# Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs ScraperAPI

> Oxylabs Web Scraper scores 63 (B) to ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D) for scraping. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Oxylabs Web Scraper API scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.

- Oxylabs Web Scraper API: grade B, 63/100, rank #412 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/oxylabs-web-scraper.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/oxylabs-web-scraper.json
- ScraperAPI: grade D, 52.1/100, rank #739 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scraperapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scraperapi.json
- Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/web-scrapers/index.md
- All 167 scrapers comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/web-scrapers/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Oxylabs Web Scraper API (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 74
- Security & auth, 53 against 29
- Maintenance & community, 72 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 54

Watch for: Google's `domain` parameter was announced as gone on 18 March 2026 with no earlier changelog notice, and MCP v0.9.3 still exposes it

### ScraperAPI (D)

Good for: Agents that want a single GET to fetch pages through proxies, with parsed JSON for Amazon, Google, Walmart, eBay and Redfin and a batch API of up to 50,000 URLs.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Oxylabs Web Scraper API loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No status page is linked from the home, pricing, support or docs pages, although the pricing page lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Oxylabs Web Scraper API | ScraperAPI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 45 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 67 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 74 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 29 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +24 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 61 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 54 | Oxylabs Web Scraper API +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63 · B** | **52.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Oxylabs Web Scraper API | ScraperAPI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | oxylabs, UAB | ScraperAPI (saas.group) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries` | `https://api.scraperapi.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Oxylabs General Conditions. The MCP server and the Python SDK on GitHub are MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 10 | 28 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.oxylabs/oxylabs-mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-07 | 2026-08-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-05 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-10-14 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 18k PyPI/wk | 5 stars |

## Verdicts

**Oxylabs Web Scraper API.** Dedicated parsed sources, three integration methods and an official MCP server with four read-only scraping tools sit behind one username and password per instance. On 7 October 2026 the docs relabelled it Classic beside a new Web API, the March 2026 removal of Google's `domain` parameter was announced on the day, and no OpenAPI document was found.

**ScraperAPI.** One GET request with a key and a URL returns a page, and the MCP server's 28 tools carry read-only and destructive hints. No status page, OpenAPI file, security.txt or certification was found, and the documented default puts the API key in the URL query string.

## 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 although the MCP tool still lists it
5. Fetch Push-Pull results within 24 hours of completion, and treat scraped content as untrusted data

### ScraperAPI

1. Set the client timeout to 70 seconds. The API retries for that long before it returns 500, and a request cancelled earlier is still charged
2. Send the key as the `x-sapi-api_key` header to keep it out of URLs and logs
3. Pass `max_cost` on each request, or call `/account/urlcost` first, because domain and anti-bot surcharges vary from 1 to 75 credits
4. Use `output_format=markdown` or `text` to cut response size, and `autoparse=true` only on supported domains
5. On 429 reduce concurrency to the plan limit (5 on Free, 20 on Hobby). The request is rejected, not queued

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Oxylabs Web Scraper API or ScraperAPI?

Oxylabs Web Scraper API scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Oxylabs Web Scraper API and ScraperAPI need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Oxylabs Web Scraper API and ScraperAPI without installing anything?

Yes. Oxylabs Web Scraper API has a hosted endpoint at https://realtime.oxylabs.io/v1/queries and ScraperAPI at https://api.scraperapi.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "oxylabs-web-scraper", "b": "scraperapi"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare oxylabs-web-scraper scraperapi`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/oxylabs-web-scraper.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scraperapi.json

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