Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

Oxylabs Web Scraper API scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.

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

Which one, for what

Oxylabs Web Scraper API B

Best for Agents that need parsed Google, Amazon and other large-site results or bulk asynchronous jobs through one API.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 75 against 37
  • Security & auth, 53 against 28
  • Maintenance & community, 82 against 46

Watch for

Google's domain parameter was announced as gone on 18 March 2026 with no earlier changelog notice

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.

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Oxylabs Web Scraper API loses 3 points for them

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.

Reliability Oxylabs Web Scraper API +38

Oxylabs Web Scraper API 75

Graded on the Web Scraper API (Classic) surface. Status page at uptime.oxylabs.io on incident.io with separate components for Scraper APIs Push-Pull and Real-Time (20). Its feed lists two incidents since 4 August 2026, a Datacenter Proxies outage on 13 August that doesn't touch this API and, on 26 October, 12 minutes (05:34 to 05:46 on the page's clock) on both Scraper API components and Web Unblocker. The page labels it a full outage, but its own text says users "may experience degraded performance, intermittent errors, or timeouts", so we read it as partial and minor (20 of 30). Job rates per plan are published, from 10 a second on the free trial to 100 on Business and Corporate, with rendered-job limits (15). 429 is not billed, responses carry x-ratelimit limit and remaining headers, and 612 and 613 faults can be retried at no cost. No Retry-After or backoff guidance was found for this API (10 of 15). No SLA is published. The General Conditions promise reasonable efforts (0). Generally available (10).

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.

Maintenance & community Oxylabs Web Scraper API +36

Oxylabs Web Scraper API 82

The newest release is MCP server v0.10.2 on 29 October 2026, which changes how the client is reported in request headers, after v0.10.0 on 15 October added API-token sign-in (30). In the 90 days from 4 August, MCP releases v0.9.0 and v0.9.1 (10 August), v0.9.2 (14 August), v0.9.3 (7 September), v0.10.0 and v0.10.2, with v0.10.1 (28 October, dependency caps only) counted half, and four changelog entries tagged for this API (11, 17, 20 and 24 August) (20). Dated public changelog, support by email and round-the-clock live chat per the docs. GitHub issues were unread because github.com refused us (10 of 15). The MCP server is in the official registry as io.oxylabs/oxylabs-mcp, now at 0.10.2 (published 29 October), and official Python and Go SDKs exist (15). The MCP repository runs lint and test workflows. The Python SDK's last release is still 3.0.0 on 9 March 2026 and the Go SDK's 1.0.0 on 6 September 2024 (7 of 10).

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.

Security & auth Oxylabs Web Scraper API +25

Oxylabs Web Scraper API 53

A username and password per product instance over HTTP Basic, with an editable password, optional IP whitelisting and several instances per account. The MCP server's v0.10.0 (15 October 2026) adds Web Scraper API tokens sent as a Bearer header, but the API docs still describe only the username and password, and no scopes were found (20 of 30). The Proxy Endpoint puts the pair in the proxy URL and needs TLS verification switched off, which we note without the query-string deduction. Scraping is read-only apart from POST requests to targets, callbacks and uploads to the customer's bucket, each instance can take a spending limit that disables it, and every MCP tool is marked read-only (10 of 20). No guidance on untrusted page content was found in the Web Scraper API docs, the MCP README or the agent skill (2 of 15). GET /v2/stats and the dashboard report usage by day and source, and jobs accept client notes. No per-request access log was found (7 of 15). ISO/IEC 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type 2 for Scraper API and yearly penetration tests per the trust centre (per the 8 October check, not re-read on 2 November). The disclosure programme is still paused except for critical issues sent to security@oxylabs.io, security.txt returns 404 and no bug bounty was found. That is above the 12 given for certification claims with no disclosure route (fireworks-inference, people-data-labs), because a route for critical issues and penetration tests are published (14 of 20).

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 runOxylabs Web Scraper APIScrapeOps Proxy API AggregatorEdge
Reliability16%207537Oxylabs Web Scraper API +38
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26867Oxylabs Web Scraper API +1
Agent ergonomics13%16.27979even
Security & auth14%17.55328Oxylabs Web Scraper API +25
Payments & pricing10%12.54040even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88246Oxylabs Web Scraper API +36
Transparency & trust7%8.86461Oxylabs Web Scraper API +3
Negative events≤15-30
TotalB 62.9/100D 50.4/100

Facts side by side

FactOxylabs Web Scraper APIScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
Vendoroxylabs, UABScrapeOps Limited
Hosted endpointhttps://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/querieshttps://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdiostdio, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Oxylabs General Conditions. The MCP server and the Python SDK on GitHub are MITnone
Tools exposed103
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.oxylabs/oxylabs-mcpnot listed
Last release2026-10-292026-10
Terms last updated2026-10-05no date given
Privacy policy last updated2024-10-14no date given
Customer content may train modelsyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity18k PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Oxylabs Web Scraper API

Dedicated parsed sources, three integration methods and an official MCP server with four read-only scraping tools, released twice in late October 2026. Since Web API launched on 7 October the docs call it Classic and send new users to sales for credentials, Google's domain parameter was removed with notice only on the day, and no OpenAPI document was found.

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

Oxylabs Web Scraper API

  1. Send "markdown": true for page reading. HTML is the default output and costs far more tokens
  2. Add "render": "html" only when a page comes back empty. Rendered results cost $1.50 per 1,000 against $1.00 on the Starter plan
  3. Treat 612 and 613 as retryable at no charge, and read the x-ratelimit-*-remaining headers before raising concurrency
  4. Use geo_location for Google localisation. The domain parameter was removed in March 2026
  5. Pin oxylabs-mcp to 0.10.1 or later. Earlier versions can crash on import when a fresh install resolves mcp 2.x

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, Oxylabs Web Scraper API or ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator?

Oxylabs Web Scraper API scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Do Oxylabs Web Scraper API and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator need an API key?

Oxylabs Web Scraper API needs an API key. ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Oxylabs Web Scraper API and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator without installing anything?

Yes. Oxylabs Web Scraper API has a hosted endpoint at https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries and ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator at https://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp.

Other comparisons with Oxylabs Web Scraper API or ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator

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