# ScraperAPI vs Zyte API

> Zyte scores 69.7 (B) 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-zyte
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-zyte.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-vs-zyte.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/scraperapi-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 ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. 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
- Zyte API: grade B, 69.7/100, rank #175 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zyte.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zyte.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:
- 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

### 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 45
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 67
- Security & auth, 55 against 29
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 66 against 54

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 | ScraperAPI | Zyte API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 85 | Zyte API +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 85 | Zyte API +18 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 72 | ScraperAPI +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 29 | 55 | Zyte API +26 |
| 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 | 77 | Zyte API +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 66 | Zyte API +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.1 · D** | **69.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ScraperAPI | Zyte API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ScraperAPI (saas.group) | Zyte Group Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.scraperapi.com` | `https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | 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 | 28 | 34 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-07 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-09-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-08-30 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | yes |
| 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 | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 5 stars | 42k PyPI/wk |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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, ScraperAPI or Zyte API?

Zyte API scores 69.7 (B) on agent readiness against ScraperAPI's 52.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

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

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

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

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


## For agents

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

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