ScraperAPI alternative. 5× the credits at $49.
ScrapingAnt Startup includes 500,000 monthly credits; ScraperAPI Hobby includes 100,000 at the same $49 monthly price. For standard one-credit requests, that means 5× the request allowance. Or start with 100,000 credits for $19/month. Get HTML, rendered pages, Markdown or AI-extracted JSON with one API key. Rendering, residential routing and AI extraction use different credit rates.
10,000 free credits per month · no card · one concurrent request on Free
# Typical ScraperAPI call shape — host + api_key in params.
import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://api.scraperapi.com",
params={
"api_key": "SCRAPERAPI_KEY",
"url": "https://example.com",
},
timeout=75,
)# Change the endpoint and key; explicitly disable rendering for a plain request.
import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://api.scrapingant.com/v2/general",
params={
"x-api-key": "SCRAPINGANT_KEY",
"url": "https://example.com",
"browser": "false",
"proxy_type": "datacenter",
},
timeout=75,
)# Plain GET request. Query parameters are URL-encoded by curl.
$ curl --get --max-time 75 'https://api.scrapingant.com/v2/general' \
--data-urlencode 'x-api-key=YOUR_API_KEY' \
--data-urlencode 'url=https://example.com' \
--data-urlencode 'browser=false' \
--data-urlencode 'proxy_type=datacenter'Why teams switch.
Start at $19, get more credits at the $49 tier, and use one API key across HTML, Markdown and AI extraction.
More credits per dollar
Startup: $0.098 per 1K credits; ScraperAPI Hobby: $0.49. Request costs vary.
See the math →Pay only for success
ScrapingAnt API errors cost zero credits. Validate returned fields as well as the API status.
How it works →One key, whole platform
API, Markdown, AI extractor, MCP — all share the same credit pool.
What's included →Five times the credits at the $49 tier.
At $49/month, Startup’s 500,000 credits cost $0.098 per 1,000 credits at full use, versus $0.49 for Hobby’s 100,000. That is an 80% lower unit cost for standard one-credit requests. For 50,000 such requests, ScrapingAnt Enthusiast costs $19/month versus $49 for ScraperAPI Hobby. Rendering, residential routing and extraction have different rates.
- $19 plan covers 100K credits — ScraperAPI doesn't have a $19 tier
- 10,000 free credits every month; Free allows one concurrent request
- API error responses cost no credits; validate useful output separately
Compare credits per request, then compare the bill.
Different request modes consume different credits. Use the rates below to estimate the allowance for your workflow.
| Request mode | ScrapingAnt credits | ScraperAPI credits |
|---|---|---|
| Plain HTTP | 1 · browser=false, datacenter, non-Google target | 1 · standard target, no rendering or premium mode |
| JavaScript rendering | 10 · browser=true, datacenter | 10 · render=true |
| Residential routing, no rendering | 25 · proxy_type=residential, browser=false | 10 · premium=true (residential/mobile pool) |
| Residential routing + rendering | 125 · proxy_type=residential, browser=true | 25 · premium=true + render=true |
Published plans and docs checked October 13, 2026: ScrapingAnt credit costs, ScraperAPI parameter costs and ScraperAPI domain and billing rules. ScraperAPI applies target-specific costs and bot-protection charges; ScrapingAnt lists a separate Google/datacenter rate. Proxy pools and bypass modes differ, so these settings do not establish equivalent results.
Request count depends on mode: at $49, each plan covers 4,000 rendered residential requests at these listed rates, before ScraperAPI target-specific charges.
AI extraction adds ceil((Markdown characters + output characters) / 30) credits to the fetching cost. API residential routing uses credits; stand-alone residential proxies use a separate GB-billed plan.
Keep your target URL. Map the request options.
- Update endpoint and API key. Use
https://api.scrapingant.com/v2/generaland replaceapi_keywithx-api-keyusing your ScrapingAnt key. - Map rendering and request parameters. Set
browser=falsefor plain HTTP orbrowser=truefor JavaScript rendering. Mapcountry_codetoproxy_country. Review proxy type, headers, sessions and output formats separately. - Validate before cutover. Check required fields, error handling, timeout behavior and
Ant-credits-coston a representative sample before changing production traffic.
The code above shows a plain HTML request. ScrapingAnt enables rendering by default, so omitting browser=false changes both behavior and cost. The snippets are request-shape examples, not a tested migration of your workload.
ScraperAPI premium and ultra_premium are not identical to ScrapingAnt proxy_type. For keep_headers, review ScrapingAnt's Ant-prefixed target headers. Async jobs, sticky sessions, structured endpoints and custom parsers need their own plan.
One key. The whole API platform.
JS-rendered HTML, LLM-ready Markdown, AI-extracted JSON, the hosted MCP server for your agents, country-level routing, and proxy-type selection per call — all use API credits at their documented rates. One API key, one dashboard, one invoice. Stand-alone raw residential and datacenter proxies are separate GB-billed products on a different plan.
- /v2/general · /v2/markdown · /v2/extract all share the credit pool
- Hosted MCP for Claude / Cursor / Windsurf — same key, same pool
- Switch proxy mode per call with
proxy_type=residential— billed in API credits at the residential request rate
Per-credit price drops every tier you climb.
