ScrapingBeevsScrapeBadger· Updated April 2026

Looking for a ScrapingBee Alternative?

ScrapingBee works well for basic scraping. But if you've hit credit-reset waste, the $49/month minimum, or found that 250,000 credits buy only 50,000 JS pages, ScrapeBadger is the ScrapingBee alternative built to fix them. Pay as you go with credits that never expire, or subscribe for more JS pages per dollar, with anti-bot bypass on every plan.

  • Credits reset every month: unused credits disappear at billing date
  • The 5× credit multiplier means a $49 plan that advertises 250,000 credits delivers only 50,000 real JS-rendered pages
  • $49 minimum monthly commitment with no pay-as-you-go option
Try ScrapeBadger FreeSee full comparison

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

TL;DR

Switch to ScrapeBadger if…

Both are capable web scraping APIs. The right choice depends on your workload and priorities.

Switch to ScrapeBadger

  • →You scrape difficult sites protected by Cloudflare or DataDome
  • →Your scraping volume is variable or seasonal
  • →You want credits that never expire instead of monthly resets
  • →You need dedicated scrapers (Vinted, social, e-commerce)
  • →You don't want a monthly subscription commitment

Stay with ScrapingBee if…

  • ·You rely on the Make.com no-code integration
  • ·You're already on the Business+ plan and happy with results
  • ·You specifically need JavaScript scenario scripting
  • ·Your monthly volume is consistent and predictable (subscription makes sense)

ScrapeBadger vs ScrapingBee: Full Breakdown

FeatureScrapeBadgerScrapingBee
Starting pricePay as you go from $10$49 / month subscription
Credits expireNever on PAYG · plans reset monthlyMonthly reset
Pay for blocked requestsNever: fails are freeCharges 200 + 404 responses
Cost per 1,000 JS pages$0.572 on Starter (7 credits a page, anti-bot bypass included)~$0.98 on Freelance (5 credits a page · 25 with premium proxy)
Anti-bot bypass coverageCloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, Kasada: all plansPremium proxies on all plans, named systems not publicly documented
JS rendering browserPatchright (stealth Chromium)Standard headless Chrome
Residential proxies80M+ IPs, 150+ countries: included all plansPremium proxies: included all plans
Free trial1,000 credits, no credit card1,000 credits, no credit card
AI data extractionNatural-language promptsCSS selectors + AI
Output formatsHTML, Markdown, Text, ScreenshotHTML, Markdown, JSON, Screenshot
Custom JS scenariosOn roadmapAvailable
SDK languagesPython, Node.js / TypeScriptPython, Node.js, Ruby, PHP, Go, Java
Why developers switch

The 3 Biggest Problems with ScrapingBee

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

1

The 5× JS credit multiplier makes real costs much higher than advertised

ScrapingBee enables JavaScript rendering by default, and their FAQ explicitly states: "By default, each request costs 5 credits because JavaScript rendering is enabled by default." This means the headline credit numbers on every plan are misleading for typical use. A $49 Freelance plan advertising 250,000 credits delivers only 50,000 real JS-rendered pages. A $99 Startup plan's 1,000,000 credits delivers 200,000 pages: at an effective cost of $0.495 per 1,000 pages. Most modern websites require JavaScript rendering to return complete content. If you're scraping React, Vue, or Angular sites (which is the majority of modern web) the 5× multiplier applies to virtually every request.

ScrapeBadger

A ScrapeBadger Stealth request costs 7 credits and includes JS rendering plus full anti-bot bypass. On Growth ($0.072/1K credits) that's $0.502 per 1,000 Stealth pages; pay as you go it's $1.05, with credits that never expire.

2

Credits reset monthly: unused credits are permanently lost

ScrapingBee operates on a subscription model. Credits are allocated monthly and any unused balance at the end of the billing cycle is lost: they do not roll over. If you over-buy for a peak month, you lose the surplus. If you under-buy, you top up mid-cycle. Either way, every month the clock resets regardless of actual usage. This also means ScrapingBee has no true pay-as-you-go option. The cheapest plan is $49/month: a fixed commitment whether you use it or not. For teams with seasonal or project-based workloads, this is money left on the table every slow month.

ScrapeBadger

ScrapeBadger's pay-as-you-go credits never expire, with no subscription and no monthly minimum: buy credits when you need them and use them over days, months, or years. If your volume is steady, a monthly plan lowers the per-credit rate; its allowance resets each cycle, but your PAYG credits never do.

3

$49/month minimum with no pay-as-you-go option

ScrapingBee has no credit pack or one-time purchase option. The entry point is $49/month: a recurring subscription. If you're building a side project, running a one-off data collection job, or simply have unpredictable monthly volume, you're committing $49 every month whether you use it or not. There is also no free tier beyond the 1,000-credit trial. Once you've used your trial credits, you must subscribe to continue: there's no way to buy a small credit pack for occasional use.

ScrapeBadger

ScrapeBadger has pay as you go with no subscription required: top up from $10 and the credits never expire. There is no monthly minimum and no commitment. The 1,000 free trial credits also never expire, so you can test at your own pace before buying anything.

