Best Web Scraping APIs for 2026, Compared on Features, Speed and Price

Most web scraping APIs promise to solve blocks and CAPTCHAs. But what they deliver is often just raw HTML wrapped in a 200 OK status, leaving the real work of parsing and data cleaning to you.

We put seven of them to a head-to-head test against identical websites. We measured effective latency across percentiles, baseline cost at scale, output structure, and the actual quality of the final payload.

The best tools didn’t just scrape. They returned clean, structured JSON, making the job feel predictable. In scraping, predictability is the highest praise.

Methodology

We sent 1,000 requests to each API, targeting identical websites during the same time window. We evaluated:

• Latency: The effective P50, P75, and P95 response times, measuring the total round-trip for a successful response.
• Response Quality: All services achieved a 99-100% success rate, so we focused on the consistency and structure of the data returned (e.g., clean JSON vs. raw HTML).
• Baseline CPM: The cost per 1,000 requests for standard, non-JS-rendered pages using default proxies.
• Developer Experience: Quality of documentation and SDKs, plus ease of authentication.

Summary Table

The table below carries the seven APIs on the same four measurements. The price column is one question asked of every vendor, what a million plain requests cost in a month, because a rate card alone hides which plan you have to be on to get the rate.

*The monthly bill for 1,000,000 plain requests, meaning no JS rendering and default proxies, on the cheapest plan each vendor publishes that covers the volume. Three rows need a word. Zyte prices by site difficulty as well as by monthly commitment, so a million requests costs $100 against the simplest tier and $950 against the hardest. Apify bills compute units rather than requests, so its figure extrapolates what this benchmark actually consumed. Bright Data prices per record rather than per request, at $1.50 pay as you go and $1.30 beyond a plan’s included volume.

**Parsing distills what each API returned in this benchmark, the consistency-and-structure check from the methodology.

The fidelity check behind that column ran against two sandbox pages with known content, a static bookstore catalogue of 20 products and a JS-rendered quotes page, with every request repeated three times through each API’s own extraction mechanism. HasData’s extraction rules and ScrapingBee’s extract_rules returned every field of every item on both pages, identical across runs. Apify’s generic scraper actors matched that through a pageFunction, imperative code you write yourself, after a one-time in-console permission approval per actor. Zyte’s automatic product schema found all 20 products and priced them correctly, but half the names came back truncated because it reads the visible link text instead of the title attribute, and fields outside its schema, availability and star ratings here, are absent from the output. It also has no selector mechanism for pages its schemas don’t cover, so the quotes page comes back as raw browser HTML. ScraperAPI returns the whole page as markdown or text with nothing structured to check against, and with JS rendering on, its median response took 29 seconds.

HasData

HasData provides a web scraping API focused on delivering pre-parsed, structured data. It applies AI extraction rules to turn raw HTML into clean, predictable JSON, aiming to eliminate the need for manual parsing. The API supports rich customization via parameters for extraction rules, JS scenarios, and CSS selectors, and it provides both Python and Node.js SDKs. Responses include full metadata, request IDs, and optional screenshots.

Performance is reliable, with a P95 latency under 4.5 seconds in our tests. The output is LLM-friendly by default, available as clean JSON, markdown, or raw text and HTML.

Pricing uses a credit-based system starting at $59/month, or $49/month billed annually, which puts the baseline CPM on that entry plan at $0.295 month to month and $0.245 on the annual price. The cost decreases at scale, and the largest published plans reach $0.083 per 1,000 credits, the figure the summary table uses. The service is backed by high user ratings and responsive support in chat and email, with a Discord on top.

Best suited for developers needing fast and clean data extraction with minimal post-processing for use in production applications or LLM pipelines.

Bright Data

Bright Data’s offering is a scraping stack built on its extensive proxy infrastructure, designed for users who need granular control. Instead of a simple endpoint, usage revolves around its Browser API, giving developers remote control over headless browsers like Playwright or Puppeteer. This approach is flexible, but it requires you to implement all data extraction and cleanup logic manually, as the API returns raw HTML with no built-in parsing layer.

Our tests showed a P50 latency of 4.25s and a P95 of 5.55s, mid-table here, and stable across the three runs. Pricing runs per record, at $1.50 per 1,000 on the pay-as-you-go rate and $1.30 per 1,000 for records beyond a plan’s allowance. A $499 monthly subscription includes 384,000 records. Support is responsive, and enterprise clients get dedicated account managers.

Ideal for teams needing granular control and enterprise-grade scale, but requires manual work to extract clean data.

ScraperAPI

ScraperAPI is a plain key-based service offering API access with broad language support through its numerous official SDKs (Python, Node, Java, Ruby, PHP). It provides standard features like JS rendering and geo-targeting, plus CAPTCHA handling. The platform also supports scheduled scraping jobs and webhooks, with screenshot capture available at an additional cost.

The primary output is raw HTML, so you’re left to parse and filter content like ads stays with the developer or base64 images. While structured JSON is available, it is only accessible via specialized endpoints. This focus on raw output comes with moderate performance. Our tests showed a median latency of ~9s and a P95 nearing 12.5s. Scalability for high-volume use is dependent on the concurrency limits of the chosen pricing plan.

