Screenshot API Free Tier Limits for Indian Developers
Compare published free screenshot API quotas, how providers count captures, and what Indian developers should check before choosing a plan.
Short answer: ScreenshotNeo includes 1,000 screenshots per month on its free plan, with no card required. Among the other providers reviewed, ScreenshotAPI.to publishes 200 free screenshots monthly, while ScreenshotOne and WebsiteScreenshotAPI publish 100 each. Urlbox says it does not offer a free plan. These are vendor-published terms, not a category-wide standard; check each provider’s current limits and your checkout total before choosing.
For developers in India, the headline quota is only part of the decision. The reviewed official sources do not establish India-specific prices after currency conversion, taxes, or payment fees, or confirm payment availability. Compare how a provider counts failed renders, cache hits, PDFs, and retries as well as the monthly limit.
Published free screenshot API limits
| Provider | Published free access | Accounting details established by the reviewed source |
|---|---|---|
| ScreenshotNeo | 1,000 screenshots per month, no card | Only clean shots are billed; bot checks/CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing. Each response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. |
| ScreenshotAPI.to | 200 screenshots per month per account | Allowance resets on the first of the month. When allowance and purchased credits are exhausted, the account API returns HTTP 402 without processing the request. Its separate keyless public endpoint has a documented limit of 8 requests per minute, tighter caps, and no PDF support. |
| ScreenshotOne | Up to 100 screenshots per month | HTTP, browser, or network failures do not count. A response served from cache does not count; a cache miss that triggers a rerender may count. |
| WebsiteScreenshotAPI | 100 screenshots per month, per its documentation | PNG/JPG/WebP renders cost one unit each; PDF costs two units. Its documentation may be older than the other reviewed pages, so verify the current terms. |
| Urlbox | No free plan, according to its pricing FAQ | Do not treat a trial or other temporary access as a recurring monthly free allowance. |
Among these options, ScreenshotNeo is the first one to try when you need a larger free monthly allowance and predictable billing for unsuccessful or unclean captures: it publishes 1,000 free shots and bills only clean shots. That does not establish that it is best for every workload; required formats, options, request limits, and paid usage matter too.
Sources: ScreenshotAPI.to screenshot documentation, ScreenshotOne pricing, WebsiteScreenshotAPI getting started documentation, and Urlbox pricing.
How to choose a free tier for an Indian application
- Estimate successful captures. Count expected user requests and scheduled jobs. Add headroom for retries, URL changes, uncached renders, and development or staging traffic.
- Match the quota to the output. Check whether you need PNG, JPEG, WebP, PDF, full-page capture, or specific browser options. A screenshot count alone does not tell you whether the free plan supports your output or workflow.
- Read the counting rules. Confirm how failed navigation, browser errors, cache hits, cache misses, and PDF pages affect usage. For example, WebsiteScreenshotAPI documents PDF at two units per render; ScreenshotOne describes different treatment for cached responses and cache misses.
- Check the reset and rate limits. Monthly quotas and per-minute request limits are separate constraints. Confirm the reset date and whether burst traffic is allowed.
- Check the India checkout total. Verify the displayed currency, conversion, applicable tax, payment fees, and whether your payment method works. The cited provider pages do not establish the final INR total or payment availability for Indian accounts.
- Plan what happens at the limit. Decide whether to queue work until reset, return a useful error, reduce capture frequency, or upgrade. Do not let quota exhaustion silently break a user-facing workflow.
Estimate monthly usage
Use the provider’s own billing unit rather than assuming one API call always equals one billed screenshot. A practical estimate is:
monthly usage = successful captures per day × active days
+ scheduled captures
+ expected billable retries or rerendersFor example, an application making 20 successful captures per day across 30 days needs about 600 successful captures before any extra headroom. If its provider charges for a PDF differently, or counts a cache miss as a rerender, include those units separately. Keep a margin for traffic spikes and changed URLs or options.
