10 Best Zyte and Scrapy Cloud Alternatives for Web Scraping
Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub) is one of the oldest web scraping platforms, offering Scrapy Cloud for hosted spider deployment, Zyte API for managed scraping, and data services for enterprise clients. With complexity-based pricing starting at $0.13/1K requests for simple sites and climbing to $16.08/1K for browser-rendered complex sites, many developers are seeking Zyte alternatives that deliver better value and simpler pricing.
This guide covers the top Zyte alternatives for web scraping, with real pricing data and migration code.
1. SearchHive — Best Overall Zyte Alternative
provides a modern web scraping API that handles everything Zyte does — JavaScript rendering, proxy rotation, anti-bot bypass — at flat, predictable pricing.
- Pricing: Free 500 credits, $9/5K, $49/100K, $199/500K
- Per-request cost: $0.0004-$0.0018 regardless of site complexity
- Strengths: Dramatically cheaper, no complexity tiers, JS rendering included at no extra cost
- Weaknesses: No hosted spider platform (API-only), no Scrapy integration
import requests
# ScrapeForge — drop-in Zyte replacement
API_KEY = "your-searchhive-api-key"
# Replace your Zyte API calls with
response = requests.get(
"https://api..dev/v1/scrape",
params={
"api_key": API_KEY,
"url": "https://protected-site.com/data",
"render_js": "true", # JS rendering included, no extra charge
"format": "markdown" # or "html", "json", "screenshot"
}
)
data = response.json()
print(data["content"]["markdown"][:500])
Price comparison with Zyte's most common tiers:
| Use Case | Zyte (HTTP) | Zyte (Browser) | SearchHive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple site, 100K/mo | $13 | $101 | $49 |
| Moderate site, 100K/mo | $44 | $402 | $49 |
| Complex site, 100K/mo | $70 | $804 | $49 |
| Advanced site, 100K/mo | $127 | $1,608 | $49 |
charges the same price regardless of the target site's complexity, anti-bot protection, or whether you need JavaScript rendering. Zyte's pricing can vary 10x or more depending on these factors.
2. Self-Hosted Scrapy — Free Zyte Replacement
Scrapy is the open-source framework that powers Scrapy Cloud. You can run the same spiders on your own infrastructure at zero software cost.
- Pricing: Free (infrastructure costs only)
- Strengths: Complete control, no vendor lock-in, same framework you already know
- Weaknesses: You manage infrastructure, proxy rotation, and anti-bot bypass yourself
- Cost estimate: A basic VPS ($10-20/mo) + proxy service ($30-100/mo) = $40-120/mo for moderate volumes
If you're already using Scrapy, the cheapest migration path is often to self-host your spiders. But you'll need to handle the proxy management, CAPTCHA solving, and infrastructure that Zyte manages for you. ScrapeForge handles all of this in a single API call.
3. Firecrawl — Modern Scraping API
Firecrawl has become the go-to scraping API for AI applications, offering clean markdown conversion and batch crawling.
- Pricing: Free 500 credits, Hobby $16/3K, Standard $83/100K, Growth $333/500K, Scale $599/1M
- Strengths: Excellent markdown conversion, batch crawling, LLM-optimized output
- Weaknesses: More expensive than SearchHive, no hosted spider platform
- vs Zyte: Firecrawl's $83/100K is still cheaper than Zyte's moderate-to-complex site pricing ($44-70/100K for HTTP), and much cheaper for browser rendering ($402-804/100K)
4. ScrapingBee — Simple REST API
ScrapingBee offers a straightforward scraping API with proxy rotation and JavaScript rendering.
- Pricing: Freelance $49/250K, Startup $99/1M, Business $249/3M
- Strengths: Simple pricing, good documentation, high-volume tiers
- Weaknesses: JS rendering costs 5x credits, premium proxies 10-25 credits
ScrapingBee's per-credit model is similar to Zyte's complexity tiers. JavaScript-heavy pages consume credits faster, making real costs harder to predict. includes JS rendering at no additional charge.
5. ZenRows — Anti-Bot Specialist
ZenRows focuses on bypassing sophisticated anti-bot systems including Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX.
