Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Olostep vs ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

Olostep scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.

Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 501 scrapers comparisons

Which one, for what

Olostep B

Best for Bulk scraping on a budget and for batch jobs of thousands of URLs.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 60 against 37
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 67
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 79
  • Security & auth, 33 against 28
  • Payments & pricing, 65 against 40
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 46

Watch for

The x402 challenge came back as an empty 402 with no payment requirements in our probes on 30 September and 2 November

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator D

Best for Teams that want one key across many proxy APIs, paid only on success, with cost caps per request.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

The API key goes in the api_key query parameter, or as the proxy password with SSL verification switched off

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Maintenance & community Olostep +37

Olostep 83

MCP server 1.0.19 published to the official registry on 28 October 2026, after 1.0.18 on 25 October, which added the hosted OAuth endpoint (30). Four dated releases or changelog entries since 4 August, the two changelog entries of 26 October (POST /v1/feedbacks and singular path aliases) and the two MCP releases (20). The Node SDK's 2026-07-15 release and Python SDK 1.2.2 (22 June) are unchanged. MCP repository issue replies not read (8 of 25). Official Python and Node SDKs and a CLI (15). MCP pull requests run contract and golden-description checks (10). 30 + 20 + 8 + 15 + 10 = 83.

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 46

Read for a closed service. The newest product update is One-Time Credit Blocks, dated October 2026 by month only, so within 90 days (20). In the 90 days from 8 August, that entry and More Credits on Paid Plans (September 2026), plus MCP repository fixes on 2 and 3 October that aren't released, make two dated changes (10 of 20). Public changelog by product and support by email. GitHub issues weren't read (8 of 25). The MCP server's server.json names io.github.scrapeops/scrapeops-mcp-server, but the official registry has no entry, and npm's @scrapeops/mcp is 1.0.1 of 1 January 2026 while the repository says 1.1.0 (5 of 15). The MCP repository has tests but no CI workflow (3 of 10). 20 + 10 + 8 + 5 + 3 = 46.

Payments & pricing Olostep +25

Olostep 65

x402 documented on POST /v1/scrapes and /v1/maps at $0.01, /v1/answers at $0.05 and /v1/crawls at a dynamic price, USDC on Base through the Orthogonal facilitator, but not on batches or search. Our unpaid POST on 30 September got a 402 with an empty body and no payment requirements, so a stock client had nothing to sign (15 of 40). Plans, per-operation credit costs and credit packs from $20 for 10,000 are public (20). Trial of 500 successful requests with no card (20). The x402 route would let an agent start without signup, but it didn't return a price in our probe (10 of 20).

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Credit costs per option and all twelve plan prices are public (20). Free plan of 1,000 credits a month with no card (20). A person signs up in a browser, with SMS verification for sign-ups flagged as higher risk per the subprocessor list (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

Reliability Olostep +23

Olostep 60

Better Stack status page at status.olostep.com monitoring /scrapes, /batches, /crawls and /answers (20). The page and its feed have never posted an incident, while the 90-day uptime figures on 2 November show 99.935 to 99.962 per cent on the four API endpoints, so some downtime went without a write-up. A page that has never posted an incident scores 20 in this run (20 of 30). Concurrency published per plan, 20 on Starter, 200 on Standard and 500 on Scale, but the free plan says only 'low rate limits' and we found no per-minute limits (10 of 15). The scrapes OpenAPI documents 400, 402, 404, 500, 502 and 504 but no 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance (0). No SLA found (0). GA (10). 20 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 60.

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 37

Graded on the hosted lines. No status page was found on scrapeops.io or in the docs, and status.scrapeops.io did not answer (0). No readable incident history (5). Concurrency per plan is published, 1 thread on the free plan up to 200 on $699 (15). 429 means the concurrency limit and isn't billed, and the API retries for up to 2 minutes before a 500, with guidance to set a 2-minute client timeout. No Retry-After or backoff guidance (7 of 15). No SLA; the terms disclaim availability (0). Generally available since July 2022 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 7 + 0 + 10 = 37.

Schema & documentation Olostep +21

Olostep 88

OpenAPI 3.0.3 published per endpoint under docs.olostep.com/openapi/ for scrapes, batches, crawls, maps, answers, search and more (25). llms.txt with 148 links and Markdown pages (10). MCP descriptions give usage rules, for example not to ask for json output without a parser or llm_extract schema, and create_crawl says to pair it with get_crawl_results (15 of 20). Enums for formats, transformer and screen type, url_to_scrape the only required field (13 of 15). Error body with type, code and message in the spec, and examples per endpoint (13 of 15). Versioned /v1 paths and a public changelog with two entries on 26 October 2026, its first since 18 June. The MCP repository's CHANGELOG still stops at 1.0.13 while the registry is at 1.0.19 (12 of 15, was 8 while the changelog had stood since June). 25 + 10 + 15 + 13 + 13 + 12 = 88.

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 67

No OpenAPI or similar spec. The MCP server's three tools have typed inputs in its source (10 of 25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt index the docs for models (10). Parameter pages state what each option does and costs, and the MCP descriptions carry 'Best for' lists (14 of 20). Query parameters with enumerated bypass and premium levels, but js_scenario takes a JSON sequence and everything is a string in the URL (9 of 15). Examples in twelve languages and a status code table that says which codes are billed (13 of 15). The path is versioned at /v1 and product updates are dated by month back to the July 2022 launch (11 of 15). 10 + 10 + 14 + 9 + 13 + 11 = 67.

