# Apify MCP Server vs ZenRows (slim)

> Apify scores 76.5 (BB) to ZenRows's 74.8 (BB) for scraping. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zenrows.md (~2,650 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zenrows.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zenrows
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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 ZenRows's 74.8 (BB), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. ZenRows leads on reliability. Both do scraping. Apify MCP Server accepts x402. ZenRows doesn't.

- Apify MCP Server: BB 76.5, rank #28 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apify-mcp.min.md
- ZenRows: BB 74.8, rank #64 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zenrows.min.md
- Apify MCP Server, 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 Schema & documentation, 92 against 83; Agent ergonomics, 92 against 79; Security & auth, 62 against 41; Payments & pricing, 95 against 80; Maintenance & community, 95 against 87; Transparency & trust, 86 against 72. Also An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account; Open source.
- ZenRows, good for An agent hitting protected sites that wants the service to choose the setup and bill only success, and for agents that must onboard without a human. Ahead on Reliability, 87 against 65. Also Free to start without a card; No incidents deducted, where Apify MCP Server loses 5 points for them.

| Category | Apify MCP Server | ZenRows |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 65 | 87 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 92 | 83 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 92 | 79 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 62 | 41 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 95 | 80 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 95 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 86 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Apify MCP Server | ZenRows |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Apify | ZenRows |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.apify.com` | `https://api.zenrows.com/v1/` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| x402 | yes, from $1/call | payer tooling only |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 35 | 44 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.apify/apify-mcp-server` | `io.github.ZenRows/zenrows-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-18 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-09 | 2025-07-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-09 | 2024-09-01 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 8.6k stars, 15k npm/wk | 21 stars, 35k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.4/5 (8) | 3.8/5 (8) |