Why developers switch from URLBox to SnapAPI
URLBox was an early player in screenshot APIs and has a reputation for quality renders. But it's expensive for what it offers, has no meaningful free tier, and doesn't support PDF generation, content extraction, or web scraping. As developer workflows get more complex, URLBox doesn't grow with them.
5x better value
URLBox charges $29/mo for 1,000 captures. SnapAPI's $19/mo plan gives you 5,000 — 5x more captures for less money.
PDF + video + scraping
URLBox only does screenshots. SnapAPI adds /v1/pdf, /v1/video, /v1/scrape and /v1/extract under one API key.
Real free tier
200 captures/month free, forever. No credit card. URLBox's free option is barely usable for real testing.
AI-ready extraction
/v1/extract returns clean markdown from any page — perfect for LLM pipelines. URLBox doesn't have this at all.
Feature comparison
| Feature | SnapAPI | URLBox |
|---|---|---|
| Screenshots (PNG/JPEG/WebP/AVIF) | ✅ | ✅ |
| PDF generation | ✅ /v1/pdf | ❌ |
| Scroll video | ✅ /v1/video | ❌ |
| Web scraping + anti-bot | ✅ /v1/scrape | ❌ |
| Content extraction (markdown) | ✅ /v1/extract | ❌ |
| Free tier | 200/mo forever | Barely usable |
| Entry price | $19/mo — 5,000 captures | $29/mo — 1,000 captures |
| Full page capture | ✅ | ✅ |
| Device presets | ✅ 26 | ✅ |
| Ad & cookie blocking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom CSS/JS | ✅ | ✅ |
🎯 Bottom line
URLBox works, but you're paying a premium for a screenshot-only API. SnapAPI gives you 5x the captures at a lower price, plus PDF, video, scraping and extraction that URLBox will never have. Migration is a one-line change.
Migration: 2 minutes
# Before (URLBox)
curl "https://api.urlbox.io/v1/YOUR_KEY/png?url=https://example.com"
# After (SnapAPI)
curl -X POST "https://api.snapapi.pics/v1/screenshot" \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "https://example.com", "format": "png"}'
Start free — 200 captures/month
No credit card. No trial period. Just a permanent free tier.
Get Free API Key