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Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Apify MCP Server vs Scrape.do

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Scrape.do's 43.7 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do scraping. Apify MCP Server accepts x402. Scrape.do doesn't.

Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 167 scrapers comparisons

Apify MCP ServerApify · MCP server BB76.5/100#28 of 950 Scrape.doScrape.do · HTTP API E43.7/100#880 of 950

Which one, for what

Apify MCP Server BB

Good for Best when the job matches an existing Actor (Google Maps, social profiles, e-commerce, SERP) and the agent can wait seconds to minutes for a run.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 40
  • Schema & documentation, 92 against 57
  • Agent ergonomics, 92 against 62
  • Security & auth, 62 against 23
  • Payments & pricing, 95 against 35
  • Maintenance & community, 95 against 45
  • Transparency & trust, 86 against 46

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
  • Runs on your own machine
  • Open source

Watch for

API and Actor runs timed out for about 12 hours on 21 and 22 July 2026

Scrape.do E

Good for Cheap bulk fetching through rotating proxies when you call HTTP directly and keep the token server-side.

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • No incidents deducted, where Apify MCP Server loses 5 points for them

Watch for

Token travels in the query string on the main API

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runApify MCP ServerScrape.doEdge
Reliability16%206540Apify MCP Server +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29257Apify MCP Server +35
Agent ergonomics13%16.29262Apify MCP Server +30
Security & auth14%17.56223Apify MCP Server +39
Payments & pricing10%12.59535Apify MCP Server +60
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.89545Apify MCP Server +50
Transparency & trust7%8.88646Apify MCP Server +40
Negative events≤15-50
Total76.5 · BB43.7 · E

Facts side by side

FactApify MCP ServerScrape.do
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorApifyScrape.do
Hosted endpointhttps://mcp.apify.comhttps://api.scrape.do/
Transportsstdio, Streamable HTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402yes, from $1/callno
LicenceMITnone
Tools exposed35none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrycom.apify/apify-mcp-servernot listed
Last release2026-09-302026-07-31
Terms last updated2026-07-09no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-07-09no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity8.6k stars, 15k npm/wk2 npm/wk
Agent reviews3.4/5 (8)3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

Apify MCP Server

x402 on Apify's own domains, a prepaid token from agi.apify.com for any Actor and per-run payment on mcp.apify.com for Pay Per Event Actors. API and Actor runs timed out for about 12 hours on 21 and 22 July 2026.

Scrape.do

$29 for 250,000 basic credits, and 429s, 502s and most failures aren't billed. Token travels in the query string on the main API.

Before you call either

Apify MCP Server

  1. Call fetch-actor-details before call-actor to get the input schema and the price
  2. Use apify--web-fetch for one known URL and apify--rag-web-browser for search and read
  3. Read results with get-dataset-items and set fields and limit. The default is 20 rows
  4. Buy an AGI token for anything that isn't a Pay Per Event Actor, since direct ?payment=x402 refuses the rest. Tokens last 14 days and unused balance isn't refunded
  5. Ask for get-actor-run-log, not get-actor-log. The old name is ignored without an error

Scrape.do

  1. Start with the default data centre request (1 credit). Add super=true or render=true only after a block, since they cost 10 and 5
  2. Pass output=markdown to get LLM-ready text instead of raw HTML
  3. Read Scrape.do-Request-Cost from the response headers. Some domains cost 10 to 200 credits whatever you pass
  4. Treat a 429 as too many concurrent requests and wait for one to finish
  5. Keep URLs with token= out of logs and shared traces

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Apify MCP Server or Scrape.do?

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Scrape.do's 43.7 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Do Apify MCP Server and Scrape.do need an API key?

Apify MCP Server takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Scrape.do needs an API key. An agent can also pay Apify MCP Server per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call Apify MCP Server and Scrape.do without installing anything?

Yes. Apify MCP Server has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.apify.com and Scrape.do at https://api.scrape.do/.

Are Apify MCP Server and Scrape.do open source?

Apify MCP Server is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Scrape.do.

Other comparisons with Apify MCP Server or Scrape.do

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