Alternatives
Scrapingdog alternatives, matched to the API you replace
Replacing Scrapingdog's web scraper, its Google SERP API or its LinkedIn endpoint? Alternatives for each, priced at the same two jobs, and when to stay.
The best Scrapingdog alternative depends on which Scrapingdog product you use. Its general Web Scraping API, its Google Search API and its LinkedIn or Amazon endpoints each have different rivals, and a cheap swap for one is a poor swap for another.
Below, each product gets its own shortlist, priced on the same two jobs: 50,000 Google searches a month and 250,000 JavaScript-rendered pages a month. I also cover the settings to try before you switch, and when staying is the better call.
Short on time?
Here's my take
- Rendered pages, lowest price
- Scrape.do
- 250K rendered pages fit Pro at $99, against $200 on Scrapingdog Pro. No spare credits, and 400/404/410 responses are billed.
- Protected sites keep failing
- Zyte API, or Bright Data Web Unlocker for a flat rate
- Both bill only successful responses. Zyte is about $188–$300 for 250K pages on low tiers; Unlocker is a flat $375.
- LLM-ready markdown or crawls
- Firecrawl
- 1 credit per page, returned as markdown. $399 for 250K pages, so it's a different output, not a cheaper one.
- Google SERP only, lowest price
- apiserpent.com
- 50K searches for $30 with no deposit ($15 from a $100 deposit), up to 100 organic results a call. No public SLA; you indemnify the vendor.
- Google SERP with written legal cover
- SearchApi
- Legal protection from the Production plan up. 50K searches need BigData at $250, against $725 on SerpApi.
- LinkedIn profiles at volume
- Bright Data LinkedIn scraper
- $1.50 per 1,000 records pay-as-you-go: about $15 for 10K profiles, against 500K Scrapingdog credits.
- Amazon, Indeed or a mix of APIs
- Stay on Scrapingdog
- 1-credit Amazon and Indeed calls, 5-credit Google searches, and one pool across 80+ APIs.
Prices verified . Sponsors cannot buy a verdict or a position.
This page sits in the scraping APIs hub. For Scrapingdog’s own plans and bills, see Scrapingdog pricing.
Which Scrapingdog are you replacing? #
Start here, because the shortlist changes completely with the product.
| You use Scrapingdog’s… | What you’re paying for | Shortlist |
|---|---|---|
| Web Scraping API (any URL) | 1, 5, 10 or 25 credits a request | Scrape.do, ScrapingBee, ZenRows, ScraperAPI, Scrapfly, Zyte API, Bright Data Web Unlocker, Firecrawl |
| Google Search API | 5 credits a “Light” search, 10 for “Advance” | apiserpent.com, DataForSEO, Serper, Bright Data SERP API, SearchApi, SerpApi |
| LinkedIn, Amazon or other dedicated endpoints | 50 credits a LinkedIn profile, 1 per Amazon product | Bright Data scrapers, Apify actors, Scrape.do per-domain pricing |
Source for Scrapingdog’s rates: pricing, verified 2026-11-12.
How do they compare at a glance? #
Each row is priced at the job that fits it: Job A is 50,000 Google searches a month, Job B is 250,000 rendered pages a month. Verified 2026-11-12, USD, arithmetic on list prices.
