Screenshots · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode ScreenshotOne?

YES· one-shottable

For your own sites, a screenshot API is a headless browser behind a URL. An agent builds it in one sitting with Playwright and Fastify: viewport and full-page options, PNG, JPEG, WebP and PDF output, a disk cache and an ad and cookie-banner filter. Because it also fetches arbitrary URLs for you, it needs an SSRF guard that refuses private addresses, which is the part to review. What you cannot copy is the scale side: stealth against bot protection, residential IPs in chosen countries, and rendering thousands of pages without flaky failures.

$17/moprice

$204you'd save a year

one sittingbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

Time2–3 hours, one sitting; the safety checks need a careful read

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
Chromium through Playwright`npx playwright install chromium` downloads the browser.
A place to run itYour laptop works for testing; a small VPS or container host for real use.
A review of the address filterTest it with http://127.0.0.1 and a redirect to a private address before exposing the API.

Before you buildCheck the free plan first: ScreenshotOne gives 100 screenshots a month on every account, which covers occasional use.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a screenshot API for my own sites to replace ScreenshotOne. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server, `npm start` serves http://localhost:4890. `GET /take?url=...&access_key=...`
  returns the image; `POST /take` takes the same options as JSON, plus `html` to render a string instead of a URL.
- Rendering: Playwright Chromium with one warm browser and a pool of POOL_SIZE contexts (default 3). Options:
  viewport_width, viewport_height, device_scale_factor, full_page, selector, delay (ms), wait_until (load or
  networkidle), dark_mode, user_agent, timeout (30 s), format (png, jpeg, webp, pdf) and image_quality.
- Cleanup: block ads and trackers with `@ghostery/adblocker-playwright` and hide cookie banners with an EasyList cookie
  list; `block_ads` and `block_cookie_banners` default to true.
- Cache: SQLite (better-sqlite3) at ./data/cache.db with files in ./data/cache/, keyed by a hash of all options;
  `cache_ttl` in seconds (default 14 days) and `cache=false` to skip. Count only successful uncached renders in a
  monthly counter and answer 429 past MONTHLY_LIMIT.
- Auth: API keys stored hashed, created with `npm run key -- add <name>`, with a per-key rate limit
  (@fastify/rate-limit).
- Safety: resolve the host first and refuse 127.0.0.0/8, 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16, 169.254.0.0/16,
  ::1 and fc00::/7; repeat the check on every redirect and sub-request through page.route, so the API cannot reach
  your internal network.
- One operator. No accounts, no telemetry. Outbound calls: only the pages you ask for.
- Out of scope: stealth mode, proxies and exit-country choice, scrolling videos, a dashboard, billing.
- README: a Dockerfile on the Playwright base image, `npx playwright install-deps` for a bare Linux box, and a warning
  that sites with bot protection block datacentre IPs.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own ScreenshotOne.

Add an OG image endpoint to the screenshot API in this folder. Requirements:

- GET /og/<template>?title=...&subtitle=... renders an HTML template from ./templates/ at 1200x630 and returns PNG.
- Escape every query value, and load fonts from ./fonts/ so renders do not wait on the network.
- Cache by template and values, and add two example templates.
- Update the README.

Add scheduled captures to the screenshot API in this folder. Requirements:

- A schedules table (url, options, cron expression) managed with `npm run schedule -- add|list|remove`.
- Run each schedule with node-cron, store the image and a pixelmatch difference ratio against the previous capture.
- Write a line to ./data/changes.log when the ratio passes a per-schedule threshold.
- Update the README.

Extend the screenshot API in this folder. Requirements:

- With `store=s3` upload the render with @aws-sdk/client-s3 to the bucket, endpoint and credentials set in .env (works with R2 and MinIO) and return a JSON body with the object URL.
- Support signed GET URLs with an expiry in seconds.
- Fall back to local storage when the upload fails and say so in the response.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Stealth mode and rendering of pages behind bot protection
Choosing the exit country or IP for geo-specific pages
Scrolling screenshots and screen-capture videos
A managed fleet with rate limits, a dashboard, S3 upload, webhooks and signed links
Maintained filter lists and heuristics for ads and cookie banners

Why people still pay

A product that takes thousands of screenshots a month does not want to run Chromium itself. Memory leaks, zombie processes, pages that hang and sites that block datacentre IPs are the cost of owning it, and the plan prices make that ops work someone else's.

Moatinfrastructure scale execution polish

Do the math

ScreenshotOne or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time3h ×$/h

ScreenshotOne, 1 yr$204

Your own copy, 1 yr$40running + build session

You keep$164pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Free on your own machine; a small VPS runs roughly $5 to $6 a month. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving ScreenshotOne

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of ScreenshotOne

1There is no account data to export: the service holds no content of yours beyond what you choose to cache or upload.
2Collect the options your code sends (viewport, full page, blocking flags, headers, cookies) from the codebase; the API documentation lists each option.
3If you used the S3 upload option, the images are already in your own bucket.

2 · Cancel ScreenshotOne

1Open the Subscription page in the dashboard.
2Cancel your plan.
3You are no longer charged and can keep taking screenshots until the end of the paid period.
4For a refund, email support within 30 days of purchase.

Every account gets 100 free screenshots a month, so a free account can serve as a low-volume fallback.
Switch the API base URL behind one config value first, so you can compare outputs of the old and new service side by side.
Annual plans and wire-transfer invoices are handled through Paddle; ask support before cancelling a prepaid year.
Check pages that relied on stealth mode or a chosen IP country before you cut over.

Checked 2026-10-19 against ScreenshotOne's docs: 1, 2, 3

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

shot-scraperOpen sourceApache-2.0 CLI that takes screenshots of pages or single elements, runs JavaScript first and works from a YAML batch file.★ 2.6k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
macOS, Linux, WindowsVisit ↗GotenbergOpen sourceMIT Docker API for converting URLs, HTML and office files to PDF, with screenshot routes for URLs and HTML.★ 13k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗BrowserlessFreeHeadless Chrome in Docker with screenshot, PDF and scraping APIs; source-available under SSPL, and commercial use needs a paid licence.★ 14k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

The numbers

ScreenshotOne pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Basic	$17	$14.17	2,000 screenshots a month, 40 requests a minute, extra screenshots at $0.009 each.
Growth	$79	$65.83	10,000 screenshots a month, 80 requests a minute, extra at $0.006; adds IP location choice, scrolling screenshots and video.
Scale	$259	$215.83	50,000 screenshots a month, 150 requests a minute, extra at $0.004; adds GPU rendering, priority support and wire transfer.

Free tier: 100 screenshots a month, including HTML and PDF rendering.
Billing: Monthly, or annual with two months free. Failed requests and cached screenshots do not count toward the quota. Extra usage is charged only if you turn it on and stops at the hard limit you set. Payments run through Paddle; prices exclude VAT. Refund within 30 days on request.
Hidden costs: Over-quota screenshots are billed per piece when extra usage is on. Wire transfer needs a $100 minimum per payment.
Source: screenshotone.com

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Questions

ScreenshotOne, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

100 screenshots a month on every account, with no credit card.

Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.

About $17 a month on the Basic plan, $204 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Stealth mode and rendering of pages behind bot protection; Choosing the exit country or IP for geo-specific pages; Scrolling screenshots and screen-capture videos; A managed fleet with rate limits, a dashboard, S3 upload, webhooks and signed links; Maintained filter lists and heuristics for ads and cookie banners. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.