The honest comparison
webclaw vs ScrapingBee
ScrapingBee is a scraping API focused on proxy rotation and JS rendering. Here's how it compares to webclaw on features and pricing.
Rust · AGPL-3.0 · self-hostable
One shared credit pool: a plain page is 1 credit, heavier work adds a few (JS render +2, protected site +9). Crawl, batch, search and MCP included.
Cloud API (proprietary)
Credit-based. JS rendering 5 credits/page; premium proxy 10 (no JS) or 25 (with JS); stealth proxy 75; AI extraction +5.
Looking for a ScrapingBee alternative?
webclaw is a ScrapingBee alternative that returns clean markdown instead of raw HTML. ScrapingBee gives you the page's HTML and leaves parsing to you, then multiplies credits for the hard parts: JS rendering costs 5x, premium proxies 10x to 75x. webclaw outputs LLM-ready markdown, JSON, or text from one shared pool — a plain page is 1 credit, with small fixed add-ons (JS +2, protected site +9), no per-country multipliers. Crawling, batching, and web search come built in rather than sold as separate products. If you are moving off ScrapingBee to feed an LLM or RAG pipeline, that is the difference that matters.
webclaw vs ScrapingBee feature comparison
Every core capability side by side. The webclaw column is highlighted; cells show exactly what each tool ships.
| Feature | webclaw | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|
| Scrape (HTML to markdown) | Returns raw HTML (no markdown) | |
| Crawl (BFS with depth control) | ||
| Batch (parallel multi-URL) | ||
| Search (web search + scrape) | Google Search API (separate) | |
| Extract (LLM structured data) | AI extraction (beta) | |
| Screenshot (full page) | ||
| Browser actions (click, type, scroll) | Limited (JS snippets) | |
| Handles bot-protected sites | Proxy-based (premium proxies) | |
| JS rendering | Yes (5 credits/page) | |
| PDF extraction | ||
| MCP server | ||
| CLI tool | Yes (scrapingbee-cli) | |
| Self-hostable | ||
| Open source (AGPL-3.0) | ||
| Credit multipliers | One pool. Page 1, +2 JS, +9 protected. | Yes. JS 5×, premium 10–25×, stealth 75×, AI +5. |
Is webclaw cheaper than ScrapingBee?
webclaw bills from one credit pool: a plain page is 1 credit, heavier work adds a few. Compare the plans head to head, then read each credit model below.
| Plan | webclaw | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|
| Free option | 7-day free trial (card required), or self-host free | 1,000 free API credits |
| Starter | $19/mo · 10,000 credits | $49/mo — 250,000 credits |
| Growth | $49/mo · 100,000 credits | $99/mo — 1,000,000 credits |
| Pro | $99/mo · 250,000 credits | $599/mo — 8,000,000 credits |
webclaw credit model
One shared credit pool: a plain page is 1 credit, with small fixed add-ons for JS render (+2) and protected sites (+9). No separate proxy or JSON buckets.
ScrapingBee credit model
Credit-based. JS rendering 5 credits/page; premium proxy 10 (no JS) or 25 (with JS); stealth proxy 75; AI extraction +5.
ScrapingBee strengths
- Simple API focused on proxy rotation
- Wide SDK support (6 languages)
- Good for high-volume raw HTML scraping
- Reliable proxy infrastructure
- No infrastructure to manage
ScrapingBee limitations
- Returns raw HTML, not markdown or structured data
- No crawling, batching, or search features
- Aggressive credit multipliers (JS 5×, premium proxy 10–25×, stealth 75×)
- Not open source, no self-hosting
- AI structured extraction is still in beta
- No LLM-optimized output format
Which one should you use?
Use webclaw when
You need clean markdown or structured data (not raw HTML), want built-in crawling and search, need LLM-optimized output, or want to self-host.
Use ScrapingBee when
You just need raw HTML with proxy rotation and don't need content extraction, or your team already has their own HTML-to-content pipeline.
webclaw vs ScrapingBee, answered
Is there a ScrapingBee alternative for LLMs and AI agents?
webclaw is a ScrapingBee alternative that returns clean markdown instead of raw HTML. ScrapingBee gives you the page's HTML and leaves parsing to you, then multiplies credits for the hard parts: JS rendering costs 5x, premium proxies 10x to 75x. webclaw outputs LLM-ready markdown, JSON, or text from one shared pool — a plain page is 1 credit, with small fixed add-ons (JS +2, protected site +9), no per-country multipliers. Crawling, batching, and web search come built in rather than sold as separate products. If you are moving off ScrapingBee to feed an LLM or RAG pipeline, that is the difference that matters.
What is the difference between webclaw and ScrapingBee?
ScrapingBee is a scraping API focused on proxy rotation and JS rendering. Here's how it compares to webclaw on features and pricing.
Is webclaw cheaper than ScrapingBee?
webclaw bills from one shared credit pool: a plain page is 1 credit, heavier work adds a few (JS render +2, protected site +9). ScrapingBee uses: Credit-based. JS rendering 5 credits/page; premium proxy 10 (no JS) or 25 (with JS); stealth proxy 75; AI extraction +5.
When should I use ScrapingBee instead of webclaw?
You just need raw HTML with proxy rotation and don't need content extraction, or your team already has their own HTML-to-content pipeline.
Compare webclaw with others
See how it stacks up.
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