Website Screenshot API

This website screenshot API turns any URL into a full-page screenshot or PDF with one call. Paste a list of websites, pick a device (desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile or custom viewport), choose PNG or JPEG, and get back image files plus a structured record for each page. Cookie banners are hidden automatically, lazy-loaded images are scrolled into view, sticky headers are captured once instead of covering the page, emoji and CJK text render correctly, and pages that fail to load are reported free of charge.

It runs in headless Chromium on Apify's infrastructure, so there is nothing to install, and it can be scheduled, called from code, or wired into Zapier, Make, n8n and the Apify MCP server.

Features

• Full-page or viewport screenshots of a list of URLs in bulk, as PNG or JPEG
• Web page to PDF (A4, Letter or Legal)
• Desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile presets, custom viewport, dark mode
• Cookie banners hidden, sticky headers pinned, emoji and CJK fonts included
• Capture a single element, wait for an element, block images or fonts
• Logged-in pages via your own cookies and headers; scheduling and integrations via Apify

What can you use Website Screenshot API for?

• Visual monitoring: schedule daily captures of landing, pricing or competitor pages.
• Link previews and thumbnails for directories, newsletters and CMS cards.
• Design and QA reviews: the same pages on laptop, tablet and mobile, light and dark.
• Compliance and evidence: archive how a page looked on a given date, as image and PDF.
• AI agents: give an agent eyes on the web through the Apify MCP server.

How it works

Each URL is opened in headless Chromium with the viewport, pixel density and user agent of the chosen device. The Actor waits for the page to load (by default until the network goes idle), scrolls to the bottom so lazy-loaded content appears, hides consent pop-ups with CSS (nothing is clicked or accepted on your behalf), pins fixed and sticky elements so they appear once, waits an optional delay, and captures the image. Files go to the run's key-value store and the dataset record links to them.

How to use it

1. Paste your URLs into Website URLs, one per line.
2. Pick a Device preset, Image format and whether you want the Full page or only the first screen.
3. Optionally enable Also render a PDF, Dark mode, add Hide elements selectors (chat widgets, newsletter pop-ups), or set Wait for element, Cookies, Extra HTTP headers and Block resource types under Advanced.
4. Click Start. Each finished page appears in the Output tab with a preview; the files are in the Storage tab (or via API).

{
    "urls": ["https://apify.com", "https://www.wikipedia.org"],
    "device": "laptop",
    "format": "jpeg",
    "quality": 80,
    "fullPage": true,
    "hideCookieBanners": true,
    "unstickFixed": true,
    "waitForSelector": ".pricing-table",
    "cookies": [{ "name": "session", "value": "<YOUR_SESSION>", "domain": ".example.com", "path": "/" }],
    "extraHeaders": { "Accept-Language": "de-DE" },
    "blockResources": ["media"],
    "renderPdf": false
}

Input	Default	What it does
device + viewportWidth, viewportHeight, deviceScaleFactor	laptop	Presets, or custom with any size from 320x240 to 3840x2160 at 1x to 3x.
fullPage	true	Whole scrollable page, or only the viewport.
unstickFixed	true	Pin fixed and sticky headers, bars and chat bubbles so each appears once in full-page captures.
waitForSelector	none	Wait for this element (up to timeoutSecs); if it never appears the page is still captured with a warnings entry.
hideCookieBanners, hideSelectors	true, []	Hide 60+ known consent pop-ups plus your own selectors.
cookies	[]	Playwright cookies (name, value, domain, path) set before navigation. Never logged.
extraHeaders	{}	Sent only to the page's own domain and subdomains, never to third-party hosts. Never logged.
blockResources	[]	Abort image, media, font, stylesheet, script or xhr requests; the last three change rendering.
waitUntil, delayMs, autoScroll, timeoutSecs, maxRetries	networkidle, 500, true, 60, 1	Loading and timing controls.

Output

{
    "url": "https://www.wikipedia.org",
    "finalUrl": "https://www.wikipedia.org/",
    "success": true,
    "statusCode": 200,
    "title": "Wikipedia",
    "screenshotUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/AbCdEf123/records/screenshot-002-www-wikipedia-org.jpg",
    "screenshotKey": "screenshot-002-www-wikipedia-org.jpg",
    "format": "jpeg",
    "width": 1366,
    "height": 1101,
    "fullPage": true,
    "device": "laptop",
    "sizeBytes": 172806,
    "pdfUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/AbCdEf123/records/pdf-002-www-wikipedia-org.pdf",
    "renderTimeMs": 1139,
    "warnings": ["waitForSelector timed out"],
    "fetchedAt": "2026-09-18T20:41:07.000Z"
}

Pages that could not be captured are still listed, so nothing goes missing from your batch:

{
    "url": "https://this-domain-does-not-exist.example",
    "success": false,
    "errorType": "dns",
    "error": "page.goto: net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED ...",
    "fetchedAt": "..."
}

Field	Description
screenshotUrl / screenshotKey	Direct link to the image and its key in the key-value store.
pdfUrl / pdfKey	Present when Also render a PDF is on.
width / height	Pixel dimensions of the captured image (height is the full page height when fullPage is on).
statusCode	HTTP status of the page. Error pages (404, 500) are still captured so you can see them.
title	The page title.
warnings	Only present when something non-fatal happened, e.g. waitForSelector timed out.
errorType	For failures: invalid-url, dns, timeout, blocked, http-error, network or other.

