ScrapflyvsScrapeBadger· Updated April 2026

Looking for a Scrapfly Alternative?

Scrapfly looks attractive on the surface: its 98.8% Scrapeway success rate is the best in the industry. But ASP dynamic pricing silently multiplies your costs mid-request, monthly credits reset with no rollover, and automatic PAYG overflow can double your bill without warning. ScrapeBadger trades the absolute success-rate ceiling for predictable flat-credit pricing and bills you can plan around.

  • ASP auto-escalation silently upgrades 1-credit requests to 25-credit requests mid-flight
  • PAYG overage cap at 125% can add $437+ on top of your Pro subscription automatically
  • No annual billing option: no discount for committing to a year
  • Credits reset every month: 10-30% waste typical for variable workloads (no rollover)
Try ScrapeBadger FreeSee full comparison

1,000 free credits · no credit card · credits never expire

What Scrapfly doesn't tell you upfront

Scrapfly markets itself as simple, predictable pricing, but its ASP dynamic escalation, monthly credit resets, automatic PAYG overflow billing, and no annual discount make it one of the hardest platforms to budget for. Teams that switch to ScrapeBadger consistently report that they're getting the same protected-site results at a fraction of the cost, with credits that never expire and a bill they can actually predict.

Why developers switch

Why Teams Switch from Scrapfly to ScrapeBadger

Scrapfly looks attractive on paper: until you see your first invoice after a heavy scraping month.

Credits

ScrapeBadger pay-as-you-go credits never expire. Scrapfly resets every month: unused credits are gone at billing date.

Predictability

ScrapeBadger charges 7 credits per Stealth request. Scrapfly's ASP silently escalates from 1 to 25+ credits mid-request.

No overages

ScrapeBadger has zero overflow billing. Scrapfly auto-charges up to 125% extra on top of your subscription.

Entry price

Pay as you go from $10 on ScrapeBadger vs $30/month subscription on Scrapfly, with a steep $30→$100 jump between plans.

Anti-bot

ScrapeBadger names every system it bypasses: Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, Kasada. Included on all plans.

Annual savings

Scrapfly offers no annual discount. ScrapeBadger discounts annual billing on every plan, and its PAYG credits never expire.

ScrapeBadger vs Scrapfly: Full Breakdown

FeatureScrapeBadgerScrapfly
Starting pricePay as you go from $10 · no subscription$30 / mo Discovery · subscription with monthly reset
Credits expireNever on PAYG · plans reset monthlyReset monthly · no rollover on any plan
Cost per request: predictable?Yes: 7 credits per Stealth request, set by the mode and proxy tier you pick · max_cost caps auto-escalationNo: ASP can upgrade 1cr → 25cr+ mid-request
PAYG overflow bill riskNone: no overages possible (credits run out, requests stop)Up to 125% of quota auto-charged · $437+ overage possible on Pro
Annual billing availableYes: monthly or annual plans, up to ~17% off annualNo annual plans · month-to-month only · no discount
Anti-bot bypass: documented systemsCloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, Kasada (named & documented)ASP dynamic bypass · not individually documented by system
Failed request billingAlways freeFree if under 30% failure rate · "fairness policy" triggers above 30%
Plan jump from entry to mid-tierNot applicable: no tier locks$30 → $100 (3.3×) · no mid-range option
Residential proxy cost10 credits for Stealth on residential proxies, fixed+25 credits per request on top of base · 30× more than datacenter
Result cachingNo cache: always live dataOptional caching available · cached data may not reflect current state
Free trial1,000 credits, no card, no expiry1,000 credits, no card · "burns fast" per user reports
Overall success rate (Scrapeway)Named bypass for protected sites#1 industry: 98.8% (industry avg 59.5%)
Average $/1K scrapes (Scrapeway)$0.502 Stealth on Growth: fixed$3.90 avg across benchmark targets · industry avg $3.20
SDK languagesPython, Node.js / TypeScriptPython, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Scrapy
Why developers switch

The 3 Biggest Problems with Scrapfly

These aren't edge cases, they're the issues that appear most often when developers compare Scrapfly alternatives.

1

ASP auto-escalation: you can't know the cost before the request completes

Scrapfly's ASP (Anti-Scraping Protection) system automatically upgrades your proxy pool mid-request when it detects anti-bot protection on the target site. A datacenter proxy request (priced at 1 credit) can silently become a 25-credit residential proxy request if ASP determines the site requires it. Add JavaScript rendering (+5 credits) and you're at 30 credits for what started as a 1-credit call. Scrapfly documents this behaviour and it's part of what makes their success rate exceptional. But the practical consequence is cost unpredictability: you cannot model monthly spend on protected-site workloads without running production traffic first. On a Discovery plan with 200,000 included credits, protected-site scrapes at ~30 credits each deliver only about 6,667 actual pages: a 30× gap from the headline number. Multiple Capterra reviews flag this directly: "Credit pricing is opaque: ASP mode costs 10-25x a basic request, so a scraping job that looks cheap can burn through credits fast."

