ZenRows vs ScrapingBee: credit multipliers compared
Published prices compared, with the arithmetic shown. Last checked . Prices only: we have not tested reliability, speed or output quality.
At a glance
| ZenRows | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | scraping apis | scraping apis |
| Free tier | 5,000 credits/month, no card, every primitive except standalone residential proxies. | 1,000 free API credits, no card (trial grant). |
| Entry paid price | from $19/mo | from $19/mo |
| MCP / agent support | Yes | Yes |
| Verification | partial verification | full verification |
| Official pricing page | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) |
Analysis
ZenRows and ScrapingBee are both credit-multiplier APIs: plain pages cost 1 credit, JavaScript rendering 5 credits and the hardest tier 25 on ZenRows, versus 5 and 25 credits on ScrapingBee, in the published tables we read. So the plans matter less than which credit multiplier your pages trigger. Lowest published plain-page rates across all plans: ZenRows $0.0916 per 1,000, ScrapingBee $0.083; for protected pages ZenRows $2.29, ScrapingBee $2.08 per 1,000 (best published plan in each case).
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 | ZenRows | ScrapingBee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $16.00 Build (annual billing) | $19.00 Hobby | ZenRows cheaper by $3.00 (1.2x) |
| 100,000 | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) | $49.00 Freelance | ScrapingBee cheaper by $9.00 (1.2x) |
| 1,000,000 | $166 Growth (annual billing) | $99.00 Startup | ScrapingBee cheaper by $67.00 (1.7x) |
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 ScrapingBee is cheaper; at 10,000,000 requests per month neither vendor has a published plan we can price.
| Requests / month | ZenRows | ScrapingBee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) | $19.00 Hobby | ScrapingBee cheaper by $39.00 (3.1x) |
| 100,000 | $166 Growth (annual billing) | $99.00 Startup | ScrapingBee cheaper by $67.00 (1.7x) |
| 1,000,000 | $458 Scale (annual billing) | n/a (no published plan covers this volume) | not comparable |
Where the cheaper option changes (JavaScript-rendered page). On our volume grid (1,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month), at 1,000 to 3,000 requests per month ZenRows is cheaper; at 10,000 to 300,000 requests per month ScrapingBee is cheaper; at 1,000,000 requests per month only ZenRows has a published plan that covers the volume (the other publishes no overage or larger plan we can model); at 3,000,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month neither vendor has a published plan we can price.
| Requests / month | ZenRows | ScrapingBee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $58.00 Launch (annual billing) | $49.00 Freelance | ScrapingBee cheaper by $9.00 (1.2x) |
| 100,000 | $458 Scale (annual billing) | $249 Business | ScrapingBee cheaper by $209 (1.8x) |
| 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 to 100,000 requests per month ScrapingBee is cheaper; at 300,000 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
- 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.
- ScrapingBee: 1,000 free API credits, no card (trial grant). Units: Credits per request: classic no JS 1; classic + JS 5 (default); premium no JS 10; premium + JS 25; stealth + JS 75; AI features +5. Auto-Mode charges only for the configuration that succeeds. All prices exclude VAT.
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.
ScrapingBee tends to fit
- Developers wanting simple HTTP scraping with JS rendering
- Mid-volume jobs with predictable monthly budgets
Watch-outs
- Default JS rendering means 5 credits per request unless you turn it off.
- Premium+JS pages cost 25 credits.
Budget view
| Use case | Monthly spend | ZenRows | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic page fetch | up to $50/mo | $0.3556 Build (annual) | $0.196 Freelance |
| Basic page fetch | up to $100/mo | $0.232 Launch (annual) | $0.099 Startup |
| Basic page fetch | up to $500/mo | $0.0916 Scale (annual) | $0.083 Business |
| Basic page fetch | any budget | $0.0916 Scale (annual) | $0.083 Business |
| JavaScript-rendered page | up to $50/mo | $1.78 Build (annual) | $0.98 Freelance |
| JavaScript-rendered page | up to $100/mo | $1.16 Launch (annual) | $0.495 Startup |
| JavaScript-rendered page | up to $500/mo | $0.458 Scale (annual) | $0.415 Business |
| JavaScript-rendered page | any budget | $0.458 Scale (annual) | $0.415 Business |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $50/mo | $8.89 Build (annual) | $4.90 Freelance |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $100/mo | $5.80 Launch (annual) | $2.48 Startup |
| Protected / anti-bot page | up to $500/mo | $2.29 Scale (annual) | $2.08 Business |
| Protected / anti-bot page | any budget | $2.29 Scale (annual) | $2.08 Business |
Also see: alternatives to ZenRows and alternatives to ScrapingBee. 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
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
ScrapingBee
- $0.2533 Hobby · $19/mo
- $0.196 Freelance · $49/mo
- $0.099 Startup · $99/mo
- $0.083 Business · $249/mo
JavaScript-rendered page
ZenRows
- $1.78 Build (annual) · $16/mo
- $2.11 Build · $19/mo
- $1.16 Launch (annual) · $58/mo
- $1.38 Launch · $69/mo
- $0.6917 Growth (annual) · $166/mo
- $0.8292 Growth · $199/mo
- $0.458 Scale (annual) · $458/mo
- $0.549 Scale · $549/mo
ScrapingBee
- $1.27 Hobby · $19/mo
- $0.98 Freelance · $49/mo
- $0.495 Startup · $99/mo
- $0.415 Business · $249/mo
Protected / anti-bot page
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
ScrapingBee
- $6.33 Hobby · $19/mo
- $4.90 Freelance · $49/mo
- $2.48 Startup · $99/mo
- $2.08 Business · $249/mo
What we could not verify
- ZenRows: Top-ups (up to 10x per period) are offered but their price is not published on the pricing page.
- ScrapingBee: No overage/top-up rate published on the pricing page.; Page shows '/mo' prices; annual-discount terms not stated.