| Option | Replaces | Price at its job | Free offer | Failed requests | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapingdog (what you have) | All three | A: $90 · B: $200 | 100 credits | Credited back | Rendering on by default |
| Scrape.do | General, plus Google, LinkedIn, Amazon | A: $99 · B: $99 | 1,000 credits a month | 400, 404, 410 billed | Zero spare credits at Job B |
| ScrapingBee | General, Google | A: $99 · B: $249 | 1,000 credits | Not stated generally | Credits last one month |
| ZenRows | General | B: $279 | 5,000 credits a month | 404, 410 billed | Plan credits don’t roll over |
| ScraperAPI | General | A: $299 · B: $299 | 7-day trial, 5,000 credits | 200 and 404 billed | Rendering costs 10 |
| Scrapfly | General | B: $250 | 1,000 credits | Free unless 30%+ blocked | Anti-bot can raise the cost |
| Zyte API | Protected sites | B: about $188–$300 | $5, first month | Free | Zyte sets each site’s tier |
| Bright Data Web Unlocker | Protected sites | B: $375 | 5,000 a month | Free (success only) | Costly on easy pages |
| Firecrawl | LLM markdown | B: $399 | 1,000 credits a month | Not checked | Priced for output, not volume |
| apiserpent.com | Google SERP | A: $30 ($15 or $5 with a deposit) | 10 free calls + 1 free run a day | Refunded automatically | No public SLA; you indemnify it |
| DataForSEO | Google SERP | A: $30 queued, $100 live | Not checked | Refunded if fewer results | Cheapest mode isn’t live |
| Serper | Google SERP | A: $50 | 2,500 queries | Successful only | Packs expire after 6 months |
| Bright Data SERP API | Google SERP | A: $75 | 5,000 a month | Success only | – |
| SearchApi | Google SERP | A: $250 | 100 requests | Only 200s billed | Pricey at this volume |
| SerpApi | Google SERP | A: $725 | 250 a month | Not counted | Priciest here |
Why do people leave Scrapingdog? #
Mostly for three reasons: a bigger bill than expected, protected sites that fail, and limits like concurrency. Several of these can be fixed with a setting, so check the middle column before you migrate.
| Symptom | Try this on Scrapingdog first | If it still doesn’t work |
|---|---|---|
| Bill about 5× what you expected on plain pages | Send dynamic=false (1 credit instead of 5) |
Switching won’t help much: Scrape.do and ScrapingBee also charge 5 to render |
| Blocks on protected sites | premium=true (10 credits), stealth mode (10), JS + premium (25) |
Zyte API or Bright Data Web Unlocker (success-billed), or Scrapfly |
| Lite’s 5 concurrent requests are too few | Standard has 50, Pro 100 | Scrape.do Pro has 50 at $99 |
| Google-only and price-sensitive | Use Light (5 credits), not Advance (10) | apiserpent.com, DataForSEO’s queue, Serper |
| You need legal cover for SERP data | Not offered | SearchApi or SerpApi (Production plan and up) |
| LinkedIn profiles at volume | Not fixable by settings (50–100 credits each) | Bright Data LinkedIn scraper, or an Apify actor |
| You want LLM-ready markdown | AI Parser (+10 credits) | Firecrawl |
Sources: Scrapingdog pricing, rendering docs, Scrape.do request costs, ScrapingBee docs.
The rendering default is the first thing I’d check. Scrapingdog’s docs say: “Dynamic rendering is enabled by default and costs 5 credits per request (25 with premium proxies).” Rendering docs.
Some reasons are about service rather than price. On Trustpilot, where Scrapingdog had 4.4 stars from 588 reviews on November 12, 2026, recent 1-star reviews say “Charged for empty results, support ignores messages” (November 7) and “they refused to refund me my subscription fee” (October 6). Trustpilot. Trustpilot doesn’t fact-check reviews, and 87% of the ratings are 5 stars.
What you’d be leaving #
Scrapingdog sells 27 paid plans plus Free, from Lite at $40 for 200K credits to $30,000 a month, all drawing on one credit pool. Standard is $90 for 1M credits with 50 concurrent requests, and Pro is $200 for 3M. Pricing, verified 2026-11-12.
A plain request costs 1 credit, rendering 5, a premium proxy 10, and both 25. A Google Light search costs 5, Advance 10, and a standard search returns “upto 10 results per page”. Pricing, Google docs.
Failed requests are credited back, rollover starts on Standard, and running out means a hard stop rather than overage. Pay-as-you-go sells 25K credits for $10 that never expire. PAYG post. The full plan maths is in Scrapingdog pricing.
