The Best Web Scraping APIs for 2026

What Is a Web Scraping API?

There are several ways to go about web scraping, and one of them is to use a web scraping API. You send a request to the API with the URL and other parameters such as language, geolocation, or device type. Then, the API accesses the target website, downloads the data, and returns the results to you.

Let’s say you want to get product listings from Amazon. Building a scraper can take a lot of time and resources – you’ll have to write a script, choose and set up a proxy server, and rotate headers. A web scraping API handles these tasks for you. Some API services include parsing functionality, so you’ll get structured results in formats like JSON or CSV. However, specific features will vary depending on the service.

Why Pay for an API?

It overcomes website protection mechanisms for you. The scraper handles IP blocks, CAPTCHA challenges, and other website protection mechanisms.
You won’t need to maintain a scraper yourself. The API providers have an economic interest in keeping the infrastructure robust. This involves ensuring high uptime and having the scraper up to date with changes in bot protection and page layouts.
Some scrapers return structured data. Many specialized web scraping APIs have the ability to parse data, so you don’t have to clean it up yourself. Usually, you can get the data in JSON, and some services offer CSV as well.
They perform very well. APIs are designed to handle large amounts of requests, making them well-suited for large-scale tasks. Furthermore, they’re capable of rendering JavaScript, which can be challenging for custom-built web scrapers.
They offer high flexibility. With an API, you can keep your infrastructure lean and scale up or down as needed. Some providers don’t even require signing a contract, which makes their scrapers perfect for one-off or irregular projects

How We Made the List

To identify the best web scraping APIs, we tested a bunch of companies that offer such services, and presented the results in our scraper API research. Most of these companies are well-known in the industry, so you can be sure that you’ll get a quality service.

We compared their features, scraping performance, and cost-effectiveness. Our benchmarks focused on 10 most popular websites like Google, Amazon, Shein, and Instagram.

In addition to success rates and response times, we calculated the cheapest and costliest rates per 1,000 requests at a fixed $500 budget to estimate real-world cost efficiency. While this scenario does not fully reflect typical usage, it highlights how pricing models behave under similar spending conditions. Basic targets may cost less, but prices increase for heavily protected websites or when you enable features such as JavaScript rendering or premium proxy tiers.

Provider	Success rates (2 requests/s)	Average response time of successful requests:	Cheapest/CostliestCPM
Zyte	93.14%	11.15s	$0.06-8.16
Decodo	85.88%	15.22s	$0.77-1.15
Oxylabs	85.82%	16.76s	$0.37-1.15
ScrapingBee	84.47%	24.46s	$0.08-6.23
ScraperAPI	68.95%	13.92s	$0.10-7.13
Zenrows	70.39%	19.10s	$0.08-2.08

The Best Web Scraping APIs

1. Zyte

The best overall web scraping API.

Integration: API, proxy
Data parsing: automatic extraction model for e-commerce (product, product list, product navigation), LLM schemas and transformation
Locations: 150+ countries with with country-level targeting
Pricing model: pay as you go, subscription
Starting price: $1.01 per 1K responses
Free trial: $5 platform credits for 30 days

Zyte is one of the stalwarts in the scraping field, and its API can handle virtually any target. The API supports 150 locations and automatically aligns IP geolocation with the website you’re scraping. While the provider mainly caters to developers, it also offers a no-code interface for simpler use cases.

In our latest benchmarks, Zyte delivered the strongest overall performance, successfully scraping websites such as Amazon, Google, Zillow, and YouTube. At 2 requests per second, it achieved a 93.14% success rate, with requests taking 11.15 seconds on average.

Flexibility is one of Zyte’s key advantages. Developers can script browser actions using a TypeScript framework to automate complex interactions. Zyte provides prebuilt extractors for certain page types, such as product or article pages. For custom targets, users can structure the output by defining extraction rules with CSS selector

Pricing is where things require closer attention. Zyte categorizes websites into five protection tiers, and costs scale depending on target difficulty, rendering needs, and volume. It can be affordable for lightly protected sites, but be prepared to open your wallet when stronger defenses or headless browsing come into play. Estimating costs in advance isn’t always straightforward.

For more information and performance tests, read our Zyte API review.

