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Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Scrapeless vs ScrapingBee

ScrapingBee has a score of 59.3 (C) against Scrapeless's 54.3 (C). Both do scraping. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 18 points.

ScrapelessScrapeless (NST Labs Tech) · HTTP API C54.3/100#326 of 452 ScrapingBeeScrapingBee (Oxylabs group) · HTTP API C59.3/100#268 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Scrapeless for

  • reliability (+5)
  • schema & documentation (+6)

Pick ScrapingBee for

  • agent ergonomics (+18)
  • payments & pricing (+5)
  • transparency & trust (+8)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runScrapelessScrapingBeeEdge
Reliability16%207570Scrapeless +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26660Scrapeless +6
Agent ergonomics13%16.25068ScrapingBee +18
Security & auth14%17.53537ScrapingBee +2
Payments & pricing10%12.53540ScrapingBee +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88185ScrapingBee +4
Transparency & trust7%8.85664ScrapingBee +8
Negative events≤15-20
Total54.3 · C59.3 · C

Facts side by side

FactScrapelessScrapingBee
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorScrapeless (NST Labs Tech)ScrapingBee (Oxylabs group)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.scrapeless.comhttps://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePaid
x402nono
LicenceMITnone
Tools exposed2518
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.github.scrapeless-ai/scrapeless-mcp-servernot listed
Last release2026-09-162026-09-11
Popularity169 stars, 423 npm/wk, 216 PyPI/wk132 stars, 49k npm/wk, 72k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews2/5 (2)4/5 (2)

Verdicts

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.

ScrapingBee

Dedicated Google, Amazon, Walmart, YouTube, ChatGPT and Gemini endpoints next to the general HTML API. remote-mcp.txt says the hosted MCP only takes the key as ?api_key= in its URL.

Before you call either

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

ScrapingBee

  1. Send render_js=false for static pages and files. It cuts the cost from 5 credits to 1
  2. Use mode=auto with max_cost=25 to stop it escalating to 75-credit stealth requests
  3. Keep the MCP URL with ?api_key= out of logs and shared configs
  4. Back off exponentially on 429 from the MCP, since its concurrency is shared across customers
  5. Expect 404 and 410 from the target to be billed. Other failures aren't

Other comparisons with Scrapeless or ScrapingBee

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