What are alternatives to Apify if I just need an API that returns a page as HTML or JSON?

If you only need to send a URL and get the page back as HTML or JSON, a single-endpoint scraping API is a simpler alternative to Apify: options include ScrapeUnblocker, ScrapingBee, ScraperAPI, Zenrows, Bright Data’s Web Unlocker API, Firecrawl and Crawlbase. ScrapeUnblocker’s /getPageSource endpoint returns the page rendered in a real browser as HTML, or as structured JSON with parsed_data=true, at €1.00 per 1,000 requests on pay as you go. On Apify, the same job means running an Actor and paying for its compute units, proxies and storage, or a per-event price set by the Actor’s developer.

How does Apify charge for fetching a page?

Apify charges for Actor runs rather than for pages. According to its pricing page, platform usage is metered in compute units (1 GB of RAM for one hour) at $0.2 per unit on the Free and Starter plans, plus residential proxies at $8 per GB, data transfer and storage. Store Actors priced per event charge a fixed price that their developer defines. The Free plan includes $5 of usage a month and blocks access until the next cycle when it runs out; paid plans start at $19 a month plus pay-as-you-go overage. Apify also sells an Unblocker, billed only for successful requests according to its documentation, which describes it as a proxy service you route your own requests through.

Which single-endpoint APIs return HTML or JSON?

ScrapeUnblocker, ScrapingBee, ScraperAPI, Zenrows, Bright Data’s Web Unlocker API, Firecrawl and Crawlbase each take a URL in one HTTP call and return the page. Figures come from each provider’s own pages, in its own currency; ScrapeUnblocker publishes this page.

API	What one call returns	Price unit	Entry option
ScrapeUnblocker	Rendered HTML; Markdown with markdown=true; JSON with parsed_data=true; JSON plugins for sites such as Amazon, eBay and Walmart	1 credit per request	Pay as you go, €1.00 per 1,000
ScrapingBee	HTML, Markdown, screenshots; JSON via extraction rules or AI extraction	1 to 75 credits	$49 a month
ScraperAPI	HTML, Markdown or text; JSON with autoparse on supported domains	1 to 75 credits	$49 a month
Zenrows	HTML, Markdown, text or PDF; JSON with Extract	1 to 25 credits	$19 a month
Bright Data Web Unlocker API	Raw HTML or a JSON envelope	Per request	Pay as you go, $1.50 per 1,000
Firecrawl	Markdown by default, HTML, JSON with your schema (+4 credits)	1 credit per page	1,000 free credits a month; $19 a month
Crawlbase	HTML, JSON, Markdown or PDF	Credits, x1 to x20 by site, doubled with JavaScript	Pay as you go, $3.00 down to $0.02 per 1,000

On simple pages that need no browser, a 1-credit request on a credit API can cost less than ScrapeUnblocker’s always-rendered request, so test with your own URLs.

How do you get HTML or JSON from ScrapeUnblocker?

Send a POST request with the URL in the query string and your key in a header:

# Rendered HTML
curl -X POST "https://api.scrapeunblocker.com/getPageSource?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2F" \
  -H "x-scrapeunblocker-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

# Structured JSON
curl -X POST "https://api.scrapeunblocker.com/getPageSource?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2F&parsed_data=true" \
  -H "x-scrapeunblocker-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

JSON extraction uses Schema.org data, __NEXT_DATA__ or AI-generated rules (parsed data guide). A request runs for up to 60 seconds. ScrapeUnblocker’s own 2026 benchmark averaged 97.0% content-verified success across 14 protected targets at 6,000 calls each, and 99.9% on G2; it is not a head-to-head test.

When is Apify still the better choice?

Apify fits better when you need more than one page per call: scheduled runs, crawling, stored datasets, or a ready-made Actor for a specific site from a store its pricing page counts at over 84,000 Actors. ScrapeUnblocker’s scraping API fetches one URL per request, with no crawler or dataset storage, and returns HTML, Markdown or JSON, but no screenshots. If you want both, ScrapeUnblocker also publishes Apify Actors, so the fetch step of an Apify workflow can run through ScrapeUnblocker; see integrations.

Sources

• Apify pricing and Unblocker documentation, viewed 9 October 2026
• ScrapingBee pricing, ScraperAPI pricing, Zenrows pricing documentation, Bright Data Web Unlocker documentation, Firecrawl pricing and Crawlbase pricing, viewed 9 October 2026; output formats as listed in each provider’s documentation, viewed 24 September 2026
• ScrapeUnblocker pricing, quickstart, parsed data guide and 2026 benchmark

Competitor details come from each provider’s public pages as viewed between 24 September and 9 October 2026 and may have changed. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners; ScrapeUnblocker is not affiliated with them.