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How to generate website screenshots with an API
If you're a developer looking for an easy and powerful way to generate programmatic screenshots, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll explain why you should use an external API instead of relying on server side libraries, and you’ll discover 4 APIs specialized in screenshot generation. Here we go!
Urlbox
Urlbox is a REST API that offers both full-page and mobile website screenshots.
It includes a variety of features, such as the ability to customize the size of the screenshot and add watermarks. Urlbox offers a short free trial, but no free plan. The pricing is quite high comparing to the competition.
Pricing
$52 / month up to 10 000 screenshots (lowest plan), $82 / month up to 10 000 screenshots (biggest plan)
URL or HTML input
Popup and ads blocking
Sync or async
Upload to Amazon S3
Images and PDF
No free plan (just a free trial)
Lot of limits depending on your plan (requests per minute, file size, render timeouts)
Full featured plan is (very) expensive
Apiflash
Apiflash is an API based AWS Lambda, that offers full-page and mobile screenshots.
The free plan allows you to generate up to 100 screenshots per month, which is few comparing to Doppio. The Lite plan is cheap ($7 / month) but allows only 100 renders per month. The API design is questionable.
Pricing
$7 / month up to 1000 screenshots, $35 / month up to 10 000 screenshots
Free plan (100 screenshots / month)
Popup and ads blocking
No PDF
No async
Can’t render HTML source, URL input only
Upload to Amazon S3 is possible in a poorly secured way
Screenshot API
Screenshot API allows you to take programmatic screenshots of any website with ease.
Screenshot API offers a free 7 days trial that allows you to capture up to 100 screenshots, but no free plan. Each paying plan offers a number of screenshots included, with an extra cost per screenshot if you exceed your quota.
Pricing
$9/month up to 1000 screenshots (+$0,009 per extra), $29/month up to 10 000 screenshots (+$0,008 per extra)
Images and PDF
Popup and ads blocking
No free plan (7 day free trial)
No upload to Amazon S3
No async
Doppio
Doppio is our in-house API, which we created because nothing else sufficiently met our needs for screenshot and PDF generation.
Doppio offers both full-page and mobile screenshots, as well as a variety of customization options such as device type and image format. It also includes a variety of features, such as asynchrous rendering and upload to your S3 bucket. Doppio allows you to generate no only image screenshots but also PDF files from any URL or HTML input. Doppio offers a generous free tier allowing you to capture up to 400 screenshots per month. If you need more, our pricing plans are accessible, and we can propose a custom plan for special needs.
Pricing
€14,90 / month (~$16,50) up to 4000 screenshots, €44,50 / month (~$50) up to 12 000 screenshots
Images and PDF
Upload to Amazon S3
Sync or async
URL or HTML input
Free plan (400 screenshots / month)
Top-notch support
No popup and ads blocking (yet)
Conclusion
When it comes to generating website screenshots with an API, there are several options to consider. While each API has its own advantages and disadvantages, Doppio is the best choice for most developers due to its flexibility, customization options, generous free plan and accessible pricing.
Comparison table
| Urlbox | Apiflash | ScreenshotAPI | Doppio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $10 / month up to 1000 screenshots | $7 / month up to 1000 screenshots | $9/month up to 1000 screenshots | €14,90 / month (~$16,50) up to 4000 screenshots |
| Free plan | (7 day free trial) | 100 screenshots / month | (7 day free trial) | 400 screenshots / month |
| Input accepted | URL or HTML input | URL only | URL only | URL or HTML input |
| Async render | | | | |
| Delegate upload (Amazon S3) | | | | |
| Type of output file | Image and PDF | Image only | Image and PDF | Image and PDF |
| Popup and ads blocking | | | | |
| Request limits | from 30 to 250 RPM | not clear | not clear | from 20 to 360 RPM |
