Screenshot Machine Review 2026: Pricing and Features

Hey there! Laura and Heidi here from SCRNIFY!

Screenshot Machine has taken website screenshots since 2012. That is a long time in browser years. Chrome has broken plenty of automation scripts since then, and Screenshot Machine is still turning URLs into images.

We expected a bare URL-to-PNG service when we opened the website. The homepage keeps things short. After reading the API docs, we changed our mind. Screenshot Machine can click and hide elements, send cookies, capture one CSS selector, crop a region, create PDFs, and serve cached screenshots without charging for another fresh capture.

The pricing page also gets to the point. You get 100 fresh screenshots each month for free. Paid plans start at 9 EUR. No 14-column pricing maze.

We reviewed Screenshot Machine's public website, pricing, API docs, and SLA on 13 July 2026. We did not run a paid load test, inspect its dashboard, or benchmark render times. Keep that scope in mind if you need to make a procurement decision.

Our short answer

Screenshot Machine makes sense for steady screenshot jobs. A website directory, monitoring service, or reporting tool can get a lot from the 9 EUR plan when repeated requests come from cache.

We would look elsewhere for video Capture, complex browser flows, a dedicated CLI, or usage that disappears for months at a time. Its public API also shows its age in two places: MD5 request hashes and image-based errors.

For screenshots and PDFs at a known monthly volume, though, Screenshot Machine deserves a place on the shortlist.

What you get

Screenshot Machine uses an HTTP GET API. Send your customer key, target URL, dimensions, and format. The response contains the image.

curl -Gs 'https://api.screenshotmachine.com/' \
    --data-urlencode 'key=YOUR_CUSTOMER_KEY' \
    --data-urlencode 'url=https://example.com' \
    --data-urlencode 'dimension=1440x900' \
    --data-urlencode 'device=desktop' \
    --data-urlencode 'format=png' \
    --data-urlencode 'cacheLimit=0' \
    --output example.png

Change 1440x900 to 1440xfull for a full-page screenshot. Image output comes in JPG, PNG, or GIF. Screenshot Machine accepts desktop, phone, and tablet device modes, plus custom dimensions up to 1920 pixels wide.

The API goes beyond viewport captures:

selector captures one DOM element
crop captures fixed coordinates
click clicks an element before capture
hide removes elements with CSS selectors
cookies sends a cookie string to the page
accept-language and user-agent change request headers
delay waits up to 10 seconds
zoom scales output from 10% to 400%

Those controls cover most routine screenshot cleanup. You can dismiss a cookie banner, remove a chat widget, wait for a page to settle, then capture the pricing card instead of the whole page.

The limits matter too. Screenshot Machine gives you fixed delays rather than Playwright-style locator waits or network-idle conditions. Its public docs show one click action, not a chain of interactions. We would test the exact page before depending on it for a JavaScript-heavy dashboard.

Caching may be its best feature

Screenshot Machine caches screenshots for 14 days. You set the oldest result you will accept through cacheLimit.

cacheLimit=0         always request a fresh screenshot
cacheLimit=1         accept a screenshot up to one day old
cacheLimit=0.041666  accept a screenshot up to one hour old
cacheLimit=14        accept the full cache window

The service does not charge for cached impressions. That changes the pricing math for public thumbnails and previews. A directory may serve one screenshot thousands of times while paying for the fresh capture once.

Scrnify uses the same basic idea: cached Captures do not consume usage units. Scrnify lets you set a cache TTL up to 30 days, while Screenshot Machine caps its cache at 14 days.

PDF support is separate and useful

Screenshot Machine runs PDF jobs through https://pdfapi.screenshotmachine.com/.

You can pick common paper sizes, portrait or landscape orientation, screen or print media, background handling, scale, and delay. The PDF endpoint also accepts click, hide, cookies, language, and User-Agent options.

This is a real advantage over Scrnify today. Scrnify handles screenshots and short videos, but it does not create PDFs. If your workflow produces invoices, reports, or printable archives, Screenshot Machine covers both file types under one account.

Screenshot Machine pricing in 2026

Screenshot Machine charges for fresh screenshots. Its pricing page lists four plans:

Plan	Monthly price	Fresh screenshots	Extra screenshot rate
Starter	Free	100/month	No paid overage listed
Basic	9 EUR	2,500/month	0.004 EUR
Pro	59 EUR	20,000/month	0.003 EUR
Enterprise	99 EUR	50,000/month	0.002 EUR

The Basic plan costs 3.60 EUR per 1,000 included screenshots. Pro works out to 2.95 EUR per 1,000. Enterprise drops to 1.98 EUR per 1,000.

