ScrapingBee vs Apify: Thin Scrape API or Actor Platform?
Pick ScrapingBee when you want a thin hosted scrape API with published credit weights (1 / 5 / 10-or-25) and a known monthly bucket. Pick Apify when you need store actors, custom long-running jobs, and a bill made of prepaid usage plus per-actor event prices.
- ScrapingBee, official prices checked November 6, 2026: Hobby $19 / 75,000 credits / 25 concurrent; Freelance $49 / 250,000 / 50; Startup $99 / 1,000,000 / 100. JS rendering 5 credits; premium proxies 10 or 25 depending on JS. No rollover.
- Apify, official prices checked November 6, 2026: Free $0 / $5 included usage; Starter $19 ($17 annual) / $19 included; unused usage expires. Most store actors are pay-per-event. The vendor’s Instagram example is $2.30 per 1,000 results.
- Do not compare $19 to $19. They are not the same unit. Neither vendor has an affiliate button on this page.
By Unfair Advantage · Updated November 6, 2026. Related: ScrapingBee review · Apify review · Apify vs Firecrawl.
1. Who should pick which
This is a pairwise decision between a thin scrape API and an actor platform. It is not a review in disguise and not the Firecrawl comparison.
Choose ScrapingBee when…
- You have URLs and want HTML or rendered HTML back through one API.
- You can name the request class (standard, JS, premium) and map it onto a credit bucket.
- You do not need a store of site-specific actors.
Choose Apify when…
- You need a ready-made store actor, or you will write and schedule your own.
- The job is a long-running, site-specific workflow a single scrape call will not cover.
- You accept prepaid usage, compute units, and (often) pay-per-event prices.
UA did not create accounts at either vendor. Prices come from each official pricing page, checked November 6, 2026.
2. What you are actually buying
| Question | ScrapingBee | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Hosted scrape API. HTML or rendered HTML, billed in credits. | Actor platform: store scrapers and your own jobs, billed as prepaid usage plus events and infrastructure. |
| Paid entry | Hobby $19 / 75,000 credits / 25 concurrent. | Starter $19 / $19 included usage / 32 concurrent runs, then overage. |
| How extras bill | JS ×5; premium proxies 10 or 25 depending on JS. | Per-actor event prices; CU at $0.20 on Starter; residential proxy $8/GB on Starter. |
| Unused balance | Credits last one month and do not roll over. | Unused prepaid usage expires at cycle end. |
| Free / sandbox | No free plan on the public table we fetched — paid entry is Hobby. | Free $0 with $5 of included usage, then blocked until the next cycle. |
3. Real cost by scenario
Scenario A — 10,000 generic HTML pages
ScrapingBee: 10,000 credits fit Hobby at $19. As JS: 50,000 credits, still Hobby. As premium+JS at 25: 250,000 credits = Freelance at $49.
Apify: no flat “10,000 pages = $X.” Starter is $19 of usage plus overage. At the official Instagram example rate of $2.30 / 1,000 results, 10,000 results cost $23. A usage-only crawler could land under or over $19 depending on RAM, duration, and proxy.
Scenario B — “I need a store scraper that already exists”
ScrapingBee does not sell an actor marketplace. You would compose requests and parse HTML yourself. Apify is the product for this row: budget the actor’s published event price, then CU and proxy, then the plan fee.
Scenario C — A weekly custom job that must log in, paginate, and write a dataset
ScrapingBee can fetch pages you already know how to request; it is not “run my actor on a schedule with storage I control.” Apify’s operating model (schedule an actor, keep a dataset, pay CU × time × RAM) matches that job.
Scenario D — Prototype week
ScrapingBee’s public table starts at Hobby $19. Apify Free gives $5 of usage with no card, then blocks until the next cycle. Which sandbox is more useful depends on whether you needed a fetch API or an actor.
4. How billing behaves
ScrapingBee: pick a plan, spend credits at the weight you requested, unused credits expire at month end, watch the concurrent cap (25 on Hobby).
Apify: pick or build an actor, read its event-or-usage model, set a usage limit (Starter overage publicly described as at most $100), watch CU, proxy, and storage as separate meters.
5. Pitfalls
- Treating ScrapingBee Hobby $19 as Apify Starter $19.
- Buying ScrapingBee because you wanted the Instagram actor (or any store actor).
- Buying Apify to fetch 10,000 generic HTML pages “because the platform is more powerful” without reading the actor page.
- Forgetting both products expire unused balance at cycle end — in different units.
6. Decision
| If your situation is… | Pick |
|---|---|
| HTML/rendered HTML through a scrape API | ScrapingBee |
| Store actors, custom jobs, scheduled datasets | Apify |
| You need both jobs | Use both, each for its job. |
| You actually wanted Markdown for agents | Wrong pairwise page — see Apify vs Firecrawl. |
There is no universal cheaper logo. At generic HTML volume ScrapingBee’s credit bucket is the clearer invoice. At store-actor or custom-job work, Apify is the product. The $19 stickers are a coincidence.
7. FAQ
Is ScrapingBee cheaper than Apify?
For 10,000 standard HTML pages, ScrapingBee Hobby at $19 is a known number; Apify’s number depends on the actor. See Scenario A.
Can I use ScrapingBee instead of Apify for a site-specific actor?
Only if you are willing to rebuild that actor’s logic yourself. Official ScrapingBee materials do not sell a store of site-specific scrapers.
Do you have affiliate links?
Not for either vendor at the time this page was written. Hidden placeholders sit in the HTML for later.
8. Sources
- ScrapingBee official pricing page (checked November 6, 2026)
- Apify official pricing page, including plan table, CU prices, and worked examples (checked November 6, 2026)