Oxylabs alternatives: 6 options compared on published price
Proxy networks and Web Scraper/Search APIs on one subscription with volume tiers. Looking for something different? These are the vendors in our data closest to Oxylabs by product type and shared price metrics, compared on published prices checked . Prices only, not quality.
full verification from $30/mo MCP: Yes · Oxylabs full pricing page
What to weigh about Oxylabs first
Drawn from the Oxylabs record on this site: its published watch-outs and the figures we could not verify.
Watch-outs
- Generic '/Scrape from $0.50' is a starting rate; target-specific rows differ. This site uses the conservative custom-domain rows.
- Prices exclude VAT.
Could not verify
- Web Unblocker is billed per GB ($7.2/GB at Starter); no per-request figure without assuming page size.
- Beyond-plan rates not stated; page says to top up via dashboard or contact account manager.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data alternatives to Bright Data | Proxies & unblockers | Basic page fetch, SERP query, Residential proxy bandwidth | Unlocker and SERP APIs: 5K requests/month free, no card (as stated on their pricing pages). Browser API page lists a 1 GB monthly free tier. | Yes | full verification | Oxylabs vs Bright Data |
| Apify alternatives to Apify | Proxies & unblockers | SERP query, Residential proxy bandwidth | $5 of prepaid usage per month, no credit card. | Yes | partial verification | no head-to-head page |
| Crawl4AI alternatives to Crawl4AI | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, JavaScript-rendered page, SERP query | Self-hosting is free forever (you pay your own infra). Cloud: 1,000 free credits/month, no card. | Yes | full verification | no head-to-head page |
| ScraperAPI alternatives to ScraperAPI | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, 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 |
| Scrapfly alternatives to Scrapfly | Scraping APIs | Basic page fetch, JavaScript-rendered 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, JavaScript-rendered 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 Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapfly | $0.0909 per 1,000 | Enterprise | $500/mo | 8.8x cheaper |
| ZenRows | $0.0916 per 1,000 | Scale | $458/mo | 8.7x cheaper |
| ScraperAPI | $0.095 per 1,000 | Scaling | $475/mo | 8.4x cheaper |
| Crawl4AI | $0.3327 per 1,000 | Cloud Scale | $499/mo | 2.4x cheaper |
| Oxylabs | $0.80 per 1,000 | Flexible - custom domain non-JS | $500/mo | this vendor |
| Bright Data | $0.9995 per 1,000 | Crawl API $1,999 | $1999/mo | 1.2x more expensive |
JavaScript-rendered page
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapfly | $0.4545 per 1,000 | Enterprise | $500/mo | 2.9x cheaper |
| ZenRows | $0.458 per 1,000 | Scale | $458/mo | 2.8x cheaper |
| Crawl4AI | $0.6653 per 1,000 | Cloud Scale | $499/mo | 2.0x cheaper |
| Oxylabs | $1.30 per 1,000 | Flexible - custom domain JS | $500/mo | this vendor |
SERP query (structured search results)
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawl4AI | $0.6653 per 1,000 | Cloud Scale | $499/mo | about the same price |
| Oxylabs | $0.70 per 1,000 | Flexible - Google non-JS | $500/mo | this vendor |
| Bright Data | $1.31 per 1,000 | SERP Scale ($499) | $499/mo | 1.9x more expensive |
| Apify | $1.70 per 1,000 component only | Business (SERP proxy) | $999/mo | 2.4x more expensive |
| ScraperAPI | $2.38 per 1,000 | Scaling (Google = 25 credits) | $475/mo | 3.4x more expensive |
Residential proxy bandwidth
| Vendor | Lowest published price | Plan / rate | Monthly spend needed | Compared with Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxylabs | $4.00 per GB | Flexible | $500/mo | this vendor |
| Apify | $7.00 per GB | Business | $999/mo | 1.8x more expensive |
| Bright Data | $8.00 per GB | PAYG (list) | none | 2.0x more expensive |
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 | Oxylabs | Bright Data | Crawl4AI | ScraperAPI | Scrapfly | ZenRows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $30.00 Starter - custom domain non-JS | $15.00 Crawl API PAYG | $10.00 Cloud Starter | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $30.00 Discovery | $16.00 Build (annual billing) |
| 100,000 | $500 Flexible - custom domain non-JS | $150 Crawl API PAYG | $99.00 Cloud Builder | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $30.00 Discovery | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) |
| 1,000,000 | not enough data | $1,500 Crawl API PAYG | $395 Cloud Builder | $149 Startup | $100 Pro | $166 Growth (annual billing) |
Which alternative fits which job
- Bright Data: Large proxy networks plus Web Unlocker, SERP, Crawl and Browser APIs, datasets and scrapers. Tends to fit: Hard anti-bot targets at scale. Watch-out: Many products with separate pricing pages; check which one you need.
- 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.
- Crawl4AI: Open-source (Apache-2.0) LLM-friendly crawler, with an optional hosted Cloud API. Tends to fit: Free, self-hosted crawling for RAG. Watch-out: Self-hosting means you handle browsers, proxies and blocks.
- 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+.
- 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 Oxylabs is still the better choice
- SERP + scraping + proxies under one subscription
- Teams that want a published volume-discount ladder
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Oxylabs?
For basic page fetch, Scrapfly has the lowest published price among the alternatives listed: $0.0909 per 1,000 (Enterprise) versus $0.80 for Oxylabs (Flexible - custom domain non-JS). 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 Oxylabs?
Alternatives with a recurring free tier in our data: Bright Data (Unlocker and SERP APIs: 5K requests/month free, no card (as stated on their pricing pages). Browser API page lists a 1 GB monthly free tier); Apify ($5 of prepaid usage per month, no credit card); Crawl4AI (Self-hosting is free forever (you pay your own infra). Cloud: 1,000 free credits/month, no card); ScraperAPI (1,000 free credits/month (max 5 concurrent) per the FAQ; 7-day trial with 5,000 credits). Free-tier limits change often; check the vendor page.
Which Oxylabs alternatives support MCP?
Oxylabs: yes. Alternatives with a documented MCP server in our data: Bright Data, Apify, Crawl4AI, ScraperAPI, Scrapfly, ZenRows.
Keep exploring
Use-case guides
- RAG and LLM ingestion
- Ecommerce price monitoring
- SERP data
- JavaScript-heavy sites
- Anti-bot protected sites
Corrections welcome: [email protected]. Each vendor page lists the official sources used.