Bright Data and ScraperAPI solve the same problem — getting unblocked data at scale — but with different philosophies. Bright Data gives you a vast proxy network plus a toolkit of unblocking products. ScraperAPI wraps everything into a single, dead-simple API endpoint. Here's how to choose.
Approach
- Bright Data: A full proxy platform. You pick proxy types, configure rotation, and optionally layer on tools like the Web Unlocker and Scraping Browser. Maximum control.
- ScraperAPI: Send a URL to one API endpoint and get clean HTML back. Proxy rotation, retries, and CAPTCHA handling are all hidden behind the call. Maximum simplicity.
Proxy Network
- Bright Data: Over 72 million residential IPs across 195 countries, plus datacenter, ISP, and mobile.
- ScraperAPI: Automatic rotation across datacenter, residential, and mobile proxies (millions of IPs), selected for you based on the request.
Bright Data exposes the raw network; ScraperAPI abstracts it away.
Features
- Bright Data: Web Unlocker, Scraping Browser, SERP API, ready-made datasets, built-in CAPTCHA solving and fingerprinting.
- ScraperAPI: JavaScript rendering, automatic proxy/CAPTCHA handling, structured data endpoints, and premium proxy modes (
premium=true/ultra_premium=true) for tougher targets.
Pricing
- Bright Data: Pay-as-you-go from $5/GB, with volume discounts and a 7-day free trial (no credit card). You pay for bandwidth.
- ScraperAPI: A credit-based, pay-as-you-grow model — plans scale by monthly API credits, with a generous free tier and a 7-day trial with bonus credits. You pay per request (JS rendering and premium proxies cost more credits).
Bandwidth-based vs. request-based billing is the key difference: heavy-HTML pages favor a credit model, while light high-volume scraping can favor bandwidth pricing.
Quick Comparison
| Bright Data | ScraperAPI | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Proxy network + tools | All-in-one scraping API |
| Control | High | Low (handled for you) |
| Billing | Per GB | Per credit/request |
| Setup effort | Moderate | Minimal |
| Best for | Custom, large-scale pipelines | Fast, simple integration |
Conclusion
- Use Bright Data if: You want control, the largest network, and a full unblocking toolkit for custom pipelines. Read the full Bright Data review.
- Use ScraperAPI if: You want the simplest possible integration — one endpoint, no proxy management. Read the full ScraperAPI review.
Not sure which proxy type you even need? See our guide to residential vs. datacenter vs. mobile proxies.