If you use the general scraping API #
These replace Scrapingdog’s Web Scraping API. Each is priced at Job B, 250,000 rendered pages a month, verified 2026-11-12.
Scrape.do, for rendered pages at the lowest price #
Pick it if price on rendered pages is the reason you’re leaving. Scrape.do charges the same 5 credits to render, but its Pro plan is $99 for 1.25M credits with 50 concurrent requests, so Job B fits exactly. Hobby is $29 for 250K credits. Pricing, request costs.
The catch is that 1.25M is exactly 250K × 5, with nothing spare. Its docs count “2XX, 400, 404, 410” as successful, so every billed 404 retry pushes you over, and the price of extra credits isn’t published. Request costs.
Scrape.do also sets its own cost for some domains: Google 10 credits, LinkedIn 30, Amazon 1. The free plan is 1,000 credits a month with 5 concurrent requests.
On Trustpilot it had 4.8 stars from 71 reviews, though Trustpilot notes it hasn’t invited reviews recently. Trustpilot. Full maths in Scrape.do pricing.
ScrapingBee, for a cheap entry plan #
Pick it if you want a low entry price and more concurrency than Scrapingdog’s Lite. Plans run Hobby $19 for 75K credits, Freelance $49 for 250K, Startup $99 for 1M, Business $249 for 3M and Business+ $599 for 8M. Pricing.
Like Scrapingdog, it renders JavaScript by default at 5 credits; premium proxies cost 10 or 25 and stealth 75. Job B needs 1.25M credits, so Business at $249. Its Google API costs 10 credits with Light requests, 15 otherwise. Docs, Google docs.
Catch: credits are “valid for one month and don’t roll over”. The free offer is 1,000 credits. Pricing. My ScrapingBee pricing breakdown has the rest.
ZenRows, for a monthly free allowance #
Pick it if you want a free tier that renews. ZenRows gives 5,000 credits a month, and paid plans run from Build at $19 for 45K through Launch ($69 for 250K) and Growth ($199 for 1.2M) to Scale at $549 for 5M, with in-between rungs. Pricing page, pricing docs.
Credits cost 1, 5 with JavaScript, 10 for premium and 25 for both. Job B needs 1.25M credits, so Growth G2 at $279 for 2M. The pricing docs also list a 224K top-up pack for G1 at $52 ($251 in total), but ZenRows’ pricing page shows top-ups only on Build and Launch, so I price the plan-only route. Pricing docs, pricing page.
Catch: plan credits don’t roll over, packs roll over once, and 404 and 410 responses are billed. Pricing docs. My ZenRows pricing breakdown has the rest.
ScraperAPI, for predictable per-type costs #
Pick it if you want a long, published list of what each request type costs. Plans run Hobby $49 for 100K, Startup $149 for 1M, Business $299 for 3M and Scaling $475 for 5M, with 10% off annually. Pricing.
Rendering costs 10 credits, so Job B needs 2.5M credits and lands on Business at $299. Google and Bing cost 25, LinkedIn 30, Amazon 5. Only 200 and 404 responses are billed, plus requests you cancel before 70 seconds. Credit costs.
Catch: the most expensive general API at Job B. The free offer is a 7-day trial with 5,000 credits.
Scrapfly, for tuning hard sites yourself #
Pick it if you want to choose the proxy pool and rendering per request. Plans run Discovery $30 for 200K credits, Pro $100 for 1M, Startup $250 for 2.5M and Enterprise $500 for 5.5M, with 1,000 free credits. Pricing.
A datacenter request is 1 credit, residential 25, and rendering adds 5, so a rendered page is 6. Job B needs 1.5M credits: Startup at $250, or Pro plus 50 extra 10K packs at $3.50 each ($275). Billing docs.
