Best Screenshot API Services Compared (2026)

Choosing the right screenshot API can save you weeks of engineering time and thousands of dollars in infrastructure costs. In this comprehensive comparison, we evaluate the best screenshot API services in 2026 across pricing, features, performance, and developer experience.

The Services We Compared

We tested five popular screenshot and image generation APIs:

1. Rendly — Screenshot, HTML-to-image, and template-based OG image generation
2. ScreenshotOne — Focused screenshot API with caching
3. HCTI (HTML/CSS to Image) — Specialized HTML-to-image service
4. Urlbox — Enterprise screenshot API
5. Screenshotlayer — Legacy screenshot API by apilayer

Pricing Comparison

Here's how the pricing breaks down for common usage tiers:

Free Tier

• Rendly — 100 renders/month ✅
• ScreenshotOne — 100 screenshots/month ✅
• HCTI — 50 images/month ⚠️
• Urlbox — No free tier ❌
• Screenshotlayer — 100 screenshots/month ✅

1,000 Renders/Month

• Rendly — $9/month
• ScreenshotOne — $29/month
• HCTI — $14/month
• Urlbox — $49/month
• Screenshotlayer — $29.99/month

10,000 Renders/Month

• Rendly — $29/month (Growth plan with 5,000 included, add-ons available)
• ScreenshotOne — $99/month
• HCTI — $49/month
• Urlbox — $149/month
• Screenshotlayer — $99.99/month

Feature Comparison

Screenshot Capabilities

All services can capture basic screenshots, but they differ in advanced features:

• Full-page capture — All services support this ✅
• Custom viewport — All services ✅
• Wait for selectors — Rendly ✅, ScreenshotOne ✅, HCTI ❌, Urlbox ✅
• JavaScript execution — Rendly ✅, ScreenshotOne ✅, HCTI ❌, Urlbox ✅
• Block ads/cookies — Rendly ✅, ScreenshotOne ✅, Urlbox ✅
• Retina (2x) rendering — Rendly ✅, ScreenshotOne ✅, Urlbox ✅

HTML to Image

Not all screenshot APIs support rendering raw HTML to images:

• Rendly — Full HTML/CSS with Liquid templates ✅
• HCTI — HTML/CSS to image ✅
• ScreenshotOne — HTML rendering ✅
• Urlbox — HTML rendering ✅
• Screenshotlayer — URL only, no HTML ❌

Template System

This is where Rendly truly stands out. A template system lets you design reusable image layouts with dynamic variables — essential for OG images, certificates, and batch generation.

• Rendly — Full template system with Liquid templating, variables schema, and 10+ built-in templates ✅
• ScreenshotOne — No template system ❌
• HCTI — No template system ❌
• Urlbox — Basic template support ⚠️
• Screenshotlayer — No template system ❌

Performance Benchmarks

We tested each service with a standard screenshot of a medium-complexity page (5 API calls, average response time):

• Rendly — 1.2s average (cached: instant)
• ScreenshotOne — 2.1s average
• HCTI — 1.8s average
• Urlbox — 1.5s average
• Screenshotlayer — 3.4s average

Rendly's caching system based on parameter hashing means that repeated requests for the same content are served instantly from cache, which is a significant advantage for OG image use cases where the same image may be requested hundreds of times.

Developer Experience

A good API is about more than raw features. Developer experience matters:

• Rendly — Interactive playground, SDKs for Ruby/Python/Node.js, comprehensive docs, webhook support for async renders ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• ScreenshotOne — Good docs, multiple SDKs ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• HCTI — Simple API, minimal docs ⭐⭐⭐
• Urlbox — Extensive docs, dashboard ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Screenshotlayer — Dated documentation ⭐⭐

Our Recommendation

Here's our take based on different use cases:

• Best overall value: Rendly — Most affordable at scale with the richest feature set. The template system is a game-changer for OG images.
• Best for simple screenshots only: ScreenshotOne — Solid, focused product with good performance.
• Best for HTML-to-image only: HCTI — If you only need basic HTML rendering, it's affordable.
• Best for enterprise: Urlbox — Good for large organizations that need premium support.

Conclusion

For most developers, Rendly offers the best combination of price, features, and developer experience. The free tier is generous enough for prototyping, the template system eliminates the need for a separate OG image solution, and pricing remains competitive as you scale.

Try Rendly free — 100 renders/month, no credit card required.