Scraping API PricesBright Data vs ScrapingBee
The volume and workload boundaries between successful-request pay as you go and monthly scraping credits.
Bright Data Web Unlocker and Web Scraper API
ScrapingBee
The difference
Both paths, one ruler
Bright Data Web Unlocker and Web Scraper API
Successes you want
100,000 pages
Your stated workload. Every vendor on this site is priced against this same number.
- × 1
Attempts you are billed for
100,000 requests
Bright Data Web Unlocker and Web Scraper API does not bill failed fetches, so failures cost nothing here.
- × 1
What the meter counts
100,000 requests
One attempt is one billed unit for this workload.
- =
Metered cash this month
$142.50 /mo
Web Unlocker Pay as you go. Cheapest of every eligible purchase option, not the first plan that fits.
Bars share one linear scale across the 3 counted stages, so a multiplier shows as length. Units differ by stage and are labelled. Cash is not on that scale.
ScrapingBee
Successes you want
100,000 pages
Your stated workload. Every vendor on this site is priced against this same number.
- × 1
Attempts you are billed for
100,000 requests
ScrapingBee does not bill failed fetches, so failures cost nothing here.
- × 5
What the meter counts
500,000 credits
One attempt is not one billed unit here: this workload multiplies by 5 before any money is involved.
- =
Cash per month
$99.00 /mo
Startup. Cheapest of every eligible purchase option, not the first plan that fits.
Bars share one linear scale across the 3 counted stages, so a multiplier shows as length. Units differ by stage and are labelled. Cash is not on that scale.
Both ladders share one linear scale, topping out at 500,000 counted units, so a longer bar means more billed work rather than a different drawing.
These figures are for one stated workload: 100,000 JavaScript-rendered pages a month at a 95% success rate. The comparison below names where the answer changes.
The boundary
For successful basic page deliveries with no ScrapingBee JavaScript, premium, stealth, AI, or target-specific meter, Bright Data Web Unlocker is cheaper below roughly 37,670 requests a month. The two cents-rounded bills are equal from 37,664 through 37,669, and ScrapingBee is cheaper from 37,670 through its last published self-serve allowance of 8 million credits. The crossover exists because Bright Data includes 5,000 Web Unlocker requests every month and then charges $0.0015 per successful request, while ScrapingBee starts its paid ladder at $49 for 250,000 credits. This is a billing boundary for one defined request shape, not evidence that either service retrieves a page more effectively. (Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, ScrapingBee pricing, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Workload can reverse that conclusion before volume does. Bright Data includes browser rendering, CAPTCHA handling, proxy rotation, residential routing, and internal retries in the published Web Unlocker request rate. ScrapingBee charges one credit for a classic non-rendered request, five for JavaScript, ten for premium proxy, and seventy-five for stealth; JavaScript is enabled by default unless the caller turns it off. A rendered workload therefore cannot reuse the 37,670-request boundary. (Bright Data Web Unlocker features, ScrapingBee credit costs, ScrapingBee FAQ, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Billing models side by side
Bright Data Web Unlocker is successful-request pay as you go. Its recurring free allowance is followed by a published per-request rate, and a Scale commitment changes the unit rate after a fixed monthly floor. Failed Web Unlocker deliveries are not charged. Bright Data’s separate Web Scraper API is not the same meter: that product charges for delivered records and has its own free allowance, so its record count must not be substituted for Web Unlocker requests. (Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, Bright Data Web Scraper API pricing, Bright Data Web Unlocker features, retrieved 2026-07-26)
ScrapingBee sells monthly credit bundles. The published ladder is $49 for 250,000 credits, $99 for 1 million, $249 for 3 million, and $599 for 8 million, with no public self-serve overage price. Unused credits do not roll over. ScrapingBee bills responses with HTTP 200, 404, or 410, so its billable response definition is not identical to Bright Data’s successful-delivery wording. No vendor-specific success percentage is used in this comparison. (ScrapingBee pricing, ScrapingBee FAQ, retrieved 2026-07-26)
What each does that the other does not
Bright Data is the only member of this pair with a separately priced Web Scraper API that returns structured records for supported targets and a Web Unlocker price that publicly folds the major access features into one successful-request rate. ScrapingBee is the only member of this pair whose reviewed billing guide exposes dedicated Google, Amazon, Walmart, and YouTube-oriented APIs plus an additive AI-query credit rule inside the same commercial account. Those are different outputs, so a buyer should decide whether the job needs unlocked page content, a supported structured record, or a dedicated target response before comparing prices. (Bright Data Web Scraper API pricing, Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, ScrapingBee pricing, ScrapingBee credit costs, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Who should pick which
Pick Bright Data below the boundary when a variable monthly queue benefits from pay-as-you-go billing, or when rendering and access handling need to stay inside one published request rate. Pick ScrapingBee above the boundary when requests are genuinely classic, the monthly volume uses its bundle efficiently, or one of its dedicated target or AI features removes work from the application. Recalculate with separate rows for classic, rendered, premium, stealth, AI, and target-specific calls because a blended URL count hides the meter that changes the verdict. (Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, Bright Data Web Unlocker features, ScrapingBee pricing, ScrapingBee credit costs, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Bright Data does not publish numeric plan-level concurrency in the reviewed material, and ScrapingBee’s detailed examples do not fully reduce every proxy and additive AI combination to one formula. Those unknowns stay outside the basic-request crossover and should be confirmed with representative requests before purchase. (Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, ScrapingBee credit costs, retrieved 2026-07-26)