Apify vs ScrapingBee (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Apify if

• Fits if you'd rather run a ready-made Google or Maps scraper than write one
• Works for developers who want their own scrapers hosted, scheduled and monitored

Look elsewhere if

• Watch out: each store Actor sets its own price, usually per result or per event, so two jobs that look alike can cost different amounts
• Tight if you're on Free, where Actors stop once the month's $5 of usage is spent
• Watch out: prepaid usage you don't spend expires each billing cycle, and use beyond it lands on the next invoice
• Pricey if you need residential proxies at $7 to $8 per GB or Google SERP proxies at $1.70 to $2.50 per 1,000 searches
• Pricey if you outgrow Starter, since the next plan is Scale at $199 a month

Pick ScrapingBee if

• Fits if you need to scrape the pages behind the results as well as Google itself
• Works for feeding web pages to AI agents as Markdown or JSON

Look elsewhere if

• Watch out: JavaScript rendering is on by default and makes a request cost 5 credits instead of 1
• Watch out: a Google search costs 10 to 15 credits, so Hobby's 75,000 credits is 5,000 to 7,500 searches
• Skip it if you need Bing or other engines, as Google is the only search engine it lists
• Tight if your usage swings, since credits last a month and don't roll over
• Pricey if you need priority support or team management, which start at $249 a month

Apify

• Store Actors set their own prices, so the cost of a job depends on which Actor runs it and how many results it returns.
• Use beyond a paid plan's prepaid amount is added to the next invoice; on the free plan, Actors stop until the next month.
• Prepaid usage that is not spent expires at the end of each billing cycle.
• Residential proxies cost $7 to $8 per GB and Google SERP proxies $1.70 to $2.50 per 1,000 searches, depending on plan.

ScrapingBee

• A request costs 1 credit at its simplest, 5 with JavaScript rendering (on by default), and 10 or 25 with premium proxies.
• A Google search costs 10 credits with Light Request enabled and 15 otherwise.
• Credits last one month and do not roll over; only successful requests are charged.
• Priority support, an account manager and team management start at the $249 Business plan.

Apify

Apify Store

Nearly 97,000 ready-made Actors for sites such as Google, Google Maps, TikTok and Instagram. Each sets its own price, usually per result or per event.

Google Search Results Scraper

Apify's own Actor returns organic and paid results, People Also Ask, related queries, AI Overviews and AI Mode by country and language, from $1.80 per 1,000 pages.

Build and host your own Actors

Start from Python, JavaScript or TypeScript templates, use the open-source Crawlee library, and run, schedule and monitor the Actors on Apify.

Proxies and unblocking

Datacenter and residential proxies, Google SERP proxies priced per 1,000 searches, and an unblocker billed per 1,000 requests.

API, CLI, webhooks and MCP

Run Actors and fetch results over a REST API or CLI, get webhooks when runs finish, chain Actors together, or call them from AI agents through an MCP server.

Automation integrations

Connectors for Make, n8n, Zapier and other automation tools, and setups for coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and OpenAI Codex.

ScrapingBee

Headless browser rendering

Pages load in headless Chrome, with waits for selectors, set viewports and headers, and scripted clicks, scrolls and form fills before the scrape.

Proxy rotation and geotargeting

Proxies rotate on every request, with premium and stealth proxies for harder sites and routing through more than 200 countries and territories.

Google Search API

A dedicated endpoint returns Google results as JSON, with organic results, ads, local results, related questions and related searches.

AI and rule-based extraction

Pull fields out with CSS or XPath rules, describe them in plain language with an AI query, or get any page back as clean Markdown.

Ready-made scraper APIs

Separate endpoints for Amazon, Walmart, YouTube, ChatGPT and Gemini answers, a sub-second search API and an employee search API.

CLI, MCP server and SDKs

A command-line tool, an MCP server and Python and Node.js SDKs connect the API to coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.

Apify

• Free$0

  $5 of usage a month at $0.20 per compute unit, 16 GB of Actor memory and 5 concurrent runs. Stops when the $5 is spent.

• Starter$19

  per month, billed monthly, with $19 of usage included

  $0.20 per compute unit, 64 GB of Actor memory, 32 concurrent runs, chat support and the Bronze Store discount. Extra usage is billed.

• Scale$199

  per month, billed monthly, with $199 of usage included

  $0.16 per compute unit, 256 GB of memory, 128 concurrent runs, priority chat support, the Silver Store discount and lower proxy rates.

• Business$999

  per month, billed monthly, with $999 of usage included

  $0.13 per compute unit, 512 GB of memory, 256 concurrent runs, an account manager and the Gold Store discount.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom scraping solutions, pricing and limits, with SLAs on data and a dedicated team. Through sales.

ScrapingBee

• Hobby$19

  per month for 75,000 API credits

  25 concurrent requests, with JavaScript rendering, premium proxies, geotargeting, screenshots and the dedicated scraper APIs included.

• Freelance$49

  per month for 250,000 API credits

  50 concurrent requests and the same features as Hobby.

• Startup$99

  per month for 1,000,000 API credits

  100 concurrent requests and the same features as Hobby.

• Business$249

  per month for 3,000,000 API credits

  200 concurrent requests, and adds priority email support, a dedicated account manager and team management.

• Business +$599

  per month for 8,000,000 API credits

  400 concurrent requests with everything in Business.

• Enterprise 14$999

  per month for 14,000,000 API credits

  500 concurrent requests. Larger Enterprise tiers run up to $5,799 a month for 120 million credits and 900 concurrent requests.

Apify

• Annual discount

  Save 10% with annual billing

  Apify's pricing page shows a 10% discount for billing annually instead of monthly.

• Education

  30% off Starter and Scale for students

  Apify's pricing FAQ says students are eligible for 30% off the Starter and Scale plans.

• Nonprofit

  Personalized discount for nonprofits

  Apify's pricing FAQ says nonprofit organizations can get a personalized discount on paid plans.

• Startups

  30% off the Scale plan for startups

  Apify's pricing FAQ offers startups a 30% discount on the Scale plan.

ScrapingBee

No public discounts listed.