Catch: its anti-bot option “may dynamically upgrade the proxy pool”, so hard-site costs aren’t predictable from the list. Failed scrapes aren’t billed unless 30% or more are blocked over 24 hours without that option. Billing docs.
Zyte API, for hard sites billed on success #
Pick it if protected sites are why you’re leaving and you only want to pay for pages that come back. “Rate-limiting and unsuccessful responses are free.” Zyte billing docs.
Browser requests cost $1.01 to $16.08 per 1,000 pay-as-you-go, falling to $0.75–$12.00 on a $100 monthly commitment and $0.60–$9.60 on $200. Zyte sets the tier per site.
At tiers 1 or 2, Job B is about $187.50 on the $100 commitment or about $300 on $200. New accounts get $5 of credit for the first month. Pricing.
Catch: a hard site on tier 4 or 5 costs many times more, and commitments are paid upfront with “no refund” if you use less. If you’re also weighing a move away from Zyte, Zyte alternatives covers that side.
Bright Data Web Unlocker, for a flat success-only rate #
Pick it if you want one price per successful page, whatever the site. It’s $1.50 per 1,000 pay-as-you-go (“Pay only for success”), or $499 a month for 383K requests and $1.30 per 1,000 after that. JavaScript rendering is listed as included, and there are 5,000 free requests a month. Pricing.
Job B costs $375 pay-as-you-go; the $499 plan is dearer at this volume. Catch: on easy pages that Scrapingdog handles for 1 credit, this is far more expensive. The best web unblockers compares it with other success-billed options.
Firecrawl, for LLM-ready markdown #
Pick it if you’re leaving because you want clean markdown or JSON for an LLM, not raw HTML. Firecrawl charges 1 credit per page (JSON extraction adds 4), with 1,000 free credits a month. Pricing.
Plans run Hobby $19 for 5K, Standard $99 for 100K, Growth $399 for 500K and Scale $749 for 1M. Job B lands on Growth at $399. Catch: credits don’t roll over except on Scale (one month), so it’s a change of output, not a saving. Pricing.
Decodo, one line #
Decodo’s Web Scraping API sells pages rather than credits: $19 for 38K, $49 for 122K, $99 for 330K and $249 for 1.2M, with 10K free and JavaScript rendering listed on every plan. Pricing. Its docs say rendering “increases request cost” but don’t say by how much, so I can’t price Job B and leave Decodo out of the table. Decodo docs.
If you use the Google SERP API #
These replace Scrapingdog’s Google Search API. Each is priced at Job A, 50,000 first-page searches a month, verified 2026-11-12. On Scrapingdog, Job A takes 250K credits (Light) or 500K (Advance), so Standard at $90 either way.
apiserpent.com, for the lowest price per search #
Pick it if price per search matters most and you only need organic results. apiserpent.com charges $0.60 per 1,000 calls on its Default tier with no deposit, so Job A costs $30. Deposits lower the rate: $0.30 after $100, $0.10 after $500, $0.05 after $1,000 and $0.03 after $1,250, and deposits “never expire”. Pricing.
Its strengths go beyond price. Quick mode returns “up to 100 organic results in a single call” (the docs call num “a ceiling, not a promise”), against Scrapingdog’s 10 per page, and the price is the same across Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Brave. Failed responses are “refunded automatically”, except a 404 for a resource that doesn’t exist. Docs, FAQ.
The caveats matter as much. Quick mode is organic-only, with no uule or city-level location. “No public SLA is currently published for pay-as-you-go accounts,” bonus credits expire after 30 days, and refunds are generally not offered (a 7-day window covers listed exceptions). Its terms, updated October 31, 2026, make the customer indemnify the vendor and cap its liability at what you paid in the 12 months before a claim. FAQ, terms.
A $100 Growth deposit at $15 a month covers about 6.7 months of Job A. The free offer is 10 free calls on a free account, plus one free run a day without signing up. More SERP options are in the cheapest SERP APIs.
