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Best Apify Alternative in 2025: Why ScraperAPI Outperforms

No containers. No chaining. Clean data—faster, easier, and more affordable.

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ScraperAPI-vs-Apify
ScraperAPI vs Apify

Trusted by 10,000+ web scraping and data teams who switched from solutions like Zenrows for greater flexibility, higher request limits, and cost-effective full-page scraping.

Quick Overview

About ScraperAPI

ScraperAPI is a powerful and efficient web scraping API designed to empower developers, data teams, and businesses with reliable data extraction at scale.

  • 99%+ success rate, even on highly protected websites
  • Transparent, pay-per-successful-request pricing model
  • Built-in IP rotation,anti-bot protection, JavaScript rendering, and CAPTCHA solving
  • Structured output formats supported: JSON, CSV, Markdown, and plain text
  • 150+ geotargeting locations for localized data collection
  • Automate large-scale scraping jobs

About Apify

Apify is a cloud-based web scraping and data extraction platform. It offers interfaces for running actors using no/low-code. You can build and run pre-built scrapers as serverless programs called actors. 

  • Includes AI-powered extraction and webhook automation features
  • Unpredictable pricing at scale, charges for compute units, storage, etc. 
  • Mid-tier plans come with limited concurrency (threads)
  • Offers browser rendering, proxy 
  • management, anti-bot protection, and screenshot APIs
  • 120+ geotargeting locations
  • Structured output formats supported: JSON, HTML, Markdown, MsgPack, BLOB, and plain text

Why Choose ScraperAPI Over Apify

If you’re looking for a faster and more straightforward way to scale your web scraping projects, ScraperAPI is built for you.

Building a custom scraper on Apify often means working with Docker, writing code using their SDKs, deploying Actors, configuring proxy rotation, solving CAPTCHAs, retrying, and managing outputs via datasets, queues, or key-value stores.

ScraperAPI skips all that. It’s developer friendly out of the box:

  • No infrastructure and browser orchestration to manage
  • Just make a request, and ScraperAPI handles proxy rotation, JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHA handling, retries, and structured output for you.
  • SDKs in multiple languages (Python, Node.js, PHP, Java, Ruby, Go)
  • Async endpoints, auto-parse support, and advanced scheduling (via DataPipeline)

So, how do our prices and features compare to Apify?

Pricing Overview

To make the comparison fair, we adjusted Apify’s Scale Plan ($199/month) by adding $100 in extra compute usage, matching ScraperAPI’s Business Plan ($299/month).

Features

API Credits

Pay as you go

Javascript Rendering

Bandwidth

No-code Scraping Option

Scheduling Features

Webhook Callbacks

IP Rotation

Built-in Geotargeting

CAPTCHA Handling

Concurrency thread limit

Support

Price

ScraperAPI’s Business Plan

3,000,000 API Credits per month

❌

✅

Included

✅

✅

✅ Yes. Real-time job callbacks on completion/failure

✅

150+ countries

✅ Yes. Bandwidth & Storage

100 concurrent threads

24/7 email & chat

$299 (Monthly)

Apify’s Scale Plan

Approx. 333 compute units (at $0.30/CU)

✅

✅ Yes, but  consumes more compute units (CUs)

$0.19/GB for external transfer, $1/1,000 GB-hours for datasets

✅

✅

❌ Not Supported.

✅

✅ Yes (but depends on actors)

✅ Yes, but costs extra

125 concurrent threads

Priority chat

$299/month + additional actor rental + bandwidth + storage fees

Flat-Rate Simplicity vs. Usage-Based Guesswork

Apify’s modular pricing can spiral quickly. You’re billed not just for the scrape, but for everything it touches:

  • $0.30 per compute unit (CU)
  • $8/GB for residential proxies
  • $0.20/GB for external data transfers
  • $1/hour for data storage
  • Plus: rental fees for premium Actors, proxy limits, and storage overages

You won’t know how many compute units an Actor uses until after the run completes, making budgeting unpredictable at scale.

ScraperAPI simplifies it with one flat monthly rate:

  • $299/month = 3,000,000 API credits
  • Each request only consumes what it needs:
    • Standard HTML pages: 1 credit
    • JavaScript-rendered pages: 5–10 credits
    • Highly protected pages using (e.g.) DataDome: up to 20 credits
  • You’re only charged for successful requests; no credits wasted on blocks, timeouts, or failures

Scale Without Infrastructure Headaches

Scaling on Apify means juggling multiple actors, watching queue limits (128 max on Scale Plan), and chaining results through Make or Zapier. On top of that, you’re handling sysadmin tasks like:

  • Rebuilding Actors when site layouts break
  • Fixing broken selectors
  • Monitoring test failures (Actors get flagged after 3 consecutive failed runs)
  • Estimating compute unit (CU) usage for each job
  • Paying rental fees for scrapers you don’t fully control on top of platform fees

ScraperAPI removes all that friction. It’s built for scale from the start:

  • 100+ concurrent threads included in the Business Plan
  • Async scraping via webhook—send thousands of URLs in a single batch
  • Automatic retry logic, smart proxy rotation, and JS rendering—all handled behind the scenes

Multi-Language SDKs for Faster Integration

ScraperAPI offers official SDKs in Go, PHP, Ruby, Java, Python, and Node.js, making it easy to integrate with virtually any backend stack right out of the box.

