SCRAPINGBEE ALTERNATIVE

A ScrapingBee alternative that costs less

The same credit-based HTML, proxy, and rendering API you already know — at a lower entry price, with cheaper stealth proxies, 7 official SDKs, and transparent published pricing.

2,000 free API credits · No credit card required

WebScraping.AI vs ScrapingBee at a glance

An honest, side-by-side comparison. Verify the numbers — this is a market where you should.

WebScraping.AI ScrapingBee
Entry plan (250k credits) $29/mo $49/mo (Freelance)
1M-credit plan $99/mo (Plus) $99/mo (Startup)
JS (Chromium) rendering 5 credits 5 credits
Residential proxies 10–25 credits Premium, 25 credits
Stealth proxies (hardest targets) 50 credits 75 credits
AI extraction Yes (/ai/question, /ai/fields) Yes
MCP server for AI agents Yes Yes (hosted)
Official SDKs 7 (Python, JS, Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, C#) Python, Node.js
Screenshot API Yes
Bills only successful requests Yes Yes

Pricing and credit costs last checked July 2026. Sources: ScrapingBee pricing · WebScraping.AI pricing.

What ScrapingBee does well

No tool is right for everyone. ScrapingBee is a capable product, and these are the areas where it genuinely shines — worth weighing before you switch.

Dedicated Screenshot API and a Google Search API — first-party endpoints WebScraping.AI doesn't offer.
Hosted MCP server and AI data extraction for agent workflows, so it's a capable choice for LLM tooling too.
High concurrency on entry tiers — Freelance already includes 50 concurrent requests (vs 10 on our Personal plan).
Backed by Oxylabs' proxy network since 2025, with a mature feature set and solid documentation.

Why developers look for a ScrapingBee alternative

The most common reasons teams evaluate a switch.

Higher price for the same credits

ScrapingBee's Freelance plan is $49/mo for 250,000 credits. WebScraping.AI gives you the same 250,000 credits for $29/mo — an identical credit model at a lower entry price.

Protected sites cost more

Premium and stealth proxies on hard targets cost up to 75 credits per request on ScrapingBee. WebScraping.AI's stealth proxies are 50 credits, and every per-request cost is published up front.

Fewer official SDKs

ScrapingBee ships Python and Node libraries. WebScraping.AI maintains 7 hand-written SDKs (Python, JS/TS, Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, C#) plus an MCP server, CLI, and n8n node.

Transparent, published pricing

Every request type has a fixed, published credit cost — no surprises, and you only pay for successful requests.

Request type
No JS
+ JS render
Datacenter proxies
1 credit
5 credits
Residential proxies
10 credits
25 credits
Stealth proxies
50 credits
50 credits
AI extraction add-on
+5 credits

Plans from $29/mo (250k credits) · $99/mo (1M) · $249/mo (3M). Failed requests are always free. See full pricing.

Same credit model, lower price

WebScraping.AI and ScrapingBee work almost identically: one API, credit-based billing, JavaScript rendering, rotating proxies, and you only pay for successful requests. The difference is what you pay to get in.

At the same 250,000-credit tier, ScrapingBee charges $49/mo and WebScraping.AI charges $29/mo. Both bill 5 credits for a JS-rendered request, so the cheaper credits flow straight through to a lower effective cost per page. And because every request type has a published, fixed credit cost — 1 for datacenter, 5 with JS, 10–25 for residential, 50 for stealth — you can predict a job's cost before you run it.

The same modern toolkit, including AI and MCP

WebScraping.AI matches ScrapingBee on the essentials that matter today — JavaScript rendering, rotating proxies, AI extraction (/ai/question for plain-English answers, /ai/fields for structured data on any page), and an MCP server so Claude, Cursor, and agent frameworks can scrape the live web.

Where it pulls ahead is cost and language coverage: a lower entry price, cheaper stealth proxies for protected sites, and 7 official SDKs versus ScrapingBee's Python and Node libraries.

