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ScraperAPI vs Scrapingdog vs Firecrawl: which fits your agent's job?
Updated
Pick by the job. ScraperAPI, our featured affiliate pick, and Scrapingdog both fetch pages that block plain requests and add ready-made endpoints for sites like Google and Amazon. Firecrawl suits agents that search, crawl whole sites and want Markdown by default. All three offer an MCP server and SDKs, and no single one fits every agent.
Disclosure: ScraperAPI, Scrapingdog and Firecrawl links on this page are affiliate links, marked "Affiliate link, #ad". We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes trust scores or what we say about a tool. How we make money: our disclosure.
Which is better for AI agents: ScraperAPI, Scrapingdog or Firecrawl?
It depends on the job. For reading specific pages that block bots, ScraperAPI and Scrapingdog both do the proxy, browser and CAPTCHA work in one call. For ready-made JSON from Google or Amazon, both have dedicated endpoints. For searching the web and crawling whole sites into Markdown, Firecrawl is built around that. All three ship an official MCP server.
Table cells are vendor claims, not our tests. No prices: billing differs per endpoint, so check each vendor's own pricing page.
Which one fetches pages that block plain requests?
All three say they do. ScraperAPI puts proxy rotation, JavaScript rendering and CAPTCHA handling behind one REST call, which is why it's our featured pick for this job. Scrapingdog says it manages proxies, headless Chrome and CAPTCHA solving. Firecrawl says it handles proxies, anti-bot and JavaScript rendering. We haven't measured success rates.
Why ScraperAPI is featured: ScraperAPI is featured because it is our affiliate and because it is built around the first job most agents fail at: fetching a page that blocks plain requests, in one call, with Markdown output and an official MCP server. We have not benchmarked the three, so this is not a speed or success-rate claim.
All three. ScraperAPI returns Markdown when you set output_format=markdown. Scrapingdog returns it with markdown=true on its /scrape endpoint and can also pull JSON fields from a prompt. Firecrawl returns Markdown by default and can also return HTML, links, screenshots or JSON that matches a schema you supply.
Firecrawl is built for it: /crawl follows links with depth, limit and path filters, and /map lists every URL on a site first. Scrapingdog has a crawling API that returns a domain's pages as LLM-ready content. ScraperAPI's Async Scraper runs large batches of URLs and returns results by webhook or polling, so you supply the URL list.
Which one has Google SERP and e-commerce endpoints?
ScraperAPI and Scrapingdog. ScraperAPI has structured endpoints for Google search, shopping, news, jobs and maps, plus Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Redfin. Scrapingdog lists Google Search (with AI overviews), Maps and Trends, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, YouTube, LinkedIn profiles, X and TikTok. Firecrawl offers general web search and schema-based extraction instead of site-specific endpoints.
Yes, all three. ScraperAPI runs a remote MCP server and lists SDKs for Python, Node.js, PHP, Ruby and Java, plus LangChain, LlamaIndex, n8n and Zapier. Scrapingdog has an MCP server you start with npx and SDKs for Node.js and Python. Firecrawl has a hosted MCP server, a CLI that adds skills to coding agents, and Python and Node SDKs.
Firecrawl and Scrapingdog document it. Firecrawl's /interact keeps a scraped page open so the agent can click, fill forms and navigate. Scrapingdog's action queue runs navigate, click, type and wait steps before extraction. ScraperAPI's AI overview covers rendering, sessions and custom headers, not click-by-click browsing.
Pick ScraperAPI if your agent mostly needs specific pages that block bots, or Amazon, Google and Walmart data as JSON. Pick Scrapingdog if you want many search, e-commerce and social endpoints under one key. Pick Firecrawl if the agent searches, crawls whole sites or needs Markdown by default. For tools beyond these three, see our main scraping guide.
For different jobs. ScraperAPI focuses on fetching pages that block bots and on site-specific JSON endpoints. Firecrawl focuses on search, crawling and Markdown by default. We have not benchmarked them against each other.
Is Scrapingdog the same as ScraperAPI?
No. They're separate companies with similar core products: a proxy-and-render scraping API plus dedicated endpoints. Their endpoint lists differ, so compare the sites your agent needs.
Do ScraperAPI, Scrapingdog and Firecrawl return Markdown?
Yes. ScraperAPI uses output_format=markdown, Scrapingdog uses markdown=true, and Firecrawl returns Markdown by default.
Which one has an MCP server?
All three. ScraperAPI has a remote MCP server, Scrapingdog's runs with npx scrapingdog-mcp, and Firecrawl hosts one over Streamable HTTP.
Can I self-host any of them?
Firecrawl is open source and its docs cover self-hosting. ScraperAPI and Scrapingdog are hosted APIs.
Which is cheapest?
We don't list prices because they change and depend on the endpoint. Check each vendor's own pricing page before you commit.
Why is ScraperAPI featured?
It's our affiliate, and it's built for the job agents fail at most often: fetching pages that block plain requests. Featuring never changes trust scores.
Where can I compare more scraping tools?
Our guide to web scraping APIs for AI agents covers more options, and the directory lists MCP servers you can connect today.
We may earn a commission from ScraperAPI, Scrapingdog and Firecrawl links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change trust scores or rankings. See our disclosure and the tools we recommend.
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