Home / Terms / JavaScript rendering
What is JavaScript rendering?
JavaScript rendering means loading a page in a browser engine and running its page code before returning the resulting content. It is needed when the initial HTML does not contain the text or elements the buyer needs, but it can use a different billing meter from a plain page download. (ScrapingBee credit rules, Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, and Scrapfly billing rules, checked 2026-07-26.)
JavaScript rendering across the APIs we track
| API | Published rate | Compared with a plain request | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decodo Web Scraping API | $0.75 per 1,000 requests | 1.5 × a plain request | Oct 6, 2026 |
| Firecrawl | 1 credit per page | 1 × a plain request | Oct 7, 2026 |
| HasData | 10 credits per request | 10 × a plain request | Oct 8, 2026 |
| Hyperbrowser | 1 credit per request | 1 × a plain request | Oct 5, 2026 |
| Olostep | 1 request per request | 1 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Scrape.do | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapeLens | 20 credits per request | 1 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapeOps | 10 credits per request | 10 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapeOwl | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScraperAPI | 10 credits per request | 10 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Scrapfly | 6 credits per request | 6 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapingAnt | 10 credits per request | 10 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapingBee | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 7, 2026 |
| ScrapingBot | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapingDog | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ScrapingFish | 1 request per request | 1 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| SOAX Web Data API | 1 request, unit not published | not comparable to its plain rate | Sep 2, 2026 |
| WebScraping.AI | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
| ZenRows | 5 credits per request | 5 × a plain request | Oct 9, 2026 |
Several APIs render JavaScript at no extra charge and publish no separate rate; those are not listed here.
In more detail
The vendor examples below were read on the dates given in the text; the table above holds each vendor's current figure.
Rendering changes a bill in three common ways. A vendor can replace the basic credit cost with a larger rendered-request cost, add rendering credits to a proxy base, or include rendering inside one request price. Cloud-browser products can instead meter the time and traffic used by the browser. The word “rendering” therefore describes the work, not one universal charge. (ScraperAPI credit rules, Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, and Scrapfly billing rules, checked 2026-07-26.)
ScraperAPI publishes one credit for a basic request and ten for JavaScript rendering. Premium routing with rendering has its own combined cost, so the JavaScript row cannot be assumed to cover every proxy configuration. The documentation also says selector waiting has no extra credit cost, although the rendered mode still applies. (ScraperAPI credit rules, checked 2026-07-26.)
ScrapingBee publishes five credits for its classic JavaScript mode, compared with one credit when rendering is disabled. JavaScript is enabled by default. Premium proxy with JavaScript is a larger replacement bundle, while stealth includes JavaScript in its own mode cost. A buyer who sends default requests can therefore consume the rendered amount without adding an explicit rendering parameter. (ScrapingBee credit rules and ScrapingBee FAQ, checked 2026-07-26.)
Scrapfly starts with a datacenter or residential proxy base and adds five credits when JavaScript is enabled. Its billing documentation also allows extra credits for large responses, so rendered page weight can affect the same request beyond the rendering add-on. (Scrapfly billing rules, checked 2026-07-26.)
Bright Data’s Web Unlocker presents JavaScript rendering, residential routing, proxy rotation, and CAPTCHA handling as included in the successful-request rate rather than separate multipliers. That all-in treatment differs from each credit model above. (Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, checked 2026-07-26.)
Before signing up, first confirm that the target truly requires rendering. Then check whether rendering is default or optional, whether it replaces or adds to proxy charges, what waiting and timeout settings are billable, and whether response size or browser time creates a second meter. Price the rendered share of the workload separately from plain requests. (ScrapingBee FAQ, Scrapfly billing rules, and Bright Data Web Unlocker pricing, checked 2026-07-26.)