A Bright Data alternative that bills by what the page needs
Web Unlocker charges $1.50 per 1,000 pages, whatever the page needs. On ScrapingAnt Startup, 1,000 plain HTML pages cost $0.10 and 1,000 rendered pages $0.98. Residential proxies start at $30/month for 5 GB, and the same API key runs a hosted MCP server for your agents.
10,000 free credits every month · no card · one request at a time on Free
What you save on each Bright Data product
Each product has its own pricing on both sides. Read the one you use, or all three if you buy more than one.
Web scraping API
1,000 plain HTML pages for $0.10 on Startup, against $1.50 on Web Unlocker. You pay residential rates only on the pages that need them.
Cost per 1,000 pages →MCP server
Three tools that read a page as HTML, Markdown or text, so your agent’s context stays small. Billed with the same credits as the API.
Compare the servers →Residential proxies
Monthly plans from $30 for 5 GB, against $499 for Bright Data’s smallest monthly plan. Country, state and city targeting and sticky sessions included.
Monthly cost by GB →What 1,000 pages cost: Web Unlocker vs ScrapingAnt
Bright Data Web Unlocker charges the same for every successful request: $1.50 per 1,000 on pay as you go, or $1.30 on the $499/month Scale plan. ScrapingAnt charges API credits by proxy type and rendering, so the cost depends on what the page needs.
| Request mode | Bright Data, pay as you go | Bright Data Scale ($499) | ScrapingAnt Startup ($49) | ScrapingAnt Business ($249) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain HTML, datacenter proxy | $1.50 | $1.30 | $0.10 | $0.08 |
| Rendered HTML, datacenter proxy | $1.50 | $1.30 | $0.98 | $0.83 |
| Plain HTML, residential proxy | $1.50 | $1.30 | $2.45 | $2.08 |
| Rendered HTML, residential proxy | $1.50 | $1.30 | $12.25 | $10.38 |
Where ScrapingAnt costs less
Pages that load over datacenter proxies. On Startup, 1,000 plain HTML requests cost $0.10 and 1,000 rendered pages cost $0.98. Our 24 documented proxy countries work on datacenter proxies at no extra cost, and paid plans have no plan concurrency cap.
Where Bright Data comes out ahead
Pages that need residential IPs. Web Unlocker picks the proxy and rendering for you at one rate, while ScrapingAnt residential requests cost $2.45 to $12.25 per 1,000 on Startup. Bright Data’s free tier is 5,000 requests a month; ScrapingAnt’s 10,000 free credits cover 1,000 rendered pages.
ScrapingAnt costs assume the whole plan goes to one mode. Smaller plans cost more per request: Enthusiast is $19/month for 100,000 credits. Google requests on datacenter proxies cost 10 credits. Prices use monthly billing.
Checked : Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, ScrapingAnt plans, ScrapingAnt credit costs and proxy countries. Check again before you buy.
# Bright Data hosted MCP server in Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http brightdata \
"https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=$BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN"# ScrapingAnt hosted MCP server: three page-reading tools
claude mcp add scrapingant --transport http \
https://api.scrapingant.com/mcp \
-H "x-api-key: $SCRAPINGANT_API_KEY"An MCP server that keeps your agent’s context small
ScrapingAnt’s server has three tools, one each for HTML, Markdown and plain text, so the agent spends its context on the pages, not on tool descriptions. Bright Data’s MCP server enables 32 tools unless you choose tool groups: search, ready-made scrapers, browser control and more.
Each ScrapingAnt MCP call uses API credits: 10 for a rendered page, 1 with browser=false. On Startup that is $0.98 per 1,000 rendered reads. Bright Data gives 5,000 free requests a month, shared with Web Unlocker, then charges $1.50 per 1,000 scrapes on pay as you go.
- Works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Cline
- Each call can set
proxy_typeandproxy_country - No credits are charged when a call returns a non-200 status
Residential proxies from $30 a month
ScrapingAnt sells monthly residential plans from 5 GB, so you pay for the traffic you use. Bright Data’s smallest monthly residential plan is $499 for 141 GB. Below that you pay as you go at $8/GB list, or $4/GB for the first three months with Bright Data’s current 50% code.
| Monthly traffic | Bright Data pay as you go ($8/GB) | Bright Data with 50% code, first 3 months | ScrapingAnt monthly plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 GB | $40 | $20 | $30 (Micro) |
| 10 GB | $80 | $40 | $55 (Micro+) |
| 25 GB | $200 | $100 | $130 (Regular) |
| 50 GB | $400 | $200 | $245 (Advanced) |
| 100 GB | $800 | $400 | $450 (Advanced+) |
What a ScrapingAnt plan includes
Rotating HTTP and HTTPS residential proxies with country, state and city targeting, sticky sessions of up to 10 minutes and unlimited concurrency. Larger plans go down to $3/GB at 1,000 GB.