Apify, by contrast, only provides official SDKs for JavaScript and Python. While you can technically run code in any language within a Docker container, you won’t get the same out-of-the-box SDK experience, which can slow integration and require more manual setup for non-JS/Python environments.

No Paid Training Required to Get Started

Apify offers paid tech training because setting up Actors, proxies, and automation flows can be complex. ScraperAPI skips the learning curve—no need for training calls or custom scripting. You get built-in automation, prebuilt endpoints, and structured results out of the box.

Get started for free
No credit card required

ScraperAPI vs Apify: What's Different?

Let’s take a closer look at the key features of both ScraperAPI and ZenRows, compare them side-by-side, and explain what each feature means when it comes to web scraping:

FeatureScraperAPIApifyWhat it Means
Built-in Async ScrapingHandle millions of requests asynchronously to ensure high success rate at large scraping volumes.Apify can do it, but you must build the workflow using queues, schedulers, and external automation tools.ScraperAPI supports it out of the box. Apify needs orchestration layers.
Structured Data Endpoints (SDEs)Prebuilt Structured Data Endpoints (Amazon, Google, Walmart, etc.)Many prebuilt Actors return structured data, but reliability and freshness vary.ScraperAPI offers fully maintained structured endpoints. Apify relies on external developers and varies in upkeep.
SDKsExtensive SDKs & docs for Go, PHP, Ruby, Java, Python, Node.jsSDKs for JavaScript and PythonScraperAPI supports more languages natively, enabling faster integration across stacks.
SupportScraperAPI offers a dedicated account manager and Slack support channel to enterprise customers.Priority chat, paid training available.ScraperAPI provides always-on support. Apify’s premium help comes at an extra cost.
Customization via CodeComplete control of headers, cookies, sessions, User-Agent spoofing, and more.Complete customization is available, but more setup is needed.Both support deep configuration, but ScraperAPI simplifies implementation with presets and cleaner API logic.

Enterprise Features Without the Price Tag

Dedicated Account Manager

Your account manager will be there any time your team needs a helping hand.

Professional support

Premium Support

Enterprise customers* get dedicated Slack channels for direct communication with engineers and support.

geolocation

100% Compliant

All data collected and provided to customers are ethically obtained and compliant with all applicable laws.

IP locatations

Global Data Coverage

Your account manager will be there any time your team needs a helping hand.

Integration tutorials

Powerful Scraping Tools

All our tools are designed to simplify the scraping process and collect mass-scale data without getting blocked.

Designed for Scale

Scale your data pipelines while keeping a near-perfect success rate.

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Simple, Powerful, Reliable Data Collection That Just Works

Web data collection doesn’t have to be complicated. With ScraperAPI, you can access the data you need without worrying about proxies, browsers, or CAPTCHA handling.

Our powerful scraping infrastructure handles the hard parts for you, delivering reliable results with success rates of nearly 99.99%.

Extract Clean, Structured Data from Any Website in Seconds

No more struggling with messy HTML and complex parsing. ScraperAPI transforms any website into clean, structured data formats you can immediately use.

 

Our structured data endpoints automatically convert popular sites like Amazon, Google, Walmart, and eBay into ready-to-use JSON or CSV, with no parsing required on your end.

 

Instead of spending hours writing custom parsers that break whenever websites change, get consistent, reliable data with a single API call.

EXPLORE STRUCTURED ENDPOINTS
Auto Parsing​

Test it yourself

Python
import requests

payload = {
    'api_key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    'url': 'https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Unlocked-Smartphone-High-Res-Manufacturer/dp/B0DCLCPN9T/?th=1',
    'country': 'us',
    'output_format': 'text'
}


response = requests.get('https://api.scraperapi.com/', params=payload)
product_data = response.text

with open('product.text', 'w') as f:
    f.write(product_data)
    f.close()

Feed Your LLMs with Perfect Web Data, Zero Cleaning Required

Training AI models requires massive amounts of high-quality data. The problem is that web content is often too messy and unstructured for models to make sense of it.

 

ScraperAPI solves this with our output_format parameter. It automatically converts web pages into clean Text or Markdown formats, which is perfectly suited for LLM training.

 

Simply add "output_format=text" or "output_format=markdown" to your request, and we’ll strip away irrelevant elements while preserving the meaningful content your models need.

check output documentation

Collect Data at Scale Without Writing a Single Line of Code

Set up large-scale scraping jobs with our intuitive visual interface. All you have to do is:

 

  • Upload your target URLs
  • Choose your settings
  • Schedule when you want your data collected

DataPipeline handles everything from there: proxy rotation, CAPTCHA solving, retries, and delivering your data where you need it via webhooks or downloadable files.

