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CurlShot

Make a thumbnail of any website

To make a thumbnail of a website, paste its address into CurlShot and choose "Just the top". You get an image of the first screen of the page, which is what a preview needs. With the API you ask for the exact width you want, and repeat requests for the same page can come from the cache at no cost.

No address handy? Try

How much of the page?
As seen on a…
Save it as…
Example: wikipedia.org as seen on a computer, top of the page

This is an example: wikipedia.org on a computer, top of the page, a screenshot made with CurlShot. Paste an address above to make your own.

Ads and cookie pop-ups hidden. This page has none, so the screenshot is the same either way.

No account needed to try it. A free account gives you 100 screenshots a month, no card needed.

Create a free account

How to make a thumbnail of a website in three steps

  1. 1

    Paste the address of the website into the box.

  2. 2

    Choose "Just the top".

  3. 3

    Press "Take the screenshot", then download the image.

Thumbnail sizes, and showing them on your own page

A thumbnail is the first screen of a page, made smaller. The page is drawn at full size in a 1280 × 1024 window, so it shows its desktop layout, and then the image is resized. image_width alone keeps the shape; image_width and image_height together crop to that box from the top.

Show the table (5 rows)
UseOptionsImage
Card in a directory or link listimage_width=400400 × 320
The same card on retina screensimage_width=800800 × 640
A 16:9 tileimage_width=640&image_height=360640 × 360, cropped from the top
A phone-shaped previewviewport_device=iphone_15_pro&image_width=300The mobile layout, 300 wide
A wide desktop previewviewport_width=1920&viewport_height=1080&image_width=480480 × 270
  • format=webp gives the smallest files for use on a website.
  • cache=true serves repeat requests for the same thumbnail from storage, without counting them against your allowance. cache_ttl sets how long, up to 30 days.
  • To put the screenshot address straight into an img tag, sign it. A signed link cannot be changed, so your access key cannot be reused for other pages.
A signed thumbnail in a web page
<img
  src="https://curlshot.com/api/v1/screenshot?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY&cache=true&format=webp&image_width=400&url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com&signature=SIGNATURE"
  width="400" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="example.com">

What people use it for

  • Preview images next to each site in a directory or a list of links
  • Screenshots of client sites in a portfolio
  • A screenshot of the linked page in a newsletter
  • Previews of user-submitted links in your own product

For developers: one request

The same thing from your own code. It is a plain HTTP request, so it works from any language. Create a free account to get an access key.

Request
curl "https://curlshot.com/api/v1/screenshot?access_key=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY&url=https://example.com&image_width=400&format=webp&cache=true" \
  --output thumb.webp

Questions people ask

How do I generate a thumbnail from a URL?

Paste the URL into CurlShot and choose "Just the top". With the API, add image_width to get the thumbnail at the size you need.

Can I show the thumbnail directly in a web page?

Yes. The screenshot request is a normal web address, so it can be the source of an image. Use a signed link so your access key is not visible in the page.

Do repeated views cost screenshots?

Not with the cache switched on. A cached screenshot is served again without counting against your allowance.

Is it free?

You can try it on this page without an account. A free account adds a monthly allowance of screenshots and keeps them in one place.

Guides that go deeper

Related tools

Take as many screenshots as you need

A free account gives you 100 screenshots every month and keeps them in one place. No card needed.

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