I've been building scrapers professionally for four years. I've used every service on this list in production — not just free trials. I've hit their rate limits, dealt with their support teams, and watched credit balances evaporate on sites I thought would be easy.
This review covers 10 scraping APIs with real pricing breakdowns, honest pros and cons, and specific recommendations based on what you're actually trying to do.
No affiliate fluff. (Yes, some links below are affiliate links. I'll tell you which ones. The opinions don't change.)
The Quick Comparison Table
Benchmark success rate data sourced from ScrapeOps' independent benchmark suite, which tests providers against real sites under identical conditions.
| Service | Price per 1K reqs | Amazon success rate | JS rendering | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ScraperAPI | ~$1.49 | 100% | Yes | 5,000 credits |
| Scrape.do | ~$0.58 | 87% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
| ScrapeOps | ~$1.49 | ~85% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
| ZenRows | ~$2.90 | ~90% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
| ScrapingBee | ~$1.40 | ~88% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
| Bright Data | ~$3.00–$10+ | ~95%+ | Yes | $5 trial credit |
| Oxylabs | ~$4.00–$12+ | ~95%+ | Yes | Free trial |
| Scrapfly | ~$2.00 | 100% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
| Zyte | ~$0.23–$2.30 | 73% | Yes | PAYG |
| Scrapingdog | ~$1.20 | 67% | Yes | 1,000 credits |
Prices are approximate blended rates on mid-tier plans. JS rendering typically multiplies credit cost 5–25x.
1. ScraperAPI — Best Overall
ScraperAPI has been the default recommendation in scraping communities since 2019, and in 2026 it still earns that position.
What it is: A proxy-rotating API that handles CAPTCHA solving, JS rendering, and geo-targeting through a single URL-parameter interface. You swap your target URL for http://api.scraperapi.com?api_key=KEY&url=YOUR_URL and it handles the rest.
Pricing: $49/mo for 100K credits, $149/mo for 1M credits. JS rendering costs 5 credits per request instead of 1. Residential proxies cost 10–25 credits per request.
Pros:
- Consistently 100% success rate on Amazon in independent benchmarks
- Structured data endpoints for Amazon, Google Search, Google Shopping, Walmart — pre-parsed JSON with no scraping code required
- DataPipeline dashboard for non-developers
- 5,000 free credits to start (no credit card)
- Clean, predictable API design
Cons:
- Credit burn rate is brutal on JS-heavy or residential-proxy requests — plan costs add up fast
- No built-in scheduling on API tier (need external cron)
- Support response times can lag on lower-tier plans
Best for: Teams running high-volume e-commerce scraping who want reliability over cost optimization.
Affiliate discount: Use code SCRAPE13833889 for 50% off your first month
2. Scrape.do — Best Budget Pick
Scrape.do is the service I recommend when budget is the primary constraint.
What it is: A lean scraping API with competitive pricing, solid JS rendering, and residential proxy support. The feature set is narrower than ScraperAPI but the cost-per-successful-request is hard to beat at this tier.
Pricing: From $29/mo. No published credit multipliers on their marketing page — actual cost per request is lower than most competitors at equivalent volume.
Pros:
- Among the lowest cost per 1,000 requests on the market
- Async request support built in
- 1,000 free credits, no card required
- Residential proxy support without a separate contract
- Simple, developer-friendly API
Cons:
- 87% success rate on Amazon in benchmarks — good but not top-tier
- Smaller company means less documentation, fewer integrations
- Geo-targeting country coverage narrower than enterprise alternatives
- Support is responsive but the team is small
Best for: Solo developers and small projects where cost matters more than maximum success rates.
Try Scrape.do free (affiliate link)
3. ScrapeOps — Best for Proxy Intelligence + Monitoring
ScrapeOps occupies a unique position: it's both a scraping API and the best independent proxy/scraper benchmarking tool in the market.
What it is: A proxy aggregator and scraping API that routes your requests through whichever upstream provider performs best for your target at that moment. Also runs the benchmarking suite I reference throughout this article.
Pricing: From $49/mo. Similar credit model to ScraperAPI.
Pros:
- Intelligent proxy routing — automatically selects the best upstream provider
- The benchmark data is genuinely useful for pre-evaluating any tool
- Scrapy and Playwright integration middleware available
- Monitoring dashboard with request logging and error breakdown
Cons:
- No native async scraping — you manage concurrency yourself
- Success rates vary by target; the routing intelligence helps but isn't magic
- Dashboard can feel cluttered if you just want a simple API
Best for: Developers who want data-driven proxy selection and don't want to manage multiple scraping service subscriptions manually.
