We will update Thumbalizr (website and API) with the new version on Thursday, July 20, 2017 starting 8pm PST. We will keep you posted on the updated on this page.

Update

• 7/21 730pm: the update is complete

When the new site and API are live, they will be served from a new world-wide infrastructure.

Distributed architecture

Thumbalizr will serve thumbnail from the closest location to the user. We have servers in the US, Europe (Germany, UK) and Australia. All servers are tested every minutes and are removed automatically in case of an issue. Caching has also been improved to reduce the response time.

The new Embed API has been designed for better caching, we recommend using it for faster thumbnails.

We've made it easier to get the membership you need. Before you read further, let me reassure you: the price you are paying today for your membership stays the same.

Subscriptions and one-time payment

Thumbalizr was always meant to be a subscription service. But until now, that meant making a manual payment very 1 or 3 months. The new Thumbalizr offers monthly subscriptions at the current price. Once the subscription is set up you don't have to worry about renewing on time every month. You can cancel your membership at any time.

One-time payment for 1 month or 3 months are still available. But this option is slightly more expensive than the monthly subscription, around 15% more.

More membership levels

We have added a platinum membership that allows up to 25,000 screenshots per month. You can always contact us for a higher limit. You can upgrade or downgrade your membership at any time.

Dollar and Euros

You can choose to pay in euros or US dollars. This gives our US customers a fixed price, they don't have to worry about currency exchange rates fluctuations anymore.

Paypal and Credit card

You can now pay with either PayPal or a credit card. The price is the same, just choose you preferred mean of payment. Credit card payments are handled by a third-party, we don't save or record any credit card number.

Receipts

Whenever you do a payment, one-time or a monthly subscription, your receipt will be e-mailed to you as a PDF. You can also download a PD receipt from your Member page. You can add your company name and address to your profile, it will show on the receipt.

We've added the Embed API to make it easier to embed thumbnails on your website. We also made some small changes to the Old API that you are using today.

New option

The Old API will work just the same it does today. We have made it more resilient to errors. All the API arguments remain the same. We have added one new option:

• country: you can take screenshots from Germany or the USA. We will add more countries later.

You don't have to set all the options. The default values are taken from your profile.

Checking for error

The screenshot status and error (if any) are sent as HTTP response headers: X-Thumbalizr-Status and X-Thumbalizr-Error. But many users had troubles checking these headers. Now, the error message is shown on the thumbnail:

Actual error message when using the wrong embed API key

Account required

We will require all users to register a free account with Thumbalizr. The API key will be required for all API calls. Free users will be limited to 100 screenshots per month to test out Thumbalizr.

Embed API

We've added the Embed API to make it easier to embed thumbnails on your website. While the existing API (now called Old API) will continue to be supported, we encourage all our customers to use the Embed API for new projects.

We've added the Embed API to make it easier to embed thumbnails on your website. While the existing API (now called Old API) will continue to be supported, we encourage all our customers to use the Embed API for new projects.

Similar options

All the API options are pretty much the same as the old API: url, width, etc. We have added two options:

• country: you can take screenshots from Germany or the USA. We will add more countries later.
• timestamp: you can assign a string (up to 35 characters) to a screenshot. This is used to figure out whether a new screenshot needs to be created or an older screenshot can be rendered. If you want a new screenshot every month, you can use the current month and year, for example 2017-05, as a timestamp. When you change the timestamp to 2017-06, a new screenshot will be taken and rendered for the rest of the month.

You don't have to set all the options. The default values are taken from your profile.

Checking for error

Like in the Old API, the screenshot status and error (if any) are sent as HTTP response headers: X-Thumbalizr-Status and X-Thumbalizr-Error. But many users had troubles checking these headers. Now, the error message is shown on the thumbnail:

Actual error message when using the wrong embed API key

Embed API key and secret

In addition to your current private API key for the Old API, you now have a new public Embed key and a private Secret. Both can be found in the Member section.

The embed API key is public, meaning it can be shared with anybody without compromising your account. But the Secret is ... a secret! It must be private and never shared. The Embed API uses your Embed key to identify the user and a token, a kind of signature derived from your Secret, to ensure that the screenshot request really comes from the user identified.