Spicrawl vs ScrapingBee: which web scraping API fits your project?
ScrapingBee and Spicrawl are close. Choose Spicrawl for sessions that keep logins; choose ScrapingBee for ready-made site APIs and managed proxies today.
ScrapingBee and Spicrawl are close in spirit: send a URL to one API and get a page back, with JavaScript rendering and proxies handled for you. They differ in how they price a request, what they add around it, and who they are built for. Here is a fair side-by-side, including where ScrapingBee is the better choice.
Staying logged in
Ready-made site APIs
Managed proxies
Facts about ScrapingBee were checked against its own website and docs on 29 September 2026. See sources.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Spicrawl if you
- keep logins going with cookies and storage
- run browser actions, up to 50 steps
- connect an AI agent with one-command setup
- want a free beta, no credit card
Choose ScrapingBee if you
- want ready-made Google, Amazon and Walmart APIs
- need managed premium or stealth proxies
- want published plans and concurrency limits
- need screenshot or search tools in MCP
Spicrawl vs ScrapingBee at a glance
marks the stronger option for that row. No mark means it is even, or it depends on your needs.
| Feature | Spicrawl | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|
| Price today | SpicrawlFree during betaFree while in beta, with no credit card. Prices after the beta have not been announced. | ScrapingBee1,000 free credits; from $19/mo1,000 free credits with no credit card. Paid plans from $19 a month (75,000 credits) to $599 a month (8,000,000 credits). |
| How requests are billed | Spicrawl1, 3 or 8 creditsPer successful request, by the engine that ran: 1 credit for a plain request, 3 for browser rendering, 8 for full Chromium. | ScrapingBee1 to 75 credits1 credit without JavaScript, 5 with JavaScript rendering, which is the default. Premium proxies cost 10 to 25, stealth proxies 75, and AI extraction adds 5. |
| Blocked and failed requests | SpicrawlNot billedErrors, bot challenges and timeouts cost 0. A page that answers with a status such as 403 also costs 0. | ScrapingBeeNot billedAlso not billed. A blocked page or a target error comes back as a 500, which is free. Target 404, 410 and 413 responses are billed. |
| Cached results | SpicrawlFreeFree. The cache is on by default and keeps results for up to 48 hours. | ScrapingBeeNot documentedNot described in its documentation. |
| Automatic escalation | SpicrawlYesYes. mode=auto tries a plain request first, then a browser, and bills only the step that worked. | ScrapingBeeYesYes. mode=auto tries configurations in order and charges only the one that succeeds, and 0 if all fail. |
| Output formats | SpicrawlMarkdown, HTML, JSON, PDFMarkdown, HTML, text, PDF, JSON and screenshots. | ScrapingBeeHTML, Markdown, text, JSONRaw HTML by default, with options for Markdown, text and JSON, plus screenshots. |
| Structured data | SpicrawlSelectors + schema freePage metadata, CSS selector maps and JSON Schema at no extra cost. Extraction with a model prompt is coming soon. | ScrapingBeeCSS rules; AI +5 creditsCSS selector extraction rules, or AI extraction for 5 extra credits. |
| Browser actions | SpicrawlUp to 50 stepsClick, type, select, scroll, wait and run JavaScript, up to 50 steps per request. | ScrapingBeeJavaScript scenarioA JavaScript scenario with click, fill, scroll, wait and JavaScript evaluation. |
| Many URLs | SpicrawlBatch: up to 10,000 URLsBatch API: up to 10,000 URLs per call, run in parallel, with results as JSON Lines kept for 72 hours. | ScrapingBeeOne URL per requestThe HTTP API scrapes one URL per request. Its CLI can process a file of URLs and follow links from your own machine. |
| Ready-made site APIs | SpicrawlNoNo. It is one general-purpose API. | ScrapingBeeStronger option: Yes (Google, Amazon...)Yes. Dedicated APIs for Google, Amazon, Walmart, YouTube and more. |
| Proxies | SpicrawlBYO, no surchargeBring your own proxy with no surcharge. Managed proxies are coming soon. | ScrapingBeeStronger option: Managed + BYO, geoClassic, premium and stealth proxies with country selection, and you can use your own proxy. |
| Staying logged in | SpicrawlStronger option: Cookies + storage + IPSessions keep cookies, browser storage and the same exit IP between requests. | ScrapingBeeSame IP for 5 minA session id routes requests through the same IP for 5 minutes. You can pass cookies yourself. |
| AI agents | SpicrawlMCP, 25 tools + skillHosted MCP server with 25 tools, an agent skill, and one-command setup for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. | ScrapingBeeMCP serverHosted MCP server with tools for fetching pages, text, screenshots, search results and usage. |
| SDKs and CLI | SpicrawlJS/TS SDK + CLIJavaScript and TypeScript SDK, a CLI, and HTTP examples in cURL, Python and TypeScript. | ScrapingBeePython SDK + CLIA Python SDK and a CLI, with code examples in several other languages. |
| Concurrency | SpicrawlIn response headersReported in the headers of every response. Batch jobs run under their own concurrency setting. | ScrapingBee25 to 400 by planSet by plan, from 25 to 400 concurrent requests. Going over returns a 429 that is not billed. |
Switching from ScrapingBee
Both take the target URL in one request. ScrapingBee puts options in the query string and returns raw HTML unless you ask for Markdown. Spicrawl takes a JSON body and returns the format you choose as the response body.
curl "https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fblog%2Fpost&return_page_markdown=true" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCRAPINGBEE_API_KEY"# Response: the page as Markdowncurl -X POST https://api.spicrawl.com/v1/scrape \ -H "Authorization: Bearer spicrawl_live_…" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "url": "https://example.com/blog/post", "response_format": "markdown" }'# Response: the page as MarkdownSpicrawl vs ScrapingBee: common questions
Is Spicrawl a good ScrapingBee alternative?
It is if you want cached results to be free, need to scrape long URL lists with a batch API, or keep logins going with sessions, and if you use AI coding agents. If you need ScrapingBee’s ready-made Google or Amazon APIs, or managed premium and stealth proxies today, ScrapingBee is the better fit.
Is Spicrawl cheaper than ScrapingBee?
Spicrawl is free while it is in beta, and its prices after the beta have not been announced, so a fair price comparison is not possible yet. The two also count credits differently, so credit numbers cannot be compared directly: a JavaScript-rendered request is 3 credits on Spicrawl and 5 on ScrapingBee, but the plans price a credit differently.
Does ScrapingBee charge for blocked requests?
No. ScrapingBee does not bill requests that fail or come back blocked, and neither does Spicrawl. Both bill for target pages that answer 404 or 410, and Spicrawl also does not bill other unsuccessful target statuses such as 403.
How do I switch from ScrapingBee to Spicrawl?
Send a POST to https://api.spicrawl.com/v1/scrape with your Spicrawl API key and a JSON body containing the url and response_format. Use response_format markdown in place of return_page_markdown, and js_render true in place of render_js. Spicrawl returns the page itself as the response body.
Does Spicrawl have an MCP server like ScrapingBee?
Yes. Spicrawl hosts an MCP server with tools to scrape pages, run batches, manage sessions and check usage, and the spicrawl init command connects Claude Code, Cursor or Codex to it in one step. ScrapingBee’s server adds tools for search results and screenshots.
Sources
ScrapingBee details come from these pages, checked on 29 September 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, email support@spicrawl.com and we will correct it.
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