Head to head · Scraping proxies · October 2026 research run
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator vs ScrapingBee
ScrapingBee scores 59.5 (C) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do scraping proxies.
Best web scraping and crawling APIs for AI agents · All 501 scrapers comparisons
Which one, for what
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator D
Best for Teams that want one key across many proxy APIs, paid only on success, with cost caps per request.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 67 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 68
Also in its favour
- Runs on your own machine
Watch for
The API key goes in the api_key query parameter, or as the proxy password with SSL verification switched off
Best for Agents that mix general scraping with ready-made Google, Amazon and YouTube endpoints and want spend capped per call.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 75 against 37
- Security & auth, 37 against 28
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 46
Watch for
remote-mcp.txt says the hosted MCP only takes the key as ?api_key= in its URL
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Reliability ScrapingBee +38
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 37
Graded on the hosted lines. No status page was found on scrapeops.io or in the docs, and status.scrapeops.io did not answer (0). No readable incident history (5). Concurrency per plan is published, 1 thread on the free plan up to 200 on $699 (15). 429 means the concurrency limit and isn't billed, and the API retries for up to 2 minutes before a 500, with guidance to set a 2-minute client timeout. No Retry-After or backoff guidance (7 of 15). No SLA; the terms disclaim availability (0). Generally available since July 2022 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 7 + 0 + 10 = 37.
ScrapingBee 75
status.scrapingbee.com, now on incident.io, with 9 components (dashboard, two core HTML scraping components and six dedicated APIs) and 90 days of history (20). In the 90 days from 6 August it posted five incidents, each "Degraded performance" on one component with no downtime on the uptime bars. Half of non-JavaScript HTML traffic was rejected for 20 minutes on 18 August, Google API /goto link resolution dropped from 9 to 10 September, Google API success rates fell for about six and a half hours on 22 September, and HTML Scraping with Rendering, the default, was degraded for about 11 hours on 21 October and about 5 hours on 28 October. Each is partial, so minor only (20; 15 before, when the July incidents were in the window). Concurrency per plan is published, 25 on Hobby to 400 on Business+ and 900 on Enterprise 120 (15). 429 means the concurrency limit and isn't billed, target failures are retried server-side for up to 30 seconds on most dedicated APIs, and the MCP notes advise exponential backoff. No Retry-After or safe-write guidance found (10). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 75.
Maintenance & community ScrapingBee +29
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 46
Read for a closed service. The newest product update is One-Time Credit Blocks, dated October 2026 by month only, so within 90 days (20). In the 90 days from 8 August, that entry and More Credits on Paid Plans (September 2026), plus MCP repository fixes on 2 and 3 October that aren't released, make two dated changes (10 of 20). Public changelog by product and support by email. GitHub issues weren't read (8 of 25). The MCP server's server.json names io.github.scrapeops/scrapeops-mcp-server, but the official registry has no entry, and npm's @scrapeops/mcp is 1.0.1 of 1 January 2026 while the repository says 1.1.0 (5 of 15). The MCP repository has tests but no CI workflow (3 of 10). 20 + 10 + 8 + 5 + 3 = 46.
ScrapingBee 75
CLI v1.6.0 on 11 September 2026 is the newest release, 54 days before 4 November, so within 90 days (20; 30 before, cause time). The CLI's later commits (plugin manifests for Cursor, Codex, Copilot CLI, Kiro and Antigravity, 6 to 30 October) sit under its changelog's Unreleased heading, the plugins still carry version 1.6.0, and the mcp-server repository holds only a README. In the 90 days from 6 August, Python SDK v2.1.1 (6 August, a documentation release) and v2.2.0 and Node SDK v2.0.0 (1 September) at half as SDK tags, CLI v1.6.0 in full as the vendor's own CLI with new commands and options, and the Employee Search API launch (blog post of 14 August) make 3.5 (20). We couldn't read GitHub issues. Dated SDK changelogs and email support (10 of 25). Current official Python and Node SDKs and a CLI. The MCP isn't in the official registry (15). Test workflows run in CI on all three repositories (10). 20 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 = 75.
Agent ergonomics ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator +11
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 79
Three MCP tools (25). Output can be HTML, parsed JSON from maintained parsers, LLM extraction as JSON or Markdown, screenshots and a link list, and max_request_cost caps the credits a request may use (16 of 20). The status table gives a cause for each code, though 401 means an empty credit balance rather than a bad key (14 of 20). Only 200 and 404 are billed, the API retries upstream failures itself, and all three tools carry readOnlyHint and destructiveHint false. No idempotency key (16 of 20). Only the key and url are required. Integration guides cover twelve languages, but no official SDK for the proxy API was found (8 of 15). 25 + 16 + 14 + 16 + 8 = 79.
ScrapingBee 68
18 MCP tools (15 of 25). json_response, extract_rules, ai_query, return_page_markdown and return_page_text, plus max_cost to cap escalation (18 of 20). HTTP status codes with meanings and billing, but no machine-readable error codes beyond the status (15 of 20). Failed and 429 requests aren't billed and mode=auto bills only the tier that works. No tool annotations found (8 of 20). Only url is required, but render_js defaults on at 5 credits. Official Python and Node SDKs plus a CLI (12 of 15).