 

Scale up to 10,000 URLs per project while our infrastructure manages the technical complexity, or use its dedicated endpoints to add even more control to your existing projects.

schedule scraping jobs
Data Pipeline
ScraperAPI geotargeting

See Websites Exactly as Local Users Do with Global Geotargetting

Many websites show different content based on where and how you’re accessing them, which limits your ability to collect comprehensive, quality data.

 

With ScraperAPI’s geotargeting capabilities, you can access websites from over 150 countries through our network of 150M+ proxies and see exactly what local users see.

 

Simply add a country_code parameter to your request, and ScraperAPI will automatically route your request through the appropriate location with no complex proxy setup required.

 

Uncover region-specific pricing, product availability, search results, and local content that would otherwise be invisible to your standard scraping setup.

discover all location

All the Data You Need. One Place to Find It

Automate your entire scraping project with us, or select a solution that fits your business goals.

Residential Proxies

Proxy Management

Integrate our proxy pool with your in-house scrapers or our Scraping API to unlock any website.

  • 40M+ IPs
  • 99.99% Uptime
  • Geotargeting
datapipeline.svg

Scraping Solutions

Easily scrape data, automate rendering, bypass obstacles, and parse product search results quickly and efficiently.

  • JS rendering
  • Smart IP Rotation
  • Amazon / Walmart Scraper
async-scraper-icon.svg

Hosted Scraper

Put ecommerce data collection on autopilot without writing a single line of code.

  • Visual interface
  • Built-in scheduler
  • Ready-to-use templates
FIND YOUR PERFECT SCRAPING SOLUTION

What Our Customers
Are Saying

One of the most frustrating parts of automated web scraping is constantly dealing with IP blocks and CAPTCHAs. ScraperAPI gets this task off of your shoulders.

Capterra Badge

based on 50+ reviews

The team at ScraperAPI was so patient in helping us debug our first scraper. Thanks for being super passionate and awesome!
Cristina Saavedra
Cristina SaavedraOptimization Director at SquareTrade
A dead simple API plus a generous free tier are hard to beat. ScraperAPI is a good example of how developer experience can make a difference in a crowded category.
Ilya Sukhar
Ilya SukharFounder of Parse, Partner at YCombinator
I researched a lot of scraping tools and am glad I found ScraperAPI. It has low cost and great tech support. They always respond within 24 hours when I need any help with the product.
Alexander Zharkov
Alexander ZharkovFullstack Javascript Developer
BigCommerce

Simple Pricing. No Surprises.

Start collecting data with our 7-day trial and 5,000 API credits. No credit card required.

Upgrade to enable more features and increase scraping volume.

Hobby

Ideal for small projects or personal use.

Hobby

$49

/ month

$44

/ month, billed annually

  • 100,000 API Credits
  • 20 Concurrent Threads
  • US & EU Geotargeting
Start Trial

Startup

Great for small teams and advanced users.

Startup

$149

/ month

$134

/ month, billed annually

  • 1,000,000 API Credits
  • 50 Concurrent Threads
  • US & EU Geotargeting
Start Trial

Business

Perfect for small-medium businesses.

Business

$299

/ month

$269

/ month, billed annually

  • 3,000,000 API Credits
  • 100 Concurrent Threads
  • All Geotargeting
Start Trial

Scaling

Most popular

Perfect for teams looking to scale their operations.

Business

$475

/ month

$427

/ month, billed annually

  • 5,000,000 API Credits
  • 200 Concurrent Threads
  • All Geotargeting
Start Trial

Enterprise

Need more than 5,000,000 API Credits with all premium features, premium support and an account manager?

  • 5,000,000+ API credits and 200+ Concurrent Threads
  • Dedicated Account Manager
  • Slack Support
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Frequently Asked Questions

ScraperAPI is easier to use, faster to deploy, and more cost-efficient. You can customize geolocation, headers, cookies, device type, JavaScript rendering, retries, and concurrency—without managing proxies or CAPTCHAs. It also supports auto-parsing and offers SDKs, templates, and a simple REST API. You get flexibility where it counts, without the scripting or infrastructure.

Yes. At $299/month, ScraperAPI offers 3,000,000 successful requests. On Apify, the same budget gives you about 333 compute units, which may only support 5,000–20,000 scrapes depending on resource usage. ScraperAPI gives you significantly more volume.

ScraperAPI excels at high-volume, complex, or JS-heavy sites like Amazon, Walmart, LinkedIn, and Google search results. Its built-in infrastructure is tuned for anti-bot detection and page rendering at scale.

Not out of the box. You can build async flows using queues and webhooks, but it requires custom scripting. ScraperAPI, by contrast, supports async scraping via webhook by default—just upload your URL list and wait for the callback.

Yes. ScraperAPI supports headless browsers and advanced rendering with support for protected sites, without the need to configure Puppeteer or manage queues manually. Apify also supports browser automation but bills per usage.

Very easy. Simply send API requests with your target URLs and get structured data back instantly.

5 Billion Requests Handled per Month

Get started with 5,000 free API credits or contact sales

Switch to ScraperAPI Today

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