Try ScrapeOps free (affiliate link)
4. ZenRows — Best for Anti-Bot Sites
ZenRows is built specifically around defeating modern anti-bot systems. If you're hitting Cloudflare, Akamai, DataDome, or PerimeterX, this is where I'd start.
Pricing: From $69/mo. Premium anti-bot bypass is a separate feature that increases cost per request.
Pros:
- Anti-bot bypass engine updated frequently against Cloudflare and Akamai
- Smart mode automatically adjusts headers, fingerprints, and behavior
- Clean Python/JavaScript SDK
- Good documentation with real-world examples
Cons:
- More expensive than mid-tier alternatives
- Anti-bot bypass feature adds significant per-request cost
- Overkill (and overpriced) for sites without aggressive bot detection
Best for: Scraping targets with active bot protection where cheaper services consistently fail.
5. ScrapingBee — Best for Beginners
ScrapingBee hits a sweet spot of simplicity and capability that makes it the easiest service to onboard.
Pricing: From $49/mo for 150K credits. Free tier: 1,000 credits.
Pros:
- Excellent documentation with working examples for every use case
- Screenshot endpoint — capture a visual render of any page
- Google Search API endpoint included
- JavaScript scenario execution (click, scroll, wait for element)
- Python, Node.js, PHP, Ruby libraries maintained
Cons:
- Success rates on protected sites trail dedicated anti-bot services
- Credit consumption for JS rendering is high (10 credits per request)
- No residential proxy option on base plan
Best for: Developers new to scraping APIs who want clear docs and a guided experience.
6. Bright Data — Best for Enterprise Scale
Bright Data (formerly Luminati) operates the world's largest residential proxy network and pairs it with a full scraping platform.
Pricing: Starts around $500/mo for meaningful residential proxy access. PAYG options exist but get expensive fast. Enterprise contracts typical.
Pros:
- Largest residential IP pool in the industry (72M+ IPs)
- Highest success rates on the most protected sites
- Web Unlocker product handles JS, CAPTCHA, and fingerprinting automatically
- Scraping Browser — a hosted browser API with full Puppeteer/Playwright support
- Structured datasets for purchase (pre-scraped Amazon, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Dedicated compliance team, clear ToS on data sources
Cons:
- Expensive. This is not a budget tool — minimum meaningful spend is $500+/mo
- Onboarding is complex; sales process required for higher tiers
- Overkill for anything under 10M requests/month
Best for: Enterprise teams with real budget and targets that defeat every cheaper option.
7. Oxylabs — Best Enterprise Alternative to Bright Data
Oxylabs competes directly with Bright Data at the enterprise tier. The proxy network is smaller but the developer experience is often rated higher.
Pricing: Residential proxies from $8/GB. Scraper APIs from ~$49/mo at entry level, quickly scaling to enterprise contracts.
Pros:
- Excellent success rates on difficult targets
- Real-time crawler and e-commerce scraper APIs with structured output
- Better self-serve tooling than Bright Data at equivalent tiers
- Strong compliance practices and data sourcing transparency
- Reliable uptime and SLA on enterprise plans
Cons:
- Pricing is enterprise-first — individual devs will find it expensive
- Residential proxy pricing by GB rather than requests makes budgeting harder
- Customer success focus means less useful for low-touch/self-serve scenarios
Best for: Teams that need Bright Data-level capability but want better developer tooling and self-serve access.
8. Scrapfly — Best for Scrapy/Python Developers
Scrapfly is a newer entrant that has earned a strong reputation in the Python scraping community, particularly among Scrapy users.
Pricing: From $30/mo (entry level), $100/mo (Pro). Pay-as-you-go available.
Pros:
- 100% success rate on Amazon in independent benchmarks
- First-class Scrapy integration middleware
- Anti-scraping protection handled automatically
- Screenshot and PDF rendering endpoints
- Request scheduling built into the platform
Cons:
- Latency is higher than some competitors (17s+ on complex renders)
- Newer company — smaller support team and community than incumbents
- Pricing jumps significantly between tiers
Best for: Scrapy framework users who want a cloud scraping API that integrates natively.
