ScreenshotMachine Free Tier Limits and Watermark: What to Expect

ScreenshotMachine’s pricing page lists its Starter tier as free with 100 fresh screenshots per month. Repeated requests served from cache are not billed, and the service says screenshots are cached for 14 days. The watermark answer is less definite: the official pricing and API pages reviewed for this guide do not confirm whether free-tier output has a watermark. That absence is not proof that it does not.

This guide explains what those limits mean, how to verify the watermark for your own use case, what happens when the fresh-capture allowance is exhausted, and what alternatives to consider.

1. ScreenshotMachine free tier at a glance

Item	What the official pages say
Free allowance	100 fresh screenshots monthly
Cached requests	Cached screenshots are available for 14 days; loading a cached screenshot is not billed
Watermark	Not specified in the reviewed pricing page or API reference
Formats	JPG, PNG, and GIF
Capture options	Desktop, phone, tablet, and full-page captures are documented/listed
Exhausted allowance	The API reference documents the no_credits error for accounts that need more fresh screenshots

These details reflect the official pages checked on October 3, 2026. Quotas, prices, and product behavior can change, so confirm them on the ScreenshotMachine pricing page and its API reference before building a budget or workflow around them.

2. What counts against the 100 screenshot limit?

ScreenshotMachine distinguishes a new, fresh capture from a cached image. Its pricing FAQ says: “No. We charge only for new, fresh screenshots.” It also says screenshots are cached for 14 days and cached impressions are unlimited. In practical terms, the 100 monthly allowance applies to fresh captures, while repeat requests can be served from cache without using another fresh screenshot, subject to the cache rules.

Control cache age with cacheLimit

The API reference documents cacheLimit as a value from 0 to 14 days, with a default of 14. A value of zero requests a fresh screenshot. If you set a nonzero limit, the service can use a cached capture only within the maximum age you accept. Treat cache behavior as a product setting with freshness tradeoffs:

• Use the default or a longer allowed cache age when repeated identical pages can be reused.
• Choose a smaller positive value when newer content matters more.
• Use cacheLimit=0 when each request must produce a fresh capture, understanding that this consumes fresh-capture allowance.

The reviewed pages describe a monthly allowance but do not specify its exact reset date, whether unused captures roll over, or a detailed recovery process for a free account after exhaustion. Avoid assuming a calendar-month reset or rollover policy without checking your account or asking ScreenshotMachine.

3. Is there a watermark on free screenshots?

The reviewed official sources do not establish whether free-tier screenshots contain a ScreenshotMachine watermark. The pricing page describes the free quota and included capture features but does not state a watermark policy. The API reference describes request parameters and output formats but also does not confirm whether a watermark is applied, configurable, or removed by a paid plan.

So the responsible answer to “ScreenshotMachine free tier limits and watermark: what to expect” is: expect 100 fresh screenshots per month, but treat watermark status as unconfirmed until you inspect a capture or get a direct answer from the vendor. Do not infer that the output is watermark-free simply because the pricing page does not mention a mark.

How to verify before using screenshots in production

1. Generate a free-tier capture of a page you are allowed to screenshot.
2. Inspect the entire image at its original dimensions, including corners and margins, for a visible mark.
3. Repeat with the formats and device settings your workflow will use, if those differences matter to your product.
4. Ask ScreenshotMachine directly whether free captures carry a watermark and whether any setting or paid plan changes that behavior.
5. Save the answer or a representative output alongside your integration notes, then verify again if plan terms change.

This is a verification checklist, not a claim that a capture was independently tested for this article.

4. ScreenshotMachine plans and costs

The pricing page checked for this guide listed the following tiers. Because pricing is volatile, check the live page before subscribing.

Tier	Monthly price listed	Fresh screenshots
Starter	Free	100/month
Basic	€9/month	2,500/month
Pro	€59/month	20,000/month
Enterprise	€99/month	50,000/month

The same pricing page lists additional-screenshot rates for paid packages and says overage billing is rounded down to groups of 1,000 screenshots. Its FAQ example says 999 or fewer additional screenshots within a billing period remain within the package price. Do not apply the paid overage rates to the free tier: the reviewed page attaches those rates to paid plans, and does not establish a free-tier paid overage rate. The page also notes that VAT may be added for non-business customers in the EU according to local tax rules.

