How to Use VeryPDF Screenshot API to Monitor Competitor Websites and Capture Changes Automatically

Posted on Author VeryPDFOnline

How to Use VeryPDF Screenshot API to Monitor Competitor Websites and Capture Changes Automatically

Meta Description:

Track competitor website changes automatically with VeryPDF Screenshot API easy, scalable, and designed for developers needing full control.

How to Use VeryPDF Screenshot API to Monitor Competitor Websites and Capture Changes Automatically

Every marketer I know has had this exact moment:

You check a competitor’s site on Monday, then again Fridayonly to realise they’ve launched a new landing page, tweaked messaging, or added features.

And you missed it.

It sucks.

Because when you’re running a startup, leading marketing, or building products, every missed insight is a missed edge.

I’ve been there. Refreshing their homepage manually. Taking screenshots. Storing them in folders that I swear I’ll go back to later (I won’t). Trying third-party monitoring tools that break when the site structure changes.

Then I found VeryPDF Website Screenshot API.

Total game-changer.

What is VeryPDF Screenshot API?

At its core, this API lets you programmatically capture full-page, pixel-perfect screenshots of any public webpage in seconds.

Want a daily snapshot of a pricing page?

Need to archive how a landing page looked last week?

Curious if your competitor launched a new feature this morning?

Done. Automatically. In high-res. Saved wherever you want.

No bloated software. No browser extensions.

Just a clean, simple API.

Why I Needed This Tool (And Why You Probably Do Too)

Let’s rewind.

My agency was tracking five major competitors across SaaS, ecommerce, and education.

We needed visibility on:

  • Homepages

  • Product pages

  • Pricing tables

  • Blog headlines

The challenge? These pages changed often. Sometimes subtle. Sometimes major. But without screenshots, we had no context.

We tried browser plugins.

We even built a half-baked puppeteer script.

But it broke every other week, ate up dev time, and couldn’t scale past a dozen pages.

I needed something better. Something reliable.

That’s when I tried VeryPDF Screenshot API.

Features That Made Me Stay

#1 – Output in Any Format You Need (JPG, PNG, PDF, WebP)

Not every client wants the same format.

Some wanted lightweight WebP.

Others needed PDFs for internal compliance.

The API gives full flexibility. You just pass the right parameter, and boom your screenshot’s ready in the right format. No extra processing.

#2 – Full Page + Responsive Viewports

This was huge.

You can control:

  • Viewport size (emulate desktop, tablet, mobile)

  • Scroll depth (full page or above-the-fold only)

  • Device pixel ratio (support for Retina @2x, @3x)

I used this to simulate iPhone views vs. desktop for our competitors’ mobile optimisations. We spotted UI bugs they hadn’t caught yetand we used that as leverage in our product updates.

#3 – Ad Blocking & Cookie Banner Hiding

This sounds minor but trust meit’s not.

Screenshots filled with popups, cookie bars, or retargeting ads are useless.

VeryPDF’s API lets you block ads and hide cookie banners. The result? Clean shots. Every time. No extra cleanup.

The API Experience From Zero to Screenshot in 60 Seconds

Here’s how fast I was up and running:

  1. Signed up (they give 100 free screenshotsno card needed).

  2. Got my API key.

  3. Ran this simple URL:

http://online.verypdf.com/api/?apikey=XXXXXXXXXXXX&app=html2image&infile=https://competitor.com/pricing&outfile=pricing-page.png

  1. Screenshot downloaded instantly.

Want to customise? Just add flags:

  • --width=1280&--height=800 for screen size

  • --no-images to skip heavy visuals

  • --output=pdf if you want documents

You can even push directly to Amazon S3 with a few parameters.

Who This Is For

If you’re:

  • A growth marketer tracking changes in messaging

  • A founder benchmarking UX trends

  • A developer building dashboards or monitoring systems

  • A compliance analyst archiving financial disclosures

  • An SEO or PPC manager logging A/B test variants

This tool is a beast.

The simplicity means non-devs can use it.

But the power and scale make it perfect for technical setups.

Scaling? No Sweat.

Once we had 5 competitors across 8 pages, daily screenshots meant 1,200+ images a month.

VeryPDF didn’t blink.

The service is built on AWS Lambda, which means serverless scalability with minimal latency. It just workseven with millions of screenshots per month.

We now have full visibility across our competitive landscape. We catch messaging changes, new campaigns, UX trends, and even who’s testing new CTAs first.

That insight turns into action.

And that turns into ROI.

Why VeryPDF Over Other Tools?

Open-source alternatives

Tried Puppeteer and Headless Chrome. Constant updates. Frequent breakage. Lots of time sunk into fixing headless errors.

Browser extensions

Too manual. Not scalable. Can’t integrate into Zapier or cron jobs.

Other APIs

Many limit full-page capture. Some don’t support mobile viewports or retina. Most fall short on reliability.

VeryPDF Screenshot API nails all of it.

  • Pixel-perfect accuracy

  • No bloat

  • Handles edge cases like parallax and lazy loading

  • HD quality every time

Real Use Cases I’ve Built with This API

1. Competitor Page Watchlist

  • List of competitor URLs

  • Daily cron job to hit the API

  • Save screenshots in timestamped folders

2. Monthly Landing Page Archive

  • Clients often forget what their pages looked like last quarter

  • We use this API to archive pages in PDF for internal review

3. Performance Tracking for Agencies

  • Visual check-in on updates, layout experiments, and copy tweaks

  • Side-by-side comparisons using screenshot history

TL;DR

VeryPDF Screenshot API helps you monitor websites at scale, automate screenshots, and capture critical changes before they catch you off guard.

You save time. You gain clarity. You move faster than your competitors.

I’d recommend this tool to anyone dealing with webpage monitoring, archiving, or competitor tracking.

Try it here and see how easy it is:
https://www.verypdf.com/online/webpage-to-pdf-converter-cloud-api/

Custom Development Services by VeryPDF

If you’re building something more complex, VeryPDF offers custom-built solutions.

Need a virtual printer driver for Windows that can generate PDFs, EMFs, or images?

Want to intercept print jobs from any Windows printer and auto-save them as PDFs?

Or maybe you’re handling barcode generation, OCR table recognition, or building a document management app?

Their team handles:

  • Cross-platform PDF processing (Linux, macOS, Windows)

  • Programming in Python, PHP, C++, .NET, JavaScript, iOS, Android

  • Custom API integrations, document workflows, and virtual drivers

  • Advanced OCR, form recognition, digital signatures, and security tools

They’ve built scalable cloud tech and SDKs to meet niche, enterprise-level needs.

To scope out a custom solution, just hit up their support team:
http://support.verypdf.com/

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I capture mobile versions of websites using VeryPDF Screenshot API?

Yes. You can set the viewport dimensions and user-agent string to mimic mobile devices.

2. What file formats are supported for output?

You can output screenshots as PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF.

3. How many screenshots can I take per month?

The platform supports millions per month, depending on your plan. Free tier offers 100 shots to start.

4. Can I block ads or remove cookie banners in the screenshots?

Yes. The API includes parameters to block ads and hide cookie popups for clean captures.

5. Is there a way to automate this with cron jobs or Zapier?

Absolutely. The API can be hit via any HTTP request, making it perfect for cron jobs, Zapier, or CI/CD scripts.

Tags / Keywords

  • website screenshot API

  • capture competitor website changes

  • automated webpage screenshots

  • monitor landing page updates

  • VeryPDF Screenshot API