Side by side
| ScraperAPI | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Credits, feature-weighted | Credits, feature-weighted |
| Entry paid plan | $49/mo — 100,000 credits, 20 concurrent threads | $49/mo — 250,000 credits, 50 concurrent requests |
| Top self-serve plan | $1,975/mo — 21,500,000 credits, 500 threads | $599/mo — 8,000,000 credits, 400 concurrent |
| Free tier / trial | 7-day trial 5,000 credits, no card required | One-time trial 1,000 credits, no card required |
| Geotargeting | US & EU only on entry two tiers; global from Business tier ($299/mo) up | Not itemized by tier on the pricing page — geotargeting listed as a feature, gated details not published |
| Compliance mentions | Not stated on pricing page | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR (stated on pricing page) |
| Support | Slack support from Business tier up | Priority email / dedicated account manager on higher tiers |
Sources (verified 25 Jul 2026): scraperapi.com/pricing · scrapingbee.com (pricing section).
Where they differ in practice
Entry-tier concurrency. At the $49/mo tier, ScrapingBee ships more concurrent requests (50) than ScraperAPI (20) and more credits (250,000 vs. 100,000) for the same headline price — useful if your bottleneck is parallel throughput rather than total monthly volume.
Geotargeting gating. ScraperAPI explicitly restricts geotargeting to the US and EU on its two entry tiers (Hobby $49/mo, Startup $149/mo); global geotargeting requires the $299/mo Business tier or above. ScrapingBee's pricing page lists geotargeting as a feature without publishing which tiers unlock which regions — if geotargeting outside the US/EU matters at a low budget, confirm directly with ScrapingBee before committing.
Both bill by weighted credit, not flat request count. On both vendors, a plain HTTP fetch costs the base credit rate; enabling JavaScript rendering, premium/rotating proxies, or extraction features costs more credits per request. Neither vendor publishes a single "cost per page" number that holds across all use cases — your real monthly cost depends on how often you need the expensive features, not the plan's headline credit count.
Decision guide
| Your situation | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| Tight budget, need US/EU targets only, want the simplest setup | Either — pricing is a tie at $49/mo; compare credit costs for your specific feature mix before deciding |
| High concurrency needs at the entry tier | ScrapingBee (50 vs. 20 concurrent threads at $49/mo) |
| Need global geotargeting on a budget | Neither is clearly cheaper — ScraperAPI requires stepping up to $299/mo for global; ScrapingBee doesn't publish tier-level detail, so confirm directly |
| Compliance documentation matters (SOC 2, GDPR) | ScrapingBee — SOC 2 Type II and GDPR are stated directly on the pricing page |