2. Decodo (formerly Smartproxy)

Best value for quality web scraping APIs.

Try 100 MB for free.

Integration: real-time or async API, MCP
Data parsing: parsers for specific targets, AI-based and manual selector builders
Locations: 150+
Pricing model: subscription; based on successful requests
Pricing starts from:
– Core subscription starts from $29 for 90K requests ($0.32/1K); Advanced subscription – $20/23K requests ($0.88/1K)
Free trial: 7-day free trial with 1K results & 14-day money-back guarantee

Beyond its proxy network, Decodo offers a full-rounded general-purpose scraping API. It covers the essential features for small to large-scale projects, including proxy rotation, anti-detection handling, and JavaScript rendering on higher-tier plans.

For major targets, Decodo returns structured JSON output and supports API integration. You can test requests using Postman collections or GitHub examples in languages like Python and Node.js, while the platform’s API playground allows for quick live testing.

In our benchmarks, Decodo delivers a solid balance between success rate (85.88%) and response time (15.22s), handling various targets reliably.

Pricing is subscription-based. The Core plan covers the basics at a lower price point, but you’ll notice limits in geo coverage, output formats, and advanced features. The Advanced plan opens things up with worldwide targeting, higher throughput, JavaScript rendering, task scheduling, and access to a premium proxy pool, which makes it better suited for heavier tasks.

3. Oxylabs

Performant and feature-rich web scraping APIs.

Integration: API (real-time or async), proxy, MCP
Data parsing: pre-built parsers for specific websites, manual instructions (XPath, CSS, Regex) with savable presets, AI parser generator
Locations: 150+
Pricing model: subscription; based on successful requests
Pricing starts at: $49/mo for up to 98K requests
Free trial: 7-day trial with 2K results

When it comes to heavily-protected targets, Oxylabs leans on serious infrastructure. Its general-purpose scraping API and dedicated endpoints are built for scale, spanning more than 150 locations worldwide.

The API is flexible in how you connect to it – you can integrate via API in real time or asynchronously, use a proxy setup, or connect through MCP. Parsing is handled through manual instructions such as XPath, CSS selectors, or Regex, with savable presets and an AI-powered parser generator to simplify setup.

Oxylabs put out a strong performance in our testing, maintaining a high success rate while keeping response times competitive. It remains one of the more reliable options when scraping websites with advanced anti-bot systems.

The platform also includes OxyPilot, an AI assistant that helps you generate request code and parsing rules, along with an API Playground for testing configurations before deployment. Oxylabs also provides AI Studio, a web interface for configuring and testing scraping workflows with AI support. It lowers the technical barrier for setting up structured data extraction compared to purely code-based approaches.

Pricing is subscription-based and calculated on successful requests. While there’s no pay-as-you-go option, Oxylabs offers a 7-day free trial with 2,000 results, allowing you to evaluate performance before committing.

For more information and performance tests, read our Oxylabs review.

4. ScrapingBee

Trusted web scraping API with several integration options.

Try ScrapingBee

Integration: API (real-time), proxy, SDK, MCP
Data parsing: pre-built parsers for specific websites, manual or AI-generated parsing instructions
Locations: 150+
Pricing model: subscription and credits
Pricing starts at: $49/mo for 250K credits
Free trial: 1K free API credits

ScrapingBee brought a fresh buzz into the scraping market in recent years, steadily proving the quality of its hive. The provider offers specialized endpoints for websites like Amazon, Google, and ChatGPT, while also relying on a flexible API that you can configure to match your target.

Using its HTML request builder, you can enable JavaScript rendering, set custom headers and cookies, run JS scenarios, and define extraction rules. AI-powered extraction is also available to help structure the output. The platform gives you granular control, though you may need to spend some time arranging the honeycomb before everything flows smoothly.

When unlocking the targets in our tests, ScrapingBee was as reliable as enterprise providers (84.47%), though it lagged behind with response time.

Pricing is credit-based and scales with the features you enable. JavaScript rendering, stealth proxies, and AI extraction all increase credit consumption per request. While entry pricing can look attractive, more advanced configurations can burn through credits quickly – calculate your estimates in advance.

For more information and performance tests, read our Scraping Bee review.

