Website screenshots are required for a number of reasons. Screenshots are a powerful communication tool and can increase the effectiveness and usability of your content. The web design company I consult with use screenshots on the clients’ page of their website. Similarly other designers may use website screenshots to showcase their web design portfolio.

At times I also use website screenshots when I write articles on my blog e.g. in this article. It is generally accepted that content with relevant images to support the information improves its quality and makes it more interesting for readers. You may also want to use screenshots of web pages in other documents such as proposals or tutorials.

The traditional method to create a screenshot is by copying the browser screen in the clipboard via the ‘print screen’ command and then resizing the image in your favourite graphic design package such as Photoshop. Although this method provides full control over the size and quality, it is very time consuming. It also requires some experience of graphic design software.

The process of creating screenshots of a website or web page is made much easier by the use of a screenshot generation tool or service. A screenshot or screen grab tool can automate this process and save valuable time. It also eliminates the need to use graphic design software to resize or optimise the image. This is a list of 5 easy to use online screen grab tools that you can use for free to create your screenshots. Most tools in this list also offer an API that can be used to integrate the tool on your website or blog thereby offering additional benefits.

5 online screen grab tools

WebShotsPro.com

WebShots Pro is an easy to use online service. You can simply enter the URL of the webpage in order to generate a screenshot. Compared with some other sites, larger screenshots can be created with the free service. The drawback of the free service however is that you may encounter a long queue at times before your screenshot is generated. This is most likely to be the case during busy times. At other times it works smoothly. It also offers a service that allows webmasters to integrate advanced website screenshot technology on their websites.

Thumbalizr .com

Thumbalizr lets you create screenshots of websites by pasting their URL. One of the main advantages of their free service is the choice of available image sizes. A range of default image sizes are available from 150px to 1280px width. In addition the free version also offers a custom size option for creating screenshots. Images are in PNG format.

Snapcasa.com

Website Screenshot Tool - Snapcasa

Snapcasa allows you to generate single screenshots using a free online form. It can also be integrated on your website with its API. The basic thumbnail service is free and provides up to 500,000 free snapshots monthly, suitable for low traffic websites. The free basic service provides four sizes of screenshots. Large screenshots are available with the premium service. Implementing snapcasa website thumbnails on your website is easy and requires no technical experience.

Firshot

Firefox Screengrab Tool

FireShot is a powerful Firefox tool that allows you to create screenshots of a website. It allows you to create screenshots of an entire webpage or a part of the page. It is quite unique compared to other screen capture add-ons for Firefox.

The plug-in includes built-in editing and annotation tools, which allows you to make changes to the screenshots you have captured before saving. As such it is particularly helpful for web designers and graphic designers. Using the built-in editor you can easily crop or modify the image. FireShot is available in free as well pro version. The pro version has additional features including integrated upload facility with image portals or your web server.

SnagIt

Website Capture Tool - Snagit

Snagit is one of the most powerful screenshot capturing tools. It is more than just a screen capture tool. It also allows you to record videos of actions performed on a website, thereby making it ideal for creating tutorial or how to guides. It is premium software that needs to be purchased, although 30 trial option of the full version is also available. It has many advanced options and features that most other tools lack. It has a profile system for personalising the software and can also be integrated with Firefox.

Websnapr.com

Website Screenshot Tool - Websnapr

Websnapr’s basic services are completely free of charge and can be integrated on a website for automatically generating website screenshots. Basic version provides 100,000 snapshot impressions per user account per month. Websites containing illegal, adult or offensive contents are not allowed. You can also use a web based form to generate single screenshots by entering the URL. The web based form however is limited as the maximum size is only 202 by 152px.

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