HEAD requests

The /take and /animate endpoints accept HEAD requests. A HEAD request takes the same query parameters as GET and returns the same status and headers, without the file.

HEAD requests render and count like GET

A HEAD request that renders a screenshot counts towards your quota, just like GET, even though you don’t receive the file.

Without cache=true, every HEAD request renders again and counts. Link checkers, crawlers and uptime monitors often send HEAD requests, so don’t point them at API URLs unless caching is on.

When to use HEAD

Use HEAD when you need the render but not the file:

• Render ahead of time with cache=true. A later GET with the same options is served from the cache and doesn’t count towards your quota.
• Upload to your storage with store=true, without downloading the result. See uploading to S3.

For example:

HEAD https://api.screenshotone.com/take?url=https://example.com&cache=true&access_key=<access key>

Quota

HEAD requests follow the same rules as GET:

• A request that renders counts towards your quota.
• A request served from the cache doesn’t count.
• A failed request doesn’t count.

See how credits work.

Limitations

• Range and If-Range headers are ignored.
• Options go in the query string, as with GET. HEAD requests have no body.

Support

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@screenshotone.com.