A modular scraping API from Decodo: choose Standard or Premium proxies and toggle JavaScript rendering per request, billed per 1,000 successful requests.
- From
- $19/mo
- Free
- Free plan available
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
11 tools compared
Free web scraping APIs and tiers in 2026
Scraping APIs, crawlers and platforms with a free tier or trial. Compare quotas, JavaScript rendering and the first paid plan before you commit.
- Compared
- 11
- Lowest price
- $19/mo
- Top score
- 8.7 / 10
Decodo Web Scraping API
Decodo Web Scraping API
By Adrien Borel
Updated Free tiers and trials are the cheapest way to smoke-test a scraping API on your own targets before you commit budget. Compare the quota, concurrency and whether a card is required.
Good to knowQuotas change frequently, so treat the notes below as a starting point and re-check the vendor's pricing page.
Comparison table
Firecrawl is an AI-oriented crawl and scrape API that returns LLM-ready markdown, HTML or structured extracts from sites and sitemaps.
- From
- $19/mo
- Free
- Free tier available
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
Scrape.do uses monthly successful-credit plans where core features (proxies, JS rendering, geo-targeting, browser actions) are unlocked on every tier.
- From
- $29/mo
- Free
- 1,000 free credits and 5 concurrent requests, no card
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
SerpApi returns structured JSON for Google and other search engines, including organic results, ads and rich features. The unit of work is a search, not a page.
- From
- $25/mo
- Free
- Free monthly searches
- JS
- Not verified
Verified November 4, 2026
ScraperAPI returns page HTML or structured data while handling proxies, JavaScript rendering and CAPTCHAs. Credits scale with render mode and with hard domains.
- From
- $49/mo
- Free
- Free trial credits
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
ScrapingBee is a headless-browser scraping API for JS-heavy public pages, billed in credits across classic, premium and stealth proxy modes.
- From
- $49/mo
- Free
- Free credits to test rendering
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
Geonode sells unlimited monthly plans priced by concurrent threads, or pay-as-you-go packs from roughly $0.13 to $0.35 per 1,000 requests.
- From
- $47/mo
- Free
- 1,500 requests per month plus a short unlimited trial
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
ZenRows' Universal Scraper API publishes credit multipliers for JavaScript rendering and premium proxies, with a short trial before buying a monthly bucket.
- From
- Not verified
- Free
- Short free trial
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
Apify is a platform of ready-made scrapers (Actors) and a runtime for your own, billed on platform usage plus per-Actor pricing.
- From
- Not verified
- Free
- Free monthly platform credit
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
Crawlbase bills per successful request with rates that depend on domain complexity and on regular versus JavaScript requests, plus Smart AI Proxy credit plans.
- From
- $149/mo
- Free
- Free requests to start
- JS
- Yes
Verified November 4, 2026
Browse AI is a point-and-click scraper and monitor for operators who need structured web data without maintaining scraping code.
- From
- Not verified
- Free
- Free plan available
- JS
- Not verified
Verified November 4, 2026
Scores blend entry price, free tier, JavaScript rendering and residential IP support from published data. Missing values are ignored, never guessed. Read the methodology. Some links are affiliate links; they never change the ranking.
Profiles
Notes on each option
A modular scraping API from Decodo: choose Standard or Premium proxies and toggle JavaScript rendering per request, billed per 1,000 successful requests.
- Strength: Lowest paid entry price in this comparison
- Strength: Per-request toggles for proxies and JS
- Strength: Templates and MCP support
- Watch-out: Premium proxies and rendering raise the per-request cost
Firecrawl is an AI-oriented crawl and scrape API that returns LLM-ready markdown, HTML or structured extracts from sites and sitemaps.
- Strength: LLM-ready markdown output
- Strength: Crawls whole sites and sitemaps
- Strength: Built for agents and RAG
- Watch-out: Not a classic unblock API for heavily protected sites
Scrape.do uses monthly successful-credit plans where core features (proxies, JS rendering, geo-targeting, browser actions) are unlocked on every tier.
- Strength: All features on every plan
- Strength: Free plan without a card
- Strength: 5 concurrent requests on free
- Watch-out: Credit consumption still varies by target
SerpApi returns structured JSON for Google and other search engines, including organic results, ads and rich features. The unit of work is a search, not a page.
- Strength: Structured JSON for many search engines
- Strength: Covers ads and rich SERP features
- Watch-out: Only for search results, not general web pages
ScraperAPI returns page HTML or structured data while handling proxies, JavaScript rendering and CAPTCHAs. Credits scale with render mode and with hard domains.
- Strength: Handles proxies, rendering and CAPTCHAs
- Strength: Structured endpoints for popular domains
- Watch-out: Credit multipliers make unit cost depend on the target
ScrapingBee is a headless-browser scraping API for JS-heavy public pages, billed in credits across classic, premium and stealth proxy modes.
- Strength: Headless-browser rendering
- Strength: Stealth proxy mode for harder targets
- Watch-out: Premium and stealth modes consume more credits
Geonode sells unlimited monthly plans priced by concurrent threads, or pay-as-you-go packs from roughly $0.13 to $0.35 per 1,000 requests.
