How to Take Screenshots and Generate PDFs in Python (No Selenium Required)

How to Take Screenshots and Generate PDFs in Python (No Selenium Required) Python developers who need to automate browser tasks have traditionally reached for Selenium or Playwright. Both work, but both come with friction: WebDriver management, dependency hell, browser binary installation, and debugging timeouts. There's a simpler path: one HTTP call with the requests library replaces the entire Selenium stack. This article shows you how to take screenshots, generate PDFs, and inspect web pages in Python—without managing a browser at all. The Old Way: Selenium (Verbose & Heavy) Here's what taking a screenshot in Selenium looks like: from selenium import webdriver from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager from selenium.webdriver.service import Service # Download driver, start browser, navigate service = Service ( ChromeDriverManager (). install ()) driver = webdriver . Chro