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Contact SupportFull Page vs Viewport
When capturing a website, you can either capture only what’s visible on screen (viewport) or capture the entire page by scrolling (full page). This page explains the difference and how it affects results.
If your goal is “what did a user see at this moment?”, viewport is often best. If your goal is “archive the entire page”, full-page is the better choice.
Viewport capture
A viewport capture is a screenshot of the visible browser window only — the part of the page you can see without scrolling.
When viewport is useful
- • Landing pages and hero sections
- • Above-the-fold compliance (cookie banners, disclosures)
- • Fast comparisons across days
- • Capturing exact “first impression” layouts
Full-page capture
A full-page capture scrolls down the page and produces a single long image representing the entire document height (from top to bottom).
When full-page is useful
- • Archiving pages for legal / compliance proof
- • Capturing long terms pages, pricing tables, policy content
- • Monitoring large landing pages and marketing content
- • Preserving “exact page state” before updates
How scrolling affects results
Full-page captures rely on scrolling. Some pages behave differently as you scroll, which can impact output.
Common things you may notice
- • Sticky headers repeat or overlap in long screenshots
- • Lazy-loaded content appears only after scroll
- • Infinite scroll pages may never “end”
- • Animations and dynamic elements can shift between scroll steps
If a page is highly dynamic, consider using video captures or stability controls (timeouts / scroll delay) in your Web Profile.
Which should you use?
Choose viewport if you need
- • What users see without scrolling
- • Faster, smaller captures
- • Consistent daily comparisons
Choose full page if you need
- • A complete archive of the page
- • Long documents (terms, policies)
- • Evidence for audits or disputes
Many teams run both: viewport for daily monitoring and full-page for weekly/monthly archiving.