The short answer
ScrapingBee is a request-oriented retrieval/extraction interface; Apify is a job and Actor platform. For recurring collection, include scheduling and dataset handling. For a single page, include the Actor startup and completion time rather than only run creation.
| Provider | A good reason to choose it | Important caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Apify | A recurring or site-specific collection job that benefits from an existing Actor or a custom hosted scraper. | Apify is a platform, not one universal page-extraction schema. Actor fees, compute, proxy use and output quality must be checked for the particular Actor. |
| ScrapingBee | A team that wants to start with page retrieval and add explicit wait conditions or selector-based extraction. | Rendering, proxy options and extraction features affect credits. Define what counts as a valid page instead of assuming a returned body is usable. |
Side-by-side differences
| Requirement | Apify | ScrapingBee |
|---|---|---|
| Primary workflow | Hosted Actor runs and datasets | HTML retrieval with optional extraction rules |
| Returned content | Actor-defined records or files | HTML, text/Markdown options and selector extraction |
| Rendering/control | Actor implementation determines browser behavior | render_js, wait conditions and JavaScript scenarios |
| Job model | Run creation, status and dataset retrieval | Synchronous request interface |
| Integration boundary | Pin Actor identity, version and input schema | Choose render/proxy/extraction configuration |
| Cost driver | Actor charges, compute, storage and proxy usage | Credits multiplied by selected options |
Pricing: make the units comparable
| Provider | Billing model | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Apify | Platform usage plus Actor-specific pricing | Plans include platform spend; individual Actors can use compute, per-result or other pricing. Do not infer total job cost from the platform's compute-unit rate alone. |
| ScrapingBee | Credit allowances with configuration-dependent costs | Use the documented cost of the selected render/proxy/extraction mode. The number of HTTP requests alone does not determine credit consumption. |
For 1,000 accepted pages, record attempted URLs, render mode, retries and schema failures. A low HTML-request price can require separate parsing; an extraction credit can include work that another vendor bills separately. Do not rank cost until the output passes the same acceptance check.
For a buying decision, calculate total spend divided by accepted outputs at your expected volume. Keep free evaluation access, paid production access, annual commitments and overages separate. We have not measured a cost or speed winner for this pair.
What changes in the integration?
| Apify | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Method and URL | POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/{actorId}/runs | GET https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1 |
| Authentication | Bearer API token | Bearer token or api_key parameter |
| Inputs | Actor-specific JSON input, authenticated with a token | url, API credentials; optional render_js, extract_rules and wait settings |
| Output | Run metadata; retrieve finished output from the run's dataset or use an appropriate synchronous endpoint. | Page content, extracted data or a JSON wrapper according to requested options. |
Apify: migration check
Pin an Actor and its schema/version in the adapter. Wait for terminal run status, then validate dataset items; the run-creation response is not the scraped data.
ScrapingBee: migration check
Translate selector rules and wait conditions, and URL-encode the target correctly. Keep the upstream page status distinct from the extraction service's response status.
How to test them fairly
- Build an authorized test set spanning static HTML, JavaScript-rendered pages, tables and long articles. Save expected fields and the permitted access conditions.
- Use the same URLs, country, device settings and freshness window. Keep cache hits separate from fresh fetches.
- Mark challenge pages, empty main content and invalid structured fields as failures even if the HTTP status is 200.
- Measure time to a usable document or completed dataset, not only time to job creation. Include polling, retries and client-side parsing.
- Report total billed credits, browser time, proxy charges and actor fees per accepted document. Respect site terms, privacy, robots guidance and access controls; do not test bypassing protected accounts.
Record the plan, request settings, time window and acceptance rules with every run. That makes a later result interpretable when a vendor changes a model, source set or pricing tier.
Prefer a common request format?
POST /api/v1/web-scraping/extractReview the request contract and tell us the coverage you need. Access requires enablement; this endpoint does not execute or bill requests yet.
View endpoint and request accessSources and review dates
Documentation reviewed October 28, 2026. These are integration and plan comparisons, not measured speed or accuracy rankings. Availability, licensing and prices should be confirmed for the chosen plan.
Corrections: email faizank@docsalot.dev with an official source.