A simpler ScraperAPI alternative for Google, LinkedIn, and local business data. Instead of proxies and raw HTML, you get clean JSON from the API (or the same rows as CSV), one credit per successful call, and credits that never expire.
No proxy to configure, no rendering flag to set, and no HTML to parse. You send one GET request and get clean data back in about a second. The example below is a Maps search:
The API returns clean JSON. You can flip the same businesses to CSV in one click, so they drop straight into Sheets or a CRM:
Swap type=maps for web, news, shopping, reviews, and the rest. The key and the schema stay the same across every type.
Every result comes parsed and complete, so there is no HTML to parse and no selectors to keep alive. Here is the same business as CSV, ready for Sheets or a database:
And the same record as clean JSON, exactly what the API returns:
ScraperAPI is general-purpose scraping infrastructure: point it at a URL, it handles proxies and rendering, and it hands back the page. CrustAPI is one clean data API for the data you actually want: the whole Google menu through one endpoint, plus LinkedIn profiles and local business leads, all returned as clean records. The difference shows up most in billing and in how much work is left for you.
| ScraperAPI | CrustAPI | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | Monthly subscription measured in API credits, where a single request can cost more credits when it needs JavaScript rendering or premium proxies | One credit per successful call at one rate, nothing else to add up |
| Free tier | A free trial to get started | 3,000 results a month, no card |
| Credit expiry | Subscription credits reset each month | Prepaid credits never expire |
| Data in response | Raw HTML back by default, which you parse yourself, plus parsed JSON for a set of supported endpoints | Clean JSON in the response for every type, or the same rows as CSV, no HTML to parse |
| Site coverage | Any URL, with proxies, rendering, and anti-bot handling | The whole Google menu, plus LinkedIn profiles and local business leads, returned as clean records |
| Google surfaces | SERP HTML for you to parse, plus a set of structured endpoints | Search, Maps, News, Shopping, Images, Videos, Scholar, Patents, Places, Reviews, Autocomplete, Webpage |
| Setup | Point it at a URL, get the page back, write and maintain your parser | One GET request, parsed JSON back in about a second |
Prepaid packs, and credits never expire: 25k for $49 · 100k for $149 · 500k for $549 · 2.5M for $1,999 · up to 250M, all self-serve, ex-tax. Every search is one credit per successful call. Maps is the one exception, billed one credit per business returned, so a Maps search with 20 results costs 20 credits and a search that returns none costs nothing. No request tiers by proxy type, no rendering surcharge, no monthly reset on what you already bought.
One key and one schema across the whole Google menu, with LinkedIn profiles and local business leads alongside it. Each type returns clean, parsed records you can keep, with no HTML to sift through.
Related: Web scraper API · Google Search API · Google Maps scraper API · ScrapingBee alternative · Docs
When ScraperAPI is the better pick: if you need to scrape sites outside a fixed menu, ScraperAPI is built for exactly that. You point it at any URL and it handles proxy rotation, headless-browser rendering, geotargeting, and anti-bot challenges, then hands back the page. That general-purpose reach covers e-commerce product pages, your own target lists, and sources CrustAPI does not touch. CrustAPI is more focused on purpose. It covers the whole Google menu through one endpoint, plus LinkedIn profiles and local business leads, all returned as clean records and priced one way. If the data you want lives in there, the parsed output and the credits that never expire are the reason to switch. The two are not exclusive; plenty of teams use both.
3,000 free credits covers real work. Send one request and look at the parsed JSON that comes back.
Get 3,000 free credits