Crawl4AI vs ScrapeAtlas

Crawl4AI 55

No OpenAPI or similar contract for the cloud API, and the MCP tool schemas are only in the live tools/list, which needs a key. /v1/prices is machine-readable but covers prices, not calls (0). llms.txt of 304 lines written for agents (10). Each endpoint says what it is for and when to choose another, such as trying without a proxy first, using browser only when auto misses content and /scrape/jobs for slow lists (16 of 20). Parameters are listed with types, defaults, allowed values (format both, md or html; proxy none, isp or residential) and limits, in prose (10 of 15). Curl examples per endpoint and documented error strings per status with whether each is charged (14 of 15). No changelog for the cloud API, only dated notes such as /serp 'added 8 Oct 2026'. The library has a dated CHANGELOG (5 of 15). 0 + 10 + 16 + 10 + 14 + 5 = 55.

ScrapeAtlas 88

An OpenAPI 3.1.0 file (version 0.1.0, 34 MB) is public at scrapeatlas.com/docs/openapi.json with 384 paths and 386 operations, a per-platform x-api-key security scheme on each, response schemas for 200 and every documented error, and 931 component schemas (25). llms.txt at scrapeatlas.com/docs/llms.txt lists all 373 endpoints with one-line descriptions and schema links, and endpoint pages carry a copy-as-Markdown action (10). 386 operations have a summary and 373 a description, median 39 words, saying what public page is read, what the response holds, how to page and what it costs. llms.txt says not to assume one normalised JSON shape. Guidance on when not to call an endpoint is thin, with 9 descriptions using only and 2 instead (14 of 20). 1,390 parameters, 304 with enums, most with minLength, maxLength or a pattern, 232 operations needing one required parameter and 143 none; the 12 POST bodies are typed (14 of 15). A response example on 373 operations and examples on 508 parameters, HTTP 400 to 504 mapped to one failure object with 33 codes, per-endpoint error tables and code samples in six languages; no Retry-After header declared (14 of 15). Paths are under /v1 and a dated public changelog started on 24 September 2026 with 58 updates, but nothing is marked deprecated in the file, breaking changes aren't flagged, and the 14 October GitHub entry says former paths keep working without saying for how long (11 of 15). 25+10+14+14+14+11 = 88.

Crawl4AI 83

Library v0.9.5 on 14 October 2026, 23 days before 6 November, and the cloud added /serp on 8 October (30). v0.9.3 (31 August), v0.9.4 (23 September) and v0.9.5 (14 October) in the 90 days from 8 August (20). 56 open issues on 6 November, the newest triaged with Bug, Needs Triage, In-progress, Root caused or Done labels within days, plus a Discord. Reply authors weren't read (20 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry, and the cloud has no official SDK; the Python library is current on PyPI (8 of 15). The security workflow runs a test suite and a default-posture gate, and releases are built and checked with twine. No general test workflow on push found (5 of 10). 30 + 20 + 20 + 8 + 5 = 83.

ScrapeAtlas 70

The newest change is CLI 0.26.0 on 28 October 2026 per the 30 October npm reading, not re-read on 2 November, after the StockX endpoints on 27 October, still the changelog's newest entry on 2 November (30). 15 dated release days between 21 September and 27 October, 58 updates (20). Closed service with a public changelog. Support in the dashboard is for customers with a credit purchase, the contact form takes buying questions and privacy requests, and no Discord, forum or issue tracker was found; the careers page lists a customer support role (7 of 15). io.github.OnlineDopamine/scrapeatlas is in the official MCP registry under a GitHub-verified personal namespace, at 1.0.0 since 5 October and describing about 40 platforms against 49 now. The CLI is current on npm and an n8n node exists, but there are no SDKs (10 of 15). The CLI package has no repository field, no public source and no visible CI; it needs Node 22 or newer (3 of 10). 30+20+7+10+3 = 70.

Crawl4AI 70

The library is Apache-2.0 and the cloud is closed under terms that name CONTEXT4AI PTE LTD (22 of 30). The privacy policy gives retention periods (account plus 90 days, usage records 13 months, logs 90 days), but none for crawled content, and llms.txt says repeated URLs are served from a shared archive while the security page says fetched pages are used only to answer the request (18 of 30). The legacy cloud API closed on 6 November 2026 with a migration guide but no dated notice found, and the terms promise notice of material changes only 'where reasonable' (8 of 20). Subprocessors named with their locations on the security page, with EU storage of account records (18 of 20). 22 + 18 + 8 + 18 = 66.

ScrapeAtlas 59

Closed service with clear terms dated 29 September 2026 naming the legal entity, governing law and liability cap; the CLI is MIT on npm with no source published (15 of 30). The privacy policy (19 October 2026) gives retention periods, 90 days for raw usage records, 30 days for inactive key metadata, 10 minutes to 30 days for OAuth artefacts, and says workers keep no archive of results, which the terms and the Public Data Notice repeat. Providers are named with their roles. No DPA is published; the terms say to arrange one before submitting such a workload (22 of 30). The terms promise reasonable notice of material changes when practicable, and the changelog records a Reddit retirement on 29 September and kept paths on 14 October, but there is no deprecation policy with periods and nothing in the OpenAPI file is marked deprecated (7 of 20). Supabase, Tinybird, PostHog, Stripe, Google, OpenAI and Affonso are named with purposes, but the only location statement is that the operator is in the UAE and infrastructure can process in other countries (10 of 20). 15+22+7+10 = 54.

