Ad screenshot API vs. general screenshot APIs (Urlbox, ScreenshotOne)
Is there an API for ad screenshots? How an ad-specific API differs from capturing a page
Landon Bennett
Updated
Yes, there is an API built for ad screenshots. Ad Reform's API takes your ad creative and a list of sites, places the ad in a matching ad slot on each real page, captures it on the devices you choose, checks every screenshot and sends the results to your webhook. General screenshot APIs like Urlbox and ScreenshotOne do something different: they capture any web page exactly as it loads. Here's how the two compare, based on each company's public documentation as of November 2026.
At a glance
Ad Reform API | General screenshot APIs | |
|---|---|---|
Built for | Proof-of-placement screenshots (tear sheets) of your ads on publisher pages | Capturing any web page or HTML as an image, PDF or video |
What you send | Your ad (image, video, VAST tag, HTML5 zip or HTML ad tag) plus the sites and devices | A URL or HTML plus render options |
Shows your ad on the page | ✅ Finds an ad slot that matches your ad's size and places your creative in it | ❌ Shows whatever the page serves at that moment; both offer options to block ads |
Animated and video ads | ✅ Choose which frames to capture, by timestamp (0 to 30 seconds) | 🟡 Page videos and scrolling captures on some plans; you pick the moment yourself |
Devices | ✅ Desktop, mobile, tablet and named devices (iPhone, iPad, Pixel, Galaxy) | ✅ Any viewport size or device preset |
Quality check | ✅ An AI agent checks every screenshot; our team reviews anything that doesn't pass | ❌ Their sites don't describe a review of each capture; you check the output |
Results | Webhook when a screenshot set is approved, with image URLs, site, device, ad details and review notes | Image or file in the API response; webhooks and S3 uploads on their plans |
Ad platform sync | ✅ Google Ad Manager, DV360, CM360, The Trade Desk and Xandr (in the Ad Reform app) | ❌ None; you build it |
Decks | ✅ Branded PowerPoint and PDF decks in the app | ❌ None; you build them |
✅ Yes · 🟡 Partly · ❌ No
How each one works
Ad Reform API
The Ad Reform API is a REST API plus outgoing webhooks. You send one screenshot request with:
A campaign name. Ad Reform finds or creates the campaign, so results stay grouped the way your team works.
The ad. A URL to an image, video, VAST tag or HTML5 zip file, or a raw HTML ad tag. A lookup key lets you reuse the same ad across requests.
The screenshots you want. Each one is a site URL and a device, with optional frame timestamps for animated or video ads.
Ad Reform loads each page, places your creative in a matching ad slot and captures it with the browser URL and timestamp. An AI agent checks every screenshot against your requirements, and anything that doesn't pass is reviewed by our team. When the set is ready, a screenshot_set.approved webhook delivers the image URLs. Failed webhook deliveries are retried up to 14 times over about 24 hours.
The same API can also create an ad on its own and return a preview image, which is useful for ad previews inside your product. Ad platforms such as DeepIntent and Teads use it to offer screenshots to their own customers. See Ad Reform for ad platforms.
General screenshot APIs: Urlbox and ScreenshotOne
Urlbox and ScreenshotOne turn a URL or HTML into PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF files, with options for full-page captures, delays, clicks, custom JavaScript and CSS, device sizes and capture locations. Both can block ads, cookie banners and pop-ups so pages look clean. Urlbox also adds timestamps and cryptographic hashes for captures used as records, and publishes a guide to building tear sheets on its API.
They're good tools for what they're built for: page thumbnails, archives, monitoring and records. For proof of placement, the gap is everything around the capture. Unless your campaign happens to serve to their browser at that moment, the screenshot shows someone else's ad, or no ad if blocking is on. To get your creative onto the page you need to write the ad injection, find a slot that fits each size, time animated frames, handle each publisher's layout and bot defenses, and check every image before a client sees it.
That's the work we describe in why we recommend against building your own ad screenshot tool.
Which should you use?
You want ad screenshots or previews inside your own platform: use the Ad Reform API and build only your interface and workflow on top.
Your team just needs tear sheets for its campaigns: skip the API and use Ad Reform's app with an ad platform integration, so new campaigns are captured as they launch.
You need screenshots of pages, not ads: thumbnails, archives, visual monitoring or legal records are what Urlbox and ScreenshotOne are built for.
For the wider market, see the best ad screenshot and tear sheet tools, compared. API access needs an active Ad Reform subscription. See pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an API for ad screenshots?
Yes. Ad Reform's REST API takes an ad creative plus a list of sites and devices, places the ad on each real page, checks every screenshot and sends the results to your webhook. The docs are at docs.adreform.com.
Can I use Urlbox or ScreenshotOne to make tear sheets?
You can capture the page, but they show whatever ad the page serves to their browser, so your creative usually won't be in the shot. To make proof-of-placement screenshots you'd need to build the ad placement, frame timing and review yourself.
Which ad formats does the Ad Reform API accept?
Images, video, VAST tags and HTML5 zip files by URL, and raw HTML ad tags such as third-party script tags.
Which devices can I capture?
Desktop, mobile and tablet, plus named devices including iPhone, iPad, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy models.
How do I get the results?
Subscribe a webhook URL. Ad Reform sends a screenshot_set.approved event with image URLs and details for each screenshot, and you can also list screenshots through the API.
