Build or buy
Puppeteer gives you the browser itself, along with the job of running it. HTML/CSS to Image gives you the image: HTML/CSS rendering, URL screenshots, templates, and hosting, with no browser fleet to operate.
50 free images each month · No credit card required
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Both render HTML/CSS and capture webpages, with viewport, full-page, and element screenshots and control over when to capture, and both produce PDFs. Puppeteer is a JavaScript library that drives the browser. HTML/CSS to Image is an API that runs the browsers for you.
The browser itself. Click through a login, fill in forms, intercept requests, run JavaScript, and inspect the page before you capture it. You choose the browser version, the launch options, and where it runs.
That control is useful when the screenshot is one step in a larger automation. If you already run Puppeteer reliably, adding a capture can be a small change.
A local screenshot script is a few lines. A public image endpoint also needs authentication, browser cleanup, timeouts, retries, and enough capacity for the jobs that arrive at once. Browser updates, fonts, emoji, and operating-system packages all change what the output looks like, so the environment needs care too.
With HTML/CSS to Image, you send the request and use the URL that comes back. You don't operate the browsers behind it.
HTML/CSS to Image
Send image creation and rendering requests in parallel, with no concurrency caps or per-second or per-minute rate limits.
Image credits and plan limits still apply.
Puppeteer
You choose how many browsers and pages to run, and provision the CPU and memory they use.
Puppeteer's screenshot call returns image data or writes a file. A product that serves images still needs somewhere to store them, URLs to serve them from, rules for duplicate requests, and a way to make resized versions.
HTML/CSS to Image returns a hosted URL and serves resized or reformatted versions without new credits. Matching HTML/CSS creation requests are deduplicated, with URL screenshot deduplication available as an option.
HTML/CSS to Image
Hosting and CDN delivery are included. Application-level caching keeps an existing image URL reusable, even after a CDN cache miss, without consuming another image credit.
Paid plans keep images while your account is active. Custom-storage-only images use your own delivery.
Puppeteer
Screenshot calls return image data or save a file. Your application supplies persistent storage, delivery, and deduplication.
Plans and pricing
Puppeteer has no per-image license fee. You pay for the machines, storage, delivery, and time spent running the service, which can be very little for local scripts or spare capacity you already have. For a production image endpoint, compare the whole workflow with HTML/CSS to Image's allowance, not just the library's price.
$14/month for 1,000 images on Basic.
Includes templates, the visual editor, and hosted image delivery. A free plan includes 50 images per month.
No library subscription or per-image license fee.
Local scripts can use your existing machine. Hosted deployments have their own costs.
$69/month for 10,000 images on Basic.
Optional overages cost $10 per 1,000 images. Includes templates, hosted image delivery, storage destinations, and bring-your-own proxies at this volume.
Your infrastructure and operating costs determine the price.
Include browser capacity, storage, delivery, and maintenance in your estimate.
Yes, for generating images. Instead of running Chrome with Puppeteer, you send HTML/CSS, a URL, or template values to the HTML/CSS to Image API and get back a hosted image. Keep Puppeteer for browser automation like logins, form filling, and request interception.
The library is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Running it in production costs whatever your servers, storage, delivery, and maintenance cost.
Load your HTML with page.setContent, or a URL with page.goto, then call page.screenshot. You manage the browser and the resulting file. HTML/CSS to Image accepts HTML or a URL and returns a hosted image URL.
Fonts, emoji, and browser versions can differ between machines. HTML/CSS to Image handles the rendering environment for you and loads Google Fonts by name.
See the output for yourself
Paste some HTML/CSS, screenshot a URL, or fill in a template. The demo below calls the real API, and you don't need an account.
Preparing the live playground
Loading it just before you reach this section keeps the initial page fast.
Keep comparing
Playwright is excellent for testing and automating websites. HTML/CSS to Image is for the images your product serves, with templates, hosting, and no browser workers to run.
Read the comparison HTML/CSS to Image vshtml2canvas is a free library that redraws part of a page onto a canvas in the visitor's browser. HTML/CSS to Image renders on a server, so every visitor gets the same image, with hosting and the CSS html2canvas can't draw.
Read the comparison HTML/CSS to Image vsBoth APIs turn HTML and webpages into images. HTML/CSS to Image is built for images you design, host, and reuse, with no per-minute limits. ScreenshotOne goes deeper on capturing other people's websites.
Read the comparison HTML/CSS to Image vsBrowserless hosts browsers for your Puppeteer and Playwright scripts. HTML/CSS to Image skips the scripts: send HTML, a URL, or template values and get back a hosted image.
Read the comparison HTML/CSS to Image vsPlacid is strong at customer-facing editing, with an embeddable editor and built-in QR codes and barcodes. HTML/CSS to Image pairs a freeform template editor with direct HTML/CSS rendering and URL screenshots.
Read the comparison HTML/CSS to Image vsURL2PNG does one thing well: screenshots of pages you already host, through a signed URL. HTML/CSS to Image adds a visual editor, templates, and resizing or format changes that don't cost another credit.
Read the comparisonStart creating for free
Render HTML/CSS, capture webpages, or generate images from reusable templates.
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