A crawl runs out of credits before it runs out of URLs. The useful question in ZenRows vs ScraperAPI pricing is which subscription finishes your queue. Start with the page mix, apply each vendor's rules, then find the smallest plan that fits.
Figures reflect zenrows.com/pricing, scraperapi.com/pricing and ScraperAPI's credit documentation. We compete with both. Our ZenRows cost breakdown and ScraperAPI cost breakdown cover each separately.
Plans side by side
All prices are USD per month. ZenRows yearly equivalents appear in parentheses. Credits renew monthly; annual billing changes the price, not the credit multiplier.
| Plan level | ZenRows price and credits | ScraperAPI price and credits |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Build 19 (16), 45,000 Build 29 (24), 80,000 Build 39 (33), 120,000 20 concurrent requests | Hobby 49, 100,000 20 threads |
| Launch | Launch 69 (58), 250,000 Launch 99 (83), 500,000 Launch 129 (108), 700,000 50 concurrent requests | Startup 149, 1,000,000 50 threads |
| Growth | Growth 199 (166), 1,200,000 Growth 279 (233), 2,000,000 Growth 399 (333), 3,000,000 100 concurrent requests | Business 299, 3,000,000 100 threads |
| Scale | Scale 549 (458), 5,000,000 Scale 749 (624), 8,000,000 Scale 999 (833), 12,500,000 | Scaling 475, 5,000,000, 200 threads Professional 975, 10,500,000, 300 threads |
| Higher volume | Scale 1,999 (1,666), 28,000,000 Scale 2,999 (2,499), 45,000,000 Scale family concurrency 200 to 400 | Advanced 1,975, 21,500,000 500 threads |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom, 22M+ credits |
ZenRows annual billing gives two months at no charge, about 17 percent off. ScraperAPI takes 10 percent off annually. Keep the commitment separate from monthly comparisons.
Price per 1,000 credits on every fixed plan
Divide monthly price by included credits and multiply by 1,000. Values below use monthly billing, rounded to two decimals. Page calculations retain the unrounded rates.
| Provider and plan | Monthly USD | USD per 1,000 credits |
|---|---|---|
| ZenRows Build | 19 | 0.42 |
| ZenRows Build | 29 | 0.36 |
| ZenRows Build | 39 | 0.33 |
| ZenRows Launch | 69 | 0.28 |
| ZenRows Launch | 99 | 0.20 |
| ZenRows Launch | 129 | 0.18 |
| ZenRows Growth | 199 | 0.17 |
| ZenRows Growth | 279 | 0.14 |
| ZenRows Growth | 399 | 0.13 |
| ZenRows Scale | 549 | 0.11 |
| ZenRows Scale | 749 | 0.09 |
| ZenRows Scale | 999 | 0.08 |
| ZenRows Scale | 1,999 | 0.07 |
| ZenRows Scale | 2,999 | 0.07 |
| ScraperAPI Hobby | 49 | 0.49 |
| ScraperAPI Startup | 149 | 0.15 |
| ScraperAPI Business | 299 | 0.10 |
| ScraperAPI Scaling | 475 | 0.10 |
| ScraperAPI Professional | 975 | 0.09 |
| ScraperAPI Advanced | 1,975 | 0.09 |
Credits per request change the comparison
ScraperAPI adds rendering and proxy charges to the base request. ZenRows publishes combination rates. These ordinary feature totals exclude special domain rates.
| Request type | ZenRows credits | ScraperAPI credits |
|---|---|---|
| Plain page | 1 | 1 |
| JavaScript rendered | 5 | 11, base plus 10 |
| Premium proxy | 10 | 11, base plus 10 |
| Rendered plus premium | 25 | 21, base plus both additions |
| Anti-bot protected rendered page | 25 | 21, rendering plus bypass |
| Amazon | Depends on parameters, 1 when plain | 5 flat domain rate |
| Google result | Usually 25 with premium plus JavaScript | 25 |
A plain Amazon request on ZenRows is billed by the parameters you set. Do not assume that configuration succeeds. ScraperAPI also assigns 5 credits to Walmart and eBay, 25 to Google or Bing across all subdomains, and 30 to LinkedIn. Cloudflare, DataDome or PerimeterX bypass adds 10; rendered plus bypass totals 21 without another premium addition.
Cost per 1,000 pages at comparable budgets
Multiply the unrounded credit rate by credits per page. These are allocated costs at full utilization, not separate purchase prices. All figures are USD per 1,000 pages.
| Request type | ZenRows Launch 69 | ScraperAPI Hobby 49 | ZenRows Growth 199 | ScraperAPI Startup 149 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | 0.28 | 0.49 | 0.17 | 0.15 |
| JavaScript | 1.38 | 5.39 | 0.83 | 1.64 |
| Premium | 2.76 | 5.39 | 1.66 | 1.64 |
| Rendered plus premium | 6.90 | 10.29 | 4.15 | 3.13 |
| Protected rendered | 6.90 | 10.29 | 4.15 | 3.13 |
| Amazon with plain ZenRows settings | 0.28 | 2.45 | 0.17 | 0.75 |
| Google assuming ZenRows premium plus JS | 6.90 | 12.25 | 4.15 | 3.73 |
ZenRows wins the JavaScript row at both budgets. Protected pages flip to ScraperAPI at Startup. Google on ZenRows usually needs the 25 credit combination assumed here, but test your own queries and regions before budgeting.
