Apify Screenshot Actor vs ScreenshotAPI for Indian Developers

Short answer: Choose Apify’s yeyo/screenshot Actor if you already run workflows on Apify and want screenshot capture inside an Actor run. Choose ScreenshotAPI.com if its dedicated, metered screenshot API and documented capture settings fit your application. For Indian production use, neither reviewed vendor page settles payment and tax handling, latency from India, data residency, or local support; verify those directly before committing.

This comparison is about Apify Store’s community-maintained Screenshot: Website Image and Video Capture Actor and ScreenshotAPI.com. ScreenshotAPI.com is a website screenshot service; similarly named app-store screenshot products are separate services. Prices and features below reflect the vendor pages reviewed on October 3, 2026 and may change.

1. How the two services work

Apify: run an Actor

The Apify option is an Actor run on the Apify platform, not a standalone screenshot endpoint. You send the Actor an input object, start a run, and read the result from its default dataset. The Store listing marks it “Maintained by Community.” Its example input includes a URL, device preset, output format, and full-page setting. The listing says full-page capture is available only for JPEG output.

ScreenshotAPI.com: call a dedicated screenshot API

ScreenshotAPI.com describes a dedicated website screenshot API with pay-as-you-go and prepaid credits. Its pricing FAQ lists PNG, JPG, and GIF output; mobile views through browser settings and resolution; configurable browser language; and the ability to adjust page content or block unwanted elements before capture. Its pricing page links to API help, but the reviewed material does not establish the exact request parameters, limits, or SDK coverage needed to give a reliable runnable integration example here. Check its current API documentation before implementing.

2. Comparison at a glance

Question	Apify community Actor	ScreenshotAPI.com
Operating model	Start an Actor run on Apify; retrieve output through its default dataset.	Dedicated screenshot API with metered and prepaid options.
Maintenance signal	Store listing says “Maintained by Community.” Review current activity and suitability for your production workload.	The reviewed pricing page describes the service and features, but does not establish an independent reliability or maintenance comparison.
Published price	$9.90/month plus usage on the Store listing reviewed. The listing alone is not enough to calculate a comparable total for a given workload.	$0.001 per metered shot; prepaid packs are also listed. See pricing section below.
Documented capture choices	Example shows device preset, JPEG, and full-page capture; listing also describes video outputs and device resolutions.	PNG/JPG/GIF, mobile view, browser language, and page modification or blocking unwanted elements are described on the pricing page.
India-specific evidence	The reviewed public material does not settle payment methods, taxes, India-region latency, data residency, or local support.	The same questions remain unresolved in the reviewed material.

3. Which is cheaper for my screenshot volume?

There is no supportable apples-to-apples total from the published figures alone. Apify’s listing shows a monthly fee plus usage. ScreenshotAPI.com displays $0.001 per shot for metered use and prepaid packs, but the effective cost depends on pack size, successful captures, and current account terms.

ScreenshotAPI.com listing reviewed	Listed price	Listed unit price
2,000 shots	$2	$0.001/shot
5,000 shots	$5	$0.001/shot
10,000 shots	$9	$0.0009/shot
25,000 shots	$22	$0.0009/shot
50,000 shots	$40	$0.0008/shot
100,000 shots	$80	$0.0008/shot

The ScreenshotAPI.com pricing page has inconsistent free-allowance wording: its heading says the first 100 shots are free, while other page text says signup starts with 1,000 free shots. Do not budget around a particular free amount until you confirm the current account terms.

For a fair estimate, use the same count of successful screenshots and the same output requirements, then include all platform charges and usage components. ScreenshotAPI.com says successful images count and that failed screenshots due to server interruption or webpage-load failure are not charged. Confirm the equivalent billing behavior and all Actor usage components for the Apify workflow. Prices are vendor claims observed on the pages accessed October 3, 2026, not guaranteed final charges.

4. Capture settings and integration fit

The Actor listing documents a narrow, concrete input example: URL, device preset, output, and full-page flag. It describes screenshot and video capture, and says its example’s full-page option is limited to JPEG. Confirm the current Actor input schema for the exact choices your app needs before relying on them.

ScreenshotAPI.com’s pricing FAQ advertises PNG/JPG/GIF, mobile view through browser settings and resolution, browser language selection, and page adjustment or blocking unwanted elements. Confirm exact parameter names, limits, and behavior in its live API documentation; the reviewed sources do not provide enough technical detail to safely assume request syntax or feature equivalence.