DataForSEO, if you can wait for results #
Pick it if you don’t need results in real time. Its Standard queue costs $0.60 per 1,000 SERPs, so Job A is $30; Priority is $60 and Live $100. Each base price covers 10 results, and more results cost another base price per 10. Pricing.
Catch: the $30 price is for queued tasks, not live calls, and the page didn’t show a minimum payment or credit expiry.
Serper, for simple prepaid packs #
Pick it if you want plain prepaid packs. Starter is $50 for 50K credits ($1.00 per 1,000), Standard $375 for 500K, Scale $1,250 for 2.5M. Credits are “valid for 6 months” and there are 2,500 free queries. Job A is $50. Serper.
Catch: I couldn’t confirm how many results one credit returns.
Bright Data SERP API, for a monthly free allowance #
Pick it if you already use Bright Data or want 5,000 free requests a month. Pay-as-you-go is $1.50 per 1,000, so Job A is $75; Scale is $499 for 380K. It bills successes only. Pricing.
SearchApi and SerpApi, for legal cover #
Pick SearchApi if you need written legal protection at the lowest price. It includes “Legal Protection” up to $2M from the Production plan. Plans run Developer $40 for 10K, Production $100 for 35K and BigData $250 for 100K, so Job A needs BigData at $250. Only 200 responses are billed. Pricing.
SerpApi offers a U.S. Legal Shield from Production up and a free tier of 250 searches a month. But Job A needs Searcher at $725 for 100K, because Big Data’s 30K is too small. “Cached, errored, and failed searches” don’t count. Pricing. For more on both, see SerpApi alternatives.
If you use LinkedIn, Amazon or other dedicated endpoints #
Here the answer splits. LinkedIn profiles are much cheaper per record elsewhere; Amazon products are already cheap on Scrapingdog.
| Option | 10K LinkedIn profiles a month | 200K Amazon products a month |
|---|---|---|
| Scrapingdog | 500K credits (1M if protected): Standard $90 for this alone | 200K credits: Lite $40, or inside any bigger plan |
| Scrape.do | 30 credits each, 300K: Pro $99 | 1 credit each, 200K: Hobby $29 |
| ScraperAPI | 30 credits each, 300K: Startup $149 | 5 credits each, 1M: Startup $149 |
| Bright Data scrapers | $15 pay-as-you-go | $300 pay-as-you-go |
| Apify actors | About $17.50–$25 (community actor) | From $3.00 per 1K, about $600 |
Sources: Scrapingdog pricing, Scrape.do request costs, ScraperAPI credit costs, Bright Data LinkedIn, Bright Data Amazon, Apify LinkedIn actor, Apify Amazon actor. Verified 2026-11-12.
For LinkedIn, I’d pick Bright Data’s LinkedIn scraper. It’s $1.50 per 1,000 records pay-as-you-go, or $499 a month for 384K, and it says “no charges for failed deliveries”. The Apify actor I found is a community listing showing “from $1.75 / 1,000” in its header and $2.50 in its README, so its price can move. Bright Data LinkedIn, Apify actor.
For Amazon, staying is reasonable. Scrape.do’s Hobby plan is $11 cheaper for 200K Amazon products alone, but Scrapingdog’s 1-credit calls sit in the same pool as your Google and LinkedIn work. Apify’s platform plans start at $19 a month, with $5 of free usage. Apify pricing.
Scraping LinkedIn profiles carries terms-of-service and personal-data risk that a cheaper price doesn’t remove, and it differs by country and by what you collect. Read is web scraping legal? before you scale this up.
What does the same job cost? #
apiserpent.com’s deposit tiers come out cheapest for the Google job, and Scrape.do for the rendered-page job. Here are both jobs in full, cheapest first. These are calculations on published rates, verified 2026-11-12, not invoices; they exclude retries and billed errors.