Enthusiast → Startup → Business → Business Pro. When you use the full allowance, these plans cost about $0.19, $0.098, $0.083 and $0.075 per 1,000 credits. Actual cost per useful page depends on request mode and how much of your allowance you use. Support and custom services vary by plan; AI extraction adds character-based credits.
- Free allows one concurrent request; paid plans have no plan concurrency cap
- Choose the credit allowance and support level for your workload
- Custom volume past 10 M credits — talk to sales for the rate
How much would you save?
Estimate the monthly plan bill for standard one-credit requests. The calculator selects the lowest listed plan that covers that volume, including recurring free plans.
Put your web data to work.
Build product monitoring, market research and AI workflows with HTML, Markdown or extracted JSON.
E-commerce price tracking
Monitor product prices, stock and reviews for competitor tracking.
Talk to us →SERP & rank monitoring
Collect search pages for keyword and competitor reporting, with country routing where supported.
Talk to us →Real estate listings
Collect listing prices, addresses and property details for market research.
Talk to us →AI training corpora
Turn web pages into Markdown for retrieval, research and training datasets.
Talk to us →Lead enrichment
Extract selected fields from public company pages into JSON for research and enrichment.
Talk to us →AI agents on the open web
Hosted MCP server gives Claude / Cursor / Windsurf direct web access — same credit pool, same key.
Talk to us →
Pricing
Industry leading pricing that scales with your business.
|
Plans
|
Enthusiast
100K credits / mo
$19/mo
|
★ Most Popular
Startup
500K credits / mo
$49/mo
|
Business
3M credits / mo
$249/mo
|
Business Pro
8M credits / mo
$599/mo
|
Custom
10M+ credits / mo
$699+/mo
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly API credits | 100,000 | 500,000 | 3,000,000 | 8,000,000 | 10M+ |
| Support channel | Priority email | Priority email | Priority email | Priority + dedicated | |
| Integration help | Docs only | Custom code snippets | Debug sessions | Priority debug sessions | Full enterprise onboarding |
| Expert assistance | — |  |
|
|
|
| Custom proxy pools | — | — | |
|
|
| Custom anti-bot avoidances | — | — | |
|
|
| Dedicated account manager | — | — | |
|
|
| Start Free | Start Free → | Start Free | Start Free | Talk to Sales |
What teams are saying.
From solo developers shipping side projects to enterprise pipelines at Fortune 500s.
★★★★★ 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.”
Frequently asked questions.
Still curious? Get in touch with our team — we usually reply within hours.
When is ScrapingAnt a useful ScraperAPI alternative?
Consider ScrapingAnt when you want a managed HTML API, Markdown or AI-extracted JSON. Compare the mode costs on this page and map your existing parameters before switching. ScraperAPI structured endpoints, async jobs and parsers need a separate migration plan.
Does five times the credit allowance mean five times the requests?
Only when both requests cost one credit. At $49/month, ScrapingAnt Startup includes 500,000 credits and ScraperAPI Hobby 100,000. Rendering, residential routing, target-specific charges and AI extraction change how many pages those balances cover. A rendered residential request uses 125 credits on ScrapingAnt versus 25 for ScraperAPI premium + render, before target-specific charges.
Can I keep my ScraperAPI parameters?
Keep the target url, replace the endpoint and rename api_key to x-api-key. Explicitly map render to browser and country_code to proxy_country. ScrapingAnt enables the browser by default; use browser=false for plain HTTP. Premium routing, headers, sessions and output formats require review. Migration guide →
Do failed requests consume credits?
Only successful ScrapingAnt API responses are charged; error responses cost no credits. An HTTP 200 alone does not prove you extracted the intended fields, so validate the returned content too. ScraperAPI documents billing for 200 and 404 responses, and for requests cancelled by the client before its 70-second processing window.
Do both services have a free plan?
ScrapingAnt offers 10,000 credits per month with one concurrent request on the free plan. ScraperAPI lists a recurring free plan with 1,000 credits and five concurrent connections, plus a separate 7-day trial with 5,000 credits. Free credit counts are allowances, not guaranteed page counts; ScrapingAnt free-plan domain restrictions can apply.
What is included in the ScrapingAnt credit pool?
The HTML API, Markdown, AI extraction and hosted MCP use API credits. AI extraction adds character-based credits to the fetching cost. Residential routing inside the API also uses credits; stand-alone residential and datacenter proxy products are separate plans billed by GB.
What about concurrency limits?
Paid ScrapingAnt plans have no plan concurrency cap; the free plan allows one concurrent API request. This is a plan limit, not a throughput or reliability guarantee. ScraperAPI Hobby lists 20 concurrent threads; higher plans have different limits. Review timeout and retry handling before cutover.
How should I choose between ScraperAPI alternatives?
Start with the output you need: raw HTML, rendered HTML, Markdown or structured JSON. Also evaluating ScrapingBee? See the ScrapingBee comparison for its plan limits and mode costs. Compare total monthly cost for that mode, location coverage, concurrency and your parser requirements. Validate a representative sample of your own targets before moving production traffic; this page does not claim benchmarked success rates or response times.
Migrating a high-volume workload?
Custom volume pricing, dedicated proxy pools, migration help on a tight deadline, or a one-shot dataset to seed your move — drop us a line and a real human gets back within a few hours.
“Our clients are pleasantly surprised by the response speed of our team.”
