Frequently asked questions

ScreenshotCenter is a screenshot-as-a-service platform that lets you capture web pages at scale through a simple REST API. You submit a URL (or a batch of URLs) and receive back a screenshot, PDF, or video — rendered by a real Chromium browser with full JavaScript support. New to screenshot APIs? Read What is a screenshot API?

Sign up, then open the API Keys section in the dashboard. You can create multiple keys and assign them different labels or roles. See the API documentation for how to use your key in requests.

Yes. The free Trial plan includes 500 captures per month with PNG/JPEG/WebP output, full-page capture, batches, and app integrations in 2 countries (USA, Germany). No credit card required. Upgrade to Starter or higher for PDF/HTML output and additional countries. See all plan details on the pricing page.

Official SDKs are available for JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, PHP, Go, Ruby, Java, and C# (.NET). You can also call the REST API directly from any language or tool. Browse all options on the libraries page.

Images: PNG, JPEG, WebP via the Screenshot API. Documents: PDF via the PDF Generation API. Video: WebM, MP4, GIF via the Video Generation API. You can request multiple output types in the same API call.

Pass your API key in the X-API-KEY request header, or as the key query parameter (e.g. ?key=YOUR_KEY). See the API documentation or browse the interactive API reference for full details.

Both are supported. Use size=page for a full-page capture that scrolls the entire document, or size=screen for just the visible viewport. You can also set a custom screen_width. Learn more on the Screenshot API page.

Yes. Pass a CSS selector as the target parameter in an automation screenshot step and only that element will be captured. See page interactions for a full list of supported step types.

There is no hard limit — you can submit millions of URLs in a single batch run. Failed URLs are retried up to 5 times with exponential backoff. See the Batch Screenshots page for full details and examples.

Yes. Each URL in a batch is retried up to 5 times with exponential backoff before being marked as failed. The result CSV includes the HTTP status and final outcome for every URL.

Yes. Results are packaged as a ZIP download. For large batches, ZIP chunking splits the archive into 100 MB chunks to make download manageable. You can also skip the ZIP entirely by using a storage integration for direct cloud delivery.

The CSV index lists every URL with its status, screenshot ID, output filename, and the HTTP status code returned by the page — useful for auditing or post-processing. See the Batch Screenshots page for a full example.

Yes. Use the screen_width parameter to set any viewport width. This lets you capture both desktop and mobile breakpoints from the same API. Full parameter reference is in the API documentation.

Yes. Set dark=true to render the page with the prefers-color-scheme: dark media query enabled. See all output options on the Screenshot API page.

Use hide_ads=true to block ad networks and hide_popups=true to automatically dismiss cookie consent banners and other overlay dialogs. Learn more on the automation page.

Yes. Use automation steps (type, click, navigate, etc.) to simulate a login flow, or inject session cookies directly to skip the login form entirely. See the full screenshot behind a login guide.

You supply an ordered list of steps — for example: navigate to the login page, type credentials into the form fields, click the submit button, then take the screenshot. Supported actions include type, click, navigate, sleep, javascript, and screenshot. Full step reference is on the automation page and the page interactions feature page.

Yes. Pass your session cookies directly in the request. This is the recommended approach — it is more reliable and faster than automating a login form. See the screenshot behind a login guide for a step-by-step example.

No. Credentials are transmitted over HTTPS and used only for the duration of the capture. They are never persisted. We recommend using dedicated service accounts with read-only access and rotating credentials regularly. Read our security compliance page for more details.

OAuth and SSO flows that can be reduced to cookie injection are fully supported. For MFA, you can pre-authenticate, extract the resulting session cookie, and inject it — bypassing the second-factor prompt. See the screenshot behind a login guide.

We recommend authenticating once manually to obtain a valid session cookie, then injecting that cookie into subsequent API calls. This avoids triggering CAPTCHA entirely. See the screenshot behind a login guide for the cookie injection pattern.

