API COMPARISON 2026

Free Web Scraping API Comparison

Extract content from any website without running a headless browser. Compare the top web scraping APIs by price, features, and ease of use.

Last updated: March 2026

Why Use a Web Scraping API?

Running your own scraper means managing headless browsers, proxy rotation, CAPTCHA solving, and IP bans. Scraping APIs handle all of that via a simple HTTP request.

JavaScript Rendering

Modern sites use React, Vue, Angular. A simple HTTP request returns empty HTML. Scraping APIs run a real browser to render the full page.

Anti-Bot Bypass

Cloudflare, reCAPTCHA, rate limiting. Scraping APIs rotate IPs and handle challenges so you get the data, not a block page.

Structured Output

Instead of parsing raw HTML with cheerio or BeautifulSoup, some APIs return clean JSON with title, content, links, and metadata already extracted.

No Infrastructure

Puppeteer needs 200MB+ RAM per instance. At scale, that means dedicated servers. APIs let you scrape from serverless functions, edge workers, or simple scripts.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side comparison of the top web scraping APIs. All data verified as of March 2026.

Feature ScrapingBee ScraperAPI Crawlbase Zyte Frostbyte
Free tier 1,000 credits 5,000 credits 1,000 credits No free tier 200 credits
Signup required Email + password Email + password Email + password Email + company info No (one API call)
JS rendering Yes (5 credits) Yes (10 credits) Yes (5 credits) Yes Yes (1 credit)
Structured data Partial (AI extract) No (raw HTML) Partial Yes (Smart Proxy) Yes (JSON)
Anti-bot bypass Yes (premium proxies) Yes (auto-rotate) Yes Yes (Zyte Proxy) Basic
Proxy rotation Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Geo-targeting Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Paid from $49/mo $49/mo $29/mo $300/mo $1 (pay-as-you-go)
Other APIs included No No No No 40+ APIs

Provider Breakdown

Detailed pros and cons for each provider based on real-world usage.

ScrapingBee

Popular choice for JS rendering

Free: 1,000 credits From: $49/mo JS cost: 5 credits
  • AI-powered data extraction
  • Good documentation
  • Premium proxies included
  • Custom JS execution
  • Free tier burns fast (5x for JS)
  • Requires email signup
  • $49/mo minimum paid tier
  • Single-purpose API

ScraperAPI

Most generous free tier

Free: 5,000 credits From: $49/mo JS cost: 10 credits
  • 5,000 free API credits
  • Auto proxy rotation
  • CAPTCHA handling
  • Geo-targeted requests
  • Returns raw HTML only
  • JS rendering costs 10 credits
  • Requires email signup
  • Single-purpose API

Crawlbase

Cheapest paid tier

Free: 1,000 credits From: $29/mo JS cost: 5 credits
  • Cheapest paid plans
  • Crawler + scraper combined
  • Storage for scraped data
  • Webhooks for async jobs
  • Requires email signup
  • Smaller free tier
  • Less documentation
  • Single-purpose API

Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub)

Enterprise-grade extraction

Free: None From: $300/mo
  • Smart Proxy with AI extraction
  • Scrapy Cloud integration
  • Best for large-scale crawling
  • Enterprise SLAs
  • No free tier
  • Starts at $300/mo
  • Complex setup
  • Overkill for simple tasks

Frostbyte Best for Getting Started

Structured extraction, zero friction

Free: 200 credits From: $1 pay-as-you-go JS cost: 1 credit
  • No signup form needed
  • Returns structured JSON
  • 1 credit per request (incl. JS)
  • 40+ other APIs with same key
  • Pay-as-you-go, no subscription
  • No proxy rotation
  • No geo-targeting
  • Basic anti-bot only
  • Smaller free tier than ScraperAPI

Pricing Comparison

Monthly cost for 10,000 scraping requests with JavaScript rendering enabled.

ScrapingBee
$49/mo
150K credits (30K JS requests)
ScraperAPI
$49/mo
100K credits (10K JS requests)
Crawlbase
$29/mo
5K credits included
Zyte
$300/mo
Enterprise pricing
Frostbyte
$50 total
10K credits, no expiry

Try It Right Now

Scrape any URL and see structured results. No signup, no API key needed for this demo.

