# Apify MCP Server vs Zyte API (slim)

> Apify scores 76.5 (BB) to Zyte's 69.7 (B) for scraping. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zyte.md (~2,750 tokens) · this version ~830 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zyte.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-zyte
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Zyte API's 69.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Zyte API leads on reliability. Both do scraping. Apify MCP Server accepts x402. Zyte API doesn't.

- Apify MCP Server: BB 76.5, rank #28 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apify-mcp.min.md
- Zyte API: B 69.7, rank #175 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zyte.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 85; Agent ergonomics, 92 against 72; Security & auth, 62 against 55; Payments & pricing, 95 against 40; Maintenance & community, 95 against 77; Transparency & trust, 86 against 66. Also 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.
- Zyte API, good for An agent or pipeline that fetches protected pages and wants the service to choose proxy and browser per site and to bill only success, and teams already on Scrapy. Ahead on Reliability, 85 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 | Zyte API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 65 | 85 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 92 | 85 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 92 | 72 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 62 | 55 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 95 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 95 | 77 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 86 | 66 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Apify MCP Server | Zyte API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Apify | Zyte Group Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.apify.com` | `https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | yes, from $1/call | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Zyte's terms of service. The Python client is BSD 3-Clause, and the Agentic Web Data plugin is under Zyte's own end-user licence |
| Tools exposed | 35 | 34 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.apify/apify-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-09 | 2026-09-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-09 | 2024-08-30 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | 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 | yes |
| Popularity | 8.6k stars, 15k npm/wk | 42k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.4/5 (8) | none |