Integration is a meaningful distinction: Apify’s API is a platform workflow with run lifecycle and dataset retrieval. Apify recommends official JavaScript/Node.js and Python clients; its API can also be called over REST. Apify says its clients implement practices such as exponential backoff and rate limiting. ScreenshotAPI.com is presented as a direct screenshot API, but the source reviewed does not establish comparable client libraries or limits.

5. Run the Apify Actor with REST

The following example starts the Actor and waits for completion. Store your Apify token in a server-side environment variable; do not put it in browser JavaScript or commit it to source control. Apify’s API documentation recommends header-based authentication over a token in the URL. The endpoint and input follow the Actor’s published API example.

cURL

export APIFY_TOKEN='YOUR_API_TOKEN'
curl --fail-with-body -X POST \
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/yeyo~screenshot/runs?waitForFinish=120' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"url":"https://example.com","device":"Laptop (1920x1080)","output":"Image (jpeg)","fullPage":true}'

A completed run response includes a default dataset ID. Retrieve its items using the Apify dataset API, authenticated with the same header:

curl --fail-with-body \
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DEFAULT_DATASET_ID/items?clean=true' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"

Python with requests

import os
import requests

TOKEN = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
base = "https://api.apify.com/v2"
headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"}
payload = {
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "device": "Laptop (1920x1080)",
    "output": "Image (jpeg)",
    "fullPage": True,
}

response = requests.post(
    f"{base}/acts/yeyo~screenshot/runs",
    params={"waitForFinish": 120},
    headers=headers,
    json=payload,
    timeout=150,
)
response.raise_for_status()
run = response.json()["data"]

if run.get("status") != "SUCCEEDED":
    raise RuntimeError(f"Actor run status: {run.get('status')}; run ID: {run.get('id')}")

dataset_id = run["defaultDatasetId"]
items_response = requests.get(
    f"{base}/datasets/{dataset_id}/items",
    params={"clean": "true"},
    headers=headers,
    timeout=60,
)
items_response.raise_for_status()
print(items_response.json())

Node.js using fetch

const token = process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
if (!token) throw new Error('Set APIFY_TOKEN in the server environment');

const headers = {
  Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
};
const input = {
  url: 'https://example.com',
  device: 'Laptop (1920x1080)',
  output: 'Image (jpeg)',
  fullPage: true,
};

const start = await fetch(
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/yeyo~screenshot/runs?waitForFinish=120',
  { method: 'POST', headers, body: JSON.stringify(input), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(150000) },
);
if (!start.ok) throw new Error(`Run request failed: ${start.status} ${await start.text()}`);
const run = (await start.json()).data;
if (run.status !== 'SUCCEEDED') {
  throw new Error(`Actor status ${run.status}; run ID ${run.id}`);
}

const result = await fetch(
  `https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/${encodeURIComponent(run.defaultDatasetId)}/items?clean=true`,
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` }, signal: AbortSignal.timeout(60000) },
);
if (!result.ok) throw new Error(`Dataset request failed: ${result.status} ${await result.text()}`);
console.log(await result.json());

Input labels must match the Actor’s current schema; use the Store’s API/input documentation if its labels change. The example requests JPEG because that is the documented full-page format. Without waitForFinish, treat the initial response as a run to poll or otherwise monitor, then fetch its dataset after completion. For new production integrations, consult Apify API documentation and its official client libraries.

6. Choosing ScreenshotAPI.com

Use ScreenshotAPI.com when you want a dedicated screenshot API and its advertised price model and capture options fit your needs. Before shipping, read its current pricing page and linked API help. Verify the endpoint, authentication method, exact parameters, request limits, output delivery, failure responses, and billing unit from the current documentation. Those details cannot be established reliably from the pricing page alone, so copying guessed code into production would be misleading.

For both products, test representative target sites and record the returned image, failure behavior, latency from your intended hosting region, and account charge. That is a workload validation, not a general performance guarantee.

7. India-specific production checklist

1. Payments: Ask whether your preferred Indian payment method is accepted, what currency is charged, and how currency conversion is handled.
2. Taxes: Confirm applicable taxes, invoice format, and what billing details are required for your business.
3. Latency: Measure requests from the Indian cloud region or network where your application will run. The reviewed pages do not provide India-region latency evidence.
4. Data handling: Ask where browser jobs and screenshots are processed and stored, how long outputs remain available, and what deletion controls apply. The reviewed sources do not settle data residency.
5. Support: Confirm support hours and escalation channels for your account; the reviewed pages do not establish India-specific coverage.
6. Operational fit: For Apify, review the Actor’s current maintenance activity, input schema, run failures, and all usage charges. For ScreenshotAPI.com, validate API limits, billing semantics, and current feature parameters.
7. Workload test: Compare the same URLs, viewport, output format, and successful capture count. Include dynamic pages, slow pages, and pages that may block automation.

