Getting started with the Website Screenshot API

Our Website Screenshot API renders any URL into PNG, JPG, PDF, MP4, GIF or WebM in milliseconds. Pay-as-you-go, no credit card required for the free plan, 100 screenshots / month free.

Sign up & get a key

  1. Create a free account — verifies your email.
  2. Generate an API key from your dashboard. The full key is shown once, copy it immediately.
  3. Test the API with curl:
curl https://websitescreenshotapi.net/api/v1/screenshot \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com","full_page":true}'

Response shape

{
  "url":              "https://websitescreenshotapi.net/files/123/job_abc-def.png",
  "expires_at":       "2026-05-07T14:23:00+00:00",
  "retention_hours":  24,
  "format":           "png",
  "size_bytes":       234567,
  "width":            1920,
  "height":           1080,
  "duration_ms":      512,
  "credits_charged":   2,
  "credits_remaining": 1898,
  "plan_code":        "basic",
  "job_id":           "job_abc",
  "cache_hit":        false
}

The url is your screenshot — embed it in <img src>, download it, share it. Files are auto-deleted after 24h (expires_at).

What can I render?

Format Endpoint Cost
PNG / JPG / WebP POST /v1/screenshot 1 unit
PDF POST /v1/screenshot 2 units
MP4 / WebM video POST /v1/animate 1 / sec, min 2
GIF animation POST /v1/animate 2 / sec, min 3
Scrolling video POST /v1/animate (scenario=scroll) same as MP4

Next steps