Playwright alternative

Playwright alternative for screenshots

Playwright: a browser automation library for Chromium, Firefox and WebKit. This page puts what Playwright states on its own pages next to screenshotbase, each fact with the page it comes from and the date we checked it.

Checked October 9, 2026

We make screenshotbase, so we are not neutral. Every fact about Playwright comes from Playwright's own public pages, linked next to it with the date we read it. Details change, so check playwright.dev before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.

Playwright vs screenshotbase at a glance

CriterionscreenshotbasePlaywright
What it isA hosted screenshot API: one HTTPS request returns the image, PDF or markdown of a page rendered in a real browser1A browser automation library and test runner for Chromium, Firefox and WebKit2
LicenseHosted service; free plan without a time limit3Apache-2.04
LanguagesAny language that sends HTTPS requests; SDKs for PHP, Go, Ruby and R1Node.js, Python, Java, .NET5
Browsers–Chromium, Firefox, WebKit2
Screenshots and PDFViewport and full-page screenshots, PDF and markdown from one endpoint (/v1/take)6Page, full-page and element screenshots7

– means we list no fact from that provider's own pages for this row.

  1. screenshotbase.com, checked October 9, 2026
  2. playwright.dev, checked October 9, 2026
  3. screenshotbase.com/pricing, checked October 9, 2026
  4. github.com/microsoft/playwright, checked October 9, 2026
  5. playwright.dev/docs/languages, checked October 9, 2026
  6. screenshotbase.com/docs/take, checked October 9, 2026
  7. playwright.dev/docs/screenshots, checked October 9, 2026

Where Playwright is strong

Where screenshotbase is different

The same screenshot with Playwright and with screenshotbase

A full-page screenshot at 1280 × 800 with Playwright, which needs a browser on the machine that runs it:

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch()
    page = browser.new_page(viewport={"width": 1280, "height": 800})
    page.goto("https://example.com")
    page.screenshot(path="screenshot.png", full_page=True)
    browser.close()

The same request to screenshotbase, from any language that speaks HTTPS:

curl -G "https://api.screenshotbase.com/v1/take" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://example.com" \
  -d viewport_width=1280 -d viewport_height=800 -d full_page=true \
  -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
  -o screenshot.png

Try screenshotbase

The free plan has 300 screenshots a month and needs no credit card. The /v1/take reference lists every parameter, and the website screenshot tool shows the result without code. Plans and prices are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Is Playwright free?

Yes. Playwright is open source (Apache-2.0); you run it, and the browsers it drives, on your own machines. screenshotbase is a hosted API: 300 screenshots a month, 10 requests a minute, no credit card.

Screenshot API

Take screenshots from your code

screenshotbase renders any website in a real browser and returns the image: full page or viewport, any device size, retina, from 100+ countries, with cookie banners and ads hidden.

/v1/take documentation Screenshot API All documentation

300 free screenshots every month. No credit card required.

GET https://api.screenshotbase.com/v1/take?url=https://example.com&full_page=true

# Response: the image (PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF)
curl -G "https://api.screenshotbase.com/v1/take" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://example.com" \
  -d viewport_width=1280 -d viewport_height=800 \
  -d format=png \
  -H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
  -o screenshot.png

More comparisons

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