Screenshot APIs vs Headless Chrome: Benchmarks, Costs, and Decision Framework

Every developer who needs to automate screenshots eventually asks: should I run Puppeteer/Playwright myself, or use a screenshot API? I've done this comparison across multiple projects. Here's the honest breakdown. The DIY Headless Chrome Approach Running your own Puppeteer instance looks simple: const puppeteer = require ( ' puppeteer ' ); async function screenshot ( url ) { const browser = await puppeteer . launch (); const page = await browser . newPage (); await page . goto ( url , { waitUnt