ScrapeBadger

A ScrapeBadger Stealth request costs 7 credits on the default proxy tier: JS rendering and anti-bot bypass bundled. The cost is the same whether the target uses Cloudflare, DataDome, or no protection at all. You know exactly what a batch of 10,000 requests will cost before you run it.

2

PAYG overage cap automatically charges up to 125% extra on top of your plan

When you exceed your monthly quota, Scrapfly activates pay-as-you-go billing automatically. The PAG is capped at 125% of your monthly included credits, but that cap represents real money. On the Pro plan (1,000,000 credits), the system can charge for up to 1,250,000 additional credits at $3.50 per 10,000: a potential $437.50 in automatic overage charges on top of your $100 base. The combination of ASP auto-escalation (unpredictable per-request cost) and PAYG auto-billing (automatic overflow spending) means a month of heavy scraping on difficult targets can produce a significantly larger invoice than the plan price suggests. Scrapfly provides project-level budget controls and throttle limits, but these require configuration, and the default is auto-billing.

ScrapeBadger

ScrapeBadger has no overflow, no PAYG auto-billing, and no overages. When your credits run out, requests simply stop until you top up. Your bill is exactly what you purchased. If you want more capacity, you choose when to buy more: nothing happens automatically.

3

No annual billing: no discount for predictable long-term usage

Most scraping API providers offer annual billing at a 10-20% discount: you commit to a year upfront and pay less per month. Scrapfly does not offer annual plans. Every subscription is month-to-month at the same rate. Scrapeway's feature comparison explicitly confirms: "No annual plans are available." For teams with stable, predictable scraping workloads who are happy with a provider and ready to commit, annual billing is a meaningful cost reduction. On the Pro plan at $100/month, a 10% annual discount represents $120/year in savings: the equivalent of a free month. Scrapfly captures none of this value for long-term customers.

ScrapeBadger

ScrapeBadger discounts annual billing on every plan, and its pay-as-you-go credits never expire: top up from $10 and they last until you use them, with no commitment. Larger plans carry lower per-credit rates, down to $0.045/1K on Max.

How ASP billing works

The Hidden Cost of Dynamic Proxy Escalation

Scrapfly's ASP detects site protection level and upgrades the proxy pool automatically. The credit cost changes mid-request based on what the site requires.

Request lifecycle with ASP enabled: same code, wildly different costs depending on target
  1. 1
    You send a request with asp=TrueExpected: 1-6cr

    Your code is the same for every request. You can't predict which proxy tier ASP will select before the response is returned.

  2. 2
    ASP detects anti-bot protection on the target site

    If the site uses Cloudflare, DataDome, or similar, ASP automatically upgrades to residential proxies (+25 credits) and may add browser rendering (+5 credits) to achieve a successful response.

  3. 3
    Response returned: actual cost revealed in headerActual: 30cr

    Check X-Scrapfly-Api-Cost to see what was charged. On a protected JS-heavy site: 1 (datacenter base) + 25 (residential upgrade) + 5 (JS render) = 30 credits. A 30× difference from what datacenter pricing would suggest.

Why this matters for budget planning: If half your targets are protected and half aren't, you cannot predict your monthly credit consumption without running actual traffic. Independent analysts recommend: "Check the X-Scrapfly-Api-Cost header. Multiply that number by your monthly volume. That, not the plan price, is what you actually pay."

What You Actually Pay: Real Cost Comparison

The most common reason developers search for a Scrapfly alternative is pricing confusion. Scrapfly's credit multiplier means advertised credits don't translate to actual pages scraped, here's what you really get.

ScrapflySubscription · no rollover · no annual plan
Discovery
$30 / mo
200K credits · low concurrency · no PAYG
Pro
$100 / mo
1M credits · PAYG overflow at $3.50/10K
Business
$250 / mo
3M credits · higher concurrency
PAYG overage (Pro)
Up to +$437 extra
Auto-charged at 125% cap above $100 base
Protected site reality on Discovery ($30/mo): Basic datacenter: 1cr → 200,000 requests. Residential + ASP + JS: ~30cr → 6,667 real requests. That’s a 30× gap from the headline number on protected targets.
ScrapeBadgerPay as you go or monthly · no overages
Pay as you go
$0.15/1K credits
from $10 · 10K Stealth requests · never expires
Starter
$49/mo
600K credits · 86K Stealth requests
Growth
$129/mo
1.8M credits · 257K Stealth requests
Overage risk
Zero
Credits run out → requests stop. No auto-billing.
Stealth mode: 7 credits per request. Same cost whether target is Cloudflare-protected or not. Growth → 257K Stealth scrapes a month, fixed, predictable.

Pay as you go with credits that never expire, or subscribe for a lower per-credit rate. Plan credits are spent first; PAYG credits stay in reserve. See full pricing →

How to Switch from Scrapfly in 10 Minutes

Migrating from Scrapflyto ScrapeBadger is a drop-in replacement. Your downstream parsing code stays the same, you're changing the client, not the output.

