Side by side
| ScraperAPI | Bright Data (Web Scraper API) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Credits, feature-weighted, flat monthly plans | Per successfully-delivered record; pay-as-you-go or a metered monthly plan |
| Entry paid plan | $49/mo — 100,000 credits | $1.50/1,000 records pay-as-you-go, or $499/mo for 384,000 records included |
| Free tier / trial | 7-day trial 5,000 credits, no card required | Free tier 5,000 records/month, no card required, ongoing (not time-limited) |
| Charged for failed requests? | Not stated as a headline guarantee on the pricing page | No — Bright Data states you "only pay for what's successfully delivered" |
| Scope beyond raw fetching | Single scraping API endpoint (proxy + headless render + CAPTCHA handling) | Also sells a separate lower-level Web Unlocker API (from ~$1/1,000 requests), plus pre-built site-specific scrapers (LinkedIn, Amazon, Instagram, etc.), proxy products, and ready-made datasets |
| Support tier gating | Slack support from Business tier ($299/mo) up | Expert support available even on the free tier, per the pricing page |
Sources (verified 25 Jul 2026): scraperapi.com/pricing · brightdata.com/pricing/web-scraper.
Where they differ in practice
Entry price for a small, low-volume project. Bright Data's free tier (5,000 records/month, ongoing, no time limit stated) is more generous for prototyping than ScraperAPI's 7-day trial. But once you need a paid plan, ScraperAPI's flat $49/mo for 100,000 credits is simple to budget against, while Bright Data's pay-as-you-go ($1.50/1,000 records) or $499/mo Scale plan is a bigger jump with no equivalent low-cost paid middle tier published on the pricing page.
What you're actually buying. ScraperAPI is one API endpoint you call yourself. Bright Data's Web Scraper API sells pre-parsed records from specific target sites (its library covers LinkedIn profiles, Amazon products, Instagram data, and more) — closer to a managed-scraper marketplace than a raw fetch endpoint. If you need a generic "fetch any URL and hand me the HTML/rendered page," compare ScraperAPI against Bright Data's separate Web Unlocker API (not the Web Scraper API in the table above), which prices from roughly $1 per 1,000 requests.
Failure economics. Bright Data's per-record pricing means a request that fails to return usable data isn't billed — the vendor states this directly. ScraperAPI's pricing page does not make an equivalent no-charge-on-failure guarantee for its credit system.
Decision guide
| Your situation | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| Small project, want a simple flat monthly bill | ScraperAPI ($49/mo, predictable credit budget) |
| Want to prototype indefinitely at zero cost before committing | Bright Data (ongoing 5,000 records/month free tier vs. ScraperAPI's 7-day trial) |
| Need pre-built scrapers for specific sites (LinkedIn, Amazon, etc.) rather than a generic fetch API | Bright Data's scraper library |
| Want a raw fetch/unblock endpoint at the lowest possible per-request cost | Compare ScraperAPI against Bright Data's separate Web Unlocker API, not the Web Scraper API compared here |