ScraperAPI Review
ScraperAPI is the fastest route from idea to working scraper: one endpoint, retries handled, structured parsers for common sites, and a free tier to test on.
Review last updated 2026-08-20 · How we rate providers
Scorecard
Pros
- Simplest possible API: one GET request with your URL and key
- Free tier of 1,000 credits a month, permanently
- Automatic retries, proxy rotation and CAPTCHA handling included
- Structured endpoints for Amazon, Google and other common targets
Cons
- Credit costs multiply for JavaScript rendering and premium proxies
- Effective price per successful request is hard to predict up front
- Less control than running your own proxies
- US jurisdiction and no published sourcing detail
Privacy, jurisdiction & audits
Who the company answers to legally, what it keeps, and whether anyone independent has checked.
| Legal jurisdiction | United States in the 5 Eyes |
|---|---|
| Logging policy | Not a privacy service; operational logs by design |
| Independent audits | None published |
| Anonymous payment | Card / PayPal only |
| How IPs are sourced | Aggregates residential, ISP and datacenter supply from multiple upstream networks. |
ScraperAPI plans & pricing
Advertised rates as of August 20, 2026. VPN promo rates normally require the prepaid term shown and renew at the higher rate; proxy pricing falls with volume. Confirm on ScraperAPI's own site before buying.
| Plan | Price | Min spend | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreeScraping APIs | Freefree forever | Free | 1,000 API credits a month |
| HobbyScraping APIs | $0.49/1k requestsmonthly | $49 | 100,000 credits; JavaScript rendering costs extra credits |
| BusinessScraping APIs | $0.29/1k requestsmonthly | $299 |
Features
Our ScraperAPI review
ScraperAPI reduces web scraping to a single HTTP request. You send a URL and an API key, and you get HTML back. Behind that endpoint sit proxy rotation, retry logic, browser rendering and CAPTCHA handling, none of which you have to build or maintain.
For most projects the maintenance burden is the real cost, not the bandwidth. Anti-bot systems change, proxies get blocked, headless browsers leak fingerprints. Paying someone to keep up with all of it is usually cheaper than an engineer doing it part time.
Credits are the unit, and they multiply: a plain request costs one, JavaScript rendering costs more, premium residential proxies more again. That makes the effective cost per successful request harder to forecast than a flat per-gigabyte rate, and worth measuring during the free tier.
Structured endpoints for Amazon, Google and other high-demand targets return parsed JSON rather than HTML, which removes another maintenance job.
A free tier of a thousand credits a month makes evaluation easy, and the Hobby plan at $49 covers a lot of small projects. Recommended as the default first scraping API.
Notable facts
- Free tier of 1,000 API credits a month
- Credit cost varies by rendering and proxy type
- Structured endpoints available for major e-commerce and search targets
At a glance
| Founded | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York, US |
| Service types | Scraping APIs |
| IP pool | 40M addresses |
| Country coverage | 50 |
| Proxy protocols | HTTP(S) |
| Rotation | Automatic per request, with retries handled by the platform |
| Starting price | Free |
| Free trial | 7 days |
| Free tier | Yes |
| Support | chat, email, knowledge-base, account manager on larger plans |
Frequently asked questions
How does credit pricing work?
A basic request costs one credit; JavaScript rendering and premium residential proxies cost several. Measure your real credit usage on the free tier before committing to a plan.
Is a scraping API cheaper than buying proxies?
Usually yes once you count engineering time, because retries, browser handling and anti-bot maintenance are included. At very high volume with simple targets, raw proxies win.
Is there a free plan?
Yes, 1,000 credits a month indefinitely.
Bottom line
ScraperAPI is the fastest route from idea to working scraper: one endpoint, retries handled, structured parsers for common sites, and a free tier to test on.
Check current ScraperAPI pricing →