Where Bright Data comes out ahead
Price during the 50% promotion, and targeting depth. Bright Data adds ZIP code and ASN targeting, SOCKS5 through its Proxy Manager, and ISP and mobile proxy networks. ScrapingAnt has none of those.
Checked : Bright Data residential pricing, Bright Data targeting options and ScrapingAnt residential plans. Bright Data’s promotion terms can change. Check again before you buy.
# US exit, sticky session
curl --proxy brd.superproxy.io:44445 \
--proxy-user "brd-customer-$BD_CUSTOMER-zone-$BD_ZONE-country-us-session-cart42:$BD_ZONE_PASSWORD" \
https://example.com/# Same exit country and session on ScrapingAnt
curl --proxy residential.scrapingant.com:8080 \
--proxy-user "customer-$SA_USER-country-us-sessionid-cart42:$SA_RESIDENTIAL_KEY" \
https://example.com/Change the host and the username
Your HTTP client and scraper stay the same. Point the proxy at residential.scrapingant.com, port 8080 for HTTP or 443 for HTTPS, and sign in with your ScrapingAnt username and residential key.
Targeting moves over almost word for word: -country-us stays the same, and Bright Data’s -session- becomes -sessionid-. Move a small share of traffic first and keep the Bright Data zone for rollback.
What ScrapingAnt doesn’t replace
ScrapingAnt fits teams that fetch pages through one API, give an agent web access through MCP, or run their own scraper on residential proxies. Bright Data sells a much wider platform than the three products on this page.
Results on heavily protected sites depend on the target, so test yours first. Also comparing other APIs? See the ZenRows, ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI comparisons.
Stay on Bright Data, or plan separately, if you use
- Datasets, the dataset marketplace or ready-made scrapers for specific sites
- Browser API sessions you drive over CDP, or the SERP API
- ISP or mobile proxies, SOCKS5, or ZIP and ASN targeting
What customers say
Reviews from developers who use ScrapingAnt, published on Capterra.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Capterra →★★★★★“Onboarding and API integration was smooth and clear. Everything works great. The support was excellent.”
★★★★★“Great communication with co-founders helped me to get the job done. Great proxy diversity and good price.”
★★★★★“This product helps me to scale and extend my business. The setup is easy and support is really good.”
Bright Data comparison questions
Setup details are in the MCP docs and the residential proxy docs.
Is ScrapingAnt cheaper than Bright Data?
For pages that load over datacenter proxies, yes. On the $49 Startup plan, 1,000 plain HTML requests cost $0.10 and 1,000 rendered pages cost $0.98 over datacenter proxies. Bright Data Web Unlocker charges $1.50 per 1,000 on pay as you go. Pages that need residential IPs are cheaper on Web Unlocker, because ScrapingAnt residential requests cost $2.45 to $12.25 per 1,000 on the same plan. For residential proxy traffic up to 100 GB a month, ScrapingAnt plans cost less than Bright Data’s $8/GB list price, but Bright Data’s current 50% code makes it cheaper for its first three months.
How is the ScrapingAnt MCP server different from Bright Data’s?
Both are hosted, use one API key and return page content to the agent. Bright Data’s server enables 32 tools unless you choose tool groups, including web search, ready-made scrapers and browser control. ScrapingAnt’s has three: get_web_page_html, get_web_page_markdown and get_web_page_text. If your agent needs search or browser automation, Bright Data covers more. If it mostly reads pages, ScrapingAnt keeps the tool list short and bills those reads at API credit rates.
Are failed requests billed?
ScrapingAnt charges no credits when its API returns a non-200 status, and that covers MCP calls too. If the API returns 200 with a target site’s error page inside, that request is charged, so check the content you get back. Bright Data Web Unlocker on pay as you go bills successful requests only.
Can I keep my residential proxy code?
Yes, if your client connects over HTTP or HTTPS. Change the host to residential.scrapingant.com (port 8080 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS), use customer-USER as the username prefix and your residential key as the password. Country, state and city targeting move into the username the same way. Bright Data’s -session- becomes -sessionid-, and a ScrapingAnt session keeps the same exit IP for up to 10 minutes. ZIP and ASN targeting are not available. The residential setup docs list the full syntax.
Can I try ScrapingAnt before paying?
Yes. The free plan includes 10,000 API credits every month with no credit card, and the MCP server uses the same credits. It runs one request at a time and has domain restrictions, so use it to check your parser or agent on an eligible page. Residential proxies are sold separately as monthly bandwidth plans, starting at $30 for 5 GB.
Move one of your Bright Data jobs and compare the bill
Run a page, an agent or a proxy request through ScrapingAnt, compare the cost with your Bright Data bill, then pick the plan that fits.
No card needed for the API free plan. Residential plans start at $30/month for 5 GB.