9. Zyte — Best for PAYG / Low Volume
Zyte (formerly Scrapy Cloud) is the company that created the Scrapy framework. Their API offering is solid but benchmarks suggest it underperforms on protected sites.
Pricing: True pay-as-you-go — $0.0002 per simple request, $0.0023 per rendered page. No monthly minimum. Also offers managed plans.
Pros:
- Genuinely the best PAYG model — no monthly minimums, no wasted credits
- Automatic extraction (Zyte AI) attempts structured data extraction without custom parsers
- Open-source Scrapy ecosystem integration is native
- Transparent pricing, easy to estimate costs
Cons:
- 73% success rate on Amazon in benchmarks — below average for protected sites
- Automatic extraction quality is inconsistent on non-standard page layouts
- Less competitive on JS-heavy, anti-bot-protected targets
Best for: Low-volume scraping where you want to pay per request with no subscription commitment.
10. Scrapingdog — Honorable Mention
Scrapingdog is a smaller service with competitive pricing that falls short on reliability.
Pricing: From $40/mo for 100K requests.
Pros:
- Google SERP API included
- LinkedIn scraping API (unofficial, use at your own risk)
- Simple API design
Cons:
- 67% success rate on Amazon in benchmarks — worst of the group
- Documentation is thinner than competitors
- Smaller IP pool means more likely to hit blocks on high-volume jobs
Best for: Casual scraping projects where occasional failures are acceptable, or as a backup API.
My Recommendations
Best overall: ScraperAPI. Consistent 100% success on major e-commerce targets, structured data endpoints save parsing work, and the free tier is generous enough to properly evaluate.
Best budget pick: Scrape.do. For $29/mo you get solid fundamentals, async support, and residential proxies. The 87% success rate is acceptable for most use cases.
Best for protected sites: ZenRows for mid-tier budgets; Bright Data or Oxylabs if budget isn't a constraint and the target requires it.
Best for beginners: ScrapingBee. The documentation is the best in the category, and the screenshot endpoint helps you debug what the browser actually sees.
Best for Scrapy users: Scrapfly. Native integration, 100% Amazon success rate, and built-in scheduling.
Best PAYG: Zyte. Only service with no monthly minimum. Benchmark performance on hard targets is mediocre, but for simple jobs the PAYG model is genuinely useful.
Python Code Example: ScraperAPI
Here's how simple the top pick is to use:
import requests
API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
TARGET_URL = "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G9FPHY6"
response = requests.get(
"http://api.scraperapi.com",
params={
"api_key": API_KEY,
"url": TARGET_URL,
"render": "true", # Enable JS rendering
"country_code": "us", # Geo-target US IPs
}
)
print(response.status_code)
print(response.text[:500])
That's it. No proxy management, no CAPTCHA handling, no user-agent rotation. ScraperAPI handles all of it.
For structured data (no HTML parsing required):
response = requests.get(
"http://api.scraperapi.com/structured/amazon/product",
params={
"api_key": API_KEY,
"url": TARGET_URL,
}
)
product = response.json()
print(product["name"])
print(product["price"])
print(product["rating"])
The Bottom Line
For most developers, the decision tree looks like this:
- Just starting out? Start with ScrapingBee or Scrape.do — low cost to entry, good docs.
- Running production e-commerce scraping? ScraperAPI or Scrapfly — both hit 100% on Amazon.
- Hitting walls on Cloudflare/Akamai? ZenRows for budget, Bright Data for enterprise.
- No monthly budget? Zyte PAYG — you only pay per request.
- Scrapy shop? Scrapfly's middleware integration is hard to beat.
The services you should avoid unless you have a specific reason: Scrapingdog (low success rates), Zyte for anything heavily protected (the benchmark data is clear).
One last honest note: pricing on all of these services changes frequently, and discount codes expire. Before committing to any annual plan, run your actual target URLs through the free tier first. Success rates vary by target, and no benchmark fully captures your specific use case.
Want the Full Playbook?
I wrote a 48-page guide covering everything from rotating proxies to parsing JavaScript-rendered pages to building production-scale scraping pipelines.
The Complete Web Scraping Playbook 2026 — $9
Covers: proxy rotation strategy, anti-bot bypass techniques, async scraping with aiohttp, Scrapy pipelines, storing scraped data, and avoiding legal pitfalls.
Benchmark data referenced from ScrapeOps' independent benchmark suite. Affiliate links marked in each section. Opinions are my own.
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