FastAF vs ScrapingBee
Verdict: ScrapingBee or FastAF?
Choose ScrapingBee if
- Large, steady scraping volumes that use a monthly plan in full: it is cheaper per page.
- You rely on its JavaScript scenarios to click, scroll or fill forms before extracting, or on high concurrency.
Choose FastAF if
- You want parsed JSON for Google, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other sources, not only page HTML.
- No subscription: paid credits never expire, or an agent pays per call over x402 with no account.
ScrapingBee prices
- Hobby $19/mo: 75,000 credits
- Business+ $599/mo: 8,000,000 credits
- 1 credit per request without JavaScript, 5 with JavaScript (the default)
- API credits are valid for one month, no rollover
- Free: 1,000 API credits to try it, no card
Read on scrapingbee.com on . Prices change: check the source before you buy.
FastAF prices
- Single page scrape: $0.005 per call over x402, or 1 credit with an API key ($0.50 per 1,000 on the $10 pack, $0.27 on the $799 pack)
- Google search: $0.003 per call over x402, or 5 credits with an API key ($2.50 per 1,000 on the $10 pack, $1.33 on the $799 pack)
- One-time packs from $10 (20,000 credits) to $799 (3,000,000 credits), without expiry; 500 free credits every month after email verification, reset on the 1st
From FastAF’s pricing code. For x402 the live payment challenge is authoritative. Pricing
FastAF limits
- Costs more per page than a ScrapingBee plan used in full.
- No browser scenarios: scrape can render a page (
dynamic=true) but does not click or fill forms. - x402 settles in USDC on Base only; heavier options (SERP advance_search, rendering with premium proxies, AI extraction) need an API key.
- Public pages only: login-only, paywalled and private-network targets are refused.
Last reviewed: 29 October 2026. Short answer: choose ScrapingBee for high-volume page scraping on a monthly plan, with up to 900 concurrent requests and stealth proxies. Choose FastAF if you want no subscription (one-time packs, credits that never expire), x402 pay-per-call with no account, or structured JSON from specific sources (Google verticals, Amazon, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn) next to scraping.
ScrapingBee pricing (read 29 Oct 2026)
From ScrapingBee pricing, prices excluding VAT, monthly plans:
| Plan | Price per month | API credits | Concurrency | Per 1,000 JS-rendered requests* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | $0 | 1,000, no card | - | - |
| Hobby | $19 | 75,000 | 25 | $1.27 |
| Freelance | $49 | 250,000 | 50 | $0.98 |
| Startup | $99 | 1,000,000 | 100 | $0.50 |
| Business | $249 | 3,000,000 | 200 | $0.42 |
| Business + | $599 | 8,000,000 | 400 | $0.37 |
| Enterprise | from $999 | from 14,000,000 | from 500 | - |
*Our calculation at 5 credits per request with full use of the plan.
Credit costs per request (documentation): 1 without JavaScript, 5 with JavaScript (the default), 10 premium proxy, 25 premium proxy with JavaScript, 75 stealth proxy; AI extraction adds 5; Google Search API 10 or 15 credits. Only successful requests (200, 404 or 410) are charged. API credits are valid for one month and don’t roll over.
Cost per 1,000 page scrapes
| Basic (no JavaScript) | JavaScript rendering | |
|---|---|---|
| ScrapingBee monthly plans | $0.25 → about $0.07 | $1.27 → $0.37 |
| FastAF packs (1 credit basic, 5 dynamic) | $0.50 → $0.27 | $2.50 → $1.33 |
| FastAF x402 | $5.00 (fixed price per call) | options priced above the fixed x402 price need an API key |
At full plan utilization ScrapingBee is cheaper per page. FastAF costs more per page but nothing renews: a $10 pack does not expire, which can cost less when usage is low or irregular. Compare output and success rate on your own URLs.
At a glance
| FastAF | ScrapingBee | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | One-time packs from $10, paid credits never expire | Monthly plans, credits expire after one month |
| Free | 500 credits every month after email verification | 1,000 trial credits, no card; renewal not stated |
| Pay per call without account | Yes, x402 in USDC on Base on all 23 endpoints | Not found; API key required |
| MCP | Hosted MCP server, 23 read-only tools | Official MCP server (mcp.scrapingbee.com), API key required |
| Source-specific JSON | Google verticals, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Zillow, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, X, patents, flights, schema-validated extraction | Google Search API and AI extraction; other dedicated APIs listed on its site |
| Concurrency | 2 on the free tier, 5 on paid packs, 25 on the $799 pack | 25 to 900 depending on plan |
| Spend control | Optional per-request and per-session USD cap (X-FastAF-Max-Spend) |
max_cost cap per request in auto mode |
When to choose ScrapingBee
- Large, steady scraping volumes where a monthly plan is fully used.
- High concurrency or stealth proxies.
When to choose FastAF
- An agent that pays per call over x402 without an account.
- One balance for scraping plus Google, commerce and video data, with credits that do not expire.
- Irregular volume where a monthly allowance would go unused.
FAQ
Is ScrapingBee cheaper than FastAF? Per page at full plan use, yes: $1.27 to $0.37 per 1,000 JavaScript-rendered requests versus $2.50 to $1.33 on FastAF packs. FastAF has no monthly commitment and its credits do not expire.
Do ScrapingBee credits roll over? No. They are valid for one month.
Does ScrapingBee support x402? Not found on its official pages on 29 October 2026.
Does FastAF render JavaScript? Yes: call /v1/scrape with dynamic=true (5 credits), with optional wait= in milliseconds (0 to 35000). wait does not enable rendering by itself. The x402 scrape endpoint costs $0.005 per successful call for both default and dynamic=true requests. challenge_mode=true is a separate rendering mode (10 credits); do not combine it with dynamic=true, premium=true or country. Heavier combinations and AI extraction may require API-key billing.
Can FastAF crawl a whole site? No. Each scrape request retrieves one public URL.
Where is the FastAF MCP server? At https://api.fastaf.co/mcp. Discovery is public; tool calls need an API key or OAuth token.
When should I keep ScrapingBee? If you rely on its JavaScript scenarios, CSS/XPath extraction rules or an extraction setup that already runs on it.
How should I switch? Run the same representative URLs through both services and compare output, freshness, failure handling and total cost. Adapt response parsing and authentication: FastAF is not a drop-in replacement for ScrapingBee’s API.
Sources (all read 2026-10-29)
- ScrapingBee pricing
- ScrapingBee documentation: credit costs and Google Search API
- ScrapingBee FAQ
- ScrapingBee MCP server
- FastAF figures: pricing and the complete API reference
More on the FastAF blog.