Switching is one API call

Point your requests at WebScraping.AI — here's the equivalent call in your language.

curl -G "https://api.webscraping.ai/ai/question" \
  --data-urlencode "api_key=YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "url=https://news.ycombinator.com" \
  --data-urlencode "question=What are the titles of the top 3 stories?"
# Response:
# "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
# pip install webscraping_ai
# https://pypi.org/project/webscraping-ai/
from webscraping_ai import Client

client = Client(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
answer = client.question(
    "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    question="What are the titles of the top 3 stories?",
)
print(answer)
# Response:
# "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
// npm install webscraping-ai
// https://www.npmjs.com/package/webscraping-ai
import { WebScrapingAI } from 'webscraping-ai';

const client = new WebScrapingAI({ apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY' });
const answer = await client.question({
  url: 'https://news.ycombinator.com',
  question: 'What are the titles of the top 3 stories?',
});
console.log(answer);
// Response:
// "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
<?php
// composer require webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-php
// https://packagist.org/packages/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use WebScrapingAI\Client;

$client = new Client('YOUR_API_KEY');
$answer = $client->question(
    'https://news.ycombinator.com',
    'What are the titles of the top 3 stories?',
);
echo $answer;
// Response:
// "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
# gem install webscraping_ai
# https://rubygems.org/gems/webscraping_ai
require 'webscraping_ai'

client = WebScrapingAI::Client.new(api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY')
answer = client.question(
  'https://news.ycombinator.com',
  question: 'What are the titles of the top 3 stories?'
)
puts answer
# Response:
# "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
// go get github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4
// https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4
package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"

    webscrapingai "github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4"
)

func main() {
    client, _ := webscrapingai.NewClient(&webscrapingai.Config{APIKey: "YOUR_API_KEY"})
    answer, _ := client.Question(context.Background(), &webscrapingai.QuestionOptions{
        URL:      "https://news.ycombinator.com",
        Question: "What are the titles of the top 3 stories?",
    })
    fmt.Println(answer)
}
// Response:
// "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
// Maven: ai.webscraping:webscraping-ai:4.0.0
// https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/ai.webscraping/webscraping-ai
import ai.webscraping.Client;
import ai.webscraping.Config;
import ai.webscraping.option.QuestionOptions;

Client client = new Client(Config.builder().apiKey("YOUR_API_KEY").build());
String answer = client.question(QuestionOptions.builder()
    .url("https://news.ycombinator.com")
    .question("What are the titles of the top 3 stories?")
    .build());
System.out.println(answer);
// Response:
// "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."
// dotnet add package WebScrapingAI
// https://www.nuget.org/packages/WebScrapingAI
using WebScrapingAI;

var client = new WebScrapingAIClient(new WebScrapingAIClientOptions { ApiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY" });
var answer = await client.QuestionAsync(new QuestionRequest {
    Url = "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    Question = "What are the titles of the top 3 stories?",
});
Console.WriteLine(answer);
// Response:
// "1. ... 2. ... 3. ..."

Switch to WebScraping.AI if…

You want the same credit-based scraping API at a lower entry price ($29 vs $49 for 250k credits).
You scrape protected sites and want stealth proxies at a lower, published cost (50 vs 75 credits).
You want 7 official SDKs across languages, plus an MCP server, CLI, and n8n node.
You want transparent, published per-request pricing you can predict before you run a job.

Stick with ScrapingBee if…

You depend on ScrapingBee's Screenshot API or Google Search API — WebScraping.AI doesn't offer dedicated versions of those.
You need very high concurrency on the entry tier (ScrapingBee starts at 50 concurrent requests).
You want ScrapingBee's Oxylabs-backed proxy network or have already built around its extract rules.

Frequently asked questions

Is WebScraping.AI a good ScrapingBee alternative?

Yes. It's the closest like-for-like alternative — a credit-based scraping API with JavaScript rendering, rotating proxies, AI extraction, and an MCP server — at a lower entry price ($29 vs $49 for 250k credits), with cheaper stealth proxies and more official SDKs.

How does WebScraping.AI pricing compare to ScrapingBee?

Both use credits. WebScraping.AI starts at $29/mo for 250,000 credits versus ScrapingBee's $49/mo for the same amount. Per-request costs are published: 1 credit (datacenter), 5 (with JS), 10–25 (residential), 50 (stealth), +5 for AI extraction.

Does WebScraping.AI support JavaScript rendering like ScrapingBee?

Yes — full Chromium rendering, billed at 5 credits per request, the same as ScrapingBee.

Can I extract structured data the way I do with ScrapingBee?

Yes. Use /ai/fields with a natural-language description of each field, or keep using CSS selectors via the /selected endpoint. The AI approach means you don't have to rewrite selectors when a site's layout changes.

Does WebScraping.AI have an MCP server for AI agents?

Yes — WebScraping.AI ships an MCP server and CLI. ScrapingBee also offers a hosted MCP server, so both support agent workflows; the practical difference comes down to pricing, SDK coverage, and per-request cost.

Compare other alternatives

Try WebScraping.AI as your ScrapingBee alternative

Get started with 2,000 free API credits. No credit card required.

Icon