  1. Step 1:pip install scrapebadger
  2. Step 2:Get your API key at /auth/signup, no card, 1,000 free credits
  3. Step 3:Replace the client: see below
  4. Step 4:Response returns rendered HTML: your parser is unchanged
Scrapfly (before)Remove this
from scrapfly import ScrapflyClient, ScrapeConfig

client = ScrapflyClient(key="YOUR_KEY")

result = client.scrape(ScrapeConfig(
    url="https://example.com",
    asp=True,         # ⚠ may auto-upgrade cost
    render_js=True,
    country="us",
))

html = result.scrape_result["content"]
# actual cost: check result headers
# X-Scrapfly-Api-Cost: ???
ScrapeBadger (after)Replace with this
from scrapebadger import ScrapeBadger

client = ScrapeBadger("sb_live_...")

result = client.web.scrape(
    url="https://example.com",
    render_js=True,
    # anti-bot always included
    country="us",
    format="html",
)

html = result.content
# cost: 7 credits on the default proxy tier
# no surprise upgrades

Trusted by Developers Building with Data

From ScrapeBadger users who made the switch from subscription-based scraping APIs.

“I'm a developer myself but ScrapeBadger's web scraping API is my go-to when my own scrapers can't bypass anti-bot systems. High success rates and reasonable pricing. The credits-never-expire model is huge: I don't feel pressured to burn credits before month end.”
E
Eugene
Co-founder, WISS APPS
“We've tried a few scraping tools before and most break pretty often or require a lot of work to keep things running. ScrapeBadger has been a lot more stable in comparison. We mainly use it to find leads and it's been effective: does what it's supposed to do without the hassle.”
D
Domas
Founder, Webdy

Frequently Asked Questions

On raw success rate, yes. Scrapeway's independent benchmarks rank Scrapfly #1 overall with a 98.8% success rate versus an industry average of 59.5%. If reliability on difficult protected sites is your absolute priority and budget predictability is secondary, Scrapfly is genuinely the strongest choice. ScrapeBadger is a better fit for teams who need named anti-bot bypass at predictable costs with PAYG credits never expire: you trade the absolute success-rate ceiling for a bill you can plan around.

Scrapfly's ASP (Anti-Scraping Protection) system automatically upgrades your proxy pool mid-request when it detects anti-bot protection on the target site. A datacenter request priced at 1 credit can silently become a 25-credit residential request if ASP determines the site requires it. Add JS rendering (+5 credits) and you're at 30 credits for what started as a 1-credit call. Scrapfly documents this and recommends checking the X-Scrapfly-Api-Cost response header after every request, but you cannot predict the cost before the response is returned, which makes monthly budgeting on protected-site workloads difficult.

No. According to Scrapeway's feature comparison, Scrapfly does not offer annual billing plans. Every subscription is month-to-month at the listed monthly rate with no annual discount. This is unusual compared to most competitors (e.g. ScraperAPI) that offer 10-20% off for annual commitment. ScrapeBadger discounts annual billing on every plan, and its pay-as-you-go credits never expire.

Scrapfly activates pay-as-you-go (PAG) billing automatically when you exceed your monthly quota. PAG is capped at 125% of your monthly included credits at $3.50 per 10,000 extra credits. On the Pro plan with 1,000,000 included credits, this means up to 1,250,000 extra credits: a potential $437.50 in automatic overage charges on top of the $100 base subscription. Scrapfly provides project-level spending limits and throttle settings that can prevent this, but they require deliberate configuration. ScrapeBadger has no overflow billing at all: when credits run out, requests stop until you top up.

For predictable workloads, yes. A ScrapeBadger Stealth request costs 7 credits: full anti-bot bypass and JS rendering bundled. At $0.072/1K credits on Growth, that's $0.502 per 1,000 Stealth pages. Scrapfly's effective cost depends heavily on whether ASP triggers: Scrapeway pegs Scrapfly's average at $3.90 per 1,000 scrapes across their benchmark targets, above the $3.20 industry average. ScrapeBadger also has pay as you go, from $10, with credits that never expire, versus Scrapfly's $30/month Discovery for 200,000 credits that reset monthly.

Choose Scrapfly if raw success rate is your top priority and you're targeting heavily protected sites where nothing else works. Scrapfly's 98.8% Scrapeway benchmark success rate is the best in the industry. Its ASP system dynamically adapts to site-level protections in ways that fixed-pricing APIs cannot. The higher and less predictable cost is the trade-off for that reliability ceiling. If your budget matters more than the last 1-2% of success rate, ScrapeBadger's Stealth mode at $0.502 per 1,000 protected-site scrapes on Growth is a much better economic fit.

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Ready to Switch?

1,000 free credits. No credit card. No subscription. Credits never expire, use them at your own pace.

Get 1,000 free creditsRead the docs

No credit card · failed requests are free · anti-bot bypass on all plans