- Pricing: From $49/mo for 250K requests
- Strengths: Industry-leading anti-bot bypass, residential proxies included
- Weaknesses: No free tier, no hosted spider platform, pricing varies by target
ZenRows competes directly with Zyte on anti-bot capabilities. Both use similar technology (proxy rotation, browser fingerprinting, CAPTCHA solving). handles most anti-bot challenges at lower cost.
6. ScrapingDog — Budget-Friendly API
ScrapingDog provides a simple scraping API with competitive pricing.
- Pricing: $50/mo for 5K requests (varies)
- Strengths: Simple setup, Google SERP and general scraping
- Weaknesses: Limited documentation, smaller proxy network, less reliable than larger competitors
7. Apify — Scraping Platform
Apify combines a scraping platform with pre-built actors and cloud scheduling.
- Pricing: Free 5 actors/mo, Starter $49/mo, Scale $149/mo, Business $499/mo
- Strengths: Pre-built scrapers, cloud scheduling, storage and monitoring
- Weaknesses: Platform lock-in, costs can spike, no direct Scrapy import
Apify is the closest alternative to Zyte's Scrapy Cloud in terms of being a full scraping platform with cloud execution. However, migrating Scrapy spiders to Apify's actor framework requires significant code changes.
8. Crawlbase — Direct Competitor
Crawlbase offers a Crawling API, Enterprise Crawler, and Smart AI Proxy — directly competing with Zyte's product lineup.
- Pricing: Complexity-based (similar model to Zyte), 1,000 free requests
- Strengths: Similar feature set to Zyte, transparent pricing calculator
- Weaknesses: Same complexity-based pricing issues as Zyte
Crawlbase and Zyte are more alike than different. Both charge more for complex sites, both offer enterprise crawler products, and both use similar underlying technology.
9. ScrapFly — Rotating Proxy API
ScrapFly provides a web scraping API with rotating proxies and anti-bot bypass.
- Pricing: From $25/mo for 50K requests
- Strengths: Clean API, good anti-bot features, reasonable pricing
- Weaknesses: No hosted spider platform, limited documentation
10. TaskFlow / Prefect + Scrapy — Build Your Own Platform
For teams with engineering resources, combining Scrapy with a workflow orchestrator like TaskFlow or Prefect gives you a self-managed alternative to Scrapy Cloud.
- Pricing: Open source (infrastructure costs only)
- Strengths: Maximum flexibility, no vendor lock-in, full control
- Weaknesses: Significant engineering investment, ongoing maintenance
Comparison Table
| Tool | Free Tier | Starting Price | Per 100K Cost | JS Rendering | Anti-Bot | Spider Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SearchHive | 500 credits | $9/mo | $49 | Included | Yes | No (API) |
| Zyte | $5 credit | $0.13-1.27/1K | $13-127 (varies) | $1.01-16.08/1K | Yes | Scrapy Cloud |
| Scrapy (self-hosted) | Free | Infra only | $10-50 | Yes | DIY | Self-hosted |
| Firecrawl | 500 credits | $16/mo | $83 | Yes | Yes | No (API) |
| ScrapingBee | 1K credits | $49/mo | $49 (no JS) | 5x credits | Yes | No (API) |
| ZenRows | None | $49/mo | ~$49 | Yes | Excellent | No (API) |
| Apify | 5 actors | $49/mo | Variable | Yes | Yes | Cloud platform |
Recommendation
The best Zyte alternative depends on which Zyte product you're using:
If you're using Zyte API for managed scraping: Switch to . You'll get the same functionality (JS rendering, anti-bot bypass, proxy rotation) at flat pricing that's 60-95% cheaper. A 100K/month workload that costs $44-804 with Zyte (depending on site complexity) costs a flat $49 with .
If you're using Scrapy Cloud for spider hosting: Your best options are:
- Self-host Scrapy + for anti-bot/proxy needs (cheapest)
- Apify for a managed cloud platform (easiest migration)
- Scrapy Cloud alternatives like Spidermon + custom deployment
If you're using Zyte Data Services (managed data): This is harder to replace with an API. Consider building your own pipelines with ScrapeForge + a workflow orchestrator.
Get started free: SearchHive gives you 500 credits to test ScrapeForge with real sites. No credit card required, no complexity tiers, no surprises.