For planning, estimate fresh captures rather than raw requests. If your application repeatedly asks for the same URL and accepts cached results, request volume and fresh-capture usage can differ substantially. If you require fresh results on every call, budget against fresh captures and check the applicable plan’s overage terms.

5. How to use the free tier carefully

1. Check the current allowance. Confirm the free quota and terms on the live pricing page before launch.
2. Choose freshness deliberately. Leave cache behavior enabled for stable pages; set cacheLimit=0 only when a fresh capture is needed.
3. Track fresh captures. Monitor account usage and distinguish fresh captures from cached deliveries in your own logs where possible.
4. Handle quota exhaustion. Detect API errors rather than assuming every request returns an image. The API reference identifies no_credits as the exhausted-account error.
5. Confirm watermark status. Inspect a new output or ask the vendor before embedding screenshots in a customer-facing or commercial workflow.

The dossier for this guide does not include a complete, verified set of ScreenshotMachine request parameters or authentication examples, so this article does not invent a runnable API call. Use the vendor’s current API reference for exact request syntax.

6. Troubleshooting common issues

Symptom	Likely explanation	What to do
no_credits response	The account has no remaining credits for more fresh captures, according to the API reference.	Check current account usage and plan terms. The reviewed documentation does not spell out a free-account reset or recovery procedure; consult the account dashboard or vendor support.
Repeated request does not show current page content	The response may be a cached screenshot within the configured cache age.	Review the cacheLimit value. Request a fresh capture with cacheLimit=0 when freshness is required.
Fresh-capture usage is higher than expected	Requests may be forcing fresh captures, using different request inputs, or arriving after the cache window.	Review cache settings and group repeated requests where possible. Compare expected fresh work with the plan allowance.
Unsure whether the image has a watermark	The official pages reviewed do not state the watermark policy.	Inspect a newly generated free-tier image and ask ScreenshotMachine for a direct policy confirmation. Do not treat silence in the docs as confirmation of no watermark.
Unexpected bill or tax amount	Paid-plan overage rounding and EU VAT rules may affect the total.	Review the current pricing FAQ, the selected paid tier, billing-period usage, and applicable VAT treatment.

7. Performance, reliability, and cost considerations

Performance

A cache hit can avoid waiting for a new browser capture and does not count as a billed fresh screenshot under the pricing FAQ. The reviewed sources do not provide latency benchmarks, so response time should be measured with your own URLs, regions, and capture settings.

Reliability

Plan for quota exhaustion and API errors in your integration. Keep a fallback path for pages that must be available to users, and do not make watermark assumptions part of a production design until they are confirmed. The source material does not establish uptime figures or a service-level commitment.

Cost

The free allowance is useful for low-volume evaluation when 100 fresh captures per month is sufficient. For larger recurring workloads, compare expected fresh captures to the paid allowances and the current overage rules. Cache reuse can reduce fresh-capture consumption, but only when the age and staleness are acceptable for the content.

8. Screenshot API alternatives

ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers. It is a practical alternative to try first when you want clean captures: it removes known consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture, bills only clean shots, and its paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.

ScreenshotNeo supports PNG, JPEG, WebP, and PDF output, with options for full-page and element captures, device viewports, custom waits, and more. Its responses identify page verdict and billing status in headers. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for supported parameters and setup details.

9. Or skip the browser setup

ScreenshotNeo takes a screenshot with one GET request. This cURL example captures Stripe as WebP:

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

Equivalent Python:

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)

Equivalent Node.js:

const 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}`);
await Bun.write('shot.webp', new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer()));

Cookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot. Bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. An MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. See the API docs and sign up free for 1,000 screenshots a month, with no card.

10. FAQ

Does ScreenshotMachine’s free tier include full-page captures?

The pricing page lists full-length captures among the free-tier features.

Which image formats does ScreenshotMachine document?

The API reference documents JPG, PNG, and GIF.

Can unused free screenshots roll over?

The official pages reviewed do not specify rollover or the exact monthly reset date.

Does ScreenshotMachine charge for a cached repeat request?

Its pricing FAQ says it charges only for new, fresh screenshots; the FAQ also says cached screenshots are available for 14 days without billing.

Is a free ScreenshotMachine capture watermark-free?

The reviewed official pricing and API pages do not answer this. Verify an output or ask ScreenshotMachine directly before relying on a yes-or-no assumption.