Top 5 BrightData Alternatives for Web Scraping in 2025

BrightData dominated web scraping for years with the world’s largest proxy network - 150M+ IPs across 195 countries. They built an empire on enterprise infrastructure, compliance certifications, and raw scale.

And they’re trying to evolve. BrightData now offers Web Scraper APIs, a Crawl API, even pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $0.001/record. But here’s the problem: complex enterprise infrastructure and a dashboard that feels like it’s from 2015, they’re still painful for developers. The learning curve is steep. The documentation assumes enterprise expertise. Simple tasks take hours to figure out.

A new generation of tools is winning by being developer-first. These alternatives offer cleaner APIs, natural language extraction, and scale when you need it - without the enterprise complexity. No confusing dashboards. No weeks waiting for custom scrapers. No documentation that assumes you have a PhD in proxy management.

We tested the top alternatives. Here’s what actually delivers.

Firecrawl isn’t just another scraper - it’s a complete toolkit that handles every web data challenge. From simple page scraping to complex site traversal, from AI-powered extraction to real-time search results. One API, endless possibilities.

Core endpoints:

• /scrape - Transform any page into markdown, HTML, JSON, or screenshots with full JavaScript rendering
• /crawl - Intelligently traverse entire websites (no sitemap needed) with depth control and path filtering
• /map - Instantly discover and rank all pages on any website
• /search - Search the web and get full scraped content for each result in one call
• /extract - Use natural language or schemas to pull structured data from single pages or entire domains

The complete toolkit includes:

• FIRE-1 Agent - AI that navigates sites like a human (clicks, forms, pagination)
• Actions API - Automate any browser interaction before scraping
• Change tracking - Monitor sites with git-diff style comparisons
• Batch processing - Handle thousands of URLs in parallel
• Smart caching - 500% faster with intelligent cache management
• Format flexibility - Get data exactly how you need it
• Webhook support - Real-time notifications for long-running jobs
• Advanced filtering - Extract only what matters

What makes it different:

• 34,000+ GitHub stars - Developers love it
• 50x faster than Apify - AgentOps benchmark winner
• No CSS selectors - AI understands content semantically
• LLM-optimized - Clean data ready for AI training
• Open source core - Full transparency and self-hosting
• Built for scale - From prototypes to production

Pricing: $16/month for 3,000 credits. Pay as you grow.

Perfect for: Whether you’re building AI chatbots, monitoring prices, researching markets, or automating data pipelines - Firecrawl handles it all.

The good:

• One API for every scraping need
• Adapts automatically to site changes
• Production-ready from day one
• Integrates everywhere (LangChain, MCP, n8n, Zapier)
• Battle-tested by thousands of developers

The reality check:

• Limited proxy options vs BrightData
• Credit system needs understanding
• Extract endpoint still evolving
• Advanced features use more credits

Most scrapers fail against modern anti-bot systems. Scrapfly doesn’t. Their Anti-Scraping Protection (ASP) dynamically defeats Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX - all the big ones.

Key capabilities:

• Anti-Scraping Protection - Bypasses all major bot detection
• Cloud browsers - Not standard headless, optimized for scraping
• Screenshot API - Full page captures with options
• Extraction API - CSS/XPath selectors with fallbacks
• Webhook support - Async scraping with notifications
• Monitoring API - Track website changes
• Session management - Maintain state across requests

What makes it different:

• 99.1% average success rate - Industry average is 58.1%
• 130M+ proxy pool - Auto-rotates across 120+ countries
• 5 billion+ monthly requests - Battle-tested at scale
• 12.3 second average response - Slower but reliable
• Residential proxies included - No separate proxy costs
• Geo-targeting - Country and city level targeting

Pricing: $30/month base, pay-per-use credits

Perfect for: E-commerce monitoring, heavily protected sites, when you absolutely need the data.

The good:

• Best success rate in the industry
• Handles the nastiest anti-bot systems
• Transparent credit-based pricing
• Set it and forget it reliability

The reality check:

• Slower than competitors
• More expensive per request
• Complex credit multipliers

Why build a scraper when someone already did? Apify’s actor marketplace has scrapers for Amazon, Instagram, Google Maps - basically everything.

Key capabilities:

• Actor marketplace - 4,000+ pre-built scrapers
• Apify SDK - Build custom actors in Node.js, Python
• Proxy management - Datacenter and residential options
• Storage system - Built-in data persistence
• Scheduler - Cron-based recurring runs
• Webhooks - Real-time notifications
• API & integrations - REST API, Zapier, Make.com

What makes it different:

• Docker-based architecture - Unlimited scaling potential
• TypeScript first - Finally, proper types
• Compute units pricing - Pay only for resources used
• Actor development - Build and sell your own scrapers
• Input schemas - Type-safe actor configuration
• Result datasets - Export to JSON, CSV, Excel

Pricing: $49/month starter, scales with compute units

Perfect for: Teams wanting pre-built solutions, massive scale operations, complex automation workflows.

