Bright Data alternatives: 6 options compared on published price
Large proxy networks plus Web Unlocker, SERP, Crawl and Browser APIs, datasets and scrapers. Looking for something different? These are the vendors in our data closest to Bright Data by product type and shared price metrics, compared on published prices checked . Prices only, not quality.
full verification from $499/mo MCP: Yes · Bright Data full pricing page
What to weigh about Bright Data first
Drawn from the Bright Data record on this site: its published watch-outs and the figures we could not verify.
Watch-outs
- Many products with separate pricing pages; check which one you need.
- Premium domains may cost more at unpublished rates (not stated on these pages).
Could not verify
- Billed per GB; page weight varies, so no per-page figure computed.
- Not stated on page.
Alternatives at a glance
How these were chosen: a fixed rule counts the price metrics both vendors publish plus category overlap. The order is by that score. It is not by price, popularity or commercial relationship; FetchIndex has an affiliate relationship with Firecrawl only (disclosure).
| Alternative | Category | Shared price metrics | Free tier | MCP / agent support | Verification | Head-to-head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxylabs alternatives to Oxylabs | Proxies & unblockers | Basic page fetch, SERP query, Residential proxy bandwidth | $5 welcome credit toward any product (one-time as described), no ongoing free tier stated. | Yes | full verification | Bright Data vs Oxylabs |
| Apify alternatives to Apify | Proxies & unblockers | Protected / anti-bot page, SERP query, Residential proxy bandwidth | $5 of prepaid usage per month, no credit card. | Yes | partial verification | Bright Data vs Apify |
| ScraperAPI alternatives to ScraperAPI | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, Protected / anti-bot page, SERP query | 1,000 free credits/month (max 5 concurrent) per the FAQ; 7-day trial with 5,000 credits. | Yes | partial verification | no head-to-head page |
| Hyperbrowser alternatives to Hyperbrowser | Browser infrastructure | Basic page fetch, Protected / anti-bot page | 5,000 credits included with a free account (~50 browser hours or 5,000 fetched pages). | Yes | full verification | no head-to-head page |
| Scrapfly alternatives to Scrapfly | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, Protected / anti-bot page | 1,000 credits on signup, no card, no time limit (one-time allotment). | Yes | full verification | no head-to-head page |
| ZenRows alternatives to ZenRows | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, Protected / anti-bot page | 5,000 credits/month, no card, every primitive except standalone residential proxies. | Yes | partial verification | no head-to-head page |
Price comparison by use case
Basic page fetch
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Bright Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapfly | $0.0909 per 1,000 | Enterprise | $500/mo | 11.0x cheaper |
| ZenRows | $0.0916 per 1,000 | Scale | $458/mo | 10.9x cheaper |
| ScraperAPI | $0.095 per 1,000 | Scaling | $475/mo | 10.5x cheaper |
| Oxylabs | $0.80 per 1,000 | Flexible - custom domain non-JS | $500/mo | 1.2x cheaper |
| Bright Data | $0.9995 per 1,000 | Crawl API $1,999 | $1999/mo | this vendor |
| Hyperbrowser | $1.00 per 1,000 | All plans (Fetch) | none | about the same price |
Protected / anti-bot page
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Bright Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apify | $1.00 per 1,000 component only | Business (Unblocker) | $999/mo | 1.3x cheaper |
| ScraperAPI | $1.04 per 1,000 | Scaling | $475/mo | 1.2x cheaper |
| Bright Data | $1.30 per 1,000 | Unlocker Scale ($499) | $499/mo | this vendor |
| Scrapfly | $2.27 per 1,000 | Enterprise | $500/mo | 1.7x more expensive |
| ZenRows | $2.29 per 1,000 | Scale | $458/mo | 1.8x more expensive |
| Hyperbrowser | $10.00 per 1,000 | All plans (Fetch + ultra stealth) | none | 7.7x more expensive |
SERP query (structured search results)
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Bright Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxylabs | $0.70 per 1,000 | Flexible - Google non-JS | $500/mo | 1.9x cheaper |
| Bright Data | $1.31 per 1,000 | SERP Scale ($499) | $499/mo | this vendor |
| Apify | $1.70 per 1,000 component only | Business (SERP proxy) | $999/mo | 1.3x more expensive |
| ScraperAPI | $2.38 per 1,000 | Scaling (Google = 25 credits) | $475/mo | 1.8x more expensive |
Residential proxy bandwidth
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Bright Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxylabs | $4.00 per GB | Flexible | $500/mo | 2.0x cheaper |
| Apify | $7.00 per GB | Business | $999/mo | 1.1x cheaper |
| Bright Data | $8.00 per GB | PAYG (list) | none | this vendor |
Estimated monthly cost at example volumes
Basic page fetch, using the cost calculator model: cheapest published plan that covers each volume, including published overage rates. Free tiers are not subtracted. Open the calculator with these inputs.
