Website Screenshot API: Capture Any Page in Seconds

Whether you're building a link preview feature, monitoring competitor websites, generating thumbnails for a content aggregator, or archiving web pages - a website screenshot API lets you capture any URL as an image or PDF with a single HTTP request.

This guide covers everything you need to know to get started.

What Is a Screenshot API?

A screenshot API is a service that accepts a URL (or raw HTML) and returns a rendered image or PDF. Under the hood it runs a headless browser - typically Chromium via Playwright or Puppeteer - so the result looks exactly like what a user would see in their browser, including JavaScript-rendered content.

Basic Screenshot in 30 Seconds

Node.js

const axios = require('axios');
const fs    = require('fs');

const response = await axios.get('https://api.screenshotcore.com/v1/screenshot', {
  headers:      { Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' },
  params:       { url: 'https://github.com' },
  responseType: 'arraybuffer',
});

fs.writeFileSync('github.png', response.data);
console.log('Screenshot saved!');

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.screenshotcore.com/v1/screenshot",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={"url": "https://github.com"},
)
response.raise_for_status()

with open("github.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

PHP

$response = \Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http::withToken('YOUR_API_KEY')
    ->get('https://api.screenshotcore.com/v1/screenshot', [
        'url' => 'https://github.com',
    ]);

file_put_contents('github.png', $response->body());

cURL

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.screenshotcore.com/v1/screenshot?url=https://github.com" \
  -o github.png

Capturing a Full-Page Screenshot

By default most APIs capture only the visible viewport. Pass full_page=true to scroll and capture the entire page height:

params: {
  url:       'https://stripe.com',
  full_page: true,
  width:     1440,   // desktop viewport
}

Mobile Screenshots

Simulate an iPhone or Android viewport to get mobile-optimized screenshots:

params: {
  url:              'https://stripe.com',
  width:            390,    // iPhone 14 Pro
  height:           844,
  device_scale_factor: 3,  // retina
  is_mobile:        true,
  user_agent:       'Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15',
}

PDF Output

Switch format to pdf to get a print-quality PDF instead of an image:

params: {
  url:       'https://yourapp.com/reports/q1-2026',
  format:    'pdf',
  full_page: true,
}

Capturing JavaScript-Heavy Pages

Single-page applications (React, Vue, Angular) render content after the initial HTML load. Use wait_until to tell the API to wait for the page to fully load:

params: {
  url:        'https://react-app.example.com/dashboard',
  wait_until: 'networkidle',  // wait for no network activity for 500ms
  delay:      2000,           // optional extra delay in ms
}

Screenshot of a Specific Element

Crop to a specific CSS selector to screenshot just a chart, card, or widget:

params: {
  url:      'https://example.com/analytics',
  selector: '#revenue-chart',
}

Using Raw HTML Instead of a URL

You don't need a live URL. You can pass raw HTML directly - useful for generating images from templates:

params: {
  html:   '<h1 style="font-family:sans-serif;padding:40px">Hello World</h1>',
  width:  800,
  height: 200,
}

Common Use Cases

• Link previews - generate thumbnail images when users paste URLs in your app (like Notion, Slack, or Linear).
• OG images - automatically generate Open Graph images for blog posts and product pages.
• Website monitoring - capture periodic screenshots to detect visual regressions or unexpected changes.
• PDF exports - let users export invoices, reports, or dashboards as PDFs from your SaaS.
• Thumbnails for aggregators - generate preview images for bookmark managers, content curators, or news apps.
• Social media automation - capture website content as images for social media posts.

Choosing an API

When evaluating screenshot APIs, look for:

• Chromium-based rendering - the only way to guarantee accurate, modern CSS rendering.
• Full-page support - not all APIs scroll the page correctly.
• Raw HTML input - essential for template-based generation.
• Reasonable latency - under 3 seconds for standard screenshots.
• Transparent pricing - pay per request, not per seat.

ScreenshotCore checks all of these boxes. Try it free - 100 screenshots per month, no credit card required.