5. ScraperAPI

Cost-efficient web scraping API for scraping unprotected websites.

Integration: API (real-time or async), proxy, SDK
Data parsing: pre-built parsers for specific websites
Locations: US & EU or ~70 countries after spending $300
Pricing model: credits; based on successful requests
Pricing starts at: $49 for 100K credits
Free trial: 7-days and 5K credits

ScraperAPI keeps things straightforward. It’s a general-purpose scraping API that supports both GET and POST requests, along with several integration options, including direct API access, proxy mode, SDKs, open connection, and webhook delivery.

The service runs on its own proxy infrastructure, and you can enable features like session handling, custom headers, JavaScript rendering, and premium proxies when needed. Results can be returned in HTML, text, or Markdown. That said, geo-targeting is more limited on entry-level plans, where you’re restricted to US or EU regions.

In our benchmarks, ScraperAPI ranked third in overall success rate and handled standard websites reliably. It struggled with more heavily protected platforms, where both success rate and response times dropped.

In terms of pricing, simpler targets consume fewer credits, but search engines, social media platforms, and sites that require JavaScript rendering or premium proxies can eat up significantly more. The gap in credit usage between easy and protected targets can be substantial, making ScraperAPI affordable for basic scraping but noticeably more expensive for complex setups.

6. ZenRows

Flexible web scraping API with competitive base rates.

Integration: API (real-time), proxy, or SDK
Data parsing: not available
Locations: 150+ locations with country-level targeting
Pricing model: credits, based on successful requests
Pricing starts at: $69 (250K basic/10K protected results)
Free trial: 14-day free trial with 1K results

ZenRows positions itself as a universal scraping API that bundles proxy rotation, anti-bot bypass, and JavaScript rendering into a single endpoint. Instead of juggling multiple specialized scrapers, you get one configurable API that you can adapt to different targets.

Integration is straightforward. You can connect via API or proxy mode, and SDKs are available for common programming languages. There’s no traditional built-in parser, so you’ll need to define selectors manually or rely on the Autoparse feature to structure the output. Results can be returned in JSON, HTML, and other common formats.

ZenRows achieved a success rate above 70% on tested targets, with successful requests averaging 19.10 seconds – respectable result. If you’re aiming at moderately protected websites, it’s a reasonably safe bet. Just don’t expect it to outpace the top performers when defenses get heavier.

Pricing is usage-based. ZenRows had some of the lowest base rates in our comparison, which looks attractive at first glance. But once you start enabling higher-tier configurations and advanced features, costs can climb quickly. The entry price may be sweet, but the full setup can sting a little.

Providers we haven't tested recently

7. Bright Data

The most versatile web scraping APIs

Add up to $500 to your account and get double the amount.

Integration: API (real-time or async), proxy, MCP
Data parsing: pre-built parsers for +120 websites, JSON/CSV
Locations: 150+ countries with city & ASN targeting
Pricing model: based on successful requests
Pricing starts from:
– Scraper API: $0.98 for 1K results or $499 for 510K results
– SERP API: $1.30 for 1K results or $499 for 380K results

Bright Data offers three APIs for data collection: Scraper API, SERP API, and Web Unlocker. Scraper API is a general-purpose tool that can target various websites, SERP API is designed for scraping and parsing major search engines, and Web Unlocker focuses on automatically bypassing anti-bot protections.

Scraper API comes with many dedicated endpoints for the most popular websites. It’s a cloud-based service that includes features like bulk request handling, data discovery, and automated validation.

SERP API is designed to get structured data from Google products like search, images, and maps, as well as other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo. The API supports country, city, browser, and device selection. The documentation is biased toward proxy-like integration, but you can also send queries in an API format and receive data in batches.

Bright Data has an interactive playground that simplifies the setup and use of any web scraping API. The services are meant for advanced users, but you will find excellent documentation.

In terms of pricing, Bright Data has two options: subscription or pay-as-you-go. The first one is cheaper per request, but you have to commit to at least $499/month. The provider keeps the same price for all configurations and websites though Web Unlocker applies higher rates to Premium domains.. However, it’s not very economical for scraping unprotected websites, since you’ll overpay.

For more information and performance tests, read our Bright Data review.