Best Web Scraping API
AlterLab is the best web scraping API for cost, website compatibility, and flexibility. $0.0002/request starting price with no monthly subscription. Balance never expires. 5-tier smart routing optimizes cost per URL.
Disclosure: This comparison was created by AlterLab. We are a vendor in this comparison and have a commercial interest in how AlterLab is ranked. Competitor data is sourced from publicly available pricing pages and our own internal benchmark testing as of 2026-07-21 — it has not been independently verified.
Complete Feature Comparison
See how AlterLab compares to ScraperAPI, Firecrawl, ScrapingBee, Bright Data, ZenRows, Crawlbase, and Zyte on pricing and capabilities
Why Teams Switch to AlterLab
Smart routing, no subscriptions, balance that never expires
| Feature | AlterLab You are here | ScraperAPI | Bright Data | Firecrawl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Avg cost (real workload) Smart routing vs flat rate | ~$0.001 | $0.00049/credit | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
Simple scrape Basic HTTP request | $0.0002 | $0.00049 | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
JS rendering Full browser render | $0.004 | $0.0049 | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
Free tier Free requests to start | Up to 5,000 scrapes | 5,000 credits | None | 500 scrapes |
Minimum Smallest purchase | $10 one-time | $49/month | $0 (PAYG) / $499/mo (subscription) | $19/month |
Balance expires? Does unused balance expire | Never | Monthly | Never (prepaid) / Monthly (subscription) | Monthly |
CAPTCHA solving Built-in CAPTCHA bypass | $0.02/solve | Extra cost | Extra cost | Not available |
Avg cost based on typical content/SEO workload (75% simple, 25% protected). Competitor prices from public pricing pages, March 2026.
Real Cost Per 100K Requests
Headline pricing is misleading. Here is what you would actually pay for 100,000 requests with a typical workload (75% simple, 15% JS-rendered, 10% protected)
Based on 100K requests with typical workload (75% simple, 15% JS-rendered, 10% bot-protected). Prices from published rates, March 2026.
AlterLab's smart routing means simple pages cost $0.0002 each, while competitors charge the same flat rate regardless of difficulty. See the full pricing breakdown
See how AlterLab compares on your workload
Detailed API Reviews
In-depth analysis of each provider's pricing, website compatibility, and ideal use cases
Best Overall Value
5-tier smart routing automatically matches each request to the cheapest tier. Pay-as-you-go from $0.0002/request, no subscription, balance never expires.
Established Player
One of the oldest scraping APIs (since 2018). Subscription-based with credit multipliers for JS rendering and geotargeting.
Best for LLM Pipelines
Purpose-built for feeding data into LLMs. Turns web pages into clean markdown with single-page and full-site crawling.
Good JS Rendering
Specializes in JavaScript rendering with real Chrome browsers. Credit system where JS rendering costs 5 credits per request.
Enterprise-Grade Infrastructure
Largest proxy network (72M+ residential IPs). Powerful but complex scraping capabilities with enterprise-grade infrastructure.
Website Compatibility Specialist
Focuses on handling website protections. Handles JS rendering, proxy rotation, and challenge resolution in a single request.
Simple Scraping & Crawling
Straightforward scraping API with individual page and bulk site crawling. Pay-as-you-go, no subscription required.
Scrapy Integration & Auto-Extract
Built by the Scrapy team. Offers smart browser rendering, automatic data extraction, and deep Scrapy integration.
AlterLab is 80-95% cheaper for mixed workloads. Try it free.
How Smart Routing Reduces Costs
Most APIs charge a flat rate per request. AlterLab starts at the cheapest tier and only escalates if the simpler method fails.
In practice, 60-80% of requests resolve at Tier 1 or 2, keeping the average cost well below $0.001 per request. Learn more about automatic compatibility
Simple API, Powerful Results
Get started in minutes with our intuitive API. One request gives you structured data, screenshots, PDFs, and more. No browser management, no infrastructure headaches.
Multi-Format Output
Markdown, JSON, HTML, text
Adaptive Rendering
JS, SPAs, shadow DOM
3 Lines to Integrate
Any language, any stack
Up to 5,000 free scrapes included. No credit card required.
What to Look For in a Web Scraping API
The four dimensions that matter most for production workloads
Complete Pricing Transparency
See real costs, hidden fees, and total expenses for each API.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Compare JS rendering, website compatibility, challenge resolution, and more.
Use Case Recommendations
Find the best API for your specific scraping needs and budget.
Interactive Cost Calculator
Calculate actual costs based on your monthly volume.
Which API Should You Choose?
