ScrapingBee alternative
Ready-to-use JSON, one request charge only on a successful call.
One request, real response
The API returns clean JSON, and the same rows are available as CSV, so it drops straight into Sheets or a CRM with no parsing:
Swap type=web for maps, news, shopping, images, videos, scholar, patents, places, or reviews. Same key, same shape. There is no page to render and no HTML to clean up.
What data do you get?
Each result arrives clean and complete, so you build a feed or a dataset with no second call and no HTML selectors. The same record as CSV, ready for Sheets or a database:
Or the same record as clean JSON from the API:
With ScrapingBee you fetch the page and write the selectors. Here the structure is already done.
CrustAPI vs ScrapingBee
Both fetch public web data. ScrapingBee is a general web-scraping toolkit; CrustAPI is one clean data API for the whole Google menu plus LinkedIn profiles and local business leads.
| ScrapingBee | CrustAPI | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | Per request, and the credit cost varies with JavaScript rendering and premium proxies | Pay only for results at the applicable endpoint rate. Google Search bills per successful request and Maps per business returned. LinkedIn reads bill per successful request, People and Jobs per successful search, Refresh per accessible profile, and enriched People per full profile. Empty and failed requests are free. The pricing page lists every rate. |
| What you get back | The rendered HTML of any URL, or your own CSS and XPath extraction rules | Clean JSON in a stable schema, or the same rows as CSV, no parsing |
| Free tier | A limited free trial, no card | Free to try, no card |
| Balance expiry | Tied to a monthly plan | Never expire |
| Data ownership | You keep the pages you fetch | No storage limits. Keep it, export it, build on it |
| Endpoints | Any URL you point it at, plus a Google search endpoint | Google Search, Maps, News, Shopping, Images, Videos, Scholar, Patents, Places, and Reviews |
How much does CrustAPI cost?
Every search bills one request charge when it succeeds. Maps bills per business returned; other Google endpoints bill per successful request. Empty and failed requests are free.
| Deposit | Google Search / 1,000 requests | Maps / 1,000 businesses | LinkedIn reads / 1,000 requests | People, Jobs, Refresh / 1,000 units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10+ | $1.00 | $1.96 | $6.00 | $1.96 |
| $149+ | $0.76 | $1.49 | $4.50 | $1.49 |
| $549+ | $0.56 | $1.10 | $3.30 | $1.10 |
| $1,999+ | $0.41 | $0.80 | $2.45 | $0.80 |
| $6,500+ | $0.33 | $0.65 | $1.95 | $0.65 |
| $27,500+ | $0.28 | $0.55 | $1.65 | $0.55 |
| $50,000+ | $0.26 | $0.50 | $1.50 | $0.50 |
| $100,000+ | $0.20 | $0.40 | $1.50 | $0.40 |
Every eligible account gets $6 of free usage monthly. Each deposit keeps its prices until spent; paid funds never expire. People and Jobs bill per successful search, Refresh per accessible profile. Full profiles in People use the read rate per full profile. See all billing details.
Larger deposits unlock lower endpoint prices. Each deposit keeps its prices until spent. See the full deposit table on the pricing page. Prices in USD, ex-tax.
Funds are prepaid and never expire. There is no premium request tier, so the price on this page is the price you pay.
How do you get started?
No selectors to write and no settings to tune. From zero to clean records in about two minutes:
- 1
Create a free account. Try it free, no card needed.
- 2
Type a search in the playground. Pick a type like web or maps and the results land in a table.
- 3
Export the CSV, or run the curl above. Copy your key from the dashboard for the API.
Who uses CrustAPI?
- Lead gen teams. Pull local businesses or LinkedIn profiles as flat rows and start outreach the same day.
- SEO and rank trackers. Watch positions across web, news, and images with one stable schema.
- AI and RAG builders. Feed agents clean JSON search results with no HTML cleanup step.
- Ops and no-code teams. Run searches in the browser playground and export CSV, no developer needed.
When ScrapingBee is the better pick
ScrapingBee and CrustAPI solve different problems. If your target is off our menu, ScrapingBee is the right tool, and here is where it clearly wins.
Any website, not a fixed menu. ScrapingBee is a general web-scraping API. You point it at any URL and it hands back the page. CrustAPI covers a set menu of data, not any URL you name, so for an arbitrary site ScrapingBee is what you want.
A full browser and a proxy pool. ScrapingBee renders JavaScript for any page, rotates proxies, and can take a screenshot of a URL. That toolbox is built for scraping the open web, which is a wider job than a structured data menu.
Your own extraction rules. If you already write CSS or XPath selectors and want the raw HTML to run them against, ScrapingBee gives you that page. CrustAPI decides the schema for you, which is the point here, but it is not what you want when you need the raw page.
This compares public product behavior, not a ranking. If anything here is stale or unfair, email support@crustapi.com and I will fix it.
Related: Google Search API · Google Maps scraper API · Web scraper API · Docs
Common questions
ScrapingBee is a general web-scraping API: you send any URL and get the rendered page back, then parse it yourself. CrustAPI returns clean records from a fixed menu of data, the whole Google menu plus LinkedIn profiles and local business leads, already parsed into a stable schema, so there is no HTML to clean up.
No. The API returns clean JSON, not a page of markup, and the same rows are available as CSV with one click. If you specifically need the raw HTML of an arbitrary URL to run your own selectors against, ScrapingBee is the better fit for that job.
The whole Google menu: Search, Maps, News, Shopping, Images, Videos, Scholar, Patents, Places, Reviews, and Autocomplete. Beyond Google, LinkedIn profiles and local business leads. One key and one schema across all of them.
Pay only for results at the applicable endpoint rate. Google Search bills per successful request and Maps per business returned. LinkedIn reads bill per successful request, People and Jobs per successful search, Refresh per accessible profile, and enriched People per full profile. Empty and failed requests are free. The pricing page lists every rate.
CrustAPI is free to try with no credit card. Deposits start at $10, and paid funds never expire.
When you need to scrape a website that is off our menu, render a specific page's JavaScript, capture a screenshot, or run your own extraction rules on the raw HTML. That is what a general web-scraping API is built for.
Clay
Try it on a query you run
the free plan covers real work. Run one search and look at the clean JSON that comes back, or flip it to CSV.
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