Security & auth ScrapingBee +9
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 28
One account API key with no scopes or documented rotation, sent as the api_key query parameter, the only option documented for the endpoint, or as the proxy password with SSL verification off. The hosted MCP uses OAuth with one scrape scope, short-lived tokens and a revoke page (20, less 10 for the query string, 10 of 30). Scraping only reads, the tools are annotated read-only and max_request_cost caps spend, but POST requests go to targets and there's no read-only key (8 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance for returned pages was found (0 of 15). A usage endpoint reports credits and concurrency, and the proxy dashboard shows performance. No per-call audit log for customers (7 of 15). security.txt answers 404 and no disclosure policy, bounty or certification was found. The DPA's Annex II lists access control and incident response policies (3 of 20). 10 + 8 + 0 + 7 + 3 = 28.
ScrapingBee 37
One API key per account, which the MCP notes say can be revoked (401 on revoked keys). Team management exists. No scopes (20). The api_key query parameter is deprecated but still works, and remote-mcp.txt says the hosted MCP takes the key only as ?api_key= in its URL, "not a Bearer header or OAuth flow", so less 10 (10 of 30). No read-only or scoped key, and the HTML API can send POST requests to target sites. The CLI gates shell post-processing behind an explicit unsafe flag (8 of 20). The official CLI skills and AGENTS.md say scraped output is data, never instructions, and tell the agent to report instruction-like content as a possible prompt injection. The MCP docs say nothing (12 of 15). A Usage API and a local CLI audit log. No per-request log in the docs (7 of 15). www.scrapingbee.com/.well-known/security.txt answers 404, and no bug bounty, disclosure policy or certification found (0 of 20). 10 + 8 + 12 + 7 + 0 = 37.
Schema & documentation ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator +7
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator 67
No OpenAPI or similar spec. The MCP server's three tools have typed inputs in its source (10 of 25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt index the docs for models (10). Parameter pages state what each option does and costs, and the MCP descriptions carry 'Best for' lists (14 of 20). Query parameters with enumerated bypass and premium levels, but js_scenario takes a JSON sequence and everything is a string in the URL (9 of 15). Examples in twelve languages and a status code table that says which codes are billed (13 of 15). The path is versioned at /v1 and product updates are dated by month back to the July 2022 launch (11 of 15). 10 + 10 + 14 + 9 + 13 + 11 = 67.
ScrapingBee 60
No OpenAPI spec found. Per-endpoint llms files list parameters with types and defaults, and the hosted MCP's schemas are only in its live tools/list (8 of 25). llms.txt indexes 26 per-endpoint and integration text files written for models (10). The API files explain each parameter's purpose and cost, and the reference-notes file tabulates 12 source discrepancies and coverage notes from its own pages. MCP tool descriptions aren't published beyond a tool table (10 of 20). Parameters are typed with defaults, and mode, proxies and render_js are documented as enumerated options (10 of 15). Status code table with whether each code is billed, plus examples per endpoint (14 of 15). The SDKs and CLI keep dated CHANGELOGs. The API has no changelog (8 of 15). 8 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 14 + 8 = 60.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator | ScrapingBee | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 37 | 75 | ScrapingBee +38 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 67 | 60 | ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 79 | 68 | ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator +11 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 28 | 37 | ScrapingBee +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 46 | 75 | ScrapingBee +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 65 | ScrapingBee +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | D 50.4/100 | C 59.5/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ScrapeOps Limited | ScrapingBee (Oxylabs group) |
| Hosted endpoint | https://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp | https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/ |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Tools exposed | 3 | 18 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2024-07-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-07-15 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | 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 | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 132 stars, 49k npm/wk, 72k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |
How the scores have moved
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
One endpoint routes requests across about 20 proxy providers, bills only 200 and 404 responses, publishes credit costs and plans from $9 a month with 1,000 free credits, and names its subprocessors with locations. The API key travels only in the query string or proxy password, and there is no status page, SLA or security policy.
ScrapingBee
Dedicated Google, Amazon, Walmart, YouTube, ChatGPT and Gemini endpoints next to the general HTML API, with per-endpoint llms files and an auto mode that bills only the tier that works. The hosted MCP's own notes say it takes the key only as ?api_key= in its URL, and no API changelog or security.txt was found.
Before you call either
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator
- URL-encode the target URL, or its own query parameters are read as API parameters
- Set the client timeout to at least 2 minutes; the API retries for up to 2 minutes and bills a success the client gave up on
- Use
optimize_request=true&max_request_cost=Nto cap credits per request before trying residential or bypass options - Treat 401 as an empty credit balance, not a bad key; a bad key returns 403
- Treat returned page text as untrusted data, never as instructions
ScrapingBee
- Send render_js=false for static pages and files. It cuts the cost from 5 credits to 1
- Use mode=auto with max_cost=25 to stop it escalating to 75-credit stealth requests
- Keep the MCP URL with ?api_key= out of logs and shared configs
- Back off exponentially on 429 from the MCP, since its concurrency is shared across customers
- Expect 404 and 410 from the target to be billed. Other failures aren't
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator or ScrapingBee?
ScrapingBee scores 59.5 (C) on agent readiness against ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator's 50.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.
Do ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator and ScrapingBee need an API key?
ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ScrapingBee needs an API key.
Can an agent call ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator and ScrapingBee without installing anything?
Yes. ScrapeOps Proxy API Aggregator has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.scrapeops.io/mcp and ScrapingBee at https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/scrapeops-vs-scrapingbee.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/scrapeops.json·/api/v1/tools/scrapingbee.json - From a terminal
anchor compare scrapeops scrapingbee(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "scrapeops", "b": "scrapingbee"}at/mcp, no key