Screenshot Machine counts overages in blocks of 1,000 and rounds extra usage down. Its own example says 999 extra screenshots add no charge, while 1,999 extra screenshots bill as 1,000.

All listed plans include full-page capture, unlimited cached impressions, unlimited traffic, and a published 99.99% uptime SLA. Paid plans include priority support. The company also lists a 30-day money-back guarantee and offers volume discounts by request.

These prices are good. Screenshot Machine beats Scrnify's flat 0.008 EUR unit rate once you use enough of a paid monthly quota. Scrnify costs less during quiet months because it has no subscription or monthly minimum.

So check your last three months of real usage. Do not estimate from the launch month when everyone refreshed the demo 600 times.

Where the API feels old

Screenshot Machine protects public API URLs with an optional secret phrase and this hash:

hash = md5(target_url + secret_phrase)

The hash stops someone from changing the target URL while reusing the signed link. MD5 remains an old choice for request signing. Scrnify uses HMAC-SHA256, which we prefer for new integrations.

Error handling also needs care. The screenshot endpoint returns an error image when a key, URL, selector, crop, or account credit fails. It adds the machine-readable code to an X-Screenshotmachine-Response header.

That behavior works for an API URL placed inside an <img> tag. Backend jobs should inspect the header before saving the file, or an error GIF may end up in storage as homepage.png.

Screenshot Machine publishes code examples or repositories for Bash, C#, Java, Node.js, Perl, PHP, Python, and Visual Basic. Its docs link to a third-party Ruby gem too. We did not find a dedicated Screenshot Machine CLI.

Screenshot Machine vs Scrnify

We built Scrnify. Bias disclosed. We also think Screenshot Machine has the better offer for some teams.

Feature	Scrnify	Screenshot Machine
Pricing	0.008 EUR per screenshot or video second, no subscription	Free tier or monthly plans from 9 EUR
Free usage	100 lifetime units, then 100 units per Stripe billing period with active billing	100 fresh screenshots per month
Output	PNG, JPEG, GIF, MP4, WebM	JPG, PNG, GIF, PDF
Full page	Yes	Yes
Element capture	CSS selector	CSS selector
Cache	Up to 30 days	Up to 14 days
CLI	Homebrew CLI	No dedicated CLI found
Request signing	HMAC-SHA256	MD5 of URL plus secret phrase
Public SLA	No public SLA listed	99.99% availability SLA

Pick Screenshot Machine for steady image volume, PDF output, or a public uptime commitment. Pick Scrnify for video, terminal and CI workflows, or uneven usage where a monthly plan would sit idle.

Our shorter Scrnify vs Screenshot Machine comparison includes a migration checklist.

Other alternatives

ScreenshotOne gives you a larger feature surface with POST requests, webhooks, storage integrations, more image formats, PDFs, videos on higher plans, and broad SDK coverage.

Urlbox targets teams that need sync and async rendering, storage integrations, many output formats, and enterprise support.

Playwright or Puppeteer remains the right answer when a screenshot depends on login, several clicks, assertions, or browser state that a URL cannot reproduce. You get full control and take responsibility for browser installs, workers, queues, retries, and Chrome updates.

Our verdict

Screenshot Machine looks basic from its homepage. After reading the docs, we found a better product: full-page and element capture, practical cleanup controls, PDFs, cheap cached delivery, clear prices, and a public SLA.

Video and interaction-heavy browser work need another tool. For thousands of predictable screenshots each month, Screenshot Machine makes a strong case when many requests can hit its cache. The 9 EUR Basic plan is hard to argue with at that volume.

Try your ugliest real page before buying. A polite marketing homepage tells you little about how a screenshot API handles your cookie modal, lazy charts, and 18,000-pixel dashboard.

Cheers, Laura & Heidi

P.S. Test the page that causes trouble before choosing any screenshot API. Marketing homepages are polite. Your 18,000-pixel dashboard with a cookie modal and six lazy charts will tell you the truth.

Screenshot Machine Review 2026: Pricing, Features, and Alternatives