# ScraperAPI vs ScrapingBee

> ScrapingBee scores 59.2 (C) to ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D) for scraping. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingbee
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingbee.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingbee.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingbee.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

ScrapingBee scores 59.2 (C) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ScraperAPI leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do scraping.

- 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
- ScrapingBee: grade C, 59.2/100, rank #557 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/scrapingbee.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/scrapingbee.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

### 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.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 67 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 68

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

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

### ScrapingBee (C)

Good for: Agents that mix general scraping with ready-made Google, Amazon and YouTube endpoints and want spend capped per call.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 45
- Security & auth, 37 against 29
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 54

Watch for: remote-mcp.txt says the hosted MCP only takes the key as ?api_key= in its URL


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ScraperAPI | ScrapingBee | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 70 | ScrapingBee +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 60 | ScraperAPI +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 68 | ScraperAPI +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 37 | ScrapingBee +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 85 | ScrapingBee +24 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 63 | ScrapingBee +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.1 · D** | **59.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ScraperAPI | ScrapingBee |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ScraperAPI (saas.group) | ScrapingBee (Oxylabs group) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.scraperapi.com` | `https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Tools exposed | 28 | 18 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-07 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2024-07-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-07-15 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 5 stars | 132 stars, 49k npm/wk, 72k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ScraperAPI or ScrapingBee?

ScrapingBee scores 59.2 (C) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. ScraperAPI leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.

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

Both need an API key.

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

Yes. ScraperAPI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.scraperapi.com and ScrapingBee at https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with ScraperAPI or ScrapingBee

- [Firecrawl MCP vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scrapingbee.md)
- [Apify MCP Server vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scrapingbee.md)
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- [Olostep vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/olostep-vs-scrapingbee.md)
- [Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scrapingbee.md)
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- [Scrapeless vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Scrapeless vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-scrapingbee.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs Scrapfly](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapfly.md)
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- [ScraperAPI vs Scrapingdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingdog.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs ZenRows](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-zenrows.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs Zyte API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-zyte.md)
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- [ScrapingAnt vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingant-vs-scrapingbee.md)
- [ScrapingBee vs Scrapingdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingbee-vs-scrapingdog.md)
- [ScrapingBee vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingbee-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScrapingBee vs ZenRows](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingbee-vs-zenrows.md)
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