```yaml
product: AlterLab
title: "AlterLab | Web Scraping API — Scrape Any Website, Get Clean Data"
comparison_context: "AlterLab is an alternative to Firecrawl, ScrapingBee, and Bright Data."
source_url: https://alterlab.io
```

Trusted by developers worldwide

# Transform the Web Into Data

AlterLab turns any URL into clean data: markdown, structured JSON, or plain text. JavaScript rendering and automatic website compatibility handle the hard parts. 
Ship your data pipeline in minutes.

Live

api.alterlab.io/v1/scrape

POST

$

[Start building free](https://alterlab.io/signin)[Documentation](https://alterlab.io/docs)

99.9% uptime

195+ proxy countries

No credit card

From $0.0002/request

<2s

Avg Latency

LLM-Ready

Structured Output

Up to 5,000 free requests

about 5,000 Light, 500 Protected or 250 Dynamic requests

New accounts: double your first deposit within 48h of signing up.

Developer Experience

## 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

RequestTab to switch

```
​
```

Response

200 OK·1.2s

```
​
```

Up to 5,000 free requests included — about 5,000 Light, 500 Protected or 250 Dynamic requests. No credit card required.

## AlterLab vs Building Your Own

Why teams choose an API over maintaining a custom scraping stack.

| Factor | AlterLab | Playwright / Puppeteer (DIY) | Scrapy (Open-Source) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Time to first scrape | < 5 minutes | Hours — install, configure, debug | Hours — spiders, pipelines, settings |
| Website compatibility | ✓ Included — automatic tier escalation | ✗ Manual fingerprint management | ✗ Blocked by most modern sites |
| JavaScript rendering | ✓ Included from $0.004/request | ✓ Built-in, but you manage infra | Requires Scrapy-Splash or Playwright plugin |
| Cost per 1,000 requests | From $0.20 (pay-as-you-go) | $5–$50 server + engineering time | Near-zero tool cost, high engineering cost |
| Proxy coverage | 195+ countries, residential + datacenter | Separate proxy service required ($$$) | Separate proxy service required ($$$) |
| Ongoing maintenance | ✓ Zero — managed infrastructure | High — site changes break selectors regularly | High — spider maintenance + server ops |
| Uptime SLA | 99.9% target | Your responsibility | Your responsibility |

## Quick Answers

Direct answers to the most common questions about AlterLab.

### Is AlterLab free?

Yes. Every new AlterLab account gets up to 5,000 free requests at signup — about 5,000 Light, 500 Protected or 250 Dynamic requests, no credit card required. After that, you pay only for successful requests starting at $0.0002 per page. There is no monthly subscription and your balance never expires.

### Does AlterLab work with Python?

Yes. AlterLab provides an official Python SDK installable with pip install alterlab. It supports async/await, batch scraping, and automatic tier selection. You can also call the REST API directly from any Python HTTP library using your API key in the X-API-Key header.

### How does AlterLab handle Cloudflare-protected sites?

AlterLab's Protected tier ($0.002/request) handles Cloudflare Bot Management, TLS fingerprinting checks, and JavaScript challenges automatically. The Fortress tier ($0.02/request) resolves interactive challenges. No manual configuration is required.

### Does AlterLab handle JavaScript rendering?

Yes. AlterLab's Dynamic tier ($0.004/request) launches a full Chromium browser, executes JavaScript, waits for React, Vue, and Angular SPAs to load, then returns the final HTML. Set render_js: 'auto' in your request to enable it.

### How much does AlterLab cost?

AlterLab pricing: $0.0002/request (static HTML), $0.0003/request (TLS fingerprinting), $0.002/request (anti-bot protection), $0.004/request (JavaScript rendering), $0.02/request (challenge resolution). The minimum deposit is $10 with no subscription. Balance never expires.

## Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about our web scraping API, pricing, and capabilities.

### Explore More

[PricingFrom $0.0002/request](https://alterlab.io/pricing)[Compare APIsSee how we stack up](https://alterlab.io/best-web-scraping-api)[DocumentationQuickstart & API reference](https://alterlab.io/docs)[BlogGuides & tutorials](https://alterlab.io/blog)[Python APISDK & examples](https://alterlab.io/web-scraping-api-python)[PlaygroundTry it live](https://alterlab.io/playground)

#### Compare Alternatives

[vs ScraperAPI](https://alterlab.io/vs/scraperapi)[vs Firecrawl](https://alterlab.io/vs/firecrawl)[vs ScrapingBee](https://alterlab.io/vs/scrapingbee)[vs Bright Data](https://alterlab.io/vs/brightdata)[vs Apify](https://alterlab.io/vs/apify)[View all comparisons](https://alterlab.io/vs)