Cheapest Screenshot API in 2026 (Free Tiers Compared)

If you're shopping purely on price, "cheapest screenshot API" has two different answers, and conflating them will cost you. The cheapest raw price is Thum.io at $0.20 per 1,000 — but that price buys you viewport thumbnails with no full-page, no ad/cookie removal, and no geo proxy. The cheapest full-featured Chromium API is a different question entirely. This guide ranks every option by cost per 1,000 and by how generous the free tier is, so you can tell which "cheap" you're actually buying.

Disclosure: this comparison is published by Site-Shot. We have kept the numbers accurate and the trade-offs honest — including where competitors beat us. Prices checked June 2026; confirm on each vendor pricing page before buying.

Ranked by price per 1,000 (cheapest first)

Cost per 1,000 is taken from each provider's entry paid plan, then we note how low it goes at scale. The free-tier column is what you get without paying. Read the two right-hand columns together: a low price with no full-page or proxy support is only cheap if you never need those things.

API	~Cost / 1,000 (entry)	Lowest at scale	Free tier	Full-page	Ad + cookie removal	Geo proxy
Thum.io	$0.20	$0.10	1,000/mo, no signup (branded)	Paid tier only	❌	❌
Microlink	$1.07 (at 46k)	$1.07	50/day	✅	✅	Pro
Site-Shot	$2.50	$0.80	Free online tool, no signup	✅ (to 20,000px)	✅	✅ (all plans)
ApiFlash	$7.00	$1.80	100/mo	✅	✅	Enterprise only
CaptureKit	$7.00	$1.78	100/mo	✅	✅	Pro+ (stealth)
ScreenshotOne	$8.50	$5.18	100/mo	✅	✅	Growth+
ScreenshotAPI.net	$9.00	$1.75	100 (7-day trial)	✅	✅	Paid tiers
Urlbox	$9.50	~$3.00	No free tier (7-day trial)	✅	✅	Proxy + geo emulation

The short version: Thum.io wins on raw price but it's a thumbnail service, not a full-featured renderer. Microlink is the cheapest full-featured option once you're at volume ($1.07/1,000 at 46k/mo). Site-Shot is the cheapest full-featured Chromium API to start with ($2.50/1,000 on a $5/mo plan) and the lowest at scale ($0.80/1,000) — plus it's the only one here with a genuinely free, no-signup browser tool and country proxies on every plan. Everyone from ApiFlash up is $7/1,000 or more at the entry tier.

The tools, cheapest first

Thum.io — cheapest raw price, but thumbnails only

Thum.io is the rock-bottom price leader at $0.20 per 1,000 ($2 per 10,000 hits, $1/mo minimum), dropping to $0.10/1,000 on the Better plan ($20/mo minimum). Its free tier is unusually generous — 1,000 images/month with no signup — but those free images are branded with a Thum.io loader and an animated initial render. The catch for "cheapest" shoppers: full-page is a paid feature, and there is no ad/cookie removal, no geo proxy, and no MCP server. Best for: simple, high-volume thumbnails on a tight budget where viewport captures are all you need.

Microlink — cheapest full-featured option at volume

Microlink is a "browser as API" with full Puppeteer/Playwright control, full-page, ad/cookie blocking (even on the free tier), automatic proxy resolution on Pro, an official MCP server, and a 240-edge global cache. Its Pro plan is $49/mo for 46,000 requests ≈ $1.07/1,000 — the cheapest full-featured rate at volume on this list. The free tier is 50 requests/day. Best for: high-volume workloads that need real rendering at the lowest per-shot price. The honest call: if you're already doing tens of thousands of full-featured shots a month, Microlink beats Site-Shot's $1.50 Lite overage on price — though not Site-Shot's $0.80 Professional rate.

Site-Shot — cheapest full-featured Chromium API to start, with a free no-signup tool

Site-Shot renders in a real Chromium browser and returns a PNG/JPEG (or JSON with base64 + the target's response headers) from a single GET — no SDK. It includes full-page to 20,000px, device emulation, automatic ad + cookie-banner removal (no_ads, no_cookie_popup), and country-specific proxies (IP, language, time zone, geolocation) on every plan — not gated behind a higher tier like most rivals. The API starts at $5/mo for 2,000 shots ($2.50/1,000), the $15 Lite plan includes 10,000, and the Professional plan drops to $0.0008/shot — $0.80 per 1,000, the lowest full-featured rate in this comparison at scale. There's also an official MCP server (npx -y site-shot-mcp) for AI agents. The catch some readers care about: only the browser tool is free with no signup — the paid API needs an account and key, same as everyone else. Gaps: no native client SDKs yet (you call plain HTTP). Best for: developers who want full-featured, real-browser screenshots at the lowest entry price and the lowest at-scale price, with free prototyping in the browser. (Not to be confused with the unrelated "Siteshot Pro".)

ApiFlash — cheap, fast, but geo costs extra

ApiFlash runs Chrome on AWS Lambda for fast, simple captures: $7/mo for 1,000 ($7.00/1,000), down to $1.80/1,000 on the Large plan, with a 100/mo free tier. Full-page and ad/cookie removal are on all paid plans — but managed proxies and IP geolocation are Enterprise-only, and there's no official MCP (third-party wrappers only). Best for: simple, fast, budget captures where you don't need geo-targeting.