Fixes for the common screenshot problems

The complaints users report most often about free screenshot tools, and what this Actor does about each:

• Cookie banners cover the page: 60+ consent pop-ups are hidden with CSS by default; add your own in Hide elements.
• Sticky headers repeat or cover content in full-page screenshots: unstickFixed pins fixed and sticky elements once at their natural place and moves bottom bars to the end of the page.
• Emoji and Chinese, Japanese or Korean text render as boxes: Noto Color Emoji and Noto CJK fonts are installed.
• Cannot set the height or dimensions: use the custom preset with viewportWidth, viewportHeight and deviceScaleFactor; the record reports the exact width and height.
• Timeouts and pages that load forever still cost credits: a failed page is a free success: false record with an errorType. You pay only for delivered images.
• Captured before the content appears: waitForSelector, delayMs and autoScroll.
• Logged-in or personalised pages: pass your own cookies and extraHeaders (never logged). Use only sessions you are entitled to.
• Heavy pages are slow: blockResources drops images, media or fonts.

Use it from the API, Python, JavaScript or an AI agent

One HTTP call runs the Actor and returns the dataset records with every screenshotUrl:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/josh99smith~website-screenshot-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "urls": ["https://apify.com"], "device": "mobile", "format": "jpeg" }'

Python, with the apify-client package:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("josh99smith/website-screenshot-api").call(
    run_input={"urls": ["https://apify.com"], "device": "laptop", "fullPage": True, "renderPdf": True}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["url"], item.get("screenshotUrl"), item.get("pdfUrl"))

JavaScript, with the apify-client package:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('josh99smith/website-screenshot-api').call({
    urls: ['https://apify.com'],
    device: 'laptop',
    format: 'png',
    fullPage: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((item) => item.screenshotUrl));

It is also a tool in the Apify MCP server for AI agents, and connects to Zapier, Make, n8n and Google Sheets in the Integrations tab.

Pricing: how much does it cost to screenshot a website?

You pay a flat price per captured screenshot and, if enabled, a flat price per PDF; both are shown next to the Start button. Pages that fail to load cost nothing, and there is no per-run start fee. Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

For comparison, screenshot SaaS products typically charge a monthly subscription for a fixed quota; here you only pay for the pages you actually capture.

Tips

• Speed: networkidle gives the best render; switch to load or domcontentloaded and block images for large batches of simple pages.
• Thumbnails: turn off Full page and combine with device: "mobile" for app-store style captures.
• Cleaner captures: hide chat bubbles, promo bars or "download our app" overlays with Hide elements.
• Blocked or geo-restricted sites: enable Apify Proxy (residential groups available) in Proxy configuration.
• Memory: each concurrent tab needs roughly 200 to 400 MB; raise run memory with concurrency.

FAQ

Are cookie banners accepted or dismissed?

No. They are hidden visually with CSS so the capture is clean. No consent choice is made on the visited site.

Why is the screenshot dark or light?

A light colour scheme is requested unless Dark mode is on. Sites with a dark design (like Apify's) still render dark.

Can it log in or click through pop-ups?

It does not fill in forms or click. To capture a page as a logged-in user, pass the session cookies from your own browser in Cookies (and any required headers in Extra HTTP headers); they are set before navigation and never logged. Pop-ups are hidden with CSS, not clicked.

What are the limits on page size, timeouts and batch size?

No fixed cap on URLs; the run stops cleanly at the maximum cost you set. Each page gets the configured Page timeout (10 to 180 s) and up to 3 retries; concurrency is capped at 20 tabs. Very long pages are captured in full, but extremely tall images (tens of thousands of pixels) may be truncated by Chromium.

Is it legal to screenshot a website?

The Actor loads public web pages in a browser, like a visitor would, at low request rates. You are responsible for how you use the captured images and for respecting the target sites' terms and copyright.

Related Actors by the same developer

Website Tech Stack Detector, Google Autocomplete Scraper, App Reviews Scraper, PageSpeed Insights Audit, Remote Jobs Aggregator, PDF Text Extractor, Sitemap URL Extractor, RSS Feed to JSON.

Support

Report problems or request features in the Issues tab. Feature requests such as scripted interactions are welcome.