ScreenshotAPI.net - Lets You Capture High Resolution Screenshots in Bulk

Chayanika Goswami

Jul 29, 2020 — 5 min read

Screenshot, also known as screen capture or screen grab are quite essential for most of us at many times. Screenshots are used for many purposes like clarifying a point, for collaboration and are even used as evidence in legal proceedings. There are many students and professionals, who require to take bulk screenshots for various projects, and to make these screenshots look professional, editing is required to remove the browser tool bars, status bars etc. This indeed is a mundane task. But the good news is that the task of taking screenshots and editing them is now just a matter of few clicks with the emergence of Screenshot API Services. Talking of the best Screenshot API services, one of the top listed among them is ScreenshotAPI.net. Founded in 2019, this Amsterdam based startup is fast gaining popularity in its niche! We interviewed Dirk Hoekstra, the founder of ScreenshotAPI.net, to get more details about the startup.

ScreenshotAPI.net Highlights

Startup Name	ScreenshotAPI.net
Headquarter	Amsterdam
Founder	Dirk Hoekstra
Sector	SaaS
Founded	2019

About ScreenshotAPI.net
ScreenshotAPI.net - Founder
The Idea Behind Stating ScreenshotAPI.net
ScreenshotAPI.net - Marketing Strategy
ScreenshotAPI.net - Challenges
ScreenshotAPI.net - Growth & Future Plans

About ScreenshotAPI.net

ScreenshotAPI.net allows users to take quality screenshots of websites for various purposes. There are people who take automated screenshots of stock graphs. Others capture screenshots of news articles to show it on their website, while some take screenshots of e-commerce products. ScreenshotAPI.net makes capturing and editing of screenshots easy for all of them.

When we take screenshots manually, we have to open the page of which we want a screenshot in the browser, then take the screenshot of the full page and edit the same through applications like Photoshop etc, in order to remove the unnecessary elements of the screenshot like the tool bar, status bar, ads appearing on the page etc. Through ScreenshotAPI.net, you just need to enter the URL of the page of which you require a screenshot, customize the screenshot on the basis of the options available and your screenshots are generated in a jiffy!

"I believe that the best way to start a business is to be extremely good at one thing. In this case: taking pixel-perfect screenshots of websites. This way users don’t have to set up a screenshot infrastructure themselves" says ScreenshotAPI.net founder Dirk Hoekstra

USP of ScreenshotAPI.net include -

Users can choose the screenshot dimension. One can either take the screenshot of the full website or that of a specific component or only the default viewport
ScreenshotAPI.net uses Chrome instances to render web pages to ensure that the users get pixel perfect screenshots.
Users can either download the screenshots or can opt to host them on ScreenshotAPI.net servers, that run on Google Cloud.

ScreenshotAPI.net - Founder

Dirk Hoekstra is the founder and the one man army behind running ScreenshotAPI.net, and the process of managing all alone has been quite challenging yet a great experience for Dirk.

"I’m currently a one-man team which is quite hard. I have to do everything from programming to marketing. But, in the end, I learn a lot from wearing all these different hats" Dirk quotes

The Idea Behind Starting ScreenshotAPI.net

ScreenshotAPI.net founder Dirk Hoekstra was doing a project where he needed screenshots of 1,000 websites. While searching for good screenshot API, Dirk saw that though there were options available, there are many screenshot APIs that provided low quality screenshots,while the rest were expensive. Dirk felt that he could offer better solutions than the ones available in the market and he decided to build a screenshot API himself. ScreenshotAPI.net was founded in 2019.

As Dirk puts in, he received mixed responses from developers regarding the product.

"I pitched it to a few developers I knew and the responses varied a lot. Some of them were confused that there was a market for screenshots (trust me there is!). And others where quite enthusiastic, especially when we started to get the first paying customers" Dirk Hoekstra says

ScreenshotAPI.net - Business Model & Revenue Model

ScreenshotAPI.net runs on a SaaS (Software as a Service) model. There is a free plan with 100 screenshots per month, and there are paid plans that offer more features.

ScreenshotAPI.net - Marketing Strategy

For marketing ScreenshotAPI.net Dirk initially relied heavily on Google Ads, and the startup received its first customers through Google Ads. Currently however, Dirk is focusing more on organic visibility of the site. The startup is also receiving a decent number of users through referral links.

ScreenshotAPI.net - Challenges

Being the sole founder and the sole person running the startup, staying motivated is quite tough at times.

"Building a website like this is not a sprint. It is a marathon. It requires a huge amount of consistent work and effort. Sometimes, after a bad week I struggle to find motivation to continue, and I feel that the biggest challenge is to continue on in those times." Dirk quotes emphasizing the challenges he faces.

Also Read: The Important Entrepreneurial Lessons That Colleges never Teach

ScreenshotAPI.net - Growth & Future Plans

Currently, ScreenshotAPI has a small part of the market. There are 1,000 customers of which 30 are on a paid plan. ScreenshotAPI.net Dirk Hoekstra is now working on SEO of the site and aims to make it to the top of the Google SERP which will surely help the company to attract more users

"If you look at the Google search queries, you will find that “screenshot api” is searched 200 times per month. Right now, the website is on the second page of the results, and my next goal is to improve the SEO and be in the top 3 results. My big hairy audacious goal is to be the number 1 Google result and have 1,000 paying users. This goal is still far away, but any 5-year plan should be ambitious" Dirk adds.