CaptureKit — cheap, with content extraction for LLMs

CaptureKit bundles screenshots with a Page Content API (HTML/Markdown/AI summaries) and edge caching from $7/mo for 1,000 credits ($7.00/1,000), dropping to $1.78/1,000 on Ultimate; the free tier is 100 credits/mo. Stealth proxies are Pro+ only. Best for: indie devs who also need clean web content to feed an LLM alongside the screenshot.

ScreenshotOne — premium, deepest features, priced accordingly

ScreenshotOne is the most-recommended premium option, with SDKs in 7 languages, PDF, video, JS/CSS injection, S3, webhooks, an official MCP server, and a dedicated AI-agents page. It's also one of the priciest at entry: $17/mo for 2,000 ($8.50/1,000), $0.009 overage, falling to $5.18/1,000 on Scale. Geo proxy is gated to the Growth ($79) and Scale ($259) plans — not the Basic plan. Best for: teams that want the deepest, most polished feature set and don't mind paying for it.

ScreenshotAPI.net — broad parameter set, mid free-tier

ScreenshotAPI.net offers a wide parameter set — element capture, video, PDF, data extraction, scrolling and 4K/5K captures — from $9/mo for 1,000 ($9.00/1,000), dropping to $1.75/1,000 on Business. The free tier is a 7-day, 100-shot trial, and there's no MCP. Proxy support is on the higher tiers only. Best for: developers who want a broad feature set and don't need MCP.

Urlbox — no free tier, but forensic-grade

Urlbox is the most expensive at entry ($19/mo for 2,000 = $9.50/1,000) and the only option here with no free tier — just a 7-day trial and a $100/10K refund guarantee. What you pay for is compliance-grade context: cryptographic timestamps/hashes, change detection, an official MCP server, and many output formats. Best for: legal, compliance, and archival use cases where defensibility matters more than price.

How to choose the cheapest option for your needs

• Cheapest possible, thumbnails are fine? Thum.io at $0.20/1,000. Accept branded free images and no full-page/proxy/ad-removal.
• Cheapest full-featured at high volume (tens of thousands/mo)? Microlink at $1.07/1,000 — unless you reach Site-Shot's Professional tier, which is lower at $0.80/1,000.
• Cheapest full-featured to start (low commitment)? Site-Shot at $5/mo for 2,000 ($2.50/1,000), with full-page, ad/cookie removal, and country proxies included on every plan.
• Most generous free tier with no signup? Thum.io (1,000/mo, branded) for the API; Site-Shot for a free browser tool with no registration at all.
• Cheapest that also works with AI agents via MCP? Microlink and Site-Shot both ship official MCP servers and sit at the low end on price — Site-Shot's is npx -y site-shot-mcp.

FAQ

What is the cheapest screenshot API with a free tier in 2026? On raw price, Thum.io is cheapest at $0.20 per 1,000, and it has a 1,000/month no-signup free tier (branded). But Thum.io is viewport-only — full-page is paid, and there's no ad/cookie removal or geo proxy. If you need a full-featured renderer, Site-Shot is the cheapest to start ($2.50/1,000 on a $5/mo plan, down to $0.80/1,000 at scale) and Microlink is cheapest at high volume ($1.07/1,000 at 46,000/mo).

Is there a free screenshot API with no signup? Two options. Thum.io offers a no-signup free API tier (1,000/month, with Thum.io branding on the images). Site-Shot offers a free online screenshot tool with no registration, no API key, and no credit card — but note that's the browser tool; Site-Shot's paid API, like every other API here, still needs an account and key.

Why isn't the cheapest raw price the best value? Because the $0.20/1,000 headline (Thum.io) only covers basic viewport thumbnails. The moment you need full-page capture, country/geo proxies, or ad and cookie-banner removal, you either can't get them or you pay extra. A full-featured Chromium API that includes those out of the box (Site-Shot from $2.50/1,000, Microlink from $1.07/1,000 at volume) is usually cheaper overall than bolting features onto a thumbnail service.

What's the cheapest full-featured screenshot API? At volume, Microlink at roughly $1.07 per 1,000 (its $49/mo plan covers 46,000 requests). At the lowest entry commitment, Site-Shot at $5/mo for 2,000 ($2.50/1,000), which also drops to $0.80/1,000 on its Professional plan — the lowest full-featured rate in this comparison. Both include full-page, ad/cookie removal, and geo/proxy support.

Which cheap screenshot APIs include geo proxies on the entry plan? Site-Shot includes country proxies (IP, language, time zone, geolocation) on every plan, including the $5 entry plan. Most rivals tier-gate proxies: ScreenshotOne (Growth+), CaptureKit (Pro+), ScreenshotAPI.net (higher tiers), and ApiFlash (Enterprise only). Thum.io has no geo proxy at all.

Which cheap screenshot API works with AI agents (MCP)? Among the lower-priced options, Site-Shot and Microlink both ship official MCP servers — Site-Shot's installs with npx -y site-shot-mcp (registry id io.github.site-shot/site-shot-mcp). CaptureKit, ScreenshotOne, and Urlbox also have official MCP servers. ApiFlash relies on third-party wrappers; ScreenshotAPI.net and Thum.io have none.

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Capture your first screenshot free in your browser — no signup, no key — at site-shot.com. When you're ready to automate, the cheapest full-featured plan starts at $5/mo on the pricing page; see the API docs or the AI-agents guide. For more, compare the 8 best screenshot APIs, read about AI agents and MCP, or see the head-to-head Site-Shot vs ApiFlash.