# Scrapeless vs Zyte API

> Zyte API scores 69.7 (B) on agent readiness against Scrapeless's 54.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-zyte
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-zyte.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-zyte.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-zyte.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

Zyte API scores 69.7 (B) on agent readiness against Scrapeless's 54.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping.

- Scrapeless: grade C, 54.1/100, rank #619 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scrapeless.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scrapeless.json
- Zyte API: grade B, 69.7/100, rank #166 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zyte.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zyte.json

## Which one, for what

### Scrapeless (C)

Good for: An agent that needs one key for unlocking, a remote browser and AI answer-engine scraping, and is happy to read the pricing JSON rather than llms.txt.

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: llms.txt quotes Deep SerpApi at $0.1 per 1,000 while the plan data charges $1 per 1,000 for Google Search

### Zyte API (B)

Good for: An agent or pipeline that fetches protected pages and wants the service to choose proxy and browser per site and to bill only success, and teams already on Scrapy.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 75
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 66
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 50
- Security & auth, 55 against 35
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 66 against 53

Watch for: Request price depends on the target site's tier, from $0.13 to $1.27 per 1,000 HTTP requests and $1.01 to $16.08 with a browser on pay-as-you-go


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Scrapeless | Zyte API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 85 | Zyte API +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 85 | Zyte API +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 72 | Zyte API +22 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 55 | Zyte API +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Zyte API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 77 | Scrapeless +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 66 | Zyte API +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **54.1 · C** | **69.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Scrapeless | Zyte API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Scrapeless (NST Labs Tech) | Zyte Group Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.scrapeless.com` | `https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Zyte's terms of service. The Python client is BSD 3-Clause, and the Agentic Web Data plugin is under Zyte's own end-user licence |
| Tools exposed | 25 | 34 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.scrapeless-ai/scrapeless-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-16 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-08-30 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 169 stars, 423 npm/wk, 216 PyPI/wk | 42k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**Zyte API.** One POST endpoint with an OpenAPI 3 contract picks proxies, browser rendering and extraction per site, bills only successful responses, and sends problem+json errors with Retry-After. Prices vary by target site across five tiers, so cost per request isn't known before the site is assigned one, and no dated API changelog was found.

## 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

### Zyte API

1. Send the API key as the Basic auth username with an empty password to `https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract`. Set only one of `httpResponseBody` or `browserHtml`, or one extraction field
2. Ask for `httpResponseBody` before `browserHtml`. Browser requests cost about eight to thirteen times more per tier
3. Retry 429, 503 and 520 after the `Retry-After` seconds, with backoff. They aren't billed. Don't retry 400, 401, 422 or 451
4. Read `statusCode` in a 200 response. A target site's 404 comes back as a successful, billed Zyte API response
5. Have the owner set a blocking spending limit on the key you use. A 403 `/auth/account-suspended` means the limit or the trial month ended

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Scrapeless or Zyte API?

Zyte API scores 69.7 (B) on agent readiness against Scrapeless's 54.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Scrapeless and Zyte API need an API key?

Scrapeless needs an API key. Zyte API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Scrapeless and Zyte API without installing anything?

Yes. Scrapeless has a hosted endpoint at https://api.scrapeless.com and Zyte API at https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Scrapeless or Zyte API

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- [Bright Data vs Scrapeless](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bright-data-vs-scrapeless.md)
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- [Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs Zyte API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-zyte.md)
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