# ScrapeGraphAI vs ScraperAPI

> ScrapeGraphAI scores 68.3 (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/scrapegraphai-vs-scraperapi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapegraphai-vs-scraperapi.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapegraphai-vs-scraperapi.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapegraphai-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

ScrapeGraphAI scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.

- ScrapeGraphAI: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #221 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scrapegraphai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scrapegraphai.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

### ScrapeGraphAI (B)

Good for: LLM pipelines that want prompt-to-JSON extraction and for agents that must pay with a wallet.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 64 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 67
- Security & auth, 39 against 29
- Payments & pricing, 90 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 70 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 60 against 54

Watch for: Rate limits and plan prices differ between docs pages

### 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:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

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 | ScrapeGraphAI | ScraperAPI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 64 | 45 | ScrapeGraphAI +19 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 67 | ScrapeGraphAI +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 74 | ScraperAPI +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 29 | ScrapeGraphAI +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 40 | ScrapeGraphAI +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 61 | ScrapeGraphAI +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 54 | ScrapeGraphAI +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.3 · B** | **52.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ScrapeGraphAI | ScraperAPI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ScrapeGraphAI | ScraperAPI (saas.group) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://v2-api.scrapegraphai.com` | `https://api.scraperapi.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for scraping | $2 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | payer tooling only | no |
| Tools exposed | 20 | 28 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.ScrapeGraphAI/scrapegraph-mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-07-31 | 2026-08-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-04 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-03-15 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | 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 | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 2.4k npm/wk, 46k PyPI/wk | 5 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**ScrapeGraphAI.** An agent can mint an account and key over x402 or MPP with no signup. Rate limits and plan prices differ between docs pages.

**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

### ScrapeGraphAI

1. Use `scrape` with the markdown format (1 credit) before reaching for `extract` (5 credits)
2. Read `GET https://v2-api.scrapegraphai.com/api/agent/protocols` for current packs and prices before paying over x402
3. MCP tool calls stop at 60 seconds. Use `crawl_start` and poll for anything longer
4. Back off 1, 2 then 4 seconds on a 429 `rate_limit_exceeded`. No Retry-After is sent
5. Use Orthogonal's x402 gateway when you need to pay per call without a key

### 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, ScrapeGraphAI or ScraperAPI?

ScrapeGraphAI scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do ScrapeGraphAI and ScraperAPI need an API key?

ScrapeGraphAI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ScraperAPI needs an API key.

### Can an agent call ScrapeGraphAI and ScraperAPI without installing anything?

Yes. ScrapeGraphAI has a hosted endpoint at https://v2-api.scrapegraphai.com and ScraperAPI at https://api.scraperapi.com.


## For agents

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

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