Pricing is credit-based, starting at $49/month, where the cost per request varies by target complexity. The service maintains a strong reputation on platforms like Trustpilot and Capterra and provides support via an in-dashboard chat.

Best suited for teams needing flexible endpoint control and global proxy support, and who don’t mind post-processing raw HTML for downstream use.

Apify

Apify operates as a cloud platform for running serverless automation scripts called “Actors,” rather than as a direct scraping API. This Actor model offers deep control over behavior, from concurrency and proxy rotation to custom code injection via hooks (pre/postNavigationHooks). While its marketplace of pre-built Actors adds flexibility, the concept presents a steeper learning curve than a traditional REST API.

That architecture makes single calls slow, P95 over 30s, since each Actor doesn’t start until its own container is up. By default, the output is clean JSON, though other formats require using the Apify platform UI.

Pricing is also complex, combining a subscription with usage-based costs for “Compute Units” (CUs), proxy traffic, and storage. Our baseline test costs approximately $7 per 1,000 requests.

Best suited for workflows built on automation and task scheduling, or on reusable components, and a poor fit for high-speed, low-latency scraping.

Oxylabs

Oxylabs operates as a direct scraping API, using HTTP basic authentication in a username:password format. While official SDKs for Python and Go provide added convenience, the core experience is a traditional REST API.

Performance is fast and consistent under that model, with a median response time of 2.71s and P95 at 4.3s. Responses come as clean JSON, with the full HTML under the content field. Custom parsing rules can be configured for structured extraction.

Pricing starts at $49/month for the Micro tier, which covers up to 98,000 results. While screenshot capture isn’t supported, the API offers deep request customization across headers, sessions, payloads, and redirect behavior.

Ideal for scraping workflows that need reliable JS rendering with proxy-level control and stable performance at scale.

ScrapingBee

ScrapingBee is a developer-focused scraping API that uses simple API key authentication and offers official SDKs for Python and Node.js. The documentation is functional, offering example queries and a basic API playground.

It supports JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHA handling, and a range of proxy options. Requests can be customized with user agents, cookies, headers, JS scenarios, resource blocking, and wait conditions. When enabled, screenshot capture and structured JSON output are available.

Performance is strong, with a median latency of 2.18s and p95 at 3.28s. Stability under load was solid, though concurrency limits vary by plan.

Pricing is credit-based and now starts at $19/month for 75,000 credits, with the $49 tier at 250,000. The feature set is well-balanced for typical scraping needs.

Best suited for developers looking for a low-cost solution with enough flexibility for most use cases.

Zyte

Zyte offers a job-based scraping API with API key authentication and an official Python SDK. While its documentation covers advanced use cases well, it’s less beginner-friendly than some competitors. A built-in API Playground allows for quick testing and response previews.

The API supports full JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHA handling and proxy rotation, with screenshot capture. Request customization is extensive, covering headers, sessions, geolocation, device emulation and cookie control. Browser automation includes actions like scrolling and clicking. Screenshot capture is optional and priced separately.

Performance testing revealed consistent results, with a median latency of 1.429s and a p95 of 2.25s. The system scaled well under load.

Pricing starts at a $100 monthly commitment, and the per-request rate falls as the commitment rises. On the $100 tier an HTTP response costs $0.10 to $0.95 per 1,000 depending on how hard the site is, and browser rendering runs $0.75 to $12.00.

Best suited for teams comfortable with its SDK and its job model, where the setup is paid once and the latency is what you are buying.

MCP Servers

Every API here publishes a Model Context Protocol server, so the question isn’t whether one exists. It’s what an agent sees once it connects, and how much setup that takes.

Bright Data documents the most tools, and the split matters more than the count. Its 69 sit behind one server, so an agent that connects sees all of them and picks. HasData splits the same idea across 25 servers, so connecting the Amazon one puts three Amazon tools in front of the model rather than sixty-three of everything. Which shape works better depends on whether your agent is ranging across targets or working one.

Key Takeaways

• HasData returns parsed JSON, markdown and text from a single call, which is the difference between shipping a scraper and shipping a scraper plus a parser. A million requests a month is $119, and the entry plan is $59.
• ScrapingBee comes in twenty dollars under that at the same volume and matched HasData field for field in the parsing test, so on plain requests it’s the closest thing here to a like-for-like alternative.
• Bright Data and Oxylabs run the largest proxy networks here and both hand back raw HTML, so the parsing and the account setup stay with you.
• Apify’s actor model chains multi-step jobs a single request cannot express, at 16.8s median latency and compute-unit billing.
• Zyte was fastest on these pages at 1.43s median. Its $0.06 is the bottom of a $0.06 to $0.61 band on a $500 monthly commitment, and the smallest commitment it sells is $100 a month.

Final Thoughts

Choose HasData when the data has to arrive parsed. One call returns JSON, markdown or text, and the entry plan is $59 a month or $49 billed annually. The published plans run to 500 concurrent requests on the 20M-credit tier. Past that the concurrency and the rate are quoted per contract, which in practice means asking.

The rest of the table splits by what you already have. Apify earns its compute-unit billing when a job is several steps rather than one request. Bright Data and Oxylabs are workhorses for projects that require granular proxy control and a substantial budget.

Choose your tool based on your core need. For real-time apps or LLM pipelines, reliable speed and structured JSON are critical. For large-scale analytics, cost at scale and data format become the key factors.