Site-Shot vs ApiFlash (2026) — Screenshot API Comparison

Choosing between Site-Shot and ApiFlash usually comes down to four things: how much you pay per screenshot at your volume, whether you need country-specific proxies, whether you're wiring screenshots into an AI agent, and how simple you want the setup to be. Both render pages in real Chrome/Chromium and return an image from a single API call. This is an honest, side-by-side comparison with current pricing — checked in June 2026 — so you can pick the right one fast.

Disclosure: this comparison is published by Site-Shot. We've kept the numbers accurate and the trade-offs fair, including where ApiFlash is the better pick. Always confirm prices on each vendor's own page before you buy.

Quick comparison

Feature	Site-Shot	ApiFlash
Free tier / no-signup	Free in-browser tool, no signup, no API key	Free API tier: 100/mo (account required)
Entry price	$5/mo · 2,000 shots	$7/mo · 1,000 shots
~Cost per 1,000	$2.50	$7.00
Cost at scale	$0.80 ($500/mo · 625,000)	Custom (Enterprise)
Full-page capture	✅ up to 20,000px	✅
Ad + cookie removal	✅ (no_ads, no_cookie_popup)	✅ (block ads, hide cookie banners)
Geo / proxy	✅ country proxies on the API	Enterprise only
Official MCP server	✅ (npx -y site-shot-mcp)	❌ (third-party wrappers only)
SDKs	❌ none yet (plain HTTP API)	❌ (plain HTTP API)

The short version: ApiFlash is simple, fast, and battle-tested on AWS Lambda, with a low entry price and a no-credit-card free tier. Site-Shot is materially cheaper per screenshot (about a third of ApiFlash's entry cost), includes country-specific proxies on the standard API instead of gating them behind Enterprise, and is the only one of the two with an official MCP server for AI agents — plus a genuinely free, no-signup browser tool.

Pricing compared

ApiFlash's cheapest paid plan is Lite at $7/mo for 1,000 screenshots — that's $7.00 per 1,000. Above it sit Medium ($35/mo for 10,000), Large ($180/mo for 100,000), and a custom Enterprise tier. The free tier is a real one: 100 screenshots/month, no credit card required.

Site-Shot's API starts lower and scales much further down. The X-Lite plan is $5/mo for 2,000 shots — $2.50 per 1,000, roughly a third of ApiFlash's entry rate. From there it's Lite ($15/mo for 10,000), Optimal ($50/mo for 50,000), and Professional ($500/mo for 625,000), where the per-shot cost drops to $0.0008 — $0.80 per 1,000. ApiFlash doesn't publish a comparable high-volume tier; large workloads fall under custom Enterprise pricing.

A fair caveat on the free tier: Site-Shot's "no signup, no API key" applies only to the in-browser tool on the homepage. Both companies' paid APIs require an account and an API key (Site-Shot uses a SITESHOT_API_KEY; ApiFlash issues its own key). If you want a quick one-off screenshot with zero friction, Site-Shot's browser tool wins; if you want a small automated free allotment to test code against, ApiFlash's 100/mo free API tier is handy.

Features compared

Both run real browsers — ApiFlash uses an up-to-date Google Chrome built over AWS Lambda for scaling; Site-Shot renders in Chromium — and both do the core jobs well: full-page capture, ad blocking, and cookie-banner hiding are available on each. ApiFlash's Lambda architecture is genuinely good at scaling out simple, fast captures.

Where they diverge:

• Output: Site-Shot returns PNG/JPEG, or JSON containing a base64 image plus the target's response headers, from a single GET request — useful when you want the screenshot and the HTTP metadata in one call.
• Full-page height: Site-Shot documents full-page capture up to 20,000px, with device/viewport emulation.
• Geo & proxies: Site-Shot offers country-specific proxies (IP, language, time zone, geolocation) on the standard API. On ApiFlash, managed proxies and IP geolocation are Enterprise-only — so if you need to capture a page as it appears in a specific country, that's a paid-tier upgrade with ApiFlash but a standard feature with Site-Shot.
• SDKs: neither ships official native SDKs today — both are plain HTTP APIs you call directly. (Site-Shot has SDKs on the roadmap but none yet; be honest with yourself that you'll be writing HTTP calls either way.)

