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ScrapingBee vs ScraperAPI
ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI are both credit-based scraping APIs aimed at developers. ScrapingBee leans toward a clean, well-documented experience with more entry-level credits and an MCP server. ScraperAPI leans toward high-volume reliability with automatic CAPTCHA solving and no geotargeting surcharge at the lower tiers.
Key differences.
Cost, side by side.
| Pricing model | ScrapingBee | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 credits | 1,000 credits (plus a 7-day 5,000-credit trial) |
| Entry | $49/mo (250K credits) | $49/mo (100K credits) |
| Mid | $99/mo (1M credits) | $149/mo (volume varies) |
| Business | $249/mo (3M credits) | $299/mo (volume varies) |
Both charge in credits, and JS rendering, residential proxies and geotargeting consume extra credits on each side. ScraperAPI offers roughly 10% off on annual billing. Compare on your real workload, since headline credit counts do not reflect per-request multipliers.
Feature by feature.
| Feature | ScrapingBee | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript rendering | Yes | Yes |
| Residential proxies | Yes | Yes |
| Geotargeting | Yes (extra credits) | Yes (country level; broad geo gated to higher tiers) |
| CAPTCHA solving | Not advertised | Yes (automatic) |
| Google SERP API | Yes | Yes (structured data endpoints) |
| Article / content extraction | Yes | Partial |
| AI extraction | Yes | Partial |
| Screenshots | Yes | Yes |
| PDF output | No | No |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Interactive playground | Partial | No |
| Per-success billing | Yes | Yes |
An honest look at each.
- More credits at the entry tier (250K vs 100K) for the same price
- Built-in article and AI extraction
- Google SERP API and screenshots included
- Ships an MCP server for agent workflows
- Well-regarded documentation
- No advertised CAPTCHA solving
- No PDF output
- Credit pricing makes JS and premium requests expensive at scale
- Geotargeting consumes extra credits
- Automatic CAPTCHA solving included
- High-volume reliability focus with a large proxy pool
- Structured Google SERP data endpoints
- Per-success billing on all plans
- Fewer credits at the entry tier (100K)
- No MCP server
- Broad geotargeting is gated to higher tiers
- Credit costs multiply for JS rendering and geotargeting
We do our best to keep this comparison accurate and up-to-date. If you notice any discrepancies, please let us know.
Our take: ScrapingBee for developer experience, ScraperAPI for hard targets at volume
Both tools cover the same core ground. ScrapingBee is the smoother developer experience, with more entry-level credits, built-in extraction and an MCP server. ScraperAPI is built around high-volume reliability and adds automatic CAPTCHA solving, which ScrapingBee does not advertise. If your targets are protected by CAPTCHAs and you run large volumes, ScraperAPI has the edge. If you want a clean, well-documented API with extraction built in, ScrapingBee fits better. Neither generates PDFs.