Automation

Should you build your own Orshot?

Template driven image, video, and PDF generation you call from an API, a workflow, or an AI agent

With trade-offs · the basics, with limitations
Price $39/moEstimated savings $390/yrEstimated time weekend to multi-dayCategory AutomationCatalog votes 0

The render itself is not the moat. Headless Chromium plus a Handlebars template gets you a PNG or a PDF from JSON in an afternoon, and for one team rendering its own OG images that really is the whole job. What does not fall out of a weekend is everything around the render: a visual editor non engineers can use, one design that re solves cleanly into a story, a square, and an OG card, workflows that fire on a schedule or a webhook against Sheets and Airtable, publishing into 15 plus social platforms, and a render farm that stays warm and predictable under burst. Build it if you own the templates and the volume is small. Keep paying if the people making the creatives do not write HTML.

ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.

The complete prompt
Build me a local templated image and PDF render service to replace an image generation API. Requirements:

- Node 22 with Express in a single server.js, plus Playwright driving Chromium.
  No build step, no framework, no database.
- A template is a folder at templates/<name>/ holding index.html with Handlebars
  placeholders, style.css, and meta.json with width, height, and defaults.
- Ship 3 starters: an OG card at 1200x630, an Instagram square at 1080x1080, and
  a one page invoice that renders to PDF.
- POST /render {template, modifications, format} returns PNG, JPEG, or PDF.
  Fill the template, set the viewport from meta.json, screenshot the page.
  PDFs go through page.pdf() instead.
- GET /render/<template>.png?headline=...&image=... does the same thing from
  query params so the URL can be dropped straight into an img tag.
- POST /batch accepts a CSV or a JSON array, renders every row into out/ with a
  concurrency of 4, and returns a manifest of paths.
- A brand.json with 4 colors and 2 local font files, injected into every template
  as CSS custom properties so a rebrand is one file edit.
- Keep one browser instance warm and reuse pages. Launching Chromium per request
  is the thing that makes the naive version unusable.
- Cache by a hash of template plus modifications into .cache/ and serve hits from
  disk before touching the browser.
- Fonts load from ./fonts via @font-face with file:// URLs, and the renderer waits
  on document.fonts.ready so text never screenshots mid swap.
- Out of scope: a visual editor, video, social publishing, and multi tenant auth.
  I write templates in HTML by hand and that is the trade I am making.
- README: how to add a template, how fonts resolve, and the Docker line that
  installs the Chromium system dependencies.

The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running. · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR

Original prompt preserved in English.

What would building your own look like?

Fill an HTML template with JSON, render it in headless Chromium at a fixed viewport, return PNG or PDF over HTTP, and batch a CSV through the same path.

What you will need

Why paying can still make sense

Because the person who needs the graphic is usually not the person who can maintain a Chromium pool, and the value shows up when marketing edits a template without filing a ticket.

What you lose

xvisual studio editor for non developers

x2,000 plus prebuilt templates

xone design auto resized to every social format

xscheduled and webhook driven workflows

xpublishing to social platforms

xMCP and agent integrations

xwhite label embedded editor

xworkspaces, audit logs, and team access

Share on X ↗"I just replaced Orshot ($39/mo) with one prompt"
Free alternatives

Prefer something ready-made?

GotenbergA Docker API that turns HTML into PDFs and screenshots, so you bring the templates and it handles the Chromium wrangling you do not want to own.12kApr 2026Open source↗Cloudinary FreeFree forever with 25 monthly credits; text and image overlays are URL parameters, which covers product shots and simple cards without a render server.$0Free↗ImageKit FreeForever free at 20 GB bandwidth with all transformations included, so layered text over a base image is a URL rather than a pipeline.$0Free↗

View all 4 alternatives to Orshot →· Licença, instalação e limitações em cada alternativa.

Plans and pricing

How much does Orshot cost?

In your currency · US DollarChecked on 10/20/2026
Monthly billing
$39/mo
Per year
$468/yr
Annual billing
$390/yr17% cheaper than paying monthly
Buy on the official site

You complete the purchase on Orshot’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.

PlanMonthlyAnnual (per month)What is included
free$0$030 one-time render credits; 50 one-time AI credits; 100 requests/minute; 1 workspace and 1 member.
launch 1,500$39$32.501,500 render credits/month; 100 AI credits; 200 automation runs; 3 workflows; 1 workspace; 2 members.
launch 5,000$99$82.505,000 render credits/month; 200 AI credits; 2 workspaces; 4 members.
grow 20,000$160$133.3320,000 render credits/month; 400 AI credits; 800 automation runs; 10 workflows; 4 workspaces; 6 members.
grow 40,000$280$233.3340,000 render credits/month; 800 AI credits; 5 workspaces; 8 members.
scale 75,000$349$290.8375,000 render credits/month; 1,200 AI credits; 2,500 automation runs; 30 workflows; 10 workspaces; 14 members.
scale 150,000$480$400150,000 render credits/month; 2,000 AI credits; 15 workspaces; 18 members.
scale 300,000$600$500300,000 render credits/month; 3,000 AI credits; 18 workspaces; 24 members.
enterprisecustom-Custom render, automation, workspace, API and support limits.

Free tier30 render credits and 50 AI credits one time, 100 requests/minute, 1 workspace and 1 member

Billing termsmonthly + annual; annual includes 2 free months

Additional costs1 image, PDF page or video second consumes 1 render credit. Pay-as-you-go overages are $36, $30 or $24 per 1,000 by tier; Social Publishing is a separate $12/month per connected social account.

verified 2026-10-20 · source ↗

Build or buy

Is it cheaper to build or buy Orshot?

Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.

Subscribe
Build it yourself
Horizon
Subscribe$780
Build it yourself$2,520

Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.

Starting hours estimated from the analysis (weekend to multi-day). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).

Frequently asked questions
Is Orshot free?

30 render credits and 50 AI credits, no card required, enough to evaluate but not to run anything recurring. The paid plan is Launch at $39/mo (checked 10/20/2026).

Can I rebuild Orshot?

Kinda. The core of Orshot is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: visual studio editor for non developers, 2,000 plus prebuilt templates. Read the honest list above before committing.

How much does Orshot cost?

Orshot costs about $39/mo (Launch, checked 10/20/2026), which is $390 per year.

What do I lose by replacing Orshot?

Honestly: visual studio editor for non developers; 2,000 plus prebuilt templates; one design auto resized to every social format; scheduled and webhook driven workflows; publishing to social platforms; MCP and agent integrations; white label embedded editor; workspaces, audit logs, and team access. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Orshot?

Yes: Gotenberg (A Docker API that turns HTML into PDFs and screenshots, so you bring the templates and it handles the Chromium wrangling you do not want to own.) Cloudinary Free (Free forever with 25 monthly credits; text and image overlays are URL parameters, which covers product shots and simple cards without a render server.) ImageKit Free (Forever free at 20 GB bandwidth with all transformations included, so layered text over a base image is a URL rather than a pipeline.) All 4 curated free alternatives are at https://viberadar.si/orshot/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.

New ideas on your radar.

Get catalog updates and prompts for your next project.