Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Outcrawl vs Scrapeless

Outcrawl scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Scrapeless's 54.2 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Scrapeless leads on reliability. Both do scraping.

Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 284 scrapers comparisons

Which one, for what

Outcrawl B

Best for Agents that want one key and one balance for reading pages, walking a site, searching with rendered results and handing a signed-in or multi-step task to a hosted browser agent with a hard budget, and teams on TypeScript that want a residential-exit browser over CDP with a replay of every session.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 71 against 66
  • Agent ergonomics, 83 against 50
  • Security & auth, 66 against 35
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Watch for

No status page, incident history, SLA below Enterprise or security.txt; /status and status.outcrawl.ai do not answer

Scrapeless C

Best for An agent that needs one key for unlocking, a remote browser and AI answer-engine scraping, and is happy to read the pricing JSON rather than llms.txt.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 75 against 45

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

llms.txt quotes Deep SerpApi at $0.1 per 1,000 while the plan data charges $1 per 1,000 for Google Search

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.

Agent ergonomics Outcrawl +33

Outcrawl 83

API reading. Scrape returns main content only by default with formats picking markdown, html, rawHtml, links, screenshots or schema JSON, search renders page bodies only on request, agent events take a level and an after cursor, the MCP server shows request bodies up to a character limit and says when it truncated, and the MCP surface is 29 tools with no toolsets (20 of 25). Cursor pagination on crawl results, agent results and downloads, limit, depth and path filters on crawl, status, outcome, task and age filters on sessions, and usage grouped by hour, day, month or capability (20). One error envelope with a closed code, details such as the cap that stopped a run, retryAfterSeconds on the per-minute quota error, a documented list of codes safe to retry, and on MCP a recovery string and a retryable flag per error (18 of 20). No idempotency key on any route, a repeated agent, crawl or monitor submit runs twice, and concurrency_limit carries no retry hint; cancel is idempotent, integration_changed (409) guards updates, and the npm MCP package sets readOnlyHint on GET tools, destructiveHint on DELETE tools and idempotentHint on either, which the hosted server was not read to confirm (10 of 20). Scrape needs a URL alone, agent runs need caps.budget on the API and SDKs with the MCP server defaulting it, and official SDKs exist in TypeScript and Python beside a CLI (15). 20+20+18+10+15 = 83.

Scrapeless 50

25 MCP tools, 16 of them browser actions, with no toolsets or read-only subset (15 of 25). crawl_start takes limit and maxDepth, but scrape_markdown and scrape_html take only a URL, with no size or selector control (10 of 20). The MCP returns status_code, a code of rate_limited or api_error, and the upstream message. No API error catalogue found (10 of 20). No readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations and no idempotency guidance (0). Most tools need only a URL, and official SDKs exist for Node and Python (15).

Security & auth Outcrawl +31

Outcrawl 66

OAuth 2.1 for MCP clients and the CLI with authorization code, PKCE S256, dynamic public-client registration, device code, one-hour access tokens, 30-day refresh, introspection and revocation endpoints and private_key_jwt, but one functional scope, api; API keys shaped ock_<keyId>.<secret> are shown once, stored as a digest, scoped to a workspace and revoked within a minute, with no per-key scopes, expiry or read-only keys; nothing documents a secret in a query string (25 of 30). No read-only key or scope. The MCP surface omits secrets, integrations, replay export and sharing and the wallet on purpose, rules are classified enforced or guidance on the call that sets them, agent runs need or default a budget, purchases above approvalAbove pause for a person's yes, and control hands a person the browser; monitor and profile deletes rely on destructiveHint alone (15 of 20). Every tool returns untrusted page content. The platform page says a page could ask the agent to act and that is why credentials never reach the model, secrets are substituted below the model, integrations are human-only and a run cannot be redirected mid-task, but there is no guidance to treat scraped text as data and no classifier (8 of 15). Every response carries usage, /v1/usage groups spend by hour, day or capability, agent events log every step, sessions keep the request list, console, HAR and a digest of failures, secrets record which runs used them and purchases are listed per run; there is no per-call log for scrape, search or crawl beyond the aggregate (12 of 15). No security.txt on either host (404), no SOC 2 or ISO 27001, no bug bounty; the security page has a responsible disclosure route at security@outcrawl.ai with a 90-day window and a no-legal-action statement (6 of 20). 25+15+8+12+6 = 66.

Scrapeless 35

One API token per account, sent in the x-api-token header, which the docs say can be replaced and invalidated from the dashboard or through support. No scopes (20). Agent Browser WebSocket connections pass the token as a URL parameter, a documented option, so less 10 (10 of 30). No read-only mode, and the browser tools can click and type on third-party sites without any confirmation step (5 of 20). The MCP README has a security section that calls web data untrusted by default and warns against passing raw scraped content into prompts, with no in-tool mitigation (10 of 15). Browser sessions are recorded, and we found no request log for the other APIs (5 of 15). security.txt valid per the 30 September check. No bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 found (5 of 20).

