ScrapingAnt review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Web scraping API with headless Chrome, proxies and AI extraction
ScrapingAnt report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 24, 2026
Best for search pages and the pages they link to
ScrapingAnt loads each page in a fresh headless Chrome with rotating proxies and returns HTML, Markdown or AI-extracted fields, and it reads Google, Bing, Yandex and DuckDuckGo result pages through the same endpoint. Search pages come back as raw HTML, though: JSON means paying extra for the AI extractor, and unused credits don't carry over.
Who ScrapingAnt is for
- 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
Who ScrapingAnt is not for
- 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
Why ScrapingAnt gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for moneyEnthusiast 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.
- BFree plan and trialA 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.
- CFeaturesHeadless 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.
- CEase of useJudged 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.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, 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.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from ScrapingAnt's own pages on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/scrapingant#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/scrapingant.svg" alt="ScrapingAnt: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where ScrapingAnt stands among SERP and SEO data APIs
ScrapingAnt's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 31 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, and level with 3.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 35 of 38) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $19 a month, against a middle price of $29.49 for the category: 3 of the 25 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 39 SERP and SEO data APIs we grade, cut by the letter each got. ScrapingAnt’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 21 of 38, level with 13
- BFree plan and trialAbove 35 of 38, level with 3
- CFeaturesAbove 1 of 38, level with 24
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 38, level with 36
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 9 of 38, level with 29
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 26 SERP and SEO data APIs. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep ScrapingAnt, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace ScrapingAnt 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.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 31 of the 38 other SERP and SEO data APIs we grade. It costs $228 a year.
What you could not
- Search results fetched at scale from many countries without being blocked.
- It plugs into other products, n8n, Make and Claude Code among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. ScrapingAnt’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.
What is ScrapingAnt?
ScrapingAnt is a web scraping API that loads each page in a fresh headless Chrome with rotating proxies and returns its HTML, clean Markdown or fields pulled out by a plain-language AI extractor. It reads Google, Bing, Yandex and DuckDuckGo result pages through the same endpoint, and the pages they link to, on one credit pool. Plans are monthly credit allowances with no cap on parallel requests.
Worth knowing
- 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
- 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.
ScrapingAnt pricing
As of Oct 23, 2026, ScrapingAnt has a free plan, and paid plans start at $19 per month for 100,000 API credits.
- Starts at
- $19 per month for 100,000 API credits
- Free plan
- 10,000 API credits every month, with failed requests not charged. No card needed.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 API credits a month, enough for about 1,000 Google result pages at 10 credits each. |
| Enthusiast | $19per month for 100,000 API credits | Email support and documentation for integration help. |
| Startup | $49per month for 500,000 API credits | Priority email support and custom code snippets. |
| Business | $249per month for 3,000,000 API credits | Priority email support, debug sessions and expert assistance. |
| Business Pro | $599per month for 8,000,000 API credits | Priority debug sessions, custom proxy pools and custom anti-bot handling. |
| Custom | $699per month and up for 10M+ API credits | Priority and dedicated support, full onboarding and a dedicated account manager. Through sales. |
Read from scrapingant.com on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with ScrapingAnt before you buy.
Works with
- n8n
- Make
- Claude Code
- Cursor
- Windsurf
- GitHub Actions
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Common questions
Does ScrapingAnt have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. ScrapingAnt is listed for Web.
Does ScrapingAnt have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. ScrapingAnt is listed for Web.
Is ScrapingAnt open source?
ScrapingAnt is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 23, 2026.
Does ScrapingAnt have an API?
Yes. ScrapingAnt offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026.