TL;DR
- ScrapingBee:
- $49-249/mo. Monthly with API call limits.
- FairCrawl:
- $0.002-0.01/page. No subscription. Full features from day one.
A ScrapingBee alternative that charges what it costs.
ScrapingBee charges $49-249/mo. The infrastructure to run web scraping — servers, APIs, storage, delivery — costs roughly $0.001/page. FairCrawl charges $0.002-0.01/page. No subscription. No seat limits. No annual contract.
Why people leave ScrapingBee
Per-call pricing adds up
JavaScript rendering costs extra credits
No free tier beyond trial
FairCrawl vs ScrapingBee
| FairCrawl | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay per use | Monthly with API call limits |
| Price | $0.002-0.01/page | $49-249/mo |
| Free tier | Free actions included | 1,000 free API calls |
| Contract | None | Monthly available |
| Zero-usage month | $0 | Still charged |
| Feature gating | All features included | Some features gated |
| Infrastructure cost | $0.001/page | Not disclosed |
What it actually costs to run
The infrastructure cost for web scraping — servers, APIs, storage, delivery — is roughly $0.001/page. ScrapingBee charges $49-249/mo.
Fair charges $0.002-0.01/page — cost plus a small margin.
When to choose which
Choose ScrapingBee if
Developers wanting proxy-based scraping with JS rendering
Choose FairCrawl if
You want web scraping without a subscription. FairCrawl charges $0.002-0.01/page. Use a lot? Pay a little more. Use nothing? Pay nothing. All features included from the first use.
Where ScrapingBee gets expensive
- JS rendering costs 5-10x more credits
- No generous free tier
Switch from ScrapingBee. Keep the features. Lose the subscription.
FairCrawl — $0.002-0.01/page. No subscription. No seat pricing. No annual contract. Your first actions are free.
Related comparisons
Fair is the anti-subscription. 13 tools, one account, pay for what you use.