Scrape.do vs Scrapeless

Scrape.do

$29 for 250,000 basic credits, and 429s, 502s and most failures aren't billed. Token travels in the query string on the main API.

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.

Scrape.do

1. Start with the default data centre request (1 credit). Add super=true or render=true only after a block, since they cost 10 and 5
2. Pass output=markdown to get LLM-ready text instead of raw HTML
3. Read Scrape.do-Request-Cost from the response headers. Some domains cost 10 to 200 credits whatever you pass
4. Treat a 429 as too many concurrent requests and wait for one to finish
5. Keep URLs with token= out of logs and shared traces

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