| Requests / month | Bright Data | Oxylabs | ScraperAPI | Hyperbrowser | Scrapfly | ZenRows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $15.00 Crawl API PAYG | $30.00 Starter - custom domain non-JS | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $10.00 All plans (Fetch) | $30.00 Discovery | $16.00 Build (annual billing) |
| 100,000 | $150 Crawl API PAYG | $500 Flexible - custom domain non-JS | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $100 All plans (Fetch) | $30.00 Discovery | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) |
| 1,000,000 | $1,500 Crawl API PAYG | not enough data | $149 Startup | $1,000 All plans (Fetch) | $100 Pro | $166 Growth (annual billing) |
Which alternative fits which job
- Oxylabs: Proxy networks and Web Scraper/Search APIs on one subscription with volume tiers. Tends to fit: SERP + scraping + proxies under one subscription. Watch-out: Generic '/Scrape from $0.50' is a starting rate; target-specific rows differ. This site uses the conservative custom-domain rows.
- Apify: Marketplace of ready-made scrapers ('Actors') plus a serverless platform and proxy products. Tends to fit: Pre-built scrapers for named sites (maps, social, e-commerce). Watch-out: Total cost = Actor price + compute + proxy; compare per-Actor, not per-plan.
- ScraperAPI: Proxy-rotating scraping API billed in API credits, with per-domain credit costs. Tends to fit: Simple 'send URL, get HTML' scraping at modest volume. Watch-out: Credit cost varies by domain: Google SERP = 25 credits, bot-protected sites 11+.
- Hyperbrowser: Cloud browsers, sandboxes, a Fetch/Search web API and agent runners on a shared credit balance. Tends to fit: Cheap browser hours and a built-in Fetch API. Watch-out: Proxy data at $10/GB bills on top of browser time.
- Scrapfly: Scraping, screenshot, extraction and cloud-browser APIs on one key and one credit pool. Tends to fit: Anti-bot-heavy scraping with transparent credit multipliers. Watch-out: Residential/Unblocker requests burn 5-25x the base credits.
- ZenRows: Fetch, extract, crawl, batch and browser primitives on one credit balance. Tends to fit: Protected sites where you want a single credit meter. Watch-out: Monthly-billed and annual-billed rates differ by about 17%; check which one you compare against.
When Bright Data is still the better choice
- Hard anti-bot targets at scale
- Teams that also need proxy networks, datasets or compliance paperwork
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Bright Data?
For basic page fetch, Scrapfly has the lowest published price among the alternatives listed: $0.0909 per 1,000 (Enterprise) versus $0.9995 for Bright Data (Crawl API $1,999). That is price only: check reliability on your own targets, and note the cheapest plan can require a larger monthly spend.
Is there a free alternative to Bright Data?
Alternatives with a recurring free tier in our data: Apify ($5 of prepaid usage per month, no credit card); ScraperAPI (1,000 free credits/month (max 5 concurrent) per the FAQ; 7-day trial with 5,000 credits); ZenRows (5,000 credits/month, no card, every primitive except standalone residential proxies). Free-tier limits change often; check the vendor page.
Which Bright Data alternatives support MCP?
Bright Data: yes. Alternatives with a documented MCP server in our data: Oxylabs, Apify, ScraperAPI, Hyperbrowser, Scrapfly, ZenRows.
Keep exploring
- Bright Data pricing
- Proxies & unblockers
- Cost calculator
- Which tool?
- Bright Data vs Oxylabs
- Apify vs Bright Data
- SerpApi vs Bright Data
Use-case guides
Corrections welcome: [email protected]. Each vendor page lists the official sources used.