A screenshot API turns a public URL into an image or PDF over HTTP. You send url=…, the service loads the page in a headless browser, and returns PNG, JPEG, or PDF — no Chrome farm on your side. Teams buy this when they need repeatable captures in a pipeline, not a one-off “save as image” click.
What buyers usually need
- Full-page captures for SEO archives, competitor tracking, and visual changelogs
- Fixed viewport thumbs for link previews, dashboards, and OG-style cards
- PDF exports for reports, client deliverables, and printable snapshots
- Automation from Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, cron, or a custom backend
The search intent behind “screenshot API” is almost always reliability + metering: a documented endpoint, a credit or quota model, and a predictable file out. Format flags, full-page vs viewport, and “don’t bill failures” are the buying questions that follow.
Capture types, in practice
Viewport shots match a device width (often 1280 or 390 CSS pixels) and stop at the fold. Full-page shots scroll the document height — what SEO and agency workflows actually want for landing-page archives. PDF is the same render, exported as a print-ready file instead of pixels. A serious screenshot API treats all three as first-class, not as paid add-ons you discover later.
Metered APIs vs self-host
Self-hosting Puppeteer or Playwright looks cheap until proxies, bot walls, cookie banners, PDF quirks, and memory leaks show up. You then own Chrome versions, queueing, and on-call. Metered APIs trade cash for that ops surface. The useful comparison is not “free vs paid” — it is whether unused monthly quota disappears, and whether a failed render still costs a credit.
ShotFetch’s planned model is one-time credit packs that roll until used, billed only on successful renders. That is the founding wedge versus use-it-or-lose monthly plans.
What to look for when you buy
- A single capture endpoint with
url,format, andfull_page— not a maze of product SKUs. - Credits that survive the calendar month. Burst SEO crawls and client audits are lumpy.
- Pay-for-success: timeouts, hard blocks, and 5xx should not drain the pack.
- Retention defaults you can explain to a client — delete-after-N-days, no model training on page content.
- Docs you can paste into Slack: auth, curl, errors, rate limits.
ShotFetch approach (pre-launch)
ShotFetch is a premium metered screenshot API in founding waitlist. We are not live yet and we do not claim MRR. The product we are scoring demand for:
GET /v1/shot?url=— simple capture endpoint- PNG / JPEG / PDF from the same call
- EU-friendly ops posture and delete-after-N-days retention default
- Pay only for successful renders
Credit packs
Priced as a premium undercut of public ScreenshotOne Basic ($17 / 2,000) and Growth ($79 / 10,000) — not a bargain floor.
| Pack | Screenshots | Price (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1,000 | $15 | PNG & JPEG, full-page |
| Builder | 2,000 | $16 | Recommended for most teams · PDF included |
| Agency | 10,000 | $69 | Higher concurrency · bulk / Sheets recipes |
Credits roll until used. Founding waitlist: early access + 250 bonus credits on the first pack when the API ships.
Example (planned)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sf_live_…" \ "https://api.shotfetch.example/v1/shot?url=https://example.com&format=png" \ -o page.png
Auth, parameters, and errors are previewed on /docs. Production base URL ships with launch.
Related reading
If you are converting a single URL in a no-code flow, see URL to PNG. If you already use a metered vendor and want an honest comparison, see ScreenshotOne alternative.
Join the founding waitlist
API is pre-launch. Founding members get early access and 250 bonus credits on their first pack. Packs: Starter 1,000 / $15 · Builder 2,000 / $16 · Agency 10,000 / $69.
Related: URL to PNG · ScreenshotOne alternative · API docs