8. Performance, reliability, and cost in practice

There is no independent benchmark in the reviewed sources, and no India latency measurements were established. Do not infer that one is faster or more reliable for Indian users from the operating model or listed price. Run a small representative workload from the deployment region and track completion rate, end-to-end latency, output correctness, and charge per successful result.

For reliability, distinguish a failed browser job from a successful capture whose page itself is incomplete. Set request timeouts, retain run identifiers, detect non-success run states, and make retries bounded. Blind retries can multiply usage and duplicate work. Where the platform offers run or request identifiers, log them alongside the source URL and your own job ID. Confirm each vendor’s retry and billing behavior from current documentation.

For Apify, the Actor run and dataset are separate integration concepts: handle run completion before reading output, and account for platform usage in addition to the Store listing’s monthly fee. For ScreenshotAPI.com, the pricing page says only successful images count and lists no daily speed or call limit, but verify the current account settings and terms. Neither statement substitutes for testing your actual workload or checking current account-level charges.

9. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
Apify returns an authorization error	Missing, invalid, or insufficiently authorized API token.	Check the token and account permissions. Send it in the Authorization header; keep it server-side.
Run request returns an input error	Input field names or values do not match the Actor’s current schema.	Compare the JSON with the current Store input schema. Confirm the exact device and output labels.
Run is still running or does not succeed	The Actor has not completed within the wait period, or the run failed.	Use the returned run ID to inspect or poll status. Handle non-success status explicitly and inspect run logs before retrying.
Dataset request is empty or unavailable	The run has not completed, the dataset ID is wrong, or no result item was produced.	Fetch defaultDatasetId from the completed run response and inspect the run output.
Full-page capture is rejected or not full-page	The Actor listing documents full-page only for JPEG, or the input does not match its schema.	Use the documented JPEG output and verify the current Actor input fields.
Screenshot differs from what a person sees	Dynamic content, delayed loading, consent state, geolocation, or bot protection can change what the browser renders.	Reproduce with the same URL and conditions; check whether the service exposes the needed browser controls. Do not assume undocumented settings.
Unexpected charge or free allowance differs	Displayed prices or free-shot wording may have changed; ScreenshotAPI.com’s reviewed page had conflicting free amounts.	Check the current account billing screen and terms, then compare charges against successful outputs.
ScreenshotAPI request examples do not match	API parameters or authentication may have changed, and the pricing page is not a complete integration reference.	Follow its linked current API help rather than guessing parameter names or endpoint behavior.

10. ScreenshotNeo as another option

For developers comparing screenshot APIs, ScreenshotNeo is another service to consider: clean shots remove consent banners, popups, and chat widgets before capture, and only clean shots are billed. Its API and options are documented at ScreenshotNeo docs.

Or skip the browser setup

One GET request returns a screenshot; use your own API key and choose the desired target URL:

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);

• Cookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot; each cleanup step can be turned off.
• Bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed; response headers report the page verdict and billing status.
• An MCP server lets AI agents use take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf.
• 1,000 screenshots a month are free with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Every feature is on every plan.

Sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month, with no card required.

11. Decision guide

• Already building on Apify? Try the community Actor as a step in your existing run-and-storage workflow, after reviewing its current maintenance and total usage cost.
• Want a dedicated metered screenshot API? Evaluate ScreenshotAPI.com against your required output and browser settings, and confirm exact API details and billing terms.
• Need a decision for an India deployment? Compare current account terms and run your own regional test. Public pages reviewed here do not establish which provider has better Indian payment support, latency, data residency, or support coverage.

FAQ

Is the Apify Screenshot Actor made by Apify?

The Store identifies yeyo/screenshot as maintained by the community. Apify provides the platform and API used to run it.

Does “ScreenshotAPI” mean an app-store screenshot service?

Here it means ScreenshotAPI.com’s website screenshot API. App-store asset services with similar names have a different purpose.

Which option is proven faster in India?

Neither from the reviewed evidence. Measure from the region and network where your application will run.

Can I calculate the total cost from the listed prices alone?

No. Apify lists a monthly fee plus usage, and the ScreenshotAPI.com page’s free allowance is internally inconsistent. Confirm current account terms and compare the same successful workload.

Can I assume CAPTCHA handling or other undocumented settings?

No. Use the current vendor documentation to verify a specific capability and its limits before depending on it.