ScrapeOwl vs ScrapingAnt (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ScrapingAnt grades higher than ScrapeOwl: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 24, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
ScrapingAnt grades higher on value for money, the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ScrapeOwl
Web scraping API with residential proxies and JS rendering
ScrapingAnt
Web scraping API with headless Chrome, proxies and AI extraction
Which one is for you
Pick ScrapeOwl if
- Fits if you need residential proxies and geo-targeting in a scraper
- Works for people who want to hook scraping to Zapier
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: only the 1,000 sign-up credits
- Watch out: the page does not say how many credits each request costs
- Watch out: Bootstrap has a best-effort SLA, and a guaranteed one starts at Startup, $99
- Skip it if you want site templates, because it is a general scraper
Pick ScrapingAnt if
- Fits if you need the search results page and the pages it links to on one key
- Works for jobs that send many requests at once, since no plan caps concurrency
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: search pages come back as HTML, and JSON through the AI extractor costs 1 more credit per 30 characters read and written
- Watch out: other pages cost 1 to 125 credits, with residential proxies and rendering the dearest
- Tight if your usage swings, since unused credits don't carry over to the next month
- Pricey if you need standalone proxies, which are billed by GB on top of API credits
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAScrapeOwlFair | 2.6GPAScrapingAntGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$29 a month for 250,000 credits, in the middle of this category ($19 to $44.10). The credit cost per request is not on the page. | BEnthusiast is $19 a month for 100,000 credits, on the line of this category's cheaper quarter. A Google request is 10 credits, so that's 10,000 result pages, $1.90 per 1,000, before any AI extraction. |
| Free plan and trial | C1,000 credits on sign-up with no card, but it is not stated whether they renew. | BA free plan for good: 10,000 credits every month with no card, about 1,000 Google result pages, and failed requests aren't charged. A side project could run on that. |
| Features | CElement extraction, residential proxies, geo-targeting, rendering and captcha avoidance. Each option is a separate request setting, so the real cost is unclear. | CHeadless Chrome, rotating proxies in 100+ countries, Markdown output and plain-English AI extraction, with Google, Bing, Yandex and DuckDuckGo pages on one key. The gap is in the listing: search pages come back as HTML, and JSON needs the AI extractor at extra credits. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. An API key and parameters to learn, though Zapier and Parabola help. | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: one endpoint, no concurrency cap and an MCP server. No rating on record, and requests range from 1 to 125 credits by browser and proxy choice. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with Zapier, Parabola, Integromat and Postman as the named connections. | BWeb, with an API and an MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf, plus n8n, Make and GitHub Actions. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | scraping with residential proxies | search pages and the pages they link to |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: ScrapeOwl and ScrapingAnt. How we grade
Price against what you get
ScrapeOwl starts at $29 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ScrapingAnt starts at $19 a month and scores 2.3.
ScrapingAnt scores higher and starts $10 a month lower. Of the other SERP and SEO data APIs on the chart, 11 score higher than ScrapeOwl for less, and 2 score higher than ScrapingAnt for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| ScrapeOwl | ScrapingAnt | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29 per month for 250,000 credits | $19 per month for 100,000 API credits |
| Free plan | None | 10,000 API credits every month, with failed requests not charged. No card needed. |
| Free trial | 1,000 free credits on sign-up, no credit card required. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | ScrapeOwl | DATAANT SP. Z O.O. |
| Price read from | scrapeowl.com | scrapingant.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
ScrapeOwl
- The pricing page does not say how many credits a request costs; options such as JS rendering and residential proxies are separate request parameters.
- Only the 1,000 sign-up credits are free, and the site does not say whether they renew.
- The Bootstrap plan has a best-effort SLA; a guaranteed SLA begins at Startup.
- Pages show a 2025 copyright date, so check that the service is current before committing.
ScrapingAnt
- Google requests cost 10 credits each; other pages cost 1 to 125 credits by browser and proxy choice, with residential proxies and JavaScript rendering the most.
- Search pages come back as HTML by default; JSON needs the AI extractor, which adds 1 credit per 30 characters read and written.
- Unused credits do not carry over; a plan that runs out mid-month can be restarted at once by paying again.
- Standalone residential and datacenter proxies are billed by GB, separately from API credits.
Key features
ScrapeOwl
- Element extraction
- A request can name the elements to return, so no HTML parsing is needed; leaving the field empty returns the full page.
- Residential proxies and geo-targeting
- A premium_proxies option uses residential IPs, and a country can be set for localized results such as Amazon.fr and Amazon.ae.
- JavaScript rendering
- A render_js option runs Chrome instances, with optional custom JavaScript injected and screenshots for debugging.
- Captcha avoidance
- The homepage says requests avoid triggering captchas from Cloudflare, hCaptcha and Google reCAPTCHA.
- No-code connectors
- Requests can also be sent from Integromat, Parabola, Zapier and Postman as well as from cURL, Python, Ruby and Node.
ScrapingAnt
- Headless Chrome rendering
- Each request runs in a fresh Chrome instance, with custom JavaScript snippets, waits for a CSS selector, and custom cookies and headers.
- Rotating proxies
- Datacenter and residential proxies across 100+ countries rotate per request, with geo-targeting by country code and CAPTCHA and Cloudflare handling.
- Search result pages
- Send a Google, Bing, Yandex or DuckDuckGo results address to the same endpoint to get the page back, then scrape the result pages on the same key.
- Markdown and AI extraction
- Get any page as LLM-ready Markdown, or describe fields in plain English and receive JSON, billed by the characters read and written.
- No concurrency cap
- Every plan can send requests in parallel without queues or throttling; ScrapingAnt allocates browsers and proxies per request.
- MCP server
- Adds tools for page HTML, Markdown and text to Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf and other MCP clients, drawing on the plan's credits.
Plans
ScrapeOwl
Bootstrap$29
per month for 250,000 credits
10 threads, best-effort SLA and basic support with a response within 24 hours.
Startup$99
per month for 1M credits
25 threads, a guaranteed SLA and priority support with a response within 8 hours.
Business$249
per month for 3M credits
50 threads, a guaranteed SLA and priority support with a response within 8 hours.
ScrapingAnt
Free$0
10,000 API credits a month, enough for about 1,000 Google result pages at 10 credits each.
Enthusiast$19
per month for 100,000 API credits
Email support and documentation for integration help.
Startup$49
per month for 500,000 API credits
Priority email support and custom code snippets.
Business$249
per month for 3,000,000 API credits
Priority email support, debug sessions and expert assistance.
Business Pro$599
per month for 8,000,000 API credits
Priority debug sessions, custom proxy pools and custom anti-bot handling.
Custom$699
per month and up for 10M+ API credits
Priority and dedicated support, full onboarding and a dedicated account manager. Through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ScrapeOwl or ScrapingAnt?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ScrapingAnt is cheaper to start with: $19 a month, against $29 a month for ScrapeOwl. ScrapeOwl starts at $29 per month for 250,000 credits, and ScrapingAnt starts at $19 per month for 100,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, ScrapeOwl or ScrapingAnt?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only ScrapingAnt has a free plan. ScrapeOwl does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.