Screen magnifiers for Windows

Who wrote this, and how to read it

We make Low Vision Zoom, so treat this page the way you would treat any comparison written by one of the participants. We have tried to be fair in three specific ways: every claim about another product comes from that vendor's own public documentation and links to it; every product listed has at least one thing it does better than ours; and there is a section below on reasons not to buy Low Vision Zoom.

We deliberately do not list competitors' prices as numbers. Assistive-technology pricing changes, varies by country, and is often different for individuals, schools, and employers — a number copied here would be out of date before long. We list each product's licensing model and link to the vendor so you can check the current price yourself.

The most important advice on this page: every product here can be tried before you pay. Magnification is intensely personal, and how a magnifier feels to your eyes matters more than any feature table. Try them.

Which one should you choose?

• You have not tried any magnifier yet — use the Windows Magnifier that is already on your PC. Press Windows key + Plus. It costs nothing and it may be all you need.
• You need your screen read aloud, or you use braille — you need ZoomText Magnifier/Reader, SuperNova, or a screen reader. Low Vision Zoom has no speech and no braille support at all.
• You need more than 5× magnification — Low Vision Zoom stops at 5×. Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, and SuperNova all go far higher.
• You need color filters, contrast inversion, or focus highlighting — Windows Magnifier has some of this for free; ZoomText and SuperNova have much more. Low Vision Zoom has none of it.
• You want a free third-party option — Magnifixer is free and offers a magnifier window with inverted display and color modes.
• You mainly want to zoom in and out constantly while you work, and you find that jumpy or fiddly today — this is the specific case Low Vision Zoom was built for. It magnifies smoothly around your cursor, has no settings, and costs $9.99 once. Watch the demo and try the free trial.

Feature comparison

Cells marked “see vendor” are things we do not want to state second-hand on someone else's behalf — follow the link in the product heading for the authoritative answer.

Reasons not to buy Low Vision Zoom

We would rather you spent $9.99 on something that helps you than on something that does not. Do not buy Low Vision Zoom if any of these apply:

• You need more than 5× magnification. This is a hard limit in the app, not a setting. If 5× is not enough for you, no part of this product will help.
• You need speech. There is no text-to-speech, no document reader, and no screen reader. None of it is planned as a $9.99 feature.
• You need color inversion or contrast filters to read comfortably. Windows Magnifier does this for free; we do not do it at all.
• You need crisp text at high magnification. We magnify the screen as it is; the suites re-render text so it stays sharp. At high zoom levels that difference is large and it matters.
• You need vendor support, training, or a procurement route. We are a very small company with an email address. That is a poor fit for a workplace accommodation with a formal support requirement.
• You do not use a mouse or trackpad. The design centers on pointing at what you want magnified. There are keyboard shortcuts, but a keyboard-only user is better served elsewhere.
• You are on Windows on ARM, or a 32-bit PC. Not supported today.

You may not need a magnifier at all

Before buying anything, it is worth trying the free options already on your computer. For many people they are enough:

• Make everything bigger permanently: Windows Settings → System → Display → Scale. Setting this to 150% or 175% enlarges all text and icons everywhere, without any extra software.
• Make text bigger only: Windows Settings → Accessibility → Text size.
• Zoom a web page: Ctrl + Plus in any browser, which reflows the text rather than magnifying pixels — usually more readable than any magnifier for reading web pages.
• The built-in magnifier: Windows key + Plus.

A magnifier is the right tool when you need to move in and out of detail throughout the day across every application. It is the wrong tool when what you actually needed was larger text all the time.

Where Low Vision Zoom does fit

Low Vision Zoom exists because its developer wanted one specific thing: to zoom in and back out constantly, all day, without losing his place on screen each time. It magnifies continuously rather than in steps, pivots around the point under the cursor so what you are looking at stays put, and holds the view still while your cursor roams the middle of the screen. There is nothing to set up and nothing to learn beyond one key and the scroll wheel.

That is the whole product. If the description above is the problem you have, the free 7-day trial will tell you within a few minutes whether it works for your eyes. If it is not, one of the other products on this page will serve you better, and we would rather point you to it. You can read more about why smooth magnification is easier to follow, or see the frequently asked questions.

Sources

Claims about other products come from their vendors' own public pages, checked on July 20, 2026:

• Microsoft — Use Magnifier to make things on the screen easier to see
• Freedom Scientific — ZoomText
• Dolphin — SuperNova
• Blacksun Software — Magnifixer

Windows, Windows Magnifier, and Narrator are products of Microsoft. ZoomText and JAWS are products of Freedom Scientific / Vispero. SuperNova is a product of Dolphin Computer Access. Magnifixer is a product of Blacksun Software. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with any of them, and we use their names only to identify their products. If you believe anything on this page misrepresents your product, tell us and we will correct it.