> SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. This is the Markdown copy of https://specstream.ai/alternatives/oxylabs. Every page, with what SpecStream does and costs: https://specstream.ai/llms.txt

# Best Oxylabs alternatives in 2026 | SpecStream

Compared on Nov 9, 2026.

# Oxylabs alternatives in 2026

**Ask for the data and get finished rows, at 5¢ to $1 a row.**

Oxylabs sells its Web Scraper API on monthly plans: Starter at $15, Basic at $100, Flexible at $500 and Enterprise from $2,500 a month. /Scrape costs from $0.50 per 1,000 results and /Search costs $1 per 1,000 searches. Each request names a source and one URL or query, and a response with a 2xx or 4xx status code counts as a successful attempt. Finding the right pages, joining them into records and keeping the records up to date stay with your code.

SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. You ask for the data in plain words, and it finds every match on the live web and returns structured rows that meet every condition you wrote, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. You approve the most a run can cost before it starts, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing. The same key carries the Search API at $5 per 1,000 searches and the Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages.

[Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-oxylabs&utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fagents%3Ftab%3Dkeys)

New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

## SpecStream and Oxylabs side by side

|  | SpecStream | Oxylabs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What you send | The data you want in plain words, with the conditions every row must meet | A `source` that sets which scraper runs, and one URL or query per request, with optional parameters such as `geo_location`, `user_agent_type` and `parse` |
| What you get back | Structured rows, one record per company, place or filing, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every value | One result per URL or query. AI parsing of a page is priced on its own, at $3.00 per 1,000 parsed pages on the entry tier |
| The unit you pay for | A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every plan | A result or a search. /Scrape runs from $0.50 per 1,000 results on Starter to $0.25 on Enterprise, and /Search costs $1 per 1,000 searches |
| Reading a page | Extract API: $0.80 per 1,000 pages, up to 20 pages or documents (PDF, Word, Excel) a call. A page that gives no text is not charged | Custom domains on the entry tier: $1.00 per 1,000 results, or $1.50 with JavaScript rendering. Google results: $1.00, or $1.35 with JavaScript rendering |
| Web search | Search API: the most accurate web search API in the world, 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct). $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, up to 100 results a search, with an answer and the page it was read from | /Search: $1 per 1,000 searches, up to 15K searches on Starter, 100K on Basic and 500K on Flexible |
| What failed or empty work costs | Nothing. A row left out, a retry and a run that finds nothing are not charged | Unsuccessful attempts are not charged. Every attempt that returns a 2xx or 4xx status code counts as successful |
| The cost cap before a run | The most the run can cost, quoted before it starts. Nothing runs until you approve it, and there are no automatic overages | The volume of the plan: up to 30K results on Starter, 222K on Basic and 1.43M on Flexible. At the limit you top up in the dashboard or contact your account manager |
| How you start | $10 of credit on sign-up, no card. After that, a top-up from $10 that never expires, or a plan at $19, $99 or $499 a month that turns its whole price into credit | $5 of welcome credit toward any product. Then Starter at $15 a month, Basic at $100, Flexible at $500, or Enterprise for plans starting at $2,500 a month |
| Reruns and change labels | Hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢ | Scheduler is listed among the features its API plans include without additional fees. |
| Where the data goes | Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, monday.com, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks | API responses through Realtime, Push-Pull or Proxy Endpoint integration, and delivery to your storage |

## Why Oxylabs buyers move to SpecStream

### You describe the data, and SpecStream finds the pages

An Oxylabs request starts from a URL or a query you already know, and your code decides which pages to ask for next and how the results become records. On SpecStream the request is the whole job. It can be companies, places, filings, tenders or packages: "B2B software companies that launched a public API in 2026, with the docs page, the pricing page and the starting price". SpecStream reads the request back as parts you can edit, the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back, before anything runs. Then it searches the live web, reads each page and joins what it finds into one record per company.

