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Short answer: Crawlbase is the broader platform for teams that need a crawling API, asynchronous queues, proxy access and stored results. ScraperAPI is the more straightforward API/proxy product with published credit tiers, JavaScript rendering and concurrency limits. Neither is automatically cheaper: ScraperAPI credits vary by target site and options, while Crawlbase’s public comparison figures are vendor claims rather than an independent benchmark. Price a representative set of your own URLs before choosing.
What each service actually is
Crawlbase
Crawlbase’s current documentation positions the Crawling API as the default for new integrations. Its platform also includes an asynchronous Enterprise Crawler, Smart AI Proxy, Cloud Storage and a scraper library. These surfaces use a shared token and shared usage/concurrency budgets across the products you subscribe to. Enterprise Crawler places jobs in a queue and reports results through a webhook; Smart AI Proxy lets an existing HTTP client use Crawlbase’s proxy interface; Cloud Storage persists crawl output.
The standalone Crawlbase Scraper API is legacy and closed to new sign-ups. New projects should use the Crawling API with its scraper parameter instead of treating the old endpoint as a new product choice.
ScraperAPI
ScraperAPI offers a REST API, a proxy port and an asynchronous API. Its documentation describes proxy selection and rotation, CAPTCHA detection and retries, geotargeting and JavaScript rendering. Depending on the endpoint or workflow, responses can be HTML or JSON. Requests above a plan’s concurrent-thread limit are rejected with HTTP 429 rather than waiting in a queue.
#1 Best Overall
Feature comparison
| Capability | Crawlbase | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Primary integration | Crawling API; proxy interface also available | REST API, proxy port and async API |
| Asynchronous processing | Enterprise Crawler queue with webhook | Async API |
| JavaScript rendering | Available through the platform’s crawler options; verify the option required by your endpoint | Documented support |
| Proxy and geography | Smart AI Proxy and crawler options; coverage details should be confirmed for your targets | Proxy rotation, geotargeting and premium routing options |
| Persistence | Cloud Storage for crawl results | Not stated as a built-in persistent storage product |
| Output | Crawling and scraper workflows; format depends on endpoint | HTML or JSON depending on endpoint/workflow |
| Concurrency behavior | Budgets shared across subscribed Crawlbase products | Plan thread limits; over-limit requests receive 429 |
Pricing snapshot
The following ScraperAPI prices were displayed in USD on September 29, 2026. They are a dated snapshot, not a permanent quote; check the vendor’s pricing page before purchase.
| Plan | Monthly price | Annual-billing monthly equivalent | Credits | Concurrent threads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $49 | $44.10 | 100,000 | 20 |
| Startup | $149 | $134.10 | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| Business | $299 | $269.10 | 3,000,000 | 100 |
| Enterprise | Higher-volume/custom | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
ScraperAPI’s billing documentation also describes a free plan with 1,000 credits per month and up to five concurrent connections, plus a separate seven-day trial with 5,000 requests. Do not combine those allowances: they are different offers.
Why a request is not always one credit
ScraperAPI credit consumption changes with the target domain and request settings. Premium routing, JavaScript rendering, screenshots and ultra-premium routing consume additional credits; named anti-bot bypasses can add separate costs. Successful HTTP 200 and 404 responses are charged. A request canceled by the client before completion is an exception described in the billing documentation.
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Use the API Playground or cost endpoint with representative URLs. Multiplying the advertised request count by a guessed “ordinary request” cost can materially understate your bill.
What Crawlbase publishes
Crawlbase advertises a free allowance, charges for successful requests and optional subscriptions from $99 per month. Its comparison page also claims figures such as 99% versus 97% success, 40-plus versus 30-plus countries and a 99.9% uptime comparison. Those are Crawlbase’s own marketing assertions, not provider-neutral benchmark results. Confirm the current rate card, what qualifies as a free request and how concurrency is calculated before relying on them.
Which is cheaper for your workload?
- Count real targets. Separate scheduled pages, retries, pagination and detail URLs; a “10,000 pages” estimate often hides many more requests.