- Strength: Unlimited-request plans
- Strength: Cheap PAYG packs
- Strength: Free monthly requests
- Watch-out: Throughput is capped by concurrent threads
ZenRows' Universal Scraper API publishes credit multipliers for JavaScript rendering and premium proxies, with a short trial before buying a monthly bucket.
- Strength: Transparent credit multipliers
- Strength: Trial to validate unblock modes
- Watch-out: Plan prices not verified yet
Apify is a platform of ready-made scrapers (Actors) and a runtime for your own, billed on platform usage plus per-Actor pricing.
- Strength: Marketplace of ready-made scrapers
- Strength: Run your own code on the platform
- Watch-out: Total cost depends on the Actor you choose
Crawlbase bills per successful request with rates that depend on domain complexity and on regular versus JavaScript requests, plus Smart AI Proxy credit plans.
- Strength: Pay only for successful requests
- Strength: Proxy-style integration through Smart AI Proxy
- Watch-out: Highest monthly entry price of the group
Browse AI is a point-and-click scraper and monitor for operators who need structured web data without maintaining scraping code.
- Strength: No code required
- Strength: Scheduled monitoring of pages
- Watch-out: Plan prices not verified yet
Buying guide
How to choose
01
Quota
Credits or requests per month. A thousand credits can vanish quickly with JavaScript rendering.
02
Concurrency
Free plans often cap concurrent requests, which slows large tests.
03
Card required
Some free plans need a card, others do not.
Guide
Free web scraping API: what you really get in 2026
What is a free web scraping API?
A free web scraping API is a scraping service that lets you send requests without paying, either through a free plan that renews or through starting credits that run out. It is built for testing your targets, not for running production jobs.
The thing to remember is that free quotas count credits or requests, not pages you actually keep. A request that needs JavaScript rendering or a hard domain can use several credits, so a headline number like 1,000 credits may cover far fewer finished pages.
Free tier vs free trial: what is the difference?
A free tier renews, usually every month, while a free trial gives you a fixed amount once and then asks you to pay. Both let you test, but they suit different jobs.
A recurring free tier is useful for small, steady projects such as a weekly check of a few pages. A trial is better for a one-off evaluation where you want to burn through a quick test and decide. In our data, ZenRows offers a short free trial, ScraperAPI offers free trial credits, ScrapingBee offers free credits to test rendering, and Crawlbase offers free requests to start. Scrape.do, Geonode, Decodo, Firecrawl, SerpApi, Apify and Browse AI publish a free plan or free monthly allowance. Vendors change these terms often, so confirm on the pricing page before you rely on them.
Which scraping tools have free credits?
Most of the tools we track have some free way in, and the details differ by vendor. This is what our data records.
- Scrape.do: 1,000 free credits and 5 concurrent requests, no card.
- Geonode: 1,500 requests per month plus a short unlimited trial.
- Decodo Web Scraping API and Firecrawl: a free plan or tier.
- SerpApi: free monthly searches, for search results only.
- Apify: a free monthly platform credit, spent on Actors.
- Browse AI: a free plan for point-and-click robots.
Free web scraper options beyond APIs
If a free web scraping API does not fit, there are free scraping tools that cost nothing but your time. Open-source libraries and projects on GitHub can fetch and parse pages, and browser-based extensions can collect simple tables by clicking on the page.
Open-source libraries
Python tools such as requests with a parser, or a headless browser like Playwright, cost nothing to use. The real cost is proxies, CAPTCHAs and maintenance once the target blocks you. That is the work a paid API takes over. Our proxy basics guide explains the building block you would need to add.
Platforms and no-code tools
How far do free credits actually go?
Usually not far, and that is by design. Free credits are enough to learn whether the vendor can fetch your page, not enough to cover a real crawl.
Two things shrink the budget quickly. First, JavaScript rendering and premium proxy modes consume extra credits on vendors that bill in credits, so your 1,000 credits may turn into a few hundred pages. Second, concurrency caps slow a large test: Scrape.do's free plan allows 5 concurrent requests, so a long list takes time. Plan your test around those two limits.
Can you scrape at scale on a free tier?
No, free tiers are for testing and small recurring jobs, not for scale. Once your volume passes the free quota you move to a paid plan, and the paid entry prices in our data run from $19/mo for Decodo's Web Scraping API and Firecrawl to $149/mo for Crawlbase.
Treat the free period as a cost-estimation step. Measure credits per successful page there, multiply by your real volume, and only then compare monthly plans. Free quotas can also change or be removed, so avoid building a business process that depends on one.
How to test a free web scraping API properly
A good free test answers one question: will this vendor work on my targets at a price I can afford. Our ranking of the best web scraping APIs shows the paid plans once you know the answer.
- Pick 20 to 50 real URLs, including your hardest domain.
- Run them once without rendering and once with it.
- Note the credits used per response and the success count.
- Check whether a card is required and what happens at the limit.
- Repeat on two vendors and compare cost per successful page.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which scraping tools have a free plan?
Scrape.do, Geonode, Firecrawl, SerpApi, Apify and Browse AI all publish a free tier or free monthly credit. Details are listed per tool.
Can I scrape at scale on a free tier?
No. Free tiers are for testing. Production workloads need a paid plan.
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