Job A: 50,000 Google searches a month (first page)
| Option | What you buy | Monthly cost | Results per call |
|---|---|---|---|
| apiserpent.com, Scale / Growth tier | From a $500 / $100 deposit that never expires | $5 / $15 | Up to 100 organic |
| apiserpent.com, Default tier | 50K calls, no deposit | $30 | Up to 100 organic |
| DataForSEO Standard queue | 50K SERPs, queued | $30 | 10 per base price |
| Serper | One Starter pack | $50 | Not verified |
| DataForSEO Priority | 50K SERPs | $60 | 10 per base price |
| Bright Data SERP API | Pay-as-you-go | $75 | Not checked |
| Scrapingdog (Light or Advance) | 250K or 500K credits, Standard | $90 | Up to 10 |
| Scrape.do | 500K credits at 10 each, Pro | $99 | About 10 per page |
| ScrapingBee | 500K–750K credits, Startup | $99 | Sample shows 20 |
| DataForSEO Live | 50K SERPs | $100 | 10 per base price |
| SearchApi | BigData, 100K | $250 | Not stated |
| ScraperAPI | 1.25M credits at 25 each, Business | $299 | Not checked |
| SerpApi | Searcher, 100K | $725 | Not checked |
apiserpent.com’s deposits are prepaid credit, not fees, but they are money up front. Only SearchApi and SerpApi publish legal cover; apiserpent.com publishes none, and its customers indemnify it. apiserpent.com terms.
Job B: 250,000 JavaScript-rendered pages a month
| Option | Credits per page | Units needed | Cheapest fit | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrape.do | 5 | 1.25M | Pro, zero spare credits | $99 |
| Zyte API | Per page, by tier | 250K | $100 commitment (tier 1) or $200 (tier 2) | $187.50–$300 |
| Scrapingdog | 5 | 1.25M | Pro (Standard’s 1M is too small; PAYG $500) | $200 |
| ScrapingBee | 5 | 1.25M | Business | $249 |
| Scrapfly | 6 | 1.5M | Startup | $250 |
| ZenRows | 5 | 1.25M | G2 (G1 + a $52 pack would be $251 if Growth packs are offered) | $279 |
| ScraperAPI | 10 | 2.5M | Business | $299 |
| Bright Data Web Unlocker | Flat | 250K | Pay-as-you-go | $375 |
| Firecrawl | 1 | 250K | Growth | $399 |
Who’s measured Scrapingdog’s success rate? #
Several people, and they disagree. None of these is my measurement, and every publisher has a stake, so I don’t rank anything on them.
Success-rate claims, with who measured and why it matters
- String: 27.6% (138 of 500 requests), run October 30, 2026, published November 9. String is a rival vendor and ranks its own API first at 98.6%. Its published adapter called Scrapingdog’s general endpoint with premium proxies and stealth mode on, and
dynamic: false. String’s earlier runs scored Scrapingdog 54.3% in August and 45.6% in September. String. - Scrapeway: 59% average across 11 sites, October 1 to November 1, 2026, at $3.61 per 1,000. Scrapeway is a benchmark publisher that collects emails for its reports; the sample size isn’t on the page. Scrapeway.
- Scrapfly’s comparison page: 39%, undated, citing Scrapeway and “out-of-box configs”. Scrapfly is a rival vendor, and the same page lists Scrapingdog’s free tier as 1,000 credits, which is out of date. Scrapfly.
- Scrape.do’s comparison page: 59.26%, with no source or method given. Scrape.do is a rival vendor. Scrape.do.
- Scrapingdog’s own blog: 100% on Amazon, eBay and Google, from about 10 requests per site, counting any HTTP 200 as a success. Scrapingdog.
They differ because they test different endpoints, settings, sites and months. String’s test used no JavaScript rendering, and String itself says Scrapingdog’s dedicated APIs may do better on sites like Zillow, Walmart and Indeed than the general endpoint it tested.
