ScraperAPI vs ScrapingBee (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, ScrapingBee grades higher than ScraperAPI: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
ScrapingBee grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ScraperAPI
Web scraping API with Google search endpoints, priced in API credits
ScrapingBee
Web scraping API with a Google search endpoint, priced by credits
Which one is for you
Pick ScraperAPI if
- Fits if you scrape Google alongside Amazon, Walmart or eBay on one key
- Works for large batches that need retries and scheduling, through the async API or DataPipeline
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: a Google or Bing request costs 25 credits, so Hobby's 100,000 credits is about 4,000 searches
- Skip it if you need rankings outside the US and EU below Business at $269.10 a month
- Pricey if you need rendering, premium proxies or screenshots, which add 10 credits each
- Tight if you run out mid-month, as credits don't roll over and pay-as-you-go starts at Scaling, $427.50
- Tight if you're on Free, with 1,000 credits a month, about 40 Google searches
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
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAScraperAPIFair | 2.4GPAScrapingBeeFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CHobby is $44.10 a month on yearly billing ($49 monthly), at the dear end of this category's usual range. A Google or Bing request is 25 credits, so 100,000 credits is about 4,000 searches, around $11 per 1,000. | BHobby is $19 a month for 75,000 credits, inside this category's cheaper quarter. A Google search costs 10 to 15 credits, so that's 5,000 to 7,500 searches, about $2.50 to $3.80 per 1,000. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 7-day trial of 5,000 credits with no card, then a free plan of 1,000 credits a month. At 25 credits a search, that's 40 Google searches. | CNo free plan: 1,000 API credits on sign-up with no card, around 70 to 100 Google searches. |
| Features | CGoogle Search, Shopping, Maps, News and Jobs endpoints, Bing, rendering, async jobs and a no-code DataPipeline. The gap is in the listing: Hobby and Startup geotarget only the US and EU, and country targeting starts at Business, $269.10. | CHeadless Chrome, rotating proxies in more than 200 countries, CSS and AI extraction, and endpoints for Amazon, YouTube, ChatGPT and Gemini. For search data, though, Google is the only engine it lists. |
| Ease of use | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: SDKs, a CLI and ready Google endpoints that need no rendering turned on. No rating on record, and credit costs stack up by site and option. | CJudged on how fast a developer gets a first result: Python and Node.js SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server. No rating on record, and what a request costs changes with its options, with JavaScript rendering on by default. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with an API, SDKs, a CLI and an MCP server, plus LangChain, LlamaIndex, n8n and Zapier. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. | BWeb, with an API, a CLI, SDKs and an MCP server, plus Make, n8n, Zapier and coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. No desktop or phone app, so B is the top. |
| Best for | Google results alongside shop and site scraping | scraping pages and Google results on one key |
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: ScraperAPI and ScrapingBee. How we grade
Price against what you get
ScraperAPI starts at $44.10 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ScrapingBee starts at $19 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and ScrapingBee starts $25.10 a month lower. Of the other SERP and SEO data APIs on the chart, 8 score higher than ScraperAPI for less, and 1 scores higher than ScrapingBee 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
| ScraperAPI | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $44.10 per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly) | $19 per month for 75,000 API credits |
| Free plan | Free plan after the trial: 1,000 API credits a month and 5 concurrent threads, no credit card needed. A Google or Bing request costs 25 credits. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial with 5,000 API credits, no credit card required | 1,000 free API credits on sign-up, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | ScraperAPI | VostokInc |
| Price read from | scraperapi.com | scrapingbee.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
ScraperAPI
- A Google or Bing request costs 25 credits, so Hobby's 100,000 credits cover about 4,000 Google searches.
- JavaScript rendering, premium proxies and screenshots each add 10 credits, and bypassing bot protection adds 10 more.
- Credits reset each billing cycle with no rollover; pay-as-you-go past the allowance starts at the Scaling plan.
- Hobby and Startup can only geotarget the US and EU; country-level targeting starts at Business.
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.
Key features
ScraperAPI
- Google structured data endpoints
- Ready-made endpoints return Google Search, Shopping, Maps, News and Jobs results as JSON, without needing JavaScript rendering turned on.
- Proxy rotation and anti-bot handling
- Rotating proxy pools, premium residential and mobile IPs, CAPTCHA handling and automatic retries, with geotargeting by country on Business and up.
- JavaScript rendering and screenshots
- Load dynamic pages in a headless browser, follow a rendering instruction set, and capture screenshots of the result.
- Asynchronous API and DataPipeline
- Submit up to 50,000 jobs that retry until they succeed, or schedule large scraping jobs in DataPipeline without writing code.
- AI Parser and LLM-ready output
- Train a custom parser to get clean JSON from any source, or ask for pages as text or Markdown for language model pipelines.
- MCP server and integrations
- An MCP server, a CLI and SDKs, with LangChain, LlamaIndex, n8n and Zapier integrations.
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.
Plans
ScraperAPI
Free$0
1,000 API credits a month and 5 concurrent threads, to keep scraping after the trial ends.
Hobby$44.10
per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
20 concurrent threads, geotargeting in the US and EU only, and 30 days of analytics history.
Startup$134.10
per month for 1M API credits, billed annually ($149 billed monthly)
50 concurrent threads, with US and EU geotargeting only.
Business$269.10
per month for 3M API credits, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
100 concurrent threads, country-level geotargeting worldwide and unlimited analytics history.
Scaling$427.50
per month for 5M API credits, billed annually ($475 billed monthly)
200 concurrent threads, and the first plan with pay-as-you-go credits past the monthly allowance.
Professional$877.50
per month for 10.5M API credits, billed annually ($975 billed monthly)
300 threads and priority support. Advanced is $1,777.50 a month billed annually for 21.5M credits; Enterprise is custom above 22M.
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.
Ways to pay less
ScraperAPI
- Annual discount
10% off with yearly billing
ScraperAPI's pricing page lists 10% off every self-serve plan when billed yearly: Hobby is $44.10 a month instead of $49.
ScrapingBee
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ScraperAPI or ScrapingBee?
As of Oct 23, 2026, ScrapingBee is cheaper to start with: $19 a month, against $44.10 a month for ScraperAPI. ScraperAPI starts at $44.10 per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly), and ScrapingBee starts at $19 per month for 75,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, ScraperAPI or ScrapingBee?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only ScraperAPI has a free plan. ScrapingBee 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.