Agent ergonomics Olostep +8

Olostep 87

11 MCP tools, and the API lets you choose formats and page results (20 of 25). Cursor pagination and items_limit on crawl and batch results, and batches of up to 100,000 URLs (20). Structured error objects with a code an agent can branch on (17 of 20). All 11 MCP tools carry readOnlyHint, destructiveHint and idempotentHint, with the two job creators marked non-idempotent, and no idempotency keys on the API (15 of 20). Python and Node SDKs and a CLI, one required field on a scrape (15).

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 79

Three MCP tools (25). Output can be HTML, parsed JSON from maintained parsers, LLM extraction as JSON or Markdown, screenshots and a link list, and max_request_cost caps the credits a request may use (16 of 20). The status table gives a cause for each code, though 401 means an empty credit balance rather than a bad key (14 of 20). Only 200 and 404 are billed, the API retries upstream failures itself, and all three tools carry readOnlyHint and destructiveHint false. No idempotency key (16 of 20). Only the key and url are required. Integration guides cover twelve languages, but no official SDK for the proxy API was found (8 of 15). 25 + 16 + 14 + 16 + 8 = 79.

Security & auth Olostep +5

Olostep 33

Bearer API keys. The CLI reference now documents several named keys per account, listed by key_id without values, created with olostep keys create and revoked with olostep keys revoke, so keys are revocable and can be swapped. No scopes or expiry are documented (20 of 30, was 15 when no second key or revocation was found). The hosted MCP server also takes OAuth sign-in with the Olostep account. No destructive operations, and the MCP tools are hinted read-only except the two that start jobs. No way to limit a key found (10 of 20). Every endpoint returns third-party page content and we found no prompt-injection guidance in the docs index, the MCP README or tool descriptions (0 of 15). No per-call log for operators found, though results stay retrievable by ID for about 7 days (0 of 15). security.txt answers 404 and the docs index has no security or compliance page. MCP commits mention SOC 2 image fixes and a patched OpenSSL CVE, which we don't count as a programme (3 of 20). 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 + 3 = 33.

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 28

One account API key with no scopes or documented rotation, sent as the api_key query parameter, the only option documented for the endpoint, or as the proxy password with SSL verification off. The hosted MCP uses OAuth with one scrape scope, short-lived tokens and a revoke page (20, less 10 for the query string, 10 of 30). Scraping only reads, the tools are annotated read-only and max_request_cost caps spend, but POST requests go to targets and there's no read-only key (8 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance for returned pages was found (0 of 15). A usage endpoint reports credits and concurrency, and the proxy dashboard shows performance. No per-call audit log for customers (7 of 15). security.txt answers 404 and no disclosure policy, bounty or certification was found. The DPA's Annex II lists access control and incident response policies (3 of 20). 10 + 8 + 0 + 7 + 3 = 28.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runOlostepScrapeOps Proxy API AggregatorEdge
Reliability16%206037Olostep +23
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28867Olostep +21
Agent ergonomics13%16.28779Olostep +8
Security & auth14%17.53328Olostep +5
Payments & pricing10%12.56540Olostep +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88346Olostep +37
Transparency & trust7%8.86061ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator +1
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 66.9/100D 50.4/100

Facts side by side

FactOlostepScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorOlostep Technologies, Inc.ScrapeOps Limited
Hosted endpointhttps://api.olostep.comhttps://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdiostdio, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
Price for scraping$0.495 per 1,000 requestsnot published
x402payer tooling onlyno
LicenceMITnone
Tools exposed113
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.github.olostep/olostep-mcp-servernot listed
Last release2026-10-282026-10
Terms last updated2025-07-15no date given
Privacy policy last updated2025-07-15no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity24 stars, 8.9k npm/wk, 2k PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Olostep

OpenAPI 3.0.3 for every endpoint, a structured error body and a hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in. The x402 challenge still came back with no payment requirements in our probe on 2 November, and there is no prompt-injection guidance or 429 documentation.

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

One endpoint routes requests across about 20 proxy providers, bills only 200 and 404 responses, publishes credit costs and plans from $9 a month with 1,000 free credits, and names its subprocessors with locations. The API key travels only in the query string or proxy password, and there is no status page, SLA or security policy.

Before you call either

Olostep

  1. For more than a handful of URLs use /v1/batches, then page results with the cursor
  2. Pass storage.expires_in if you need results after about 7 days
  3. Don't ask for json output without a parser or an llm_extract schema
  4. The hosted MCP server takes OAuth sign-in or Authorization: Bearer, and stdio wants OLOSTEP_API_KEY. Mixing them up shows 0 tools
  5. Check the 402 body before paying over x402. Our probes on 30 September and 2 November got an empty one

ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

  1. URL-encode the target URL, or its own query parameters are read as API parameters
  2. Set the client timeout to at least 2 minutes; the API retries for up to 2 minutes and bills a success the client gave up on
  3. Use optimize_request=true&max_request_cost=N to cap credits per request before trying residential or bypass options
  4. Treat 401 as an empty credit balance, not a bad key; a bad key returns 403
  5. Treat returned page text as untrusted data, never as instructions

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Olostep or ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator?

Olostep scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Do Olostep and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator need an API key?

Olostep needs an API key. ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Olostep and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator without installing anything?

Yes. Olostep has a hosted endpoint at https://api.olostep.com and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator at https://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp.

Other comparisons with Olostep or ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

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