Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) VS ScreenshotMAX

ScreenshotMAX is a fast, reliable API that lets developers capture website screenshots, generate PDFs from HTML, record animated screencasts, and scrape web data: all with a single, unified interface.

Built by a developer, for developers, ScreenshotMAX eliminates the need to manage headless browsers, deal with flaky rendering, or write complex Puppeteer scripts. It handles the hard parts, so you can focus on your app.

Key Features - Full-page & viewport screenshots: Including lazy-loaded content and dynamic pages. - HTML to PDF rendering: Turn any page or HTML string into a clean, production-ready PDF. - Animated video rendering: Record scrolling or dynamic elements as MP4. - Annoyance blocking: Remove cookie banners, ads, and GDPR popups by default. - Scheduled tasks: Automate recurring jobs: no cron or infrastructure needed. - Fast, scalable & secure: Runs on Google Cloud + Cloudflare, with Redis for rate limiting.

Developer-Friendly - Official SDKs for TypeScript, PHP and Python - Simple authentication via HMAC signatures - Swagger and Postman collections - Built-in caching and webhook support

Use Cases - Automated UI testing - Archiving web pages - Report generation - Scheduled monitoring - PDF export for end users

Whether you're building a dashboard, a CI pipeline, or a SaaS app, ScreenshotMAX helps you deliver clean, reliable visual outputs, without the infrastructure headache.

Start rendering in minutes. No setup. Just results.

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) and ScreenshotMAX.

What makes your product unique?

ScreenshotMAX's answer:

ScreenshotMAX combines powerful rendering (screenshot, video, PDF) with automation features like scheduled tasks and annoyance blocking. It’s built for developers who need reliable, clean, and fast results, without managing browsers or infrastructure.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

ScreenshotMAX's answer:

Unlike other tools, ScreenshotMAX is built specifically for developers:

All-in-one API: Screenshots, PDFs, videos, scraping: no need for multiple services.
Clean by default: Blocks cookie banners, ads, and popups automatically.
Automation ready: Schedule recurring tasks without cron or extra setup.
Fast & scalable: Runs on Google Cloud with built-in CDN via Cloudflare.
Easy integration: Official SDKs, Swagger docs, and secure HMAC authentication.

It saves hours of dev time and delivers consistent, production-grade results.

How would you describe your primary audience?

ScreenshotMAX's answer:

ScreenshotMAX is designed for developers, technical teams, and SaaS builders who need to:

Automate website screenshots, HTML-to-PDF generation, or web scraping.
Integrate rendering tasks into CI/CD, monitoring tools, or backends.
Save time by avoiding browser setup, Puppeteer maintenance, or infrastructure headaches.

Whether you're a solo indie hacker, a startup dev team, or a platform engineer, ScreenshotMAX helps you move fast with clean, reliable, and scalable APIs.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

ScreenshotMAX's answer:

Headless Chrome + Puppeteer: For capturing screenshots, PDFs, and videos with precision.
Google Cloud Platform (Cloud Run, Cloud Tasks, Datastore, Cloud Storage): Scalable backend for APIs, storage, job queues, and data.
Redis: Real-time rate limiting and usage tracking.
Cloudflare + Workers: Global CDN, DNS, and edge logic for speed and reliability.
Stripe: Subscription billing and customer portal.
Swagger / OpenAPI: For interactive and well-documented developer experience.
SDKs (TypeScript, Python, PHP): Easy API integration with typed interfaces and helpers.

What's the story behind your product?

ScreenshotMAX's answer:

ScreenshotMAX started as a side project, built out of a real-world need.
As a freelance developer, I had to create a screenshot system for a CI/CD pipeline; automatically testing how hundreds of PDFs were rendered from HTML. Most existing tools were either unreliable, too complex, or didn’t scale.

So, I built my own.

What began as a simple internal tool quickly became something more:
An all-in-one API for screenshots, PDFs, video rendering, and scraping, designed for developers who want powerful results without managing headless browsers or servers.

ScreenshotMAX is my first SaaS product: built for fun, to learn, and to solve a problem I know developers face every day.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) mentions (7)

How do I add two separate PDF pages together as a single PDF on iPad?
So I'm sure there are more official ways to do this but I usually just go online to somewhere like https://smallpdf.com/merge-pdf. Source: almost 3 years ago
Any tips for creating pdf files with some music you would like to learn to play?
If you already have individual PDF files, you can combine them into one PDF with this tool: https://smallpdf.com/merge-pdf. Source: almost 3 years ago
Need help with Enrollment Immunization Records process
5) Now that you have your doctor-completed immunization record form, either scan it with a scanner or take pictures and upload them into a PDF (you can use a website like SmallPDF to do this). Next, you will take that document/PDF and upload it over here. While uploading, you will click a dropdown menu. For your initial Immunization Record form, you will select option 1 ("Immunization Record") from the choices. If... Source: over 3 years ago
Different file formats ...
On Canvas I restrict submission types to PDFs and I just include a link on each assignment description to SmallPDF. Source: over 3 years ago
Is this survey a good way to collect pain points?
Examples of small tools that I'd want feedback on are PDF tools, conversion tools and spreadsheet tools. Source: over 3 years ago

ScreenshotMAX mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of ScreenshotMAX yet. Tracking of ScreenshotMAX recommendations started around Jun 2025.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) and ScreenshotMAX, you can also consider the following products

PDF Joiner - This online tool allows you to join several PDF documents into a single file, free of charge.

ScreenshotOne - Fast and reliable screenshot API built to handle millions of screenshots a month.

PDFManagerUltimate - Read, edit, and convert PDF files.

ASocks - Clear, Fast & Unlimited. Residential & Mobile Proxies For Best Price.

DocuPUB - DocuPUB is an online file converter, file merger, file compressor, and file resizing tool.

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Compare Merge PDF (by Smallpdf) VS ScreenshotMAX and see what are their differences