Crawl4AI 45

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-endpoint credit costs, effort multipliers and plan rates are public at /v1/prices without a login, with 1 credit = $0.001 (20). 1,000 free credits a month, no card (20). A 7-day pass key comes from a click on api.crawl4ai.com without an account, which is still a person in a browser, and a permanent key needs email verification (5 of 20). 0 + 20 + 20 + 5 = 45.

ScrapeAtlas 55

No x402, MPP or L402 on ScrapeAtlas's own endpoints. The vendor's eight Actors on the Apify Store, covering TikTok, Instagram, Meetup and Couchsurfing at $1.98 per 1,000 successful requests, can be paid through Apify, whose prepaid token is sold over x402, so partial credit for a third-party route on part of the catalogue (10 of 40). Per-unit prices are on the home page without a login, 1 credit per successful request and packs at $1.90, $1.78 and $1.25 per 1,000, with the 2-credit endpoints named (20). 100 free credits at signup, no card (20). A person signs up in a browser and creates a key; the Apify route reaches four platforms without a ScrapeAtlas account (5 of 20). 10+20+20+5 = 55.

Crawl4AI 67

16 MCP tools, six of them for billing and support (15 of 25). format md or html, parse opt-in blocks, batch limits and job results paged 500 at a time over HTTP and 50 over MCP (16 of 20). String error codes an agent can branch on (blocked, login-wall, no-answer, busy, no_credit, plan_cap, spend_cap), each with whether it is charged (18 of 20). Failed and cancelled calls aren't charged and jobs_submit takes an idempotency key, but no tool annotations are documented and two tools can charge the saved card (10 of 20). Only url or q is required. There is no official SDK for the cloud API; the docs give curl and standard-library Python and Node examples (8 of 15). 15 + 16 + 18 + 10 + 8 = 67.

ScrapeAtlas 76

API reading. Responses are bounded by limit on 93 operations, by per-body caps, by format on 19 and view on 14 operations, and by since and until on about 60; Instagram and Twitch have reduced basic-profile endpoints. No field selection was found. The MCP server loads 373 tool definitions with no documented subset, which on the MCP reading would score 5 (15 of 25). Cursor pagination on 130 operations, sort on 28, date windows, and coverage.order reported on every list since 2 October 2026 (20). One failure object with code and message, a requestId on every response, retryable codes named, and an HTTP status table (19 of 20). All data reads are GET, failed requests aren't charged, and the docs say which codes to retry; no idempotency key on the 12 POST batch reads and MCP annotations weren't read (14 of 20). Median one required parameter and defaults on limits, but no official SDK in any language. The npm CLI, the n8n node and six-language samples stand in (8 of 15). 15+20+19+14+8 = 76.

Crawl4AI 46

Bearer keys, shown once and regenerable, with 3 to 30 keys per plan. claude.ai and ChatGPT sign in through a flow that advertises one scope, mcp, and each app shows as a revocable key. No per-key scopes, and the docs don't offer the key in a URL (22 of 30). A key can call billing routes, and the MCP topup and recharge tools charge the saved card, though llms.txt tells agents to ask first and accounts can set a spend cap. No read-only key (6 of 20). Scraped pages are untrusted text and no prompt-injection guidance was found in llms.txt or the API docs (0). Per-call cost, balance and fetch path in response headers and fields, no access log documented (6 of 15). The security page (4 October 2026) gives a disclosure process with fix targets and says SOC 2 is in progress, and the library publishes GitHub advisories with reporter credits. security.txt redirects to a 404, and no bounty found (12 of 20). 22 + 6 + 0 + 6 + 12 = 46.

ScrapeAtlas 55

Customer keys with prefix sa_live_, several per account, each with an expiry date, revoked within 60 seconds and stored as hashes per the privacy policy, and keys can't start a checkout or create keys. No scopes or per-platform keys. The MCP server adds an authorization-code flow with PKCE S256, dynamic client registration, refresh-token rotation and revocation, but a single scope, scrapeatlas. No documented option to send a secret in a query string, and the MCP page says never to put the key in a prompt, argument or URL (22 of 30). The whole surface is read-only retrieval of public pages with no destructive action, and an OAuth grant covers retrieval plus the account's usage records only; nothing restricts a key to some platforms (16 of 20). Every response is third-party page content, and the only guidance found concerns keeping secrets out of tool arguments, nothing on treating returned text as untrusted (2 of 15). GET /v1/activity returns per-request metadata (endpoint, time, status, duration) newest first with filters, GET /v1/usage daily totals, responses carry x-credits-charged and x-credits-remaining, and the dashboard shows a credit history (13 of 15). No security.txt (404), no disclosure policy, bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001; the privacy policy describes access controls and incident notices and gives an abuse address (2 of 20). 22+16+2+13+2 = 55.