The ScraperAPI Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about ScraperAPI in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
ScraperAPI
The Insider’s Guide
Web scraping API with Google search endpoints, priced in API credits
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among SERP and SEO data APIs, read from ScraperAPI’s own pages.
Made by ScraperAPI · checked Oct 23, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from ScraperAPI’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on ScraperAPI’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 23, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.2
GPA, above 7 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade
ScraperAPI fetches web pages through rotating proxies, renders JavaScript and handles CAPTCHAs, returning HTML, text, Markdown or parsed JSON. Its structured data endpoints cover Google Search, Shopping, Maps, News and Jobs alongside Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Redfin, and an asynchronous API and a no-code DataPipeline handle large batches. Plans are monthly allowances of API credits, and each request costs credits by the site and options used.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about ScraperAPI, taken from its own pages and our grades.
Judged on how fast a developer gets a first result: SDKs, a CLI and ready Google endpoints that need no rendering turned on.
- 1
Best for Google results alongside shop and site scraping
ScraperAPI is a web scraping API with ready-made Google endpoints, rotating proxies and a no-code pipeline for big batches.
- 2
Paid plans start at $44.10 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $44.10 per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly).
- 3
There is a 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.
- 4
It runs on Web
Web.
- 5
Google structured data endpoints
Ready-made endpoints return Google Search, Shopping, Maps, News and Jobs results as JSON, without needing JavaScript rendering turned on.
- 6
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.
- 7
JavaScript rendering and screenshots
Load dynamic pages in a headless browser, follow a rendering instruction set, and capture screenshots of the result.
- 8
A 2.2 GPA, above 7 of 38
That is against the other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace ScraperAPI you would be making search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
ScraperAPI at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $44.10 per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial with 5,000 API credits, no credit card required
- Runs on
- Web
- Made by
- ScraperAPI
- Category
- SERP & SEO Data APIs
- Our grade
- 2.2 GPA, fair
The report card
Best for Google results alongside shop and site scraping
ScraperAPI is a web scraping API with ready-made Google endpoints, rotating proxies and a no-code pipeline for big batches. A Google request costs 25 credits, so the $49 plan covers about 4,000 searches, and checking rankings outside the US and EU needs the $299 Business plan.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | Hobby 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. |
| Free plan and trial | C | A 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. |
| Features | C | Google 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. |
| Ease of use | C | Judged 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. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | Web, 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. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who ScraperAPI is for
- 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
Who it is not for
- 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
Good to know
Good for
- Developers scraping Google alongside e-commerce and other sites on one key
- SEO teams building in-house rank and SERP tools on parsed results
- Large batch jobs that need retries and scheduling
Worth knowing
- 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.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$44.10
A month to start. There is a free plan too
ScraperAPI has a free plan. Paid plans start at $44.10 per month for 100K API credits, billed annually ($49 billed monthly).
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.
The 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.
Trying it first
7-day free trial with 5,000 API credits, no credit card required
Read from scraperapi.com on Oct 23, 2026.
Ways to pay less
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.
Stated on scraperapi.com
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
1
Place it runs: Web
Web scraping API with Google search endpoints, priced in API credits. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: public API, AI features, sERP API.
Google Search, Shopping, Maps, News and Jobs endpoints, Bing, rendering, async jobs and a no-code DataPipeline.
- 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.
Where it runs
- Web
What it works with
- LangChain
- LlamaIndex
- n8n
- Zapier
- MCP
ScraperAPI is made by ScraperAPI.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
7/38
Other SERP and SEO data APIs it is graded above
ScraperAPI's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 7 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 9 of 38) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $44.10 a month, against a middle price of $29.49 for the category: 18 of the 25 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 8 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 39 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, cut by the letter each got. ScraperAPI’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 1 of 38
- CFree plan and trialAbove 2 of 38
- CFeaturesAbove 1 of 38
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 38
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 9 of 38
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 26 SERP and SEO data APIs. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. ScraperAPI is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace ScraperAPI you would be making search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 23 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs grade higher. It costs $529.20 a year.
What you could not
- Search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
- It plugs into other products, LangChain, LlamaIndex and n8n among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. ScraperAPI’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
ScrapingBee, Scrapingdog, ZenRows, Scrapfly and SerpApi
The 5 tools ScraperAPI is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.4GPA
ScrapingBee
Free trial · from $19/mo
Web scraping API with a Google search endpoint, priced by credits.
- ScraperAPI has a free plan. ScrapingBee does not, though it has a free trial.
- 2.4GPA
Scrapingdog
Free trial · from $40/mo
Web scraping and Google SERP APIs on one shared credit plan.
- ScraperAPI has a free plan. Scrapingdog does not, though it has a free trial.
- 2.4GPA
ZenRows
Free plan · from $16/mo
Web scraping API for protected sites, priced by monthly credits.
- 2.4GPA
Scrapfly
Free trial · from $30/mo
Web scraping API with anti-bot unblocking, browsers and AI extraction.
- ScraperAPI has a free plan. Scrapfly does not, though it has a free trial.
- 2.4GPA
SerpApi
Free plan · from $25/mo
Real-time search results API for Google and dozens of other engines.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
15
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is ScraperAPI free?
ScraperAPI has a free plan. Free plan after the trial: 1,000 API credits a month and 5 concurrent threads, no credit card needed.
How much does ScraperAPI cost?
ScraperAPI lists 6 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does ScraperAPI work on?
ScraperAPI is available on Web.
Does ScraperAPI offer any discounts?
ScraperAPI publicly lists the following: 10% off with yearly billing.
Does ScraperAPI have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. ScraperAPI is listed for Web.
Does ScraperAPI have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. ScraperAPI is listed for Web.
Is ScraperAPI open source?
ScraperAPI is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 23, 2026.
Does ScraperAPI have an API?
Yes. ScraperAPI offers a public API, according to its own site.
What does ScraperAPI integrate with?
ScraperAPI's listing names LangChain, LlamaIndex, n8n, Zapier and MCP.
Does ScraperAPI have a free trial?
Yes. 7-day free trial with 5,000 API credits, no credit card required.
Who makes ScraperAPI?
ScraperAPI is made by a company of the same name.
What are the alternatives to ScraperAPI?
The closest alternatives to ScraperAPI in our directory are ScrapingBee, Scrapingdog, ZenRows, Scrapfly and SerpApi.
How does ScraperAPI compare with other SERP and SEO data APIs?
ScraperAPI's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 7 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 8.
Is ScraperAPI good value for money?
ToolGPA grades ScraperAPI C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $44.10 a month, against a middle price of $29.49 for the category: 18 of the 25 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of ScraperAPI?
To replace ScraperAPI you would be making search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from ScraperAPI’s own pages on Oct 23, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 23, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from ScraperAPI's own pages on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by ScraperAPI. Prices change, so check scraperapi.com before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- ScraperAPI, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/scraperapi
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "ScraperAPI: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 23, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/scraperapi
Know someone choosing between SERP and SEO data APIs?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/scraperapi/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded SERP and SEO data APIs after ScraperAPI, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- SERP & SEO Data APIs Insider's GuideEvery one of the 39 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, compared
- Apify Insider's GuideScraping platform with a store of ready-made Actors, Google included2.8 GPA
- DataForSEO Insider's GuidePay-as-you-go APIs for SERP, keyword, backlink and AI mention data2.8 GPA
- Decodo SERP Scraping API Insider's GuideSERP scraping for Google, Bing and more, inside a web data API2.8 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what ScraperAPI’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. ScraperAPI is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by ScraperAPI. Prices and plans change: check scraperapi.com before you buy.