ScraperAPI is a good tool for the job it was built for, and we say so below, plainly. This page is for the other buyer: the one watching a credit bucket drain against a protected target - anti-bot surcharges, domain multipliers, retries - and still not getting the data. Our answer is flat-priced dedicated 4G/5G carrier IPs, or the whole pipeline done for you.
High-volume commodity scraping of Amazon and Google at scale. That is ScraperAPI's home turf, and it is genuinely good at it - if your workload is mainstream e-commerce and search at volume, it is a sensible default.
Structured endpoints for mainstream e-commerce. Ready-made structured responses for the big platforms save you real parser work, and no flat retainer of ours competes with that convenience on those platforms.
A cheap headline price per easy request. On sites with little or no defense, ScraperAPI's per-request math is hard to beat. For those jobs, use it - we will not pretend otherwise.
Competitor pricing and behavior as of mid-2026 - verify current rates and terms on ScraperAPI's site. Verified July 2026.
The narrow lane we actually win: protected targets, flat cost, delivered data.
ScraperAPI adds +10-credit anti-bot surcharges and 25-30x domain multipliers, with no credit rollover (as of mid-2026 - verify). A protected target can consume a plan many times faster than the headline price suggests. Our carrier IPs are priced flat at $4/GB whether the target is easy or hostile.
Independent 2025-26 benchmarks put ScraperAPI's protected-site success around ~69%, with total failure on some hard targets (verify current results). Our exits are dedicated real 4G/5G carrier modems - the one class of IP anti-bot vendors cannot blocklist wholesale - and we prove them on your target in a paid pilot.
Hand the hard target to Data Works and stop watching a credit bucket drain against a wall. A principal engineer builds, runs and repairs the scraper, and structured data lands where you want it - on a custom-quoted flat monthly retainer.
We concede the big columns loudly and win the narrow ones. Competitor figures as of mid-2026 - verify current rates. Verified July 2026.
| ScraperAPI | PROXIES.SX Data Works | |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon / Google at volume | Their home turf - they win, clearly | Not our lane - use ScraperAPI for these |
| Structured endpoints for mainstream e-commerce | Ready-made - they win | Custom-built per target via Data Works |
| Headline price per easy request | Cheap - they win on easy sites | Flat $4/GB is not the cheapest for easy sites |
| Cost on protected sites | +10-credit anti-bot surcharges, 25-30x domain multipliers, no rollover (mid-2026, verify) | Flat $4/GB, easy or hostile - no multipliers |
| Protected-site success | ~69% in independent 2025-26 benchmarks; total failure on some hard targets (verify) | Proven per-target with a paid pilot before you commit |
| Exit IPs | Shared pool behind the API | Dedicated real 4G/5G carrier modems |
| What you get | Responses - you own retries, parsing and breakage | Structured, delivered data (Data Works) |
| Who you talk to | Ticket queue | The principal engineer building it |
Genuinely: if this is you, go to ScraperAPI. We will tell you the same on a scoping call.
Our lane is narrow and we stay in it: hard targets, in the 6 countries we cover, on real carrier IPs.
Every Data Works retainer is custom-quoted per project on target difficulty, number of sources and volume - one flat monthly number, quoted in about 24 hours, and proven with a paid pilot on your hardest target before you commit. No credit math, no anti-bot surcharges, no domain multipliers.
Just want the raw proxies? The same dedicated 4G/5G carrier IPs are self-serve from $4/GB (down to $2.40 at volume) - start here.
Pricing verified July 2026. ScraperAPI figures as of mid-2026 - verify current rates and terms on their site.
No, and we will not pretend it is. ScraperAPI is genuinely good at high-volume commodity scraping of Amazon and Google at scale, with structured endpoints for mainstream e-commerce and a cheap headline price per easy request. For those jobs, use it. We are the alternative for the other job: protected, mobile-gated targets where credits drain against a wall - delivered as data at a flat price, on dedicated 4G/5G carrier IPs.
ScraperAPI bills in credits, and the credits are not flat: anti-bot handling adds +10-credit surcharges, some domains carry 25-30x multipliers, and unused credits do not roll over (as of mid-2026 - verify current terms). A plan that looks cheap on the headline price can be consumed many times faster the moment your target is protected. Our carrier IPs are priced flat at $4/GB whether the target is easy or hostile.
Independent 2025-26 benchmarks put ScraperAPI's protected-site success around ~69%, with total failure on some hard targets - verify current results, as these things move. On easy sites it performs well, and we say so plainly. Our answer for hard targets is not a benchmark claim: we prove it with a paid pilot on your specific target before you commit.
Self-serve dedicated 4G/5G carrier IPs start at $4/GB (down to $2.40 at volume) with free endpoints and no monthly port fees. Data Works, the done-for-you pipeline, is custom-quoted per project on target difficulty, sources and volume - one flat monthly number, quoted in about 24 hours. Proxy pricing verified July 2026.
The sites that trigger anti-bot surcharges are hard because systems like DataDome, Cloudflare and PerimeterX ban on IP reputation before any challenge. Real carrier CGNAT IPs are shared with millions of legitimate phone users, so they cannot be blocklisted wholesale - which is why they pass where shared pools behind an API get burned and retried.
We operate real modems in 6 countries. We are honest about that limit - if your project needs broad global coverage, we will say so and point you to a provider who has it.
Yes. The same real 4G/5G carrier IPs are self-serve from $4/GB - no retainer required. Data Works is there when you would rather hand the hard target over entirely and receive structured data instead of running retries yourself.
We quote a flat monthly retainer in about 24 hours, and the paid pilot on your hardest target typically returns real extracted rows within days. If we cannot crack it, you do not proceed.
Point us at the target that eats your credits. We quote a flat retainer in about 24 hours and prove it with a paid pilot - real rows before you commit. If ScraperAPI is the better fit, we will say so.