Guides · July 14, 2026 · 6 min

Teams building screenshot functionality often face a choice: run their own headless browser infrastructure, or rely on a managed API. Both have valid use cases.

Running your own headless browser

Gives full control over the environment but requires managing servers, browser updates, memory leaks, and scaling under load.

Using a managed API

Offloads all of that infrastructure work. You send a request and get back an image, with scaling, browser maintenance, and reliability handled for you.

When self-hosting makes sense

• Extremely high, predictable volume where infrastructure cost outweighs API pricing
• Strict data residency requirements
• Highly customized rendering pipelines

For most teams, a managed API is faster to integrate and cheaper to maintain than building this infrastructure from scratch.