rasterly vs Urlbox — a cheaper screenshot & PDF API alternative

Q: Does rasterly do PDF like Urlbox?

Yes — format=pdf returns a print-ready A4 with backgrounds, at the same price as an image.

Urlbox is a mature, capable screenshot API — and priced like one. For the common job (PNG/JPEG/PDF, full-page, retina) rasterly does the same thing from $0.90 per 1,000 instead of Urlbox's roughly $9.80, and the request shape is close enough that switching is usually a hostname change.

If you're paying Urlbox premium just to render URLs

Urlbox earns its price on render fidelity and stealth for hard sites. But if you're an AI or SaaS product using it for the everyday job — capture a URL to PNG/PDF at scale — you're on a premium tier for output rasterly produces from the same headless Chromium at a fraction of the cost. Three things a product paying at volume should weigh:

Same render, ~90% less. PNG/JPEG/PDF, full-page, retina scale — from $0.90/1,000 vs Urlbox's ~$9.80 entry. Switching is usually a hostname change.
One key for the whole web layer. Beyond screenshots: read→Markdown, extract→JSON, crawl and change-monitoring on the same key — no second vendor for the content side.
MCP-native + x402. The primitives are exposed as agent tools via npx rasterly-mcp, and a pay-per-call x402 endpoint on Base gives agents a billed on-ramp with no signup.

Where Urlbox still wins: the hardest anti-bot/stealth captures and some fidelity edge cases. If that's your core need, keep it; for the high-volume everyday renders, rasterly is the cheaper drop-in.

Price, side by side

Urlbox sells by monthly render tiers; rasterly does too, with the same all-formats feature set on every plan. Representative points:

Renders / month	rasterly	Urlbox
5,000	$9 (Starter, 10k)	$49 (Hi-Fi)
50,000	$29 (Growth)	~$99
250,000	$99 (Scale)	~$300+
Per 1,000 (at 50k)	$0.58	~$1.98
Free tier	100 / mo	trial credits

Feature parity for the common job

	rasterly	Urlbox
PNG / JPEG	Yes	Yes
PDF	Yes	Yes
Full-page capture	Yes	Yes
Retina / device scale	Yes, up to 3×	Yes
Viewport control	Yes	Yes
SSRF protection	Enforced	Yes
Advanced (templates, geo, blocking rules)	not yet	Extensive

Honest line: Urlbox has more knobs — templated renders, geo, ad/cookie blocking, long-lived render options. If you depend on those, stay. rasterly is for the majority who need a clean screenshot or PDF, fast and cheap, without the enterprise invoice.

Migrating from Urlbox

The request is the same shape: a base URL, the target url, and options as query params. In most codebases it's a hostname and key swap.

before — Urlbox

curl "https://api.urlbox.io/v1/KEY/png?url=https://stripe.com&full_page=true"

after — rasterly

curl "https://api.rasterly.dev/v1/screenshot?url=https://stripe.com&full_page=true" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: sk_live_..." -o shot.png

PDF is format=pdf; JPEG quality is quality=1..100; retina is scale=2. Same endpoint, same price.

FAQ

Is rasterly really a drop-in for Urlbox?

For the common cases, yes — swap the base URL and auth. Options like full_page and format map directly. Urlbox-specific advanced features (templates, geo) don't have a one-to-one equivalent yet.

Why is it so much cheaper?

A screenshot is a headless browser rendering a page. rasterly reuses one browser across requests, so a warm render is about a second of CPU — cents, not dollars. We price on cost, not on brand.

Does rasterly do PDF like Urlbox?

Yes — format=pdf returns a print-ready A4 with backgrounds, at the same price as an image.

Can I screenshot internal or private URLs?

No — every target is resolved and blocked if it points at localhost, a private range, or cloud metadata (169.254.169.254). Enforced, not optional.

Start free — 100 renders See the full API

Urlbox pricing and features are public information observed August 2026 and shown for comparison only; check urlbox.io for current details. Figures at intermediate volumes are interpolated from published plans. rasterly is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Urlbox.