Cheapest Web Scraping APIs — Developer Price Comparison 2026

Web scraping API pricing is notoriously confusing. Some charge per request. Some use credits where different operations cost different amounts. Some have hidden costs for proxies, JavaScript rendering, or geotargeting. Comparing "apples to apples" requires digging past the headline numbers.

This guide strips away the pricing complexity and gives you the actual cost of scraping at common developer volumes: 1K, 10K, and 100K pages per month. All prices verified April 2026.

Key Takeaways

• SearchHive ScrapeForge is the cheapest at scale — $49/month for 100K pages with anti-bot and JS rendering included
• Firecrawl charges $83/month for 100K pages and $47 for each extra 35K — most expensive per page at volume
• ScrapingBee's $49/mo for 250K credits looks cheap until JS rendering (5 credits/page) cuts effective volume to 50K pages
• ScraperAPI starts at $49/mo for 100K credits but premium features consume credits faster
• ZenRows and Oxylabs target enterprise — pricing starts higher and isn't transparent without a call to sales
• For under 1K pages/month, several options are free — use the free tiers before paying anything

How We Compare Prices

All prices below represent the actual cost to scrape a given number of pages in a month, including:

• JavaScript rendering (most modern pages require it)
• Basic anti-bot features (proxy rotation, stealth headers)
• API access and dashboard

Not included: premium residential proxies for specific geotargeting, enterprise SLAs, or dedicated support. Those are add-on costs for all providers.

Credit economics matter. Some APIs advertise "250K credits for $49" but each JS-rendered page costs 5 credits, making the real volume 50K pages. We calculate the effective cost per page to account for this.

Pricing at Each Volume Tier

At 1,000 Pages/Month

At this volume, you should use a free tier. Period.

At 1K pages, just use the free tier of whichever API fits your needs. No reason to pay.

At 10,000 Pages/Month

This is where paid plans start making sense. You've exceeded the free tier and need consistent, reliable access.

Winner at 10K: SearchHive Starter at $9/mo. If JS rendering is critical and you want headroom, Builder at $49 covers you well beyond 10K.

At 100,000 Pages/Month

This is where pricing differences become significant. A $30/month difference adds up to $360/year.

*ScrapingBee's effective rate at 100K JS pages: 500K credits needed at 5 credits/page. Their Freelance plan has 250K, so you'd need the Startup plan at $99/mo for 1M credits.

Winner at 100K: SearchHive Builder at $49/mo. That's 41% cheaper than Firecrawl and 50% cheaper than ScrapingBee for the same JS-rendered volume.

Detailed API Pricing Breakdown

1. SearchHive ScrapeForge

Credit system: 1 credit = $0.0001 base. Scrape operations typically cost 1-5 credits depending on complexity (JS rendering, proxy tier).

No hidden costs. Anti-bot features, JS rendering, and proxy rotation are included in the base credit cost. No surcharges for premium features.

import requests

# Estimate cost before scraping
response = requests.post(
    "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/scrape",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={
        "url": "https://example.com",
        "format": "markdown",
        "render_js": True,
        "anti_bot": True,
        "dry_run": True  # Returns estimated credit cost without executing
    }
)
print(f"Estimated credits: {response.json()['estimated_credits']}")

/blog/anti-bot-bypass-web-scraping-apis-compared

2. Firecrawl

Credit system: 1 credit per scrape, 1 per crawl page, 1 per map page, 2 per search (10 results). Credits are the same unit for all operations.

No hidden costs for scraping. 1 credit = 1 scrape. Clean pricing model. But the monthly plans are expensive compared to competitors.

3. ScrapingBee

Credit system: Variable. 1 credit for a simple scrape, 5 credits for JS rendering, 10-25 credits for premium proxies.

Hidden costs: JS rendering at 5 credits is the biggest gotcha. If every page needs JS, your effective volume drops to 20% of the advertised credits. Premium proxies make it worse — 25 credits per page means 4% of advertised volume.

4. ScraperAPI

Credit system: Variable. Simple requests = 1 credit. JS rendering, premium proxies, and anti-bot features consume more.

Hidden costs: Premium features (JS + residential proxies + advanced bypass) consume ~30 credits per request. At that rate, 100K credits becomes ~3,300 effective pages on the Hobby plan.

5. ZenRows

Pricing: ZenRows doesn't publish clear per-request pricing on their website (Cloudflare blocked the pricing page during research). Plans reportedly start around $49/month for basic usage with higher tiers for advanced anti-bot features.

6. Bright Data

Pricing: Custom and opaque. Reported costs range from $3-12 per 1,000 requests depending on target site difficulty, proxy type, and volume commitment. Enterprise contracts required for any significant volume.

7. Apify

Pricing: Compute-based. Each actor consumes compute units based on memory allocation, proxy type, and runtime. A basic scrape might cost $0.001-0.01 per page. The Web Scraper actor is free; you pay only for compute.

Hidden costs: Hard to predict. A scrape that takes 10 minutes costs more than one that takes 2 minutes. Memory upgrades increase costs. Budget forecasting is difficult.

The Total Cost of Ownership

Price per page isn't the whole story. Consider these factors:

Integration time. How long does it take to get the SDK working? SearchHive and Firecrawl have clean Python SDKs. ScrapingBee and ScraperAPI are simple REST APIs. Bright Data requires significant setup.

Failed requests. What happens when a request fails? Does the API retry automatically? Do you get charged for failed attempts? SearchHive and Firecrawl don't charge for failed requests. Some competitors do.

Rate limits and concurrency. Can you burst 100 requests at once, or are you limited to 5 concurrent? At volume, low concurrency means longer total run times.

Support quality. When something breaks, how fast can you get help? Free tier support is typically email-only with 24-48 hour response times. Paid plans get faster response.

Cost Optimization Strategies

Cache aggressively. If you're scraping pages that don't change frequently, cache results. A Redis cache with a 1-hour TTL can cut your API usage by 80-90%.

import requests
import hashlib
import json

_cache = {}

def cached_scrape(url: str, ttl: int = 3600) -> dict:
    """Scrape with in-memory caching to reduce API costs."""
    key = hashlib.md5(url.encode()).hexdigest()
    
    if key in _cache:
        data, timestamp = _cache[key]
        if time.time() - timestamp < ttl:
            return data
    
    response = requests.post(
        "https://api.searchhive.dev/v1/scrape",
        headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
        json={"url": url, "format": "markdown"}
    )
    data = response.json()
    _cache[key] = (data, time.time())
    return data

Batch requests. Instead of scraping pages one at a time, batch related URLs into a crawl job. Most APIs handle crawling more efficiently than individual scrapes.

Choose the right proxy tier. Datacenter proxies are cheaper than residential. Use datacenter first; only upgrade to residential when you're getting blocked.

Monitor your usage. Set up alerts at 80% of your monthly credit limit. Running out mid-month means either paying for overage or waiting for the next billing cycle.

Final Verdict

SearchHive ScrapeForge wins on price at every paid tier while including features that competitors charge extra for (anti-bot, JS rendering, proxy rotation). Firecrawl has a cleaner credit model (1:1 for scraping) but the monthly plans cost significantly more.

The real test is your specific use case. Sign up for free tiers, run your actual scraping workload through each API, and compare the effective cost for your particular mix of JS rendering, anti-bot needs, and geographic requirements.

→ Start with SearchHive's free tier — 500 credits, no credit card, full ScrapeForge access with anti-bot features included. Check the docs for pricing details and code examples.