ScraperAPI is a well-established platform trusted by thousands of companies. But three specific issues push developers to look for alternatives — geotargeting locked to US & EU on starter plans, credits charged for blocked requests, and a forced 10-minute cache on difficult targets that returns stale data without warning.
| Feature | ScrapeBadger | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $10 one-time · no subscription required | $49 / month · 7-day trial with 5K credits |
| Credits roll over | Never expire | Reset monthly — no rollover on any plan |
| Pay for blocked requests | Never — fails are always free | Yes — often charged (Scrapeway-confirmed) |
| Response caching | No cache — always live data | 10-min cache on difficult targets — may return stale data |
| Geotargeting on entry plan | 150+ countries from $10 | US & EU only ($49 + $149 plans) |
| Full geo unlock | Included from day one | Requires $299/mo Business plan (69 countries) |
| Max credit cost per request | 23 credits flat (Stealth mode — JS + anti-bot) | 75 credits (ultra-premium proxy + render) |
| Standalone PAYG | Available | Overflow only — Scaling/Enterprise plans on overrun |
| Anti-bot systems documented | Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, Kasada | General anti-bot bypass — specific systems not named publicly |
| Browser engine | Patchright (stealth Chromium) | Chromium headless — standard rendering |
| Overall success rate | Named bypass for protected sites | 63.7% avg (Scrapeway) — 0% on Booking.com, Instagram, Twitter |
| Free trial | 1,000 credits, no card, no expiry | 5,000 credits, 7 days, no card |
| DataPipeline (no-code scheduler) | Not offered | Available — automated job scheduling |
| Async scraper service | Not offered | Available — bulk async processing |
| Dedicated Slack support | Discord community + email | Enterprise tier only |
| SDK languages | Python, Node.js / TypeScript | Python, Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Java, cURL |
| Volume | ScrapeBadger | ScraperAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Entry / Hobby | $10 one-time · 100K credits · 150+ countries · $0.10/1K | $49 / mo · 100K credits · US & EU only · 20 concurrent |
| Mid-tier / Startup | $40 one-time · 500K credits · $0.08/1K | $149 / mo · 1M credits · US & EU only · 50 concurrent |
| Business / Pro | $120 one-time · 2M credits · $0.06/1K | $299 / mo · 3M credits · 69 countries unlocked · 100 concurrent |
| Enterprise / Scaling | $500 one-time · 10M credits · $0.05/1K | $475 / mo · 5M credits · full geo · PAYG overflow |
| Stealth / max-cost request | 23 credits flat — $0.23/1K Stealth on Starter | Up to 75 credits — Hobby plan = 1,333 ultra-premium reqs |
Install the ScrapeBadger SDK: pip install scrapebadger (or npm install scrapebadger)
Sign up at scrapebadger.com/auth/signup — your API key is in the dashboard, no credit card required
Replace `requests.get('https://api.scraperapi.com', params={api_key, url, render, premium, country_code})` with `client = ScrapeBadger('sb_live_...')` and `client.web.scrape(url=..., render_js=True, country=..., format='html')`
Map ScraperAPI's `render=true` → `render_js=True`; drop the explicit `premium=true` flag — anti-bot bypass is automatic on every ScrapeBadger plan
If you were locked out of country_code on Hobby/Startup, you can now use any of 150+ countries on the $10 Starter pack — no plan upgrade needed
The response contains the same rendered HTML — your downstream parser code does not change
No 10-minute cache to worry about — every ScrapeBadger request fetches live data, perfect for price monitoring and inventory tracking
Test with the 1,000 free trial credits, then cancel your ScraperAPI subscription once verified
According to Scrapeway's independent benchmarks, ScraperAPI often charges credits even when requests are blocked. This is distinct from ScrapingBee, which explicitly states they don't charge for non-200/404 responses. ScrapeBadger only deducts credits for successful responses — if a request is blocked or returns an error, no credits are consumed. Your monthly spend maps directly to data you actually received.
ScraperAPI's own documentation states: "Hobby and Startup Plan can only use US and EU geotargeting." This covers the $49 Hobby and $149 Startup plans. Full country-level geotargeting (69 countries) requires the Business plan at $299/month. ScrapeBadger provides 150+ country geotargeting on every plan with no tier lock — you can scrape from Lithuania, Brazil, or Japan on the $10 Starter pack.
On difficult or heavily protected targets, ScraperAPI applies a 10-minute result cache automatically. If you request a URL that was recently scraped, the API may return the cached version rather than making a fresh live request. For use cases where data freshness is critical — real-time price monitoring, live inventory checks, flash sale tracking, or stock availability — this can produce stale results without warning. ScrapeBadger does not cache responses; every request fetches live data directly from the target URL.
ScraperAPI's credit costs scale by request complexity: 1 credit for basic HTML, 5 credits for JS rendering, 10 credits for premium proxy, up to 75 credits for ultra-premium proxy with rendering. The $49 Hobby plan's 100,000 credits delivers 100K basic requests, 6,666 JS+premium requests, or just 1,333 ultra-premium rendered requests. ScrapeBadger's Stealth mode costs a flat 23 credits per request — JS rendering plus full anti-bot bypass in one. On a $10 Starter pack (100K credits), that's 4,347 Stealth requests that never expire.
ScraperAPI does not offer a standalone pay-as-you-go purchase for Hobby, Startup, or Business plan users. PAYG is only available as an overflow mechanism for Scaling and Enterprise plan customers who exceed their monthly credits. If you run out mid-cycle on a lower plan, you must upgrade tier or contact support. Credits also do not roll over month to month on any plan. ScrapeBadger has standalone PAYG with credits that never expire and no subscription required.
For most workloads, yes. ScrapeBadger's Starter pack is $10 for 100,000 credits with no subscription required and credits that never expire. ScraperAPI's cheapest paid plan is $49/month for the same 100,000 credits with no rollover and geotargeting locked to US and EU. On a per-credit basis, ScrapeBadger's Growth pack ($40 for 500,000 credits) gives you 5× more credits for the same price as ScraperAPI's $49 Hobby plan. The comparison sharpens on difficult targets — ScrapeBadger never charges for blocked requests, while ScraperAPI often does.
ScrapingBee works well for basic scraping. But if you've hit credit-reset waste, the 5× JS multiplier, or the $49/month minimum — ScrapeBadger is the ScrapingBee alternative built to fix them. Credits never expire, no monthly subscription, and anti-bot bypass on every plan.
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