My takeaway: Scrapingdog’s general endpoint struggles on some protected sites in third-party tests, while its dedicated endpoints look stronger. Run your own targets through a free tier before trusting any of these numbers.
How do the billing rules compare? #
The rules around failures, expiry and free credits change the real price as much as the list rate does. Verified 2026-11-12.
| Option | Failed requests | Unused credits | Out of credits | Free offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapingdog | Credited back | Roll over from Standard; PAYG never expires | Hard stop | 100 credits (renewal unclear) |
| Scrape.do | 2XX, 400, 404, 410 billed | Not published | Upgrade or buy extra credits | 1,000 a month |
| ScrapingBee | Not stated generally | Expire after one month | Not checked | 1,000 credits |
| ZenRows | 404, 410 billed | Don’t roll over; packs roll once | Top-up packs | 5,000 a month |
| ScraperAPI | 200 and 404 billed | Not checked | Not checked | 7-day, 5,000-credit trial |
| Scrapfly | Free unless 30%+ blocked | Not checked | Extra credits per 10K | 1,000 credits |
| Zyte API | Free | Commitment is spent or lost | Overage up to your limit | $5, first month |
| Bright Data (Unlocker, SERP, scrapers) | Success only | Not checked | Overage on Scale | 5,000 a month |
| Firecrawl | Not checked | Don’t roll over (Scale: one month) | $5 top-ups | 1,000 a month |
| apiserpent.com | Refunded automatically | Deposits never expire; bonus credits last 30 days | Top up | 10 free calls + 1 free run a day |
| Serper | Successful only | Expire after 6 months | Buy a pack | 2,500 queries |
| SearchApi | Only 200 billed | Not stated | Not checked | 100 requests |
| SerpApi | Not counted | Monthly reset | Not checked | 250 a month |
Sources: Scrape.do, ScrapingBee, ZenRows, ScraperAPI, Scrapfly, Zyte, Bright Data, Firecrawl, apiserpent.com, Serper, SearchApi, SerpApi.
One conflict to know about: Scrape.do’s pricing FAQ says “You won’t lose credits on timeouts, blocks, or errors”, while its docs bill 400, 404 and 410. I’d budget on the docs. Scrape.do pricing.
When should you stay on Scrapingdog? #
Stay if most of your calls are Amazon, Indeed or Google Light, or if you use several of its APIs from one pool. Amazon and Indeed cost 1 credit, and a Google Light search costs 5, which Scrapingdog’s own product page prices at $0.45 per 1,000 on Standard. Google API page.
That last figure matters at higher Google volumes. At 200K searches a month, a full Standard plan is $90, against $120 on apiserpent.com’s Default tier; apiserpent.com is only cheaper there with a deposit ($60 on Growth, $20 on Scale). apiserpent.com pricing.
Scrapingdog also credits failed requests back, sells pay-as-you-go credits that never expire, and rolls credits over from Standard up. If your problem was a 5× bill on plain pages, dynamic=false may be all you need. On Trustpilot, one 5-star reviewer wrote “Price is unbeatable as far as I know.” Trustpilot.
Which one should you pick? #
Leaving for price on rendered pages: Scrape.do. Pro at $99 covers 250K rendered pages, half of Scrapingdog Pro’s $200, as long as you keep billed 404s low.
Leaving because protected sites fail: Zyte API if your sites land on its low tiers ($187.50–$300 at 250K pages), or Bright Data Web Unlocker for a flat $1.50 per 1,000. Both bill only successes.
Leaving for LLM-ready output: Firecrawl, accepting that it costs more per page ($399 at 250K).
Google results only, lowest cost: apiserpent.com at $30 for 50K searches with no deposit, or $15 with a $100 deposit. Go in knowing there’s no public SLA, results are organic-only, and you indemnify the vendor. If you can wait for results, DataForSEO’s queue matches the $30.
Google results with legal cover: SearchApi, at $250 for 50K searches on BigData.