Yes. Set video=true to record a screencast using a real Chrome browser. You can record a plain page load or combine it with automation steps to capture interactive sequences. Learn more on the Video Generation API page.

WebM (default), MP4, and GIF are all supported. Specify the format in your request parameters. See all options on the Video Generation API page.

Up to 30 seconds. Set duration=0 to record until the page reports it has fully loaded. See the full parameter reference on the Video Generation API page.

Yes. The speed parameter accepts values from 0.1× (slow motion) to 5× (time lapse). See the Video Generation API for all recording options.

Yes. Combine cookie injection or automation login steps with video recording to capture authenticated dashboards, reports, or interactive workflows. See the Video Generation API for examples.

Trackers are small JavaScript snippets that run against the rendered DOM after the page loads. You define a CSS selector and the type of value to extract (text, attribute, number, etc.), and the API returns the extracted data alongside the screenshot. See full examples on the web page data extraction page.

Yes. Trackers are included in the same API request and response as the screenshot, so you get the visual capture and the structured data in one call. Learn more on the web page data extraction page.

Text content, HTML attributes, numeric values (for counters or prices), and custom JavaScript expressions. You can run multiple trackers per request. See real-world examples — price monitoring, SEO rank tracking, social metrics — on the web page data extraction page.

Yes. Trackers work with all capture modes, including pages accessed via cookie injection or automation login steps.

The network of browser clients spans 80+ countries. Pass the country parameter with a two-letter country code (e.g. us, fr, de) to route the capture through that country. Browse the full list on the countries page.

Yes. The country parameter routes the request through a browser client in that country, so the page sees a local IP address and may return localized content, pricing, or language. See the countries page for the full list of supported locations.

Yes. Each country client is configured with the appropriate locale, timezone, and IP. You can also override these individually if you need a specific combination. See the countries page and the API documentation for geo override parameters.

Yes. Use the apps parameter to deliver output directly to a storage destination — no download required. Supported destinations include AWS S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage, FTP, and any S3-compatible service (R2, Wasabi, MinIO). Browse all options on the integrations page.

ScreenshotCenter integrates with Zapier, Make (formerly Integromat), n8n, and other automation platforms. You can trigger screenshot jobs from any workflow tool that supports webhooks or HTTP requests. Browse all workflow integrations on the integrations page.

Supply a callback URL with your request. When the capture is complete, the API sends a POST to that URL with the result payload — including the screenshot URL, status, and any tracker data. See the webhooks integration page for the full payload schema.

Yes. Use your preferred scheduler — cron, GitHub Actions, Zapier, Make, or n8n — to call the API on a regular cadence. Daily, weekly, and monthly workflows are common patterns; see the visual website backup use case for a full example.

Call the REST API from any CI step using curl, the JavaScript SDK, or another language SDK. A common pattern is to capture before/after deployment screenshots and diff them for visual regression testing.

Yes. Add a workflow step that calls the API with your target URLs and stores the results as build artifacts or pushes them to a storage integration. You can use the JavaScript SDK or plain curl in your workflow YAML.

One capture is one rendered output: a screenshot image, a PDF export, or a video recording. Requesting multiple formats from the same URL in a single call counts as multiple captures. See the pricing page for what is included in each plan.

Rate limits depend on your plan. Each plan includes a monthly capture quota and a maximum concurrency level. See the full breakdown on the pricing page, or contact us if you need a custom limit.

No. Monthly capture quotas reset at the start of each billing cycle. Unused captures do not roll over. See pricing for details on each plan.

Yes. Enterprise plans include higher volume, dedicated infrastructure, SLA support, and custom contracts. On-premise deployment is also available for teams that cannot send data to an external service. See the pricing page or contact us to discuss your requirements.

Yes. Plan changes take effect immediately. When upgrading, your new quota is available right away. When downgrading, the change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle. Manage your plan in the dashboard or view all plans on the pricing page.