- Mark expensive options. Identify JavaScript pages, premium geographies, CAPTCHA or anti-bot requirements, screenshots and any ultra-premium route.
- Measure concurrency. Record the peak parallel requests your workers will issue. ScraperAPI rejects excess threads with 429; Crawlbase’s budgets are shared across its subscribed surfaces.
- Choose output and workflow. Raw HTML, structured JSON, a queue with webhooks and persistent storage are different requirements. Do not treat “API” and “crawler” as interchangeable labels.
- Run a representative trial. Compare correctness, latency distribution, retries, blocked pages and credits consumed on the same URL set. The free allowance or trial is useful for a proof of concept, but terms can change.
There is no defensible universal price winner from the published headline plans. A JavaScript-heavy, premium-geography workload can consume far more ScraperAPI credits than a basic request, while a Crawlbase design may spread usage across crawling, proxy and storage products.
JavaScript, proxies and asynchronous jobs
When ScraperAPI is a natural fit
Choose ScraperAPI first when your application already expects a REST or proxy endpoint, needs documented JavaScript rendering and geotargeting, and can enforce a concurrency limit in its worker pool. Build explicit handling for 429 responses and track credits by URL and option.
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Choose Crawlbase when the problem is a crawl pipeline rather than one fetch: queued high-volume jobs, webhook delivery, stored results or a shared platform containing both crawler and proxy interfaces. Start new work with the Crawling API, not the legacy Scraper API.
Reliability, testing and operational controls
Before production, test the same URL corpus repeatedly at the times your system will run. Capture HTTP status, empty or partial content, render completeness, latency, retries, CAPTCHA incidence and final credit usage. Keep idempotent job identifiers so webhook retries do not duplicate records. Apply exponential backoff for transient failures, but cap retries so a blocked target does not consume the entire budget.
- Store the original URL, options, provider response headers and retrieval timestamp.
- Validate required selectors or fields before accepting a page as successful.
- Set per-domain rate limits and respect each site’s terms and robots policy.
- Alert on rising 429s, empty documents, credit burn or webhook lag.
Troubleshooting
ScraperAPI returns 429
Your request rate exceeded the plan’s concurrent-thread limit. Reduce worker parallelism, add a queue, or move to a plan with more threads. Retrying immediately without reducing concurrency usually repeats the error.
The page is HTML but content is missing
The target may require JavaScript or a later client-side request. Enable the documented rendering option, wait for the required content in your extraction logic, and measure the extra credit cost. If the content is behind a login, supply credentials only through the provider’s supported secure mechanism.
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Inspect target domains and options individually. Premium routing, JavaScript, screenshots, ultra-premium routing and anti-bot add-ons can change consumption. Use the cost endpoint or Playground on the exact URL and settings.
Crawlbase jobs arrive out of order
Asynchronous completion order is not submission order. Match each webhook to a durable job ID and make result processing idempotent. If you need immediate content, use the synchronous Crawling API instead.
The old Crawlbase Scraper API cannot be opened
That endpoint is documented as legacy and closed to new sign-ups. Migrate to the Crawling API with a scraper parameter.
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Decision checklist
- Use Crawlbase for a multi-surface crawl pipeline, asynchronous queues or built-in result storage.
- Use ScraperAPI for a REST/proxy integration with published credit tiers, rendering and geotargeting.
- Budget from measured credits and options, not page count alone.
- Treat Crawlbase’s comparative success and country figures as vendor claims.
- Recheck prices and trial terms on the purchase date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sign up for Crawlbase’s standalone Scraper API?
Current documentation describes it as legacy and closed to new sign-ups; new integrations are directed to the Crawling API with a scraper parameter.
Does ScraperAPI queue requests above the concurrency limit?
No. Its pricing FAQ says requests above the plan’s concurrent-thread limit are turned away with HTTP 429.
Are Crawlbase and ScraperAPI prices directly comparable by request?
Not reliably. ScraperAPI credits vary by domain and options, while Crawlbase’s published comparison does not establish an equivalent per-request cost for your workload.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
