Cheapest Web Scraping APIs in 2026 — Honest Price Comparison

Every scraping API homepage says "simple, affordable pricing." Most of them are lying. We dug through 8 providers to find the actual cost per request — not the marketing number, the real one after you account for credit systems, agent mode multipliers, and "separate billing layers."

If you just want to send a URL and get back clean data, here's what it actually costs.

The Short Version

Prices as of April 2026. Credit-based systems make true per-request comparison tricky — we've calculated based on standard scrape mode on the cheapest tier. Agent/AI modes can cost 10-100x more.

The Catch With Credit Systems

Here's what scraping API pricing pages don't tell you: credits ≠ requests.

Firecrawl's agent mode consumes 100–1,500+ credits per query. Their $16/mo Hobby plan gives you 3,000 credits. That's potentially 2 agent queries per month on a $16 plan. ScrapingBee's JavaScript rendering costs 5-25 credits per request, turning a "$49 for 250,000 credits" plan into 10,000–50,000 actual requests.

The numbers on the homepage are almost always the best-case scenario: simple HTML pages, no JavaScript, no proxies, no premium features.

Provider Breakdown

Firecrawl — Best for AI Teams (If You Watch the Credits)

The darling of the AI scraping world. Clean markdown output, great framework integrations, MCP server support for agents. But the dual pricing model hurts — scraping credits are separate from the Extract/AI token plan ($89/mo extra). A single complex agent query can burn 1,500 credits. Great product, just watch your bill.

ScraperAPI — The Reliable Workhorse

Been around forever, reliable proxy rotation, handles JS rendering. $49/mo gets you 100,000 API credits with 25 concurrency. Straightforward credit system that's easier to predict than most. Not the cheapest, not the fanciest, but it works.

ScrapingBee — Good Docs, Hidden Costs

Excellent documentation and 1,000 free credits to start. But JavaScript rendering costs 5 credits, premium proxies cost 10-25 credits, and screenshots cost 100 credits. That $49/mo plan goes fast on anything beyond basic HTML pages. The AI extraction feature is genuinely useful but adds another cost layer.

Zenrows — Anti-Bot Focus

If your targets are behind Cloudflare, Datadome, or PerimeterX, Zenrows is one of the better options. $49/mo for 250,000 credits. Their anti-bot bypass is the main selling point — they're not the cheapest for simple pages but they shine on the hard stuff.

Haunt API — Cheapest for Simple Extraction

Yes, we're including ourselves. Haunt API is designed for one thing: send a URL, get clean structured data back. No credits, no tiers, no confusing billing. $0.01 per request on Pro, free tier gives you 100 requests/month. It won't handle heavy anti-bot protection or run JavaScript scenarios, but if you just need content from public pages, it's the cheapest option by simplicity.

import requests

resp = requests.post("https://hauntapi.com/v1/extract",
    json={"url": "https://example.com"},
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"})

print(resp.json())

Scrapfly — Solid Mid-Range

$30/mo for 5,000 requests. Good anti-bot capabilities, clean API, Python SDK. The per-request cost is reasonable and they're transparent about pricing. A good middle ground between the budget options and enterprise-grade tools.

Bright Data — Enterprise Only

If you're scraping at massive scale and have a real budget, Bright Data's proxy network is unmatched. But pricing is opaque, you'll need a sales call, and it's overkill for indie developers or small teams. Not relevant for anyone reading a "cheapest" comparison.

So Which One Should You Use?

If you need simple, cheap extraction from public pages: Haunt API or ScraperAPI.

If you need AI-ready markdown for LLM pipelines: Firecrawl (just watch those credits).

If you need to bypass anti-bot protection: Zenrows or Scrapfly.

If you're building at scale with budget: Bright Data.

If you just want to test something fast for free: Haunt API (100/mo free, no card needed) or ScrapingBee (1,000 one-time credits).

A Honest Take

The scraping API market is weird. The pricing pages are designed to look cheap at first glance, but credit multipliers, separate billing layers, and agent mode costs mean you'll almost always pay more than the headline number. Our advice: start with a free tier, measure your actual usage pattern, then pick the provider whose real costs match your workload.

If you want to try the simplest option first, grab a free Haunt API key at the link below. 100 requests/month, no credit card, takes 30 seconds.