For SEO and Content Monitoring
If you are tracking search rankings or aggregating content, most targets are simple pages. AlterLab is the clear winner — Tier 1 at $0.0002/request means 50,000 pages for $10 with credits that never expire.
For E-Commerce Price Monitoring
E-commerce sites use JavaScript rendering and advanced protection. AlterLab and Bright Data are strongest here. AlterLab costs significantly less for mixed workloads ($95 vs $150 at PAYG rates for 100K requests).
For AI/ML Data Pipelines
Firecrawl excels at markdown output but is expensive and has limited website compatibility. AlterLab offers multiple output formats (HTML, text, markdown, JSON) with full JavaScript rendering at lower cost.
For Small Projects
AlterLab offers 5,000 free scrapes with a $10 minimum after that — no subscription. Firecrawl offers 500 free monthly credits. ScraperAPI gives 5,000 free credits but then jumps to $49/month.
For Enterprise at Scale
At 10M+ requests/month, Bright Data's volume discounts and massive IP pool become more compelling. AlterLab's smart routing still provides better economics for mixed workloads.
Key Takeaways: Best Web Scraping API in 2026
- Best overall value: AlterLab — smart routing makes it 80-95% cheaper for mixed workloads. No subscriptions, balance never expires.
- Best for enterprises: Bright Data — largest proxy network (72M IPs), dedicated account managers, and volume discounts.
- Best website compatibility specialist: ZenRows — focused exclusively with 93%+ success rate. Good choice if all your targets are protected.
- Best for LLM pipelines: Firecrawl — built-in markdown extraction for AI/ML use cases. Limited website compatibility.
- Most established: ScraperAPI — proven track record since 2018. Higher costs and weaker compatibility than newer alternatives.
- Best for Scrapy users: Zyte — built by the Scrapy team with deep framework integration.
- Best JS rendering: AlterLab and ScrapingBee — both use real Playwright browsers. AlterLab is 5x cheaper.
- Simplest PAYG option: Crawlbase — no subscription, pay per request. Limited compatibility compared to AlterLab and Bright Data.
For most teams, AlterLab offers the best combination of cost, capability, and developer experience. Start with the to test against your specific use case.
Testing Methodology
We (AlterLab) evaluated each API across four dimensions: cost efficiency, success rate, latency, and developer experience. All tests were conducted from a single US-East server over a 7-day period using each provider's recommended configuration. Results reflect our internal testing and have not been independently verified. See our documentation for more details on testing methodology.
Developer Experience Comparison
Time to First Request
AlterLab and Firecrawl offer the fastest onboarding — make your first request within 2 minutes. Both have a single-endpoint API. ScraperAPI is similarly simple. Bright Data has the steepest learning curve.
SDK and Language Support
All providers offer Python SDKs. AlterLab additionally provides Node.js SDK, MCP server for AI agents, and an n8n node. Bright Data has the widest SDK support across 8+ languages.
Documentation Quality
ScraperAPI has the most extensive documentation. AlterLab's documentation is concise and example-heavy. Bright Data's docs are comprehensive but overwhelming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Head-to-Head Comparisons
See detailed breakdowns of how AlterLab compares to each competitor on pricing, features, and success rates.
AlterLab vs ScraperAPI
Pay-as-you-go from $0.0002 vs $49/month subscription. No credit expiry, 5-tier smart routing.
AlterLab vs Firecrawl
Pay-as-you-go vs expiring monthly credits. Automatic website compatibility included.
AlterLab vs ScrapingBee
Same price for every URL — no 75x credit multipliers for hard sites.
AlterLab vs Bright Data
Simple API vs complex enterprise tooling. One endpoint, no learning curve.
AlterLab vs Apify
Simple API vs complex platform. No actors, no SDK required.
AlterLab vs ZenRows
Smart routing vs flat-rate pricing. Lower cost for mixed workloads.
AlterLab vs Crawlbase
Stronger website compatibility and cheaper JS rendering at every volume.
AlterLab vs Zyte
One simple API vs fragmented product suite. No Scrapy lock-in.
Need detailed pricing? See full pricing breakdown
Scraping Guides
Best Web Scraping APIs in 2026
In-depth comparison of top APIs by cost, features, and success rates.
Build an n8n Scraping Pipeline
No-code scraping pipelines with n8n and AlterLab.
Scraping Pipelines for AI Agents
Optimize web data pipelines for LLM consumption.
Python Web Scraping API
Official Python SDK with async support and 5,000 free scrapes.
Start scraping
in 2 minutes
5,000 free requests. No credit card. Balance never expires.
No credit card required · $0.0002/request · Pay only for success