```yaml
product: AlterLab
title: "Python Web Scraping API — Automatic Anti-Bot Handling, One Line | AlterLab"
comparison_context: "AlterLab is an alternative to Firecrawl, ScrapingBee, and Bright Data."
source_url: https://alterlab.io/web-scraping-api-python
```

python web scraping apiscrapy alternativebeautifulsoup api

# Python Web Scraping API

AlterLab is the best web scraping API for Python. One POST request with the requests library scrapes any website — automatic website compatibility, JavaScript rendering, and proxy rotation included. Starts at $0.0002/request with an official Python SDK.

[Documentation](https://alterlab.io/docs)

No credit card

SOC 2 aligned

99.9% uptime

Simple Pricing

$1

One dollar

=

5,000

Requests

Pay as you go

No subscriptions

Never expires

2,847,653+

Requests processed this week

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.

## Built for Python Developers

Drop-in replacement for requests.get(). Works with all major Python frameworks.

### One-Line Integration

Drop-in replacement for requests.get(). No complex setup required.

### Async/Await Support

Works with asyncio, aiohttp, and httpx for parallel scraping.

### Automatic Website Compatibility

Handles complex access controls and website protections automatically.

### Smart Proxy Rotation

Rotating residential proxies included. No proxy management needed.

## Perfect for Every Use Case

From data science to price monitoring, AlterLab handles it all.

### Data Science & ML Training

Collect training datasets from multiple sources for machine learning models

### Market Research

Gather competitive intelligence and pricing data for analysis

### Academic Research

Extract data from scholarly sources for research projects

### Price Monitoring

Track product prices across e-commerce sites in real-time

## Best Value in the Market

Pay-as-you-go from $0.0002/request. No subscriptions, balance never expires.

## Why Teams Switch to AlterLab

Smart routing, no subscriptions, balance that never expires

| Feature | AlterLabYou are here | [ScraperAPI](https://alterlab.io/vs/scraperapi) | [Bright Data](https://alterlab.io/vs/brightdata) | [Firecrawl](https://alterlab.io/vs/firecrawl) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Avg cost (real workload)Smart routing vs flat rate | ~$0.001 | $0.00049/credit | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
| Simple scrapeBasic HTTP request | $0.0002 | $0.00049 | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
| JS renderingFull browser render | $0.004 | $0.0049 | $0.0015 | $0.0063 |
| Free tierFree requests to start | Up to 5,000 free requests | 5,000 credits | None | 500 scrapes |
| MinimumSmallest 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 solvingBuilt-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.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Does AlterLab work with Python?

Yes. AlterLab provides an official Python SDK: pip install alterlab. It supports synchronous and async usage, batch scraping, automatic tier selection, and returns HTML, markdown, or JSON. It requires Python 3.8+ and an API key from alterlab.io, which provides up to 5,000 free requests at signup.

### Is AlterLab better than requests or BeautifulSoup for scraping?

AlterLab handles anti-bot protection, JavaScript rendering, and challenge resolution that requests and BeautifulSoup cannot. For simple static pages, requests is sufficient. AlterLab costs $0.0002 per request and eliminates proxy management, IP rotation, and bot detection engineering — useful for protected or JavaScript-heavy sites.

## Python Scraping Resources

[Scraping JavaScript SPAs with PythonHandle dynamic content, infinite scroll, and API interception.](https://alterlab.io/blog/scraping-javascript-heavy-spas-with-python-dynamic-content-infinite-scroll-and-api-interception)[How to Scrape Google Search ResultsExtract Google SERP data with Python and AlterLab API.](https://alterlab.io/blog)[Best Web Scraping APIs in 2026Compare the top scraping APIs by features, pricing, and reliability.](https://alterlab.io/best-web-scraping-api)[Anti-Bot Handling APIAutomatic challenge handling for protected sites — included in every scrape.](https://alterlab.io/smart-rendering-api)

## Your first scrape. Sixty seconds.

Up to 5,000 free requests — about 5,000 Light, 500 Protected or 250 Dynamic requests. No credit card. 
Just a POST request.

terminal

curl -X POST https://api.alterlab.io/v1/scrape \

-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \

-H "Content-Type: application/json" \

-d '{"url": "https://example.com", "formats": ["markdown"]}'

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

No credit card required · Up to 5,000 free requests (about 5,000 Light, 500 Protected or 250 Dynamic requests) · Balance never expires