The good:

• Someone probably built your scraper already
• Excellent docs and community
• Scales to the moon
• Great TypeScript support

The reality check:

• Pricing gets complex at scale
• Learning curve for actor development
• Can get expensive fast

Sometimes you just need an API that works. ScraperAPI handles proxies, browsers, and CAPTCHAs automatically. One endpoint. Clear pricing. No BS.

Key capabilities:

• Single REST endpoint - Just pass URL and options
• Automatic retries - Built-in retry logic
• CAPTCHA solving - Handles most CAPTCHAs
• JavaScript rendering - Headless browser support
• Geotargeting - 50+ country locations
• Custom headers - Pass any headers needed
• Batch requests - Process multiple URLs

What makes it different:

• 40M+ IPs - Mix of datacenter and residential
• 100 concurrent requests - Decent parallelization
• 5 second average response - Good performance
• Simple pricing tiers - No complex calculations
• 99.9% uptime SLA - Reliable infrastructure
• 10+ integrations - Python, Node, PHP, Ruby, etc.

Pricing: $49/month for 250,000 API credits

Perfect for: Straightforward scraping, budget teams, developers who value simplicity.

The good:

• Stupid simple to implement
• Predictable, transparent costs
• Solid documentation
• Reliable performance

The reality check:

• Basic feature set
• Limited proxy locations
• No advanced extraction

When you need SLAs, compliance certs, and a human on the phone at 3 AM, Oxylabs delivers. It’s BrightData’s real competitor with better support and pricing.

Key capabilities:

• Web Scraper API - Managed scraping infrastructure
• SERP API - Search engine results
• E-Commerce API - Amazon, eBay specific
• Real-time crawler - Live data extraction
• AI-powered parsing - ML-based data extraction
• Dedicated pools - Reserved proxy resources
• Custom solutions - Tailored enterprise builds

What makes it different:

• 177M+ proxy network - All proxy types covered
• Next-gen residential proxies - AI-powered optimization
• ISO 27001 certified - Enterprise security standards
• 24/7 support - Dedicated account managers
• 99.9% uptime guarantee - Enterprise SLAs
• Pay-per-GB pricing - No hidden fees

Pricing: Custom enterprise deals, typically $4-6/GB

Perfect for: Fortune 500s, compliance requirements, mission-critical scraping needs.

The good:

• Massive, reliable infrastructure
• Best-in-class support
• Transparent enterprise pricing
• All compliance certifications

The reality check:

• High minimum commitments
• Complex onboarding process
• Overkill for most projects

Feature	Firecrawl	Scrapfly	Apify	ScraperAPI	Oxylabs
Starting Price	$16/mo	$30/mo	$49/mo	$49/mo	Custom
Free Tier	✓ 500 credits	✓ 1000 credits	✓ $5 credit	✓ 1000 reqs	✗
Setup Time	5 minutes	10 minutes	30 minutes	5 minutes	2-3 weeks
Proxy Network	Basic	130M+ IPs	Via actors	40M+ IPs	177M+ IPs
JavaScript Rendering	✓ Native	✓ Cloud browsers	✓ Via actors	✓ Basic	✓ Advanced
AI Extraction	✓ Natural language	✗	Via actors	✗	Limited
Anti-Bot Bypass	Good	✓ 99.1% success	Good	Good	Excellent
API Response Time	Fast	12.3s avg	Varies	5s avg	Fast
Pre-built Scrapers	✗	✗	✓ 4,000+	✗	Some
Change Detection	✓ Native	✓ Monitoring API	Via actors	✗	✓
Batch Processing	✓ Native	✓	✓	✓	✓
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate	Moderate	Easy	Complex
Best For	AI/LLM data	Protected sites	Pre-built needs	Simple scraping	Enterprise

The web scraping game has fundamentally changed. It’s not about proxy counts anymore - it’s about solving real developer problems.

Choose Firecrawl if you’re building AI applications, want natural language extraction, or need clean markdown for LLMs. The FIRE-1 agent and extract endpoint are game-changers.

Choose Scrapfly when the site has serious protection and you need that 99.1% success rate. Worth the extra cost and latency.

Choose Apify if someone already built your scraper or you need massive scale with pre-built solutions.

Choose ScraperAPI for straightforward scraping on a budget. Simple, reliable, predictable.

Choose Oxylabs if you’re enterprise with compliance requirements and need white-glove support.

The future is here. These tools prove that web scraping can be simple, reliable, and actually enjoyable. Stop fighting with proxies and selectors. Pick one and start shipping.