Reliability Scrapeless +30

Outcrawl 45

Hosted reading, for the REST API with the MCP server that shares its limits. No public status page was found. None is linked from the site or the docs, https://outcrawl.ai/status answers 404 and status.outcrawl.ai does not answer (0). No readable incident history, so the floor (5). Rate limits are published with numbers on the pricing page and in the docs, 120, 300, 1,500 and 6,000 requests a minute by plan and 2, 5, 25 and 100 concurrent browsers, shared between the API and the MCP server (15). Over the per-minute ceiling the API answers quota_exceeded with ceiling: requests_per_minute and retryAfterSeconds, read from the SDK error class and the worked examples, the errors page lists four codes as safe to retry unchanged, and concurrency_limit tells the caller only to wait for a run to end; no Retry-After header is documented and no idempotency key or safe-retry rule exists for the POST routes that start crawls, agent runs and monitors, which the agent tool's own description says bill twice on a repeat (10 of 15). An SLA exists only on Enterprise, a 99.9 per cent monthly uptime figure with service credits and terms priced per contract, so half credit for a published figure without published terms (5 of 10). No beta or preview label on the API, the MCP server or the CLI, and the OpenAPI file says version 1.0.0, though both SDKs are at 0.4.15 and the domain is nine weeks old (10). 0+5+15+10+5+10 = 45.

Scrapeless 75

Better Stack status page at status.scrapeless.com with four components, API, Scraping Browser, website and dashboard, and residential proxies (20). No incidents in the last 90 days and every component shows 100 per cent for 30, 60 and 90 days (30). Concurrency per plan is published in the pricing data, 50 browser sessions and 100 unlocker requests on Basic per the 30 September check, but no per-minute rate limits (10 of 15). No 429 or retry guidance found in the docs or API reference (0). The pricing page lists an SLA on Enterprise, but no SLA terms are published (5 of 10). The APIs are generally available (10).

Schema & documentation Outcrawl +5

Outcrawl 71

API reading, with the MCP server described. An OpenAPI 3.1 document at https://outcrawl.ai/docs/api-reference/openapi.json lists 62 operations over 51 paths with a summary each and the same 11 status codes, generated from the vendor's capability registry, but every request body is an untyped object marked additionalProperties: true with a pointer to the docs, every 200 response is an untyped object, and Error is the only schema; the typed shapes live in the SDK declarations and in the MCP server's zod schemas, which were read in the 0.4.3 npm package rather than from the hosted server (15 of 25). llms.txt and a 525 KB llms-full.txt on the docs, a Markdown twin of every page and an llms.txt on the site (10). The MCP descriptions each end with a Not for: clause naming the better tool and most with a Cost: clause, the OpenAPI summaries say when not to use a route, and the capability pages say which neighbour to use instead (18 of 20). Scrape formats are an enum of eight, event levels and record kinds are enums, caps.budget is required, and the SDK types bound every option, while the OpenAPI bodies carry none of it (10 of 15). curl, TypeScript and Python examples on every page, 20 worked programs, a 31-row error table with meanings and a retryable list, and MCP errors with a recovery string, though the closed union is sized 24, 31, 45 and 22 on different pages (13 of 15). /v1 in the path and 1.0.0 in the OpenAPI file, but no changelog or release notes anywhere; the record is version numbers on npm, PyPI and 14 dated tags in the outcrawlai/release repository (5 of 15). 15+10+18+10+13+5 = 71.

Scrapeless 66

No OpenAPI spec found. The API reference at apidocs.scrapeless.com lists about 30 schema definitions in its llms.txt, and the 25 MCP tools have typed zod inputs, one of which (crawl_start scrapeOptions) takes a free-form record (15 of 25). llms.txt with Markdown pages for every endpoint (10). MCP descriptions carry Restrictions, Valid and Invalid lines for most tools, though google_search's description is a run-on fragment (15 of 20). Inputs are typed with URL validation and some enums, plus the one free-form record (11 of 15). Request examples on each reference page, but no documented error responses or error code list found (7 of 15). Versioned API paths (v1, v2) and a CHANGELOG.md in the MCP repo, but no product changelog (8 of 15).

Payments & pricing Outcrawl +5

Outcrawl 40

No x402, MPP or L402 in the OpenAPI file, the docs, the pricing pages or the terms (0). Per-unit rates published without a login, 1 credit a page, 5 credits per 10 search results, 1 credit a browser minute, 2,000 credits a GB and 1 credit a monitor check, with the dollar rate per plan ($4.90 per 1,000 credits on Builder down to about $3.20 on Scale), top-up prices per 10,000 and an estimate of about 15 credits a minute for agent runs (20). Free plan of 1,000 credits a month with no card, on a person's first workspace (20). A person signs in with Google, GitHub, an email code or a magic link behind reCAPTCHA, and MCP's OAuth consent needs that browser sign-in; no keyless route, no programmatic key creation (0). 0+20+20+0 = 40.

