Spicrawl vs ZenRows: which web scraping API fits your project?
Both bill only successful requests. Choose Spicrawl for free cache hits and bring-your-own proxy; choose ZenRows for a remote browser, bigger batches and managed proxies.
ZenRows and Spicrawl both fetch a page through one API and handle JavaScript rendering and blocking for you. ZenRows is the larger product, with a remote browser, big batches and managed residential proxies. Spicrawl is narrower and adds free cache hits, sessions and browser actions. Here is a fair side-by-side, including where ZenRows is the better choice.
Remote browser (CDP)
Batch size
Cached results
Facts about ZenRows were checked against its own website and docs on 29 September 2026. See sources.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Spicrawl if you
- want cached results to cost nothing
- want to use your own proxy, with no surcharge
- keep logins going with cookies and storage
- want a free beta, no credit card
Choose ZenRows if you
- need a remote browser for Puppeteer or Playwright
- submit batches of up to 100,000 URLs
- need managed residential proxies today
- want SDKs in Python, Node.js or Go
Spicrawl vs ZenRows at a glance
marks the stronger option for that row. No mark means it is even, or it depends on your needs.
| Feature | Spicrawl | ZenRows |
|---|---|---|
| Price today | SpicrawlFree during betaFree while in beta, with no credit card. Prices after the beta have not been announced. | ZenRowsFree tier, from $19/moA free plan with 5,000 credits a month and no credit card. Paid plans from $19 a month (45,000 credits), with two months free when billed yearly. |
| 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. | ZenRows1, 5, 10 or 25 credits1 credit for a standard request, 5 with JavaScript rendering, 10 with premium proxies and 25 with both. These weights are fixed on every plan. |
| 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. | ZenRowsNot billedAlso not charged: only successful requests use credits. Pages that answer 404 or 410 count as successful and are charged. |
| Automatic escalation | SpicrawlYesYes. mode=auto tries a plain request first, then a browser, and bills only the step that worked. | ZenRowsYesYes. Its adaptive mode starts with the cheapest setup and bills only the configuration that succeeds. |
| Cached results | SpicrawlFreeFree. The cache is on by default and keeps results for up to 48 hours. | ZenRowsNot documentedNo result cache is described in its documentation. |
| Output formats | SpicrawlMarkdown, HTML, JSON, PDFMarkdown, HTML, text, PDF, JSON and screenshots. | ZenRowsHTML, Markdown, PDF, textHTML by default, with options for Markdown, plain text, PDF, screenshots and JSON of the page’s own network calls. |
| Structured data | SpicrawlSelectors + schema freePage metadata, CSS selector maps and JSON Schema at no extra cost. Extraction with a model prompt is coming soon. | ZenRowsCSS rules; auto (beta)CSS selector extraction, and an automatic extract mode that is in beta and works on domains that have been prepared for it. |
| Browser actions | SpicrawlUp to 50 stepsClick, type, select, scroll, wait and run JavaScript, up to 50 steps per request. | ZenRowsClick, fill, scrollClick, fill, check, select, scroll and wait instructions, which need JavaScript rendering turned on. |
| Many URLs | SpicrawlUp to 10,000 URLsBatch API: up to 10,000 URLs per call, run in parallel, with results as JSON Lines kept for 72 hours. | ZenRowsStronger option: Up to 100,000 URLsBatch jobs of up to 100,000 URLs, with automatic retries, scheduling, webhooks and CSV upload. |
| Crawl a whole site | SpicrawlNoNo. Spicrawl does not follow links for you: you send the URLs. | ZenRowsNoNo crawl endpoint. Its docs show how to build a crawler on top of the API yourself. |
| Remote browser (CDP) | SpicrawlComing soonComing soon. Not available during the beta. | ZenRowsStronger option: YesYes. Browser Sessions connects Puppeteer, Playwright or any CDP tool, billed by bandwidth and session minutes. |
| Proxies | SpicrawlBYO, no surchargeBring your own proxy with no surcharge. Managed proxies are coming soon. | ZenRowsStronger option: Managed residentialPremium residential proxies with country selection. Using your own proxy is not described in its documentation. |
| Staying logged in | SpicrawlSessionsSessions keep cookies, browser storage and the same exit IP between requests. | ZenRowsIP or browser sessionsA session id keeps the same IP for up to 10 minutes. Browser Sessions keeps cookies and local storage. |
| AI agents | SpicrawlMCP, 25 tools + skillHosted MCP server with 25 tools, an agent skill, and one-command setup for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex. | ZenRowsMCP + agent toolkitHosted MCP server, plus an agent toolkit of skills and plugins for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, included on every plan. |
| SDKs and CLI | SpicrawlJS/TS SDK + CLIJavaScript and TypeScript SDK, a CLI, and HTTP examples in cURL, Python and TypeScript. | ZenRowsStronger option: Python, Node, Go + CLIOpen-source SDKs for Python, Node.js and Go, and a CLI. The SDKs, CLI and MCP server are open source; the scraping service is hosted. |
| Concurrency | SpicrawlIn response headersReported in the headers of every response. Batch jobs run under their own concurrency setting. | ZenRows5 to 200 by planSet by plan, from 5 concurrent requests on the free plan to 200 on the Scale plan and up to 1,000 on Enterprise. |
Switching from ZenRows
Both take the target URL in one request. ZenRows puts everything in the query string and returns HTML unless you ask for another format. Spicrawl takes a JSON body and returns the format you choose as the response body.
curl "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fblog%2Fpost&mode=auto&response_type=markdown"# 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", "mode": "auto", "response_format": "markdown" }'# Response: the page as MarkdownSpicrawl vs ZenRows: common questions
Is Spicrawl a good ZenRows alternative?
It is if you want cached results to be free, sessions that keep a login going, or your own proxies with no surcharge. If you need ZenRows’s remote browser, batches of up to 100,000 URLs or managed residential proxies today, ZenRows is the better fit.
Is Spicrawl cheaper than ZenRows?
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: on ZenRows a JavaScript-rendered page costs 5 credits, and on Spicrawl 3, but the plans price a credit differently.
Does ZenRows charge for failed or blocked requests?
No. ZenRows charges only for successful requests, and so does Spicrawl. Both count target pages that answer 404 or 410 as successful, and Spicrawl also does not charge for other unsuccessful target statuses such as 403.
Does Spicrawl have a remote browser like ZenRows Browser Sessions?
Not yet. Remote browser connections for Puppeteer and Playwright are coming soon to Spicrawl and are not available during the beta. For now Spicrawl supports browser rendering and up to 50 actions per request, such as click, type and scroll.
How do I switch from ZenRows to Spicrawl?
Send a POST to https://api.spicrawl.com/v1/scrape with your Spicrawl API key and a JSON body with the url and response_format. Use response_format markdown in place of response_type, and mode auto in place of ZenRows’s adaptive mode. Spicrawl returns the page itself as the response body.
Sources
ZenRows 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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