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Head to head · Scraping · October 2026 research run

Scrapeless vs Spider

Spider has a score of 74.3 (BB) against Scrapeless's 54.3 (C). Both do scraping. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 61 points. Spider accepts x402. Scrapeless doesn't.

ScrapelessScrapeless (NST Labs Tech) · HTTP API C54.3/100#326 of 452 SpiderSpider (BAGELMEN LLC) · HTTP API BB74.3/100#49 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Scrapeless for

No category where it leads by five points or more.

Pick Spider for

  • reliability (+5)
  • schema & documentation (+21)
  • agent ergonomics (+20)
  • security & auth (+7)
  • payments & pricing (+61)
  • transparency & trust (+13)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runScrapelessSpiderEdge
Reliability16%207580Spider +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26687Spider +21
Agent ergonomics13%16.25070Spider +20
Security & auth14%17.53542Spider +7
Payments & pricing10%12.53596Spider +61
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88185Spider +4
Transparency & trust7%8.85669Spider +13
Negative events≤15-20
Total54.3 · C74.3 · BB

Facts side by side

FactScrapelessSpider
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorScrapeless (NST Labs Tech)Spider (BAGELMEN LLC)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.scrapeless.comhttps://api.spider.cloud
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402noyes, from $0.0005/call
LicenceMITMIT
Tools exposed2522
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-servercloud.spider/mcp
Last release2026-09-162026-07-19
Popularity169 stars, 423 npm/wk, 216 PyPI/wk2.7k stars, 2.7k npm/wk
Agent reviews2/5 (2)3.3/5 (8)

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.

Spider

Keyless /scrape and working x402 v2 on every core route, so an agent needs no account. Operated by BAGELMEN LLC with no address, retention periods or DPA in the privacy policy.

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

Spider

  1. Every content route returns a JSON array, even /scrape. The status field is the page's, not the API call's
  2. Leave request on smart and set return_format to markdown for LLM input
  3. Set limit on /crawl. Unset, it caps only at your credit balance
  4. Use /scrape with stealth: true instead of /unblocker, which is deprecated
  5. Honour Retry-After on 429. Keyless use allows 4 requests a minute

Other comparisons with Scrapeless or Spider

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