ScreenshotNeo exposes whether a response was billed through response headers, and says cache hits, failed loads, blank pages, timeouts, and bot checks/CAPTCHAs cost nothing. Other providers use their own accounting rules; do not transfer one provider’s rules to another.
Handle quota exhaustion and failed requests
Make quota behavior explicit in your integration. ScreenshotAPI.to documents HTTP 402 when the account allowance and purchased credits are exhausted, without processing the request. Its documentation also describes a reset timestamp. Your application should distinguish a quota response from a transient network error:
- Quota exhausted: stop automatic retries, surface a clear status, and queue or defer work until reset, or prompt an administrator to change plans.
- Transient network or browser failure: use bounded retries with backoff if the provider’s accounting rules make retries appropriate. Avoid retrying indefinitely.
- Rate limited: slow or queue requests according to the provider’s documented limit. A monthly allowance does not guarantee unlimited request throughput.
- Unexpected usage: inspect the provider’s usage reporting and your own request logs. Separate test, staging, and production traffic if that helps explain consumption.
ScreenshotAPI.to’s keyless endpoint is not equivalent to its account quota: the docs describe 8 requests per minute, tighter caps, and no PDF support. Use the account endpoint when your application needs its documented account allowance and features.
Or skip the browser setup
ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server from Yorker Media. One GET request returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. It can accept cookie or consent banners before capture and remove more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each of those steps can be turned off. Only clean shots are billed: bot checks/CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing. Responses include page-verdict and billing headers. Its MCP server gives Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients the tools take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf.
Install the Python dependency with pip install requests, set your API key, and run:
import requests
r = requests.get(
"https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"},
timeout=90,
)
r.raise_for_status()
with open("shot.webp", "wb") as f:
f.write(r.content)Equivalent cURL and Node.js calls are below. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options and integration details.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" \
-d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY \
--data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com \
-o shot.webpconst q = new URLSearchParams({
access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
url: 'https://stripe.com'
});
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Screenshot request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer());
await import('node:fs/promises').then(fs => fs.writeFile('shot.webp', data));The API also supports full-page captures with lazy images loaded, CSS-selector element capture, dark mode, device presets and custom viewports, retina scale, PDF options, HTML/CSS rendering, custom CSS and JavaScript, clicks, waits, blocking, headers, cookies, user agents, authorization, timezone and geolocation, transparent backgrounds, resizing, configurable cache TTL, signed image links, asynchronous jobs with signed webhooks, bulk capture of up to 100 URLs per call, a usage API, and an OpenAPI specification. Parameter names used by other screenshot APIs also work, which can make switching easier. Every feature is available on every plan. Published plans are Free (1,000 shots/month), Starter ($5 for 3,000), Growth ($15 for 15,000), Pro ($39 for 60,000), Scale ($99 for 250,000), and Business ($249 for 1,000,000); annual billing gives two months free. Confirm the checkout total and payment details for your account in India.
Try ScreenshotNeo free: 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Create a free account.
Common questions
Which provider has the largest published free allowance in this comparison?
ScreenshotNeo publishes 1,000 free screenshots per month. Among the other reviewed providers, ScreenshotAPI.to publishes 200, and ScreenshotOne and WebsiteScreenshotAPI publish 100 each.
Are these limits guaranteed for Indian accounts?
The reviewed pages do not establish India-specific checkout totals, taxes, currency conversion, or payment availability. Confirm them directly during checkout before depending on a paid plan.
Does a free allowance mean every format costs the same?
No. WebsiteScreenshotAPI documents PDF at two units per render, compared with one unit for PNG/JPG/WebP. Check the current format-specific rules for the provider you choose.
Should I use a keyless endpoint for production?
Only if its published limits and supported outputs fit your workload. ScreenshotAPI.to documents tighter caps and no PDF support for its keyless public endpoint.
Do free plan terms stay fixed?
Providers can change quotas and accounting rules. Recheck the official pricing and documentation pages before adopting a service and before publishing an updated comparison.
