ScraperAPI vs ZenRows: published credit prices compared
Published prices compared, with the arithmetic shown. Last checked . Prices only: we have not tested reliability, speed or output quality.
At a glance
| ScraperAPI | ZenRows | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | scraping apis | scraping apis |
| Free tier | 1,000 free credits/month (max 5 concurrent) per the FAQ; 7-day trial with 5,000 credits. | 5,000 credits/month, no card, every primitive except standalone residential proxies. |
| Entry paid price | from $49/mo | from $19/mo |
| MCP / agent support | Yes | Yes |
| Verification | partial verification | partial verification |
| Official pricing page | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) |
Analysis
ScraperAPI's published tables charge 11 credits for a protected page where ZenRows charges 25, but the credit packs differ greatly in size and price. ScraperAPI is a partial-verification vendor in our data (some details could not be verified); ZenRows is partial as well. Treat both comparisons as indicative and confirm on each pricing page.
Estimated monthly cost at three volumes
Computed with the same model as the cost calculator: the cheapest published plan that covers the volume, including published overage rates. Plans that require annual billing are included and labelled (monthly equivalent). Free tiers are not subtracted. Prices only; neither number says anything about success rate.
| Requests / month | ScraperAPI | ZenRows | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $16.00 Build (annual billing) | ZenRows cheaper by $28.10 (2.8x) |
| 100,000 | $44.10 Hobby (annual billing) | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) | ScraperAPI cheaper by $13.90 (1.3x) |
| 1,000,000 | $149 Startup | $166 Growth (annual billing) | ScraperAPI cheaper by $17.00 (1.1x) |
Where the cheaper option changes (Basic page fetch). On our volume grid (1,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month), at 1,000 to 30,000 requests per month ZenRows is cheaper; at 100,000 to 3,000,000 requests per month ScraperAPI is cheaper; at 10,000,000 requests per month neither vendor has a published plan we can price.
| Requests / month | ScraperAPI | ZenRows | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $299 Business | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) | ZenRows cheaper by $241 (5.2x) |
| 100,000 | $299 Business | $458 Scale (annual billing) | ScraperAPI cheaper by $159 (1.5x) |
| 1,000,000 | n/a (no published plan covers this volume) | n/a (no published plan covers this volume) | not comparable |
Where the cheaper option changes (Protected / anti-bot page). On our volume grid (1,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month), at 1,000 requests per month ZenRows is cheaper; at 3,000 requests per month ScraperAPI is cheaper; at 10,000 to 30,000 requests per month ZenRows is cheaper; at 100,000 requests per month ScraperAPI is cheaper; at 300,000 requests per month only ScraperAPI has a published plan that covers the volume (the other publishes no overage or larger plan we can model); at 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month neither vendor has a published plan we can price.
Try your own volume in the calculator to see all vendors side by side.
Free tiers and how units are counted
- ScraperAPI: 1,000 free credits/month (max 5 concurrent) per the FAQ; 7-day trial with 5,000 credits. Units: Per the pricing FAQ: standard page = 1 credit; Amazon = 5; Google & Bing = 25; LinkedIn = 30; sites behind Cloudflare/Datadome/PerimeterX add +10 credits per request. Credits do not roll over.
- ZenRows: 5,000 credits/month, no card, every primitive except standalone residential proxies. Units: Credits per page: standard 1; JS 5; premium proxies 10; JS + premium 25. Residential bandwidth = 25,000 credits/GB. Browser = 5 credits/minute plus bandwidth. Annual billing = pay for 10 months, get 12.
ScraperAPI tends to fit
- Simple 'send URL, get HTML' scraping at modest volume
- Teams that value predictable monthly credit plans
Watch-outs
- Credit cost varies by domain: Google SERP = 25 credits, bot-protected sites 11+.
- Credits reset monthly with no rollover.
- Use the dashboard's Domain Cost Estimator before committing.
ZenRows tends to fit
- Protected sites where you want a single credit meter
- Agents that need MCP/CLI/SDK access
Watch-outs
- Monthly-billed and annual-billed rates differ by about 17%; check which one you compare against.
- Fully protected pages cost 25 credits each.
Budget view
| Use case | Monthly spend | ScraperAPI | ZenRows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic page fetch | up to $50/mo | $0.441 Hobby (annual) | $0.3556 Build (annual) |
| Basic page fetch | up to $100/mo | $0.441 Hobby (annual) | $0.232 Launch (annual) |
| Basic page fetch | up to $500/mo | $0.095 Scaling | $0.0916 Scale (annual) |
| Basic page fetch | any budget | $0.095 Scaling | $0.0916 Scale (annual) |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $50/mo | $5.39 Hobby | $8.89 Build (annual) |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $100/mo | $5.39 Hobby | $5.80 Launch (annual) |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $500/mo | $1.04 Scaling | $2.29 Scale (annual) |
| Protected / anti-bot page | any budget | $1.04 Scaling | $2.29 Scale (annual) |
Also see: alternatives to ScraperAPI and alternatives to ZenRows. Run a small trial on your own target sites before committing: published price says nothing about success rate on hard sites.
Price ladders from the data
Effective price per unit at each published plan (monthly spend shown). Overage and assumption-based rows are excluded here; see each vendor page.
Basic page fetch
ScraperAPI
- $0.441 Hobby (annual) · $44.1/mo
- $0.49 Hobby · $49/mo
- $0.149 Startup · $149/mo
- $0.0997 Business · $299/mo
- $0.095 Scaling · $475/mo
ZenRows
- $0.3556 Build (annual) · $16/mo
- $0.4222 Build · $19/mo
- $0.232 Launch (annual) · $58/mo
- $0.276 Launch · $69/mo
- $0.1383 Growth (annual) · $166/mo
- $0.1658 Growth · $199/mo
- $0.0916 Scale (annual) · $458/mo
- $0.1098 Scale · $549/mo
Protected / anti-bot page
ScraperAPI
- $5.39 Hobby · $49/mo
- $1.10 Business · $299/mo
- $1.04 Scaling · $475/mo
ZenRows
- $8.89 Build (annual) · $16/mo
- $10.56 Build · $19/mo
- $5.80 Launch (annual) · $58/mo
- $6.90 Launch · $69/mo
- $3.46 Growth (annual) · $166/mo
- $4.15 Growth · $199/mo
- $2.29 Scale (annual) · $458/mo
- $2.75 Scale · $549/mo
What we could not verify
- ScraperAPI: Credit multiplier for JavaScript rendering not stated on the pricing page/FAQ.; Per-credit PAYG rate for Scaling and above is not published.; Bonus-credit offer makes included credits ambiguous; not normalized.
- ZenRows: Top-ups (up to 10x per period) are offered but their price is not published on the pricing page.