LinkedIn profiles: Bright Data’s LinkedIn scraper, about $15 for 10K profiles, after you’ve checked the legal risk.
Amazon, Indeed, or a mix of APIs: stay on Scrapingdog, and send dynamic=false on anything that doesn’t need a browser.
FAQ #
Is there a cheaper alternative to Scrapingdog? #
For rendered pages, yes. At 250K JavaScript pages a month, Scrape.do’s $99 Pro plan covers the job against $200 for Scrapingdog Pro, with no spare credits. For Google-only searches, apiserpent.com charges $30 for 50K searches against $90 on Scrapingdog Standard. For Amazon or mixed jobs that share one credit pool, Scrapingdog is hard to undercut. Scrape.do pricing, apiserpent.com pricing.
What’s the best Scrapingdog alternative for Google SERP data? #
On price, apiserpent.com at $0.60 per 1,000 with no deposit, or $0.30 after a $100 deposit; it publishes no SLA and makes customers indemnify it. If you need written legal cover, SearchApi’s Production plan and up include legal protection, at $250 for 50K searches on its BigData plan. apiserpent.com FAQ, SearchApi pricing.
Is there a free Scrapingdog alternative? #
Several have monthly free tiers. ZenRows gives 5,000 credits a month, Bright Data 5,000 requests a month, Scrape.do and Firecrawl 1,000 credits a month, and SerpApi 250 searches a month. Scrapingdog itself gives 100 credits. ZenRows, Scrape.do.
Which Scrapingdog alternative is better for LinkedIn profiles? #
Per record, Bright Data’s LinkedIn scraper at $1.50 per 1,000 pay-as-you-go, so 10,000 profiles cost about $15. Scrapingdog charges 50 credits a profile (100 if protected), which takes most of a $90 Standard plan. Check LinkedIn’s terms and the legal risk first. Bright Data LinkedIn.
Do Scrapingdog alternatives charge for failed requests? #
Most don’t, but the details differ. Scrape.do bills 400, 404 and 410 responses, ScraperAPI bills 200 and 404, and ZenRows bills 404 and 410. Zyte, Bright Data and SerpApi bill only successes, and Scrapfly doesn’t bill failures unless 30% or more are blocked without its anti-bot option. Scrapfly billing.
Should I switch or change Scrapingdog’s settings first? #
Change settings first if your bill is the problem. Rendering is on by default at 5 credits, so sending dynamic=false on static pages cuts those requests to 1 credit. If protected sites keep failing after premium proxies or stealth mode, that’s the time to switch. Rendering docs.
Sources
48 sources, accessed .
Official pricing, docs, changelogs and status pages 39
- Scrapingdog pricing and FAQ
- Scrapingdog rendering docs
- Scrapingdog Google Search API docs
- Scrapingdog Google Search API product page
- Scrapingdog pay-as-you-go
- Scrapingdog docs index
- Scrapingdog's three-way comparison
- Scrape.do pricing
- Scrape.do request costs
- Scrape.do vs Scrapingdog (vendor page)
- ScraperAPI pricing
- ScraperAPI credit costs
- ScrapingBee pricing
- ScrapingBee documentation
- ScrapingBee Google API docs
- ZenRows pricing docs
- ZenRows pricing page
- Scrapfly pricing
- Scrapfly billing docs
- Zyte pricing
- Zyte API billing docs
- Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing
- Firecrawl pricing
- Decodo Web Scraping API pricing
- Decodo docs: rendering and request cost
- apiserpent.com pricing
- apiserpent.com docs
- apiserpent.com FAQ
- apiserpent.com terms (updated 31 Oct 2026)
- Serper pricing
- SearchApi pricing
- SerpApi pricing
- Bright Data SERP API pricing
- DataForSEO Google Organic pricing
- Bright Data LinkedIn scraper
- Bright Data Amazon scraper
- Apify pricing
- Apify LinkedIn profile actor (community)
- Apify Amazon product actor
