's almost always the share source. Stop, share the entire display, draw a test circle, and check again.
If you want to try Lasso
Lasso is at https://www.trylasso.online/. $9.99 once. There's a short demo video if you want to see the shortcut in use.
Do a two-minute test share before the real call. If something about the overlay feels off in Zoom, Meet, or Teams, tell me which app you were in.