Code Examples

Get started in seconds. One API call returns structured page data.

cURL
JavaScript
Python
Go
# 1. Get a free API key (no signup form)
curl -X POST https://agent-gateway-kappa.vercel.app/api/keys/create

# 2. Scrape any URL
curl "https://agent-gateway-kappa.vercel.app/api/scrape?url=https://example.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

# Response: structured JSON with title, text, links, meta tags
const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
const BASE = 'https://agent-gateway-kappa.vercel.app';

async function scrape(url) {
  const res = await fetch(
    `${BASE}/api/scrape?url=${encodeURIComponent(url)}`,
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return res.json();
}

const data = await scrape('https://news.ycombinator.com');
console.log(data.title);   // "Hacker News"
console.log(data.links);   // Array of extracted links
console.log(data.text);    // Clean text content
import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
BASE = "https://agent-gateway-kappa.vercel.app"

def scrape(url):
    resp = requests.get(
        f"{BASE}/api/scrape",
        params={"url": url},
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"}
    )
    return resp.json()

data = scrape("https://news.ycombinator.com")
print(data["title"])      # Hacker News
print(data["links"][:5])  # First 5 links
package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
)

func main() {
    target := url.QueryEscape("https://news.ycombinator.com")
    endpoint := "https://agent-gateway-kappa.vercel.app/api/scrape?url=" + target

    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", endpoint, nil)
    req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY")

    resp, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    var data map[string]interface{}
    json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&data)
    fmt.Println(data["title"])
}

When to Use Each Provider

Pick the right tool for your specific use case.

Choose ScrapingBee if...

You need to scrape sites with aggressive anti-bot protection (Cloudflare, Akamai) and want AI-powered data extraction. Good for e-commerce scraping at scale.

Choose ScraperAPI if...

You want the most free credits to start (5,000) and are comfortable parsing raw HTML. Best for developers who already use cheerio or BeautifulSoup.

Choose Crawlbase if...

You need both scraping and crawling, want to store results, or need webhook notifications for async jobs. Good value at $29/mo.

Choose Zyte if...

You're running enterprise-scale crawling with millions of pages, need Scrapy Cloud integration, or require SLA guarantees. Overkill for most projects.

Choose Frostbyte if...

You want to start scraping in seconds (no signup form), need structured JSON output, or want scraping as part of a larger API toolkit (screenshots, DNS, IP geo, crypto).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free web scraping API?
It depends on your needs. ScraperAPI offers the most free credits (5,000) but returns raw HTML. Frostbyte offers fewer credits (200) but returns structured JSON with no signup required. ScrapingBee offers 1,000 credits with AI extraction features. For quick content extraction without parsing HTML, Frostbyte is the fastest to get started.
Do I need a web scraping API or can I just use fetch?
For simple static pages, fetch or axios works fine. You need a scraping API when: the page uses JavaScript rendering (React, Vue, Angular), the site has anti-bot protection (Cloudflare), you need proxy rotation to avoid IP bans, or you want structured data without parsing HTML yourself.
Is web scraping legal?
Scraping publicly available data is generally legal. The US Supreme Court narrowed the CFAA in Van Buren v. United States (2021), and the LinkedIn v. hiQ Labs case confirmed scraping public data isn't a CFAA violation. However, always respect robots.txt, terms of service, and rate limits. Check your jurisdiction's specific laws.
Which scraping API handles Cloudflare-protected sites?
ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI are strongest here, with premium proxy networks and automatic anti-bot bypass. Crawlbase also handles Cloudflare. Frostbyte provides basic rendering but doesn't specialize in anti-bot bypass. For heavily protected sites, ScrapingBee's stealth mode or ScraperAPI's render=true are your best options.
Which API returns structured data instead of raw HTML?
Frostbyte returns structured JSON with title, description, headings, links, images, meta tags, and clean text. Zyte's Smart Proxy provides similar AI-powered extraction. ScrapingBee has an AI extraction add-on. ScraperAPI returns raw HTML that you parse yourself.
How much do web scraping APIs cost?
Free tiers: ScraperAPI 5,000 credits, ScrapingBee 1,000 credits, Crawlbase 1,000 credits, Frostbyte 200 credits. Paid plans: Crawlbase from $29/mo, ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI from $49/mo, Zyte from $300/mo. Frostbyte uses pay-as-you-go at $1 for 200 credits with no monthly commitment.
Can I scrape Amazon, Google, or social media with these APIs?
ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI have dedicated endpoints for Amazon, Google Search, and other popular targets. Crawlbase supports similar targets. Frostbyte and Zyte work with any URL but don't have target-specific optimizations. Always check the target site's terms of service before scraping.

Start Scraping in 30 Seconds

No signup form. No credit card. Get an API key with one call and start extracting data.

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