ScrapingAnt vs ScrapingBee (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, ScrapingAnt grades higher than ScrapingBee: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA
ScrapingAnt grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ScrapingAnt
Web scraping API with headless Chrome, proxies and AI extraction
ScrapingBee
Web scraping API with a Google search endpoint, priced by credits
Which one is for you
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
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
| 2.6GPAScrapingAntGood | 2.4GPAScrapingBeeFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | 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 | 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. | CNo free plan: 1,000 API credits on sign-up with no card, around 70 to 100 Google searches. |
| Features | 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. | 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: 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. | 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 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. | 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 | search pages and the pages they link to | 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: ScrapingAnt and ScrapingBee. How we grade
Price against what you get
ScrapingAnt starts at $19 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.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score for the same starting price. Of the other SERP and SEO data APIs on the chart, 1 scores higher than ScrapingAnt 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
| ScrapingAnt | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $19 per month for 100,000 API credits | $19 per month for 75,000 API credits |
| Free plan | 10,000 API credits every month, with failed requests not charged. No card needed. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 1,000 free API credits on sign-up, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | DATAANT SP. Z O.O. | VostokInc |
| Price read from | scrapingant.com | scrapingbee.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ScrapingAnt or ScrapingBee?
As of Oct 23, 2026, they start at the same price. ScrapingAnt starts at $19 per month for 100,000 API credits, and ScrapingBee starts at $19 per month for 75,000 API credits.
Which has a free plan, ScrapingAnt or ScrapingBee?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only ScrapingAnt 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.