Four monthly budgets with a pick for each
These modeled workloads use the cheapest monthly subscription that covers the credits, without overage. They illustrate plan sizing, not measured customer results.
| Workload | ZenRows | ScraperAPI | Budget pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 keywords daily, 30,000 Google pages monthly | 750,000 credits, Growth 199 USD | 750,000 credits, Startup 149 USD | WebScrap Starter 49 USD |
| 200,000 plain product pages | 200,000 credits, Launch 69 USD | 200,000 credits, Startup 149 USD | ZenRows Launch 69 USD |
| 50,000 Cloudflare protected rendered pages | 1,250,000 credits, Growth 279 USD | 1,050,000 credits, Business 299 USD | WebScrap Starter 49 USD |
| Mixed 100,000 pages | 660,000 credits, Launch 129 USD | 540,000 credits, Startup 149 USD | ZenRows Launch 129 USD |
The tracker assumes one results page per keyword daily. Between the credit vendors, pick ScraperAPI for it. For protected rendering, ZenRows wins the subscription comparison despite ScraperAPI's cheaper unit rate: 1,050,000 credits narrowly exceeds Startup.
The mixed queue assumes 60,000 plain pages, 20,000 ordinary rendered pages, 10,000 Amazon pages requiring ZenRows premium plus rendering, and 10,000 protected rendered pages. ZenRows uses 660,000 credits against ScraperAPI's 540,000, yet fits a cheaper subscription. WebScrap Growth covers either this mix or the plain workload for 149 USD.
After a crawl, you often need to dedupe and normalize the exported CSV before loading it into your database. Include that cleanup in the workflow comparison.
Which vendor earns the budget
Pick ZenRows for ordinary JavaScript pages. Its 5 credit rate beats 11 at the compared budgets. At the top end, protected rendering costs 1.78 USD per 1,000 on Scale 1,999 versus 1.93 on ScraperAPI Advanced. That advantage does not hold at every tier.
Pick ScraperAPI when cheaper credits and domain rates fit. Startup and Business beat nearby ZenRows Growth plans per credit; Scaling beats Scale 549. ZenRows Scale 999 reverses the credit advantage against Professional. Amazon's flat 5 beats ZenRows when premium or rendering would push its charge above 5.
ScraperAPI also offers structured endpoints. Concurrency needs a specific comparison: Hobby ties Build at 20, while Startup's 50 threads beat Build's 20 but match Launch. Test completion time alongside billing. For another shortlist, read ZenRows vs ScrapingBee pricing, ScrapingBee vs ScraperAPI pricing or our ScrapingBee alternative comparison.
When a flat price per page wins
Google, LinkedIn and protected rendered pages make credit budgets sensitive to the URL mix. WebScrap includes proxies and rendering, and blocked pages are never billed. Starter costs 49 USD for 50,000 successful requests, Growth 149 for 250,000, Scale 499 for 1,500,000 and Enterprise 998 for 3,000,000. Yearly billing costs half.
That is 0.98, 0.60, 0.33 and 0.33 USD per 1,000 at full monthly utilization. It explains our picks for the tracker and protected crawl. Plain pages can cost less on credits. Check the SERP API for Google results and Cloudflare scraping API for protected pages against your targets, then compare WebScrap plans and request allowances or read the ScraperAPI alternative migration guide.
Questions buyers ask
Is ZenRows cheaper than ScraperAPI? Yes for ordinary JavaScript pages at the compared budgets, because ZenRows uses 5 credits versus 11. Plain pages favor ScraperAPI Startup over ZenRows Growth per credit. Actual monthly spending depends on plan capacity, so price the entire workload before choosing either subscription.
How much does ScraperAPI cost per request? It depends on the plan and request type. Hobby costs 0.49 USD per 1,000 plain requests at full utilization, while Startup costs 0.15. Rendering uses 11 credits per page, Amazon uses 5, and Google uses 25. Unused credits increase your effective cost.
How many credits does ZenRows use per request? ZenRows uses 1 credit for a basic request, 5 with JavaScript rendering, 10 with premium proxies and 25 with both. Amazon requests follow the parameters you choose rather than a flat domain rate. Google usually needs the premium plus JavaScript combination, so budget 25 pending testing.
Which is better, ZenRows or ScraperAPI? ZenRows is the stronger budget choice for ordinary rendering in these comparisons; ScraperAPI suits workloads benefiting from its domain rates and structured endpoints. Concurrency and unused capacity also matter. Run representative URLs through both, check usable output, then choose the smallest plan that finishes your queue.
Does ScraperAPI charge for failed requests? ScraperAPI bills only responses with status 200 or 404. A missing page returned as 404 therefore consumes credits even if your pipeline treats it as a failure. Separate transport status from usable data when forecasting costs, and count those missing pages in your monthly credit estimate.