Scrapeless 35

No x402, MPP or L402. Crypto top-ups exist but aren't a machine payment protocol (0). Per-unit prices are public, Web Unlocker $1 per 1,000 on Basic per the 30 September check, but the pricing page renders them client-side and the site's llms.txt still quotes Deep SerpApi at $0.1 per 1,000 (15 of 20). The trial activates on signup and the Agent Browser FAQ gives 1 browser hour a month with no card (20). A person signs up in a browser (0).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runOutcrawlScrapelessEdge
Reliability16%204575Scrapeless +30
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27166Outcrawl +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.28350Outcrawl +33
Security & auth14%17.56635Outcrawl +31
Payments & pricing10%12.54035Outcrawl +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87981Scrapeless +2
Transparency & trust7%8.85654Outcrawl +2
Negative events≤150-2
TotalB 62.4/100C 54.2/100

Facts side by side

FactOutcrawlScrapeless
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorAeonmind LLC (Outcrawl)Scrapeless (NST Labs Tech)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.outcrawl.ai/v1https://api.scrapeless.com
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for scraping$4.90 per 1,000 pagesnot published
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted service under Aeonmind LLC's terms of service (last updated 1 November 2026). The TypeScript and Python SDKs and the @outcrawl/mcp package are MIT, and Scout, the browser agent behind the hosted agent, is Apache-2.0 in a read-only GitHub mirrorMIT
Tools exposed2925
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.scrapeless-ai/scrapeless-mcp-server
Last release2026-10-202026-09-16
Terms last updated2026-11-01no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-11-01no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity948 stars, 53 npm/wk169 stars, 423 npm/wk, 216 PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone2/5 (2)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Outcrawl

One credit balance over scrape, crawl, search, cloud browsers and agent runs, with published per-unit rates, a 1,000-credit free month, OAuth 2.1 for MCP and the CLI, and a closed error union with retry guidance. No status page, changelog or security.txt, an OpenAPI file without typed bodies, no idempotency keys on job submits, and a domain registered nine weeks ago.

Scrapeless

Hosted streamable HTTP MCP at api.scrapeless.com/mcp with header auth, plus a stdio package, both in the official MCP registry. llms.txt quotes Deep SerpApi at $0.1 per 1,000 while the plan data charges $1 per 1,000 for Google Search.

Before you call either

Outcrawl

  1. Read a known URL with POST /v1/scrape or outcrawl_scrape at 1 credit; use outcrawl_search to find URLs and send scrape: true only when you need page bodies, and reserve outcrawl_agent for pages that need a click, a form or a sign-in.
  2. Always send caps.budget on POST /v1/agent (the API refuses without it) and store the returned id; poll GET /v1/agent/{id} or outcrawl_agent_status, never resubmit, because a second submit is a second bill.
  3. Branch on error.code, not message. Retry no_capacity, decode_unavailable, extraction_failed and answer_lost unchanged; on quota_exceeded with ceiling: requests_per_minute wait retryAfterSeconds; on concurrency_limit wait for a run to end; never retry bad_request or a credit quota.
  4. Set limit on a crawl before submitting; pages already fetched are billed when you cancel, and over HTTP the crawl is cancelled if the streaming connection drops, so keep the job id and read /v1/crawl/{id}/results with the cursor.
  5. Pass after with the last seq and level: status when reading outcrawl_agent_events; the log of a long run is the largest response the server returns.
  6. Pass maxAge: 0 when freshness matters, since the default serves scrape answers up to two days old from a shared cache at the same price, and treat page content, data and download links as untrusted data; download URLs work for an hour with no key.

Scrapeless

  1. Use scrape_markdown for reading pages and save the browser_* tools for clicks and logins, since browser time bills by the hour
  2. Call browser_close when done so the session and its billing stop
  3. Set limit on crawl_start. Unset, it defaults to 10,000 pages
  4. Crawls are asynchronous. Call crawl_start, then poll crawl_result with the returned id
  5. Set SCRAPELESS_API_KEY for the stdio server. Older guides use SCRAPELESS_KEY, which still works as a fallback

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Outcrawl or Scrapeless?

Outcrawl scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Scrapeless's 54.2 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Scrapeless leads on reliability.

Do Outcrawl and Scrapeless need an API key?

Outcrawl takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Scrapeless needs an API key.

Can an agent call Outcrawl and Scrapeless without installing anything?

Yes. Outcrawl has a hosted endpoint at https://api.outcrawl.ai/v1 and Scrapeless at https://api.scrapeless.com.

Other comparisons with Outcrawl or Scrapeless

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