### You pay for rows, and dead ends cost nothing

Oxylabs counts every attempt that returns a 2xx or 4xx status code as successful, and a 404 is a 4xx. SpecStream bills the rows that meet your request: 5¢ for a row with up to 5 facts, 15¢ for up to 15 facts and one set of related records, and $1 for a deep row with no limit. 10,000 rows with 5 facts each cost $500. The searches and pages behind each row are not billed, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing.

### The price is set before the run

On Oxylabs the limit is the volume of your plan, up to 30K results on Starter, and past it you top up or contact your account manager. Every SpecStream request gets a quote of the most it can cost, good for 30 minutes. Nothing runs until you approve it, the charge never goes past that amount, and whatever the run does not use goes back to your balance. Reading and pricing a request cost nothing.

### The most accurate web search API in the world

The SpecStream Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, 978 of them correct, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs) page, from our run of November 8, 2026.

### Search, pages and rows on one key

One SpecStream key calls the [Search API](https://specstream.ai/search-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs) at $5 per 1,000 searches, the [Extract API](https://specstream.ai/extract-api?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs) at $0.80 per 1,000 pages and [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs) at the row rates. A page that refuses a plain read is tried again as a browser would ask for it, then in a real browser, then from the site's own feed, then from its newest public archive capture, all at the same $0.80 per 1,000. Oxylabs prices a custom domain at $1.00 per 1,000 results on its entry tier and $1.50 with JavaScript rendering.

### The rows stay up to date in your tools and your agent

Save the request and it reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row costs 1¢, so rechecking 1,000 rows that did not change costs $10. New matches arrive in Slack, email, a sheet, a CRM or a signed webhook, and agents connect to `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` with OAuth or an API key and spend inside the limits you set on the key.

## Other Oxylabs alternatives

### SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. One request in plain words returns every match on the live web as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row, under a maximum you approve. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches and the Extract API $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and a new account starts with $10 of credit, no card.

### Bright Data

Proxy networks, a Web Unlocker and scraper products, each with its own price page. Its Web Scraper IDE is listed on AWS Marketplace at $500 a month for the Starter plan and $1,000 a month for Production. SpecStream has no monthly minimum: a run bills its delivered rows from your balance, from 5¢ a row.

### Firecrawl

Search, Scrape, Crawl and Agent endpoints billed in credits. The free plan gives 1,000 credits a month, which covers about 1,000 pages, and the Hobby plan costs $19 a month. It returns the pages you point it at, and SpecStream returns the rows read from every page that holds the facts, with the pages behind a row not billed.

### ScrapingBee

A scraping API billed in credits on monthly plans, with 1,000 free credits to start. Credits are valid for one month and do not roll over. A SpecStream top-up never expires, and each run bills only its delivered rows.

### Apify

A platform for cloud programs called Actors, each with its own price set by its author. It has a free plan with limits, and its pricing examples use the $19 Starter plan. SpecStream has one rate card for every request, the same on every plan.

### Decodo

Residential proxies sold by the gigabyte: $4 per GB pay as you go, or $3.75 per GB on a 3 GB monthly plan down to $2.75 per GB at 100 GB. You pay for traffic and build the rest. SpecStream prices the finished row and quotes the whole job before it runs.

## How SpecStream scores

The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.

ResultsWideSearchCostSimpleQA Verified

|  | SpecStream | ![](https://specstream.ai/images/benchmarks/parallel.svg)Parallel | ![](https://specstream.ai/images/benchmarks/exa.svg)Exa | ![](https://specstream.ai/images/benchmarks/tavily.svg)Tavily | ![](https://specstream.ai/images/benchmarks/perplexity.svg)Perplexity |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Web research**WideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna | 60.9 | 45.5 | 53.0 | 47.9 | 47.0 |
| **Factual accuracy**SimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna | 96 | 94 | 91 | 94 | 94 |
| **Factual accuracy**SimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol | 99 | 97 | 91 | 92 | 95 |

## How to switch from Oxylabs

Write the data you want in plain words, in place of the sources, URLs and queries you send today. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows.

Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost.

```
curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"request": "B2B software companies that launched a public API in 2026, with the docs page, the pricing page and the starting price", "count": 25}'
```

Approve that maximum by card through Stripe's Link agent wallet, or in USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, and you pay for the rows found. On an account, your agent uses the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` and your team uses the workspace, from the same balance.

To keep a page-by-page pipeline, send the URLs you fetch today to `POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/extract`, up to 20 a call, and your queries to `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search`. Both take the key as a Bearer header and an `Idempotency-Key` header for safe retries.

[Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-oxylabs&utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=oxylabs&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fagents%3Ftab%3Dkeys)

## Frequently asked questions

Something we didn't answer? [Talk to a human](https://specstream.ai/talk-to-a-human.md)

How much does Oxylabs cost?

Oxylabs plans cost $15 a month for Starter, $100 for Basic and $500 for Flexible, and Enterprise is for plans starting at $2,500 a month. On the Web Scraper API, /Scrape runs from $0.50 per 1,000 results on Starter to $0.25 on Enterprise, /Search costs $1 per 1,000 searches, and Residential Proxies run from $6 per GB to $2.5 per GB. New accounts get $5 of welcome credit.

What is the best Oxylabs alternative?

SpecStream, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. You describe the data in plain words with every condition, approve the most the run can cost, and get structured rows that meet all of them in your sheet, your CRM, Slack or your agent. The same request reruns on your schedule, and only delivered rows are billed.

Does Oxylabs charge for failed requests?

Oxylabs counts every scraping attempt that returns a 2xx or 4xx status code as successful, and does not charge for unsuccessful attempts. On SpecStream a row left out, a retry and a run that finds nothing cost nothing, and an Extract API page that gives no text is not charged.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Oxylabs for reading pages?

Yes. The SpecStream Extract API costs $0.80 per 1,000 pages, JavaScript pages and documents included, with no monthly plan to buy first. Oxylabs prices a custom domain at $1.00 per 1,000 results on its entry tier and $1.50 with JavaScript rendering.

Does Oxylabs have a free trial?

Oxylabs gives new accounts $5 of welcome credit toward any product. SpecStream gives new accounts $10 of credit, no card, which covers 200 rows at 5¢, 2,000 searches or 12,500 pages.

Does SpecStream have an API?

Yes, three products on one key: the Search API at $5 per 1,000 searches, the Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and Deep Search at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. There are Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI, A2A, and an MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key.

What does SpecStream cover?

SpecStream covers the whole job of getting data from the web, from one request to rows in your tool at 5¢ to $1 a row. It searches the live web, reads every page that holds the facts, and extracts them into rows. It draws on the public databases it already holds, fills in or checks a list you bring, reruns on a schedule with every change labeled, shows places on a map, and delivers the rows to your sheet, CRM, Slack or agent through MCP and the API. Oxylabs covers the page step: /Scrape and /Search return one result per URL or query, billed per 1,000.

### Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page.

1.  [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing)specstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
2.  [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md)specstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 9, 2026
3.  [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks)specstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 9, 2026
4.  [Oxylabs pricing](https://www.oxylabs.io/pricing)oxylabs.io/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
5.  [Oxylabs Web Scraper API pricing](https://oxylabs.io/products/web-api/scrape/targets/pricing)oxylabs.io/products/web-api/scrape/targets/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
6.  [Oxylabs Web Scraper API docs](https://developers.oxylabs.io/scraping-solutions/web-scraper-api)developers.oxylabs.io/scraping-solutions/web-scraper-api, read Nov 9, 2026
7.  [Bright Data Web Scraper IDE on AWS Marketplace](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-7itehj7p7n4xc)aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-7itehj7p7n4xc, read Nov 9, 2026
8.  [Firecrawl pricing](https://www.firecrawl.dev/pricing)firecrawl.dev/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
9.  [ScrapingBee pricing](https://www.scrapingbee.com/pricing/)scrapingbee.com/pricing/, read Nov 9, 2026
10.  [Apify pricing](https://apify.com/pricing)apify.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
11.  [Decodo pricing](https://decodo.com/pricing)decodo.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
