# ScraperAPI vs Spider

> Spider scores 74.1 (BB) 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-spider-cloud
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-spider-cloud.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-spider-cloud.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-spider-cloud.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

Spider scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do scraping. Spider accepts x402. ScraperAPI doesn't.

- 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
- Spider: grade BB, 74.1/100, rank #76 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/spider-cloud.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/spider-cloud.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.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

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

### Spider (BB)

Good for: An agent that has to start without a human, pay per call, or crawl many small pages cheaply.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 67
- Security & auth, 42 against 29
- Payments & pricing, 96 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 66 against 54

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
- Open source

Watch for: Operated by BAGELMEN LLC with no address, retention periods or DPA in the privacy policy


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ScraperAPI | Spider | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 80 | Spider +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 87 | Spider +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 70 | ScraperAPI +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 42 | Spider +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 96 | Spider +56 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 85 | Spider +24 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 66 | Spider +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.1 · D** | **74.1 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ScraperAPI | Spider |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ScraperAPI (saas.group) | Spider (BAGELMEN LLC) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.scraperapi.com` | `https://api.spider.cloud` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for scraping | not published | $0.50 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.0005/call |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 28 | 22 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `cloud.spider/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-08-07 | 2026-07-19 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-09-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 |
| 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 | 2.7k stars, 2.7k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.3/5 (8) |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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

## Questions

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

Spider scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

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

ScraperAPI needs an API key. Spider takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. An agent can also pay Spider per call over x402, with no account.

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

Yes. ScraperAPI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.scraperapi.com and Spider at https://api.spider.cloud.

### Are ScraperAPI and Spider open source?

No open-source release is listed for ScraperAPI. Spider is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with ScraperAPI or Spider

- [Firecrawl MCP vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Bright Data vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bright-data-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Bright Data vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bright-data-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Jina Reader vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jina-reader-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Jina Reader vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jina-reader-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Olostep vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/olostep-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Olostep vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/olostep-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Oxylabs Web Scraper API vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/oxylabs-web-scraper-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Scrape.do vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrape-do-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Scrape.do vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrape-do-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScrapeGraphAI vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapegraphai-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [ScrapeGraphAI vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapegraphai-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Scrapeless vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Scrapeless vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapeless-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs Scrapfly](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapfly.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs ScrapingAnt](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingant.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs ScrapingBee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingbee.md)
- [ScraperAPI vs Scrapingdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-scrapingdog.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)
- [Scrapfly vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapfly-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScrapingAnt vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingant-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [ScrapingBee vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingbee-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Scrapingdog vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scrapingdog-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Spider vs ZenRows](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/spider-cloud-vs-zenrows.md)
- [Spider vs Zyte API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/spider-cloud-vs-zyte.md)
- [Diffbot vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/diffbot-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Diffbot vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/diffbot-vs-spider-cloud.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Apify MCP Server vs ScraperAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-scraperapi.md)
- [Apify MCP Server vs Spider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-spider-cloud.md)