# Apify MCP Server vs ScrapingAnt

> Apify scores 76.5 (BB) to ScrapingAnt's 35.5 (F) for scraping. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against ScrapingAnt's 35.5 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do scraping. Apify MCP Server accepts x402. ScrapingAnt doesn't.

- Apify MCP Server: grade BB, 76.5/100, rank #28 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apify-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/apify-mcp.json
- ScrapingAnt: grade F, 35.5/100, rank #934 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scrapingant.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scrapingant.json
- Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/web-scrapers/index.md
- All 167 scrapers comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/web-scrapers/index.md

## 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 30
- Schema & documentation, 92 against 43
- Agent ergonomics, 92 against 66
- Security & auth, 62 against 10
- Payments & pricing, 95 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 95 against 5
- Transparency & trust, 86 against 53

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

### ScrapingAnt (F)

Good for: A low-volume agent that wants cheap rendered fetches and a tiny tool list, and doesn't need an audit trail.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where Apify MCP Server loses 5 points for them

Watch for: API Basics puts the key in the query string, so it lands in logs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Apify MCP Server | ScrapingAnt | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 30 | Apify MCP Server +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 43 | Apify MCP Server +49 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 66 | Apify MCP Server +26 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 10 | Apify MCP Server +52 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 95 | 40 | Apify MCP Server +55 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 95 | 5 | Apify MCP Server +90 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 53 | Apify MCP Server +33 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **76.5 · BB** | **35.5 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Apify MCP Server | ScrapingAnt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Apify | ScrapingAnt (DATAANT) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.apify.com` | `https://api.scrapingant.com/v2/general` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $1/call | no |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 35 | 3 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | `com.apify/apify-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2024-07-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-09 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-09 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 8.6k stars, 15k npm/wk | 90 npm/wk, 2k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.4/5 (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.

**ScrapingAnt.** 10,000 free credits a month with no card. API Basics puts the key in the query string, so it lands in logs.

## 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

### ScrapingAnt

1. Send the key in the `x-api-key` header rather than the query string
2. Use `/v2/markdown` for LLM input, and set `browser=false` on static pages to pay 1 credit instead of 10
3. Switch to `proxy_type=residential` only after a 423 (anti-bot) response. It raises a browser request from 10 to 125 credits
4. On the free plan a second concurrent request gets 409. Wait for the first to finish
5. Google, Bing and Yandex result pages come back as raw HTML through `/v2/general`, so you parse them yourself

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Apify MCP Server or ScrapingAnt?

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against ScrapingAnt's 35.5 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Apify MCP Server and ScrapingAnt need an API key?

Apify MCP Server takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ScrapingAnt 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 ScrapingAnt without installing anything?

Yes. Apify MCP Server has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.apify.com and ScrapingAnt at https://api.scrapingant.com/v2/general.

### Are Apify MCP Server and ScrapingAnt open source?

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


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingant.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "apify-mcp", "b": "scrapingant"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare apify-mcp scrapingant`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/apify-mcp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scrapingant.json

## Other comparisons with Apify MCP Server or ScrapingAnt

- [Apify MCP Server vs Jina Reader](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-jina-reader.md)
- [Apify MCP Server vs Oxylabs Web Scraper API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-oxylabs-web-scraper.md)
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