ZenRows vs ScrapingBee in 2026

Both calls answered on one key

You do not have to pick one API and rewrite the other. