Comparisons
How AlterLab Compares to Other Web Scraping APIs
AlterLab is a pay-as-you-go web scraping API that starts at $0.0002 per request with no monthly subscription and a balance that never expires. AlterLab uses 5-tier smart routing: each URL is charged only for the tier it needs — from lightweight static fetching up to full browser rendering and challenge resolution. Compare AlterLab to ScraperAPI, Firecrawl, ScrapingBee, Bright Data, and Apify using the detailed breakdowns below, which include real pricing, feature-by-feature comparisons, and migration guides.
Which scraping API alternatives does AlterLab compare to?
Detailed side-by-side breakdowns with real pricing, features, and migration guides for each major alternative.
vs ScraperAPI
Pay-as-you-go from $0.0002 vs $49/month subscriptions
vs Firecrawl
5 intelligent tiers vs one-size-fits-all pricing
vs ScrapingBee
Balance never expires, no monthly commitment
vs Bright Data
Smart tier routing beats flat-rate pricing
vs Apify
One endpoint, no Actors to configure
vs Zyte
One API vs four fragmented Zyte products
vs ZenRows
5 intelligent tiers vs ZenRows' single flat rate
vs Crawlbase
No token confusion — auto-routing beats 2-mode system
vs Oxylabs
Developer API from $0.0002 vs enterprise proxy minimums
vs Smartproxy
Request-based pricing — no bandwidth billing surprises
vs Scrapfly
Dollar balance vs credit plans — no monthly reset
vs Crawl4AI
Managed API vs self-hosted library — no servers or proxies to manage
vs Diffbot
Pay-as-you-go from $0.001/request vs $299/month minimum
How do AlterLab features compare to competitors?
Feature-by-feature comparison across all major web scraping APIs. Scroll horizontally on mobile.
| Feature | AlterLab | ScraperAPI | Firecrawl | ScrapingBee | Bright Data | Apify | Zyte | ZenRows | Crawlbase | Oxylabs | Smartproxy | Scrapfly | Crawl4AI | Diffbot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go | PAYG + enterprise | Limited PAYG | Free (self-hosted) | |||||||||||
| Balance never expires | Prepaid only | N/A (self-hosted) | ||||||||||||
| Tiered pricing | 5 tiers | 1 tier | 1 tier | 1 tier | 1 tier | Per actor | 4 products | 1 tier | 2 modes | Multiple SKUs | Bandwidth plans | Credit tiers | N/A (self-hosted) | Plan-based |
| Protected site support | Per actor | Limited | Partial | Limited | ||||||||||
| Challenge resolution | Extra cost | Extra cost | Per actor | Paid add-on | Scraping Browser | Limited | Limited | |||||||
| JS rendering | Via add-on | |||||||||||||
| Structured extraction | AutoExtract (extra) | |||||||||||||
| Markdown output | ||||||||||||||
| Auto tier escalation | ||||||||||||||
| No minimum spend | $10 one-time | $49/mo | $19/mo | $49/mo | $0 (PAYG) | $49/mo | Enterprise | $49/mo | Subscription | Enterprise min. | $75/mo | $29/mo | $0 (self-hosted) | $299/mo |
How much cheaper is AlterLab than other scraping APIs?
Annual cost comparison for 1 million requests. AlterLab uses pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $0.0002/request with no subscription and no balance expiry.
vs ScraperAPI
$490
1 million requests/year
Save $290vs Firecrawl
$6,300
1 million requests/year
Save $6,100vs ScrapingBee
$1,250
1 million requests/year
Save $1,050vs Bright Data
$150
100K requests/month (typical workload mix)
Save $56vs Apify
$3,500+
1 million requests/year
Save $3,300+vs Zyte
$1,000+
1 million requests/year
Save $800+vs ZenRows
$899
1M requests/month
Save $699vs Crawlbase
$1,000
1M requests/month
Save $800vs Oxylabs
$3,000+
1 million requests/year
Save $2,800+vs Smartproxy
$1,000+
1 million requests/year
Save $800+vs Scrapfly
$1,400+
1 million requests/year
Save $1,200+vs Crawl4AI
$600–$2,400 (server + proxy costs)
1 million requests/year
Save $400–$2,200vs Diffbot
$3,588 (12 × $299)
100K extraction requests/year
Save $3,488Your first scrape.
Sixty seconds.
$1 free balance. No credit card. No SDK.
Just a POST request.
No credit card required · Up to 5,000 free scrapes · Balance never expires