What You Actually Pay: Real Cost Comparison

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

ScrapingBeeSubscription · credits reset monthly
Freelance
$49 / mo
250K credits · JS rendering + premium proxies included
Startup
$99 / mo
1M credits · JS rendering + premium proxies (5× cost)
Business
$249 / mo
3M credits · dedicated account manager
Business+
$599 / mo
8M credits · team management
The hidden cost of the credit multiplier: The $99 Startup plan advertises 1,000,000 credits, but JS rendering costs 5 credits per page, so you actually get 200,000 rendered pages. That's $0.495 per 1,000 real pages scraped with JS.
ScrapeBadgerPay as you go or monthly · failed requests free
Pay as you go
$0.15/1K credits
from $10 · credits never expire
Starter
$49/mo
600K credits · 86K Stealth pages
Growth
$129/mo
1.8M credits · 257K Stealth pages
Pro
$299/mo
5M credits · 714K Stealth pages
Scale
$699/mo
13M credits · 1.9M Stealth pages
What Stealth mode actually costs: 7 credits per JS-rendered page with full anti-bot bypass. On Starter that's $0.572 per 1,000 pages; pay as you go it's $1.05, and those credits never expire.

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 →

Anti-Bot Bypass, JS Rendering, and More

The details that determine whether your scraper actually works on the sites you need.

Anti-Bot Bypass Coverage

ScrapingBeeScrapeBadger
CloudflareNot documentedAll plans
DataDomeNot documentedAll plans
AkamaiNot documentedAll plans
ImpervaNot documentedAll plans
PerimeterXNot documentedAll plans
KasadaNot documentedAll plans

JavaScript Rendering

ScrapingBeeScrapeBadger
Browser typeHeadless ChromePatchright
FingerprintingDetectableStealth passes
Available fromAll plans (default on)All plans
Per 1K pages, entry plan~$0.98$0.572
Custom JS scenarios✓ YesRoadmap

Output Formats

ScrapingBeeScrapeBadger
HTML✓✓
Markdown✓✓
Plain text✗✓
Screenshot✓✓
AI extraction✓ CSS / AI✓ Natural language

How to Switch from ScrapingBee in 10 Minutes

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

  1. Step 1:Install the ScrapeBadger SDK: pip install scrapebadger
  2. Step 2:Sign up and get your API key at /auth/signup
  3. Step 3:Replace the client initialization: see code below
  4. Step 4:The response contains the same rendered HTML: no changes to your parser
ScrapingBee (before)Remove this
from scrapingbee import ScrapingBeeClient

client = ScrapingBeeClient(
    api_key='YOUR_BEE_KEY'
)

response = client.get(
    'https://example.com',
    params={
        'render_js': True,
        'premium_proxy': True,
        'country_code': 'us',
    }
)

html = response.content
ScrapeBadger (after)Replace with this
from scrapebadger import ScrapeBadger

client = ScrapeBadger(
    api_key='sb_live_...'
)

result = client.web.scrape(
    url='https://example.com',
    render_js=True,
    # anti-bot bypass included
    # no extra param needed
    country='us',
    format='html',
)

html = result.content
Key difference: ScrapingBee's premium_proxy=True enables premium proxies, included on all ScrapingBee plans. ScrapeBadger's Stealth mode bundles JS rendering + anti-bot bypass in one parameter: residential proxies and anti-bot bypass are included automatically on every plan, no upgrade needed.

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

For most workloads, yes. ScrapingBee starts at $49/month with credits that reset monthly. ScrapeBadger lets you pay as you go from $10 (credits never expire) or subscribe on a tier that matches your workload, and only successful scrapes are charged. The comparison sharpens on JS-rendered pages: ScrapingBee's $99 Startup plan advertises 1M credits but JS rendering costs 5 credits per page, so you actually get ~200K real pages for $99 (~$0.495 per 1K). A ScrapeBadger Stealth page costs 7 credits with anti-bot bypass included: 257K pages a month on the $129/mo Growth plan, $0.502 per 1K.

No. ScrapeBadger only deducts credits for successful responses. If a site blocks the request or returns an error, no credits are consumed. ScrapingBee charges credits for any 200 or 404 response, so blocked-but-returning-200 challenge pages still consume credits.

Yes, and on sites with serious bot detection ScrapeBadger typically performs better. ScrapeBadger uses Patchright (a stealth-patched Chromium that passes browser fingerprinting) versus ScrapingBee's standard headless Chrome which is detectable. ScrapeBadger also explicitly covers Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, and Kasada across all plans; ScrapingBee's documentation does not publicly specify which anti-bot systems are covered.

Migration takes under 10 minutes. Run pip install scrapebadger, swap the client initialization with your ScrapeBadger API key, and add render_js=True to enable Stealth mode (JS rendering + anti-bot bypass combined). The response object contains the same rendered HTML: your downstream parser does not change.

Pay-as-you-go credits never expire: top up once and use them at any pace, the same day or two years later. Subscription credits are a monthly allowance at a lower per-credit rate and reset each billing cycle. Pay as you go suits variable, seasonal, or project-based workloads where a fixed monthly allocation does not match actual usage; a plan suits steady volume. You can hold both: plan credits are spent first and PAYG credits stay in reserve.

ScrapingBee includes JS rendering, rotating proxies, and premium proxies on all plans including the $49 Freelance tier. The differences at higher tiers are mostly team management, dedicated account manager, and concurrency limits. ScrapeBadger's edge is explicit named anti-bot system coverage (Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, Imperva, PerimeterX, Kasada) plus Patchright stealth Chromium that passes browser fingerprinting that standard headless Chrome fails.

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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