Free Screenshot URL (No API Key)

You can capture a website screenshot from ScreenshotAPI without an API key and without signing up. Request this URL and you get image bytes back:

https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?url=https://example.com

That is a complete, working request. It responds with Content-Type: image/png and the raw image, so it can be dropped straight into an <img src>, a Markdown image, or any HTTP client. Access-Control-Allow-Origin is *, so it also works from browser JavaScript.

Endpoint

GET  /api/v1/public/screenshot
POST /api/v1/public/html-to-image
GET  /api/v1/public/metadata

No authentication header. No account. These are the same endpoints that power the browser-based free tools.

Quick start

<img
	src="https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?url=https://example.com&width=1280&height=800"
	alt="Screenshot of example.com"
	width="1280"
	height="800"
/>

![Screenshot of example.com](https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?url=https://example.com)

curl "https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com&width=1280&height=800&format=png" \
  --output screenshot.png

const params = new URLSearchParams({
	url: 'https://example.com',
	width: '1280',
	height: '800',
	format: 'webp'
})

const res = await fetch(
	`https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?${params}`
)

if (res.status === 429) {
	// The keyless tier is rate limited. The body tells you where to get a key.
	const { message, signupUrl } = await res.json()
	throw new Error(`${message} (${signupUrl})`)
}

const blob = await res.blob()

Always URL-encode the url value when you build the request programmatically. In hand-written HTML a plain https://example.com works because the browser encodes it, but an unencoded target that itself contains & or ? will be truncated.

Query parameters

GET /api/v1/public/screenshot

Required

Optional

Boolean parameters are strings in the query: fullPage=true, not fullPage=1.

Device presets

curl "https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/screenshot?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com&device=iphone-15-pro&darkMode=true" \
  --output mobile-dark.png

HTML to image

POST /api/v1/public/html-to-image renders a raw HTML string instead of navigating to a URL. Send JSON:

curl -X POST "https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/html-to-image" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"html":"<h1 style=\"font-family:system-ui\">Hello</h1>","width":1200,"height":630,"format":"png"}' \
  --output card.png

Custom CSS and JavaScript injection are not available on the keyless tier. Inline styles inside your html work normally.

URL metadata

GET /api/v1/public/metadata?url=... returns the page's title, description, and Open Graph / Twitter card tags as JSON — useful for building link previews alongside the image. It is rate limited separately at 20 requests per minute per IP.

curl "https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/public/metadata?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com"

Limits

Responses

A successful request returns the image bytes with Content-Type: image/png, image/jpeg, or image/webp.

Every response also carries:

Errors

Error responses are JSON and include a docsUrl, plus a signupUrl when an API key would lift the limit you hit.

{
	"error": "Rate limit reached",
	"message": "Too many requests. Try again in 41s. This is the keyless free tier — a free API key raises the limit to 200 screenshots/month with no card: https://screenshotapi.to/sign-up",
	"retryAfterSeconds": 41,
	"rateLimited": true,
	"signupUrl": "https://screenshotapi.to/sign-up",
	"docsUrl": "https://screenshotapi.to/docs/api/free-screenshot-url"
}

Caching and embedding

Successful image responses are sent with Cache-Control: public, max-age=60, s-maxage=300, stale-while-revalidate=600, and identical requests within a short window are served from a render cache (x-cache: HIT).

If you embed the URL in a page that gets real traffic, cache or store the image on your side rather than re-requesting it on every page view. A screenshot of a given URL rarely changes minute to minute, and re-rendering it on every visit will run you into the rate limit. For a durable version of this pattern — capture once, store the result, serve it from your own CDN — use an API key and the caching options on the authenticated endpoint.

Measured behaviour

Captured against production on 2026-07-26 by requesting https://example.com at 1280×800:

Render time depends on the target page; a heavy, script-driven site takes longer than a static one.

When to move to an API key

Get a free API key — 200 screenshots a month, no credit card — as soon as any of these is true:

• You need more than 8 captures a minute, or predictable throughput.
• You need PDF output, or a page taller than 2000 pixels.
• You need custom JavaScript or CSS injection, stealth mode, or a specific wait strategy.
• You need to see your usage, or be able to debug a failed capture.
• The screenshot is part of something you ship to users.

Everything on this page maps one-to-one onto the authenticated endpoint. format becomes type, darkMode=true becomes colorScheme=dark, and device presets become explicit width / height / devicePixelRatio values. See the Screenshot API reference for the full parameter set and the authentication guide for how to send your key.

Acceptable use

The keyless endpoints capture public web pages only. Requests to localhost, private networks, reserved ranges, and cloud metadata endpoints are rejected. Do not use them to bypass paywalls, authentication, consent screens, or access controls, and do not run unbounded automated loops against them. See the terms.