Exploring the Top Video Thumbnail ( Preview) APIs

In this blog, we will compare some of the most popular video thumbnail APIs, looking at their functionalities, features, and how they can enable developers working on applications with video creation/streaming functionalities to optimize their video thumbnail strategies.

Sohail Pathan

Last updated on March 19, 2024

Introduction:

Video content is considered one of the most engaging forms of media. However, not every video captures viewers' attention. One of the factors that could determine a video’s “success” is a good video thumbnail. Video thumbnails today serve as the first impression of a video, playing a crucial role in attracting viewers and encouraging them to click and engage with the content.

What is a Video Thumbnail API?

A Video Thumbnail API generates a video from any part of a given video file in the desired file format and size. Video Thumbnail can be used to:

Attract Viewers: Thumbnails act as the first impression of video content.
Preview Content: Thumbnails provides a quick preview of the video content, helping users decide whether the video is relevant to their interests.
Improve User Experience: Thumbnails can help consumers quickly find the content they're interested in by offering visual cues about the video's topic, quality, and tone.

Features & Functionality

Input Format:

ApyHub allows you to provide source input video files in Mp4, webm, flv, avi, mkv, mov, 3gp format. Similarly, ImageKit allows you to source input files in Mp4, mov, webm, mpeg, 3gp,ogg, ogv, hevc, and mts. Cloudinary allows upload source input files Mp4, mov, mkv, mp4, mpeg, mpd, mxf, ogv, webm, wmv However, Shotstacks allows most information that includes Avi, mov,mp4,mkv, flv, mpg, wmv, webm, Ogg and more.

Customization:

Thumbnail Duration: ApyHub allows the generation of a thumbnail video for any duration between a minimum of 2 seconds and a maximum of 20 seconds. ImageKit allows the generation of Video duration between a minimum of 3 seconds for upto 15 seconds. ShotStack allows for generating video thumbnails of any duration for upto 120 seconds. Cloudinary allows for generating thumbnails for a minimum of 2 seconds and upto 15 Seconds.
Aspect Ratio/Size: ApyHub and ImageKit support generating a thumbnail with specific dimensions using width and height. However, Cloudinary and Shotstack do not offer this parameter.
Start and End Time: ApyHub, Cloudinary, and Shotstack provide the customization parameter to generate a customized video thumbnail by setting start time and end time from video total duration of the video. While Imagekit does not offer this parameter.

SDKs and Client Libraries

ApyHub allows you to generate client code in 11 languages C, C#, JavaScript, Go, NodeJS, Java, Kotlin, Python, Rust, Dart, Ruby, and provides SDKs in JavaScript and Go. ImageKit provides the client code in JavaScript, React, VueJS, Android, iOS Python, NodeJS, PHP, JAVA, Ruby, .Net, and Go. Cloudinary allows developers to integrate API using client code in 15 languages NodeJS, React, Vue, Angular, JS, Python, PHP, Java, Ruby, .NET, Dart, Swift, Kotlin. Shotstack provides the client code in 8 languages (Go, NodeJS, Java, Python, and PHP) and SDKs in NodeJS, PHP, Python, and Ruby.

Documentation and Tutorials:

Apyhub APIs are supported with thorough documentation, including the Authentication method, Error Codes, HTTP Response Codes, and Request Examples. ImageKit also has rich language-specific documentation but does not include an error and response code. Cloudinary and. Shotstack have provided documentation in the form of a guide that is easily understandable.

API Testing:

Most of the providers let you test the APIs right from a terminal in the platform. ApyHub also has an API Playground where you can test the APIs in the UI plus you can see the snippet of the provided input in cURL. Cloudinary also provides an interactive console to test the API and generate client code directly. While Imagekit and Shotstack only provide cURL code to test the API on terminal/API client.

Availability:

ApyHub has served *99.99% of uptime. ImageKit, Cloudinary, and Shotstack also claim to have high uptime.

Pricing:

This is subject to change but at the time of writing, all providers offer a subscription-based tiered model including a free plan. The most generous free plan is from ApyHub, offering 2 Million API calls per month for free. ImageKit offers up to 1000 APIs per month for free. Cloudinary offers up to 20 API Calls/Month for free and Shotstack offers up to 20 API Calls per month for free.

Community Support:

Most of the providers offer dedicated channels such as Discord, Slack, or Chatbot Agent to their users to ask support questions. ApyHub has a dedicated Discord Server, which lets you interact directly with the support team in addition to email support. Whereas Imagekit has email-based and chat-based support ( For paid users only ). Cloudinary and Shotstack have forums for users to discuss issues and raise the query.

Below is a summary of the comparison of the providers I looked at.

Provider	# Calls (Free)	Input Format	Customization	File Size	Pricing ( Paid )	Throttling
ApyHub	Up to 2 Million API Calls / Month	Mp4,webm,flv,avi,mkv,mov,3gp	Duration Aspect Ratio, Start time, and End time	Upto 50 MB	Starting from 10 EUR/month.	1 call/s in the free plan
ImageKit	Up to 1000 API Calls/Month	Mp4, mov, webm, mpeg, 3gp,ogg,ogv,hevc,mts	Duration, Aspect ratio.	Overall 300 MB	Starting from 49 USD/month.	1 call/s in the free plan
Cloudinary	Up to 25 API Calls/Month	Mp4, mov, mkv, mp4, mpeg, mpd, mxf, ogv, webm,wmv	Duration, Start Time and End Time.	N/A	Starting from 89 USD/month.	1 call/s in the free plan
ShotStack	Up to 20 API Calls/Month	Avi, mov, Mp4, mkv, flv, mpe, wmv,webm, Ogg and more.	Duration Start and End Time	Upto 50 GB	Starting from 99 USD/month	1 call/s in the free plan

Conclusion

When it comes to generating video thumbnails - ApyHub, ImageKit, Cloudinary, and all provide unique features and benefits for developers. Depending on the specific project requirements, developers can choose the API that best suits their needs.

With factors such as supported file formats, customization, integration simplicity, and additional functionalities, developers can make a decision and leverage the most useful API to streamline their thumbnail generation workflows.

Do you agree with our list of the above API Providers? What do you think is the best watermarking API? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed are solely based on the research and may vary based on individual experiences and preferences.