AI agents & MCP

If you're building an AI agent that needs to "see" a web page, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is how you wire a screenshot tool into Claude, Cursor, and similar clients.

Site-Shot ships an official MCP server. Run npx -y site-shot-mcp (registry id io.github.site-shot/site-shot-mcp) and your agent gets capture_screenshot and capture_full_page tools out of the box. The automatic ad/cookie removal also keeps captured images clean for vision pipelines.

ApiFlash has no official MCP server. There's no mention of MCP on its site or docs, and no ApiFlash entry in the official MCP registry — only third-party community wrappers exist, which you'd have to vet and maintain yourself. If MCP support out of the box matters to you today, this is the clearest difference between the two.

When ApiFlash is the better choice

ApiFlash is a well-built, no-nonsense service, and there are real scenarios where it's the right call:

• You want the simplest possible setup at low volume. A clean Chrome-on-Lambda API with a small, predictable feature set — if you just need fast viewport or full-page screenshots and nothing exotic, ApiFlash is easy to adopt.
• You value its AWS Lambda scaling model. ApiFlash explicitly builds on Lambda "to make sure it truly scales," which is a reasonable fit for spiky, bursty workloads.
• You're already in the ApiFlash ecosystem or have existing integrations against it — there's no reason to migrate just to save a few dollars at small volume.
• 100 free screenshots a month covers your needs and you'd rather use a free API allotment than a browser tool.

When Site-Shot is the better choice

• Cost matters. At $2.50 per 1,000 (entry) dropping to $0.80 per 1,000 at scale, Site-Shot is roughly a third of ApiFlash's $7.00 per 1,000 — and it publishes a clear high-volume plan rather than routing you to custom Enterprise pricing. See the pricing page.
• You need geo-targeting without an Enterprise contract. Country-specific proxies (IP, language, time zone, geolocation) are standard on the Site-Shot API; on ApiFlash they're Enterprise-only.
• You're building an AI agent. Site-Shot's official MCP server (npx -y site-shot-mcp) drops straight into Claude or Cursor; ApiFlash has no first-party MCP.
• You want a free, zero-friction screenshot right now. Site-Shot's in-browser tool needs no signup and no API key.
• You want HTTP response headers alongside the image via the JSON output mode.

For the full landscape beyond these two, see our full 8-tool comparison.

FAQ

Is ApiFlash or Site-Shot cheaper? Site-Shot is cheaper per screenshot. Its entry API plan is $5/mo for 2,000 shots — $2.50 per 1,000 — versus ApiFlash's $7/mo for 1,000 shots ($7.00 per 1,000). At scale, Site-Shot's Professional plan reaches $0.80 per 1,000, while ApiFlash's high-volume pricing is custom Enterprise. ApiFlash's free tier (100/mo) is a fair option for tiny volumes.

Does Site-Shot work with AI agents / MCP? Yes. Site-Shot ships an official MCP server — run npx -y site-shot-mcp (registry id io.github.site-shot/site-shot-mcp) to expose capture_screenshot and capture_full_page tools to Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients. ApiFlash has no official MCP server; only third-party wrappers exist.

Is there a free screenshot tool with no signup? Site-Shot's in-browser tool is free with no signup and no API key. That applies to the browser tool only — both companies' paid APIs require an account and an API key. ApiFlash offers a free API tier of 100 screenshots a month (account required, no credit card).

Can both remove ads and cookie banners? Yes. Site-Shot supports ad and cookie-banner removal via no_ads and no_cookie_popup, and ApiFlash lists "block ads" and "hide cookie banners" as paid-tier features. Both also support full-page capture.

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Capture your first screenshot free in your browser — no signup — at site-shot.com. Ready to automate? Compare plans and get an API key on the pricing page.