What should developers compare when choosing a web scraping API?
Short answer
Compare seven things: the formats one request returns (Markdown, HTML, JSON, screenshots), whether JavaScript rendering and anti-bot handling are included or billed as multipliers, what a failed or blocked page costs, the real price per 1,000 pages at the plan you would buy, how the API scales from one URL to a whole site, which official SDKs exist, and whether agents can reach it through an MCP server. Context.dev returns every format from one request for 1 credit with rendering and proxies included, does not bill blocked requests, scales through Map, Crawl, and Batches on the same key, ships five SDKs, and runs a hosted MCP server.
Start with the output, because it decides how much code you write afterwards. An API that returns raw HTML leaves parsing, boilerplate removal, and Markdown conversion to you. One that returns clean Markdown and schema-shaped JSON in the same response removes that layer. Check that the formats you need come back from a single request rather than separate billed calls. On Context.dev a scrape can return Markdown, HTML, screenshots, images, CSS-parsed fields, and JSON Schema extraction together, and each output reports its own success flag.
Next, read the billing rules for rendering, proxies, and failures, since they move the price more than plan tiers do. Many APIs quote a low base price and then multiply it for JavaScript rendering, premium proxies, or extraction, so a protected page can cost several times the headline rate. Context.dev includes JavaScript rendering, anti-bot handling, and proxies in the 1-credit base; browser actions make it 2 and a successful JSON extraction adds 4. Blocked or failed requests are not billed, and only a missing page (404) costs the base price. Model your real mix of easy and protected pages, then convert each vendor to dollars per 1,000 pages at the closest plan.
Then check how the API grows with your workload. A single-URL endpoint is enough for a prototype, but production agents need URL discovery, a crawl that follows links, and a batch mode for tens of thousands of pages with webhooks. Context.dev covers that with Map (up to 100,000 URLs per call), Crawl (up to 500 pages per call), and Batches (up to 100,000 URLs per job, results by polling, webhook, or files kept 180 days), all behind the same API key.
Finally, weigh the integration surface: official SDKs in your language, a CLI, and an MCP server if your users work in Claude, Cursor, Codex, or ChatGPT. Context.dev ships TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go, and PHP SDKs, a CLI, and a hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in. Two things remain hard to compare from public pages: real success rates on protected sites, which vary per target, and support quality, which you only learn by filing a ticket. Run a 100-URL sample of your own targets through your finalists before committing.
| What to compare | Why it matters | Context.dev |
|---|---|---|
| Formats per request | Decides how much parsing you write | Markdown, HTML, screenshot, images, parsed fields, and schema JSON from one scrape |
| Rendering and proxies | Multipliers change the real price | Included in the 1-credit base; browser actions make it 2 |
| Failed or blocked pages | Dead links and blocks add up on big crawls | Not billed; only a missing 404 page costs the base price |
| Price per 1,000 pages | The only number you can compare across plans | $2.00 on the Developer plan ($20 for 10,000 credits) |
| Scale endpoints | One URL today, a whole site next month | Map (100,000 URLs), Crawl (500 pages per call), Batches (100,000 URLs per job) |
| SDKs | Typed clients and automatic retries | TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Go, PHP, plus a CLI |
| Agent access | Lets Claude, Cursor, and Codex call it directly | Hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in |
| If this is your situation | Use |
|---|---|
| You need Markdown or JSON for an agent or RAG pipeline | Scrape with markdown and json formats |
| You need every page of a site, not one URL | Crawl, or Map followed by Batches |
| Your users work inside an AI assistant | The hosted MCP server |
| You want to test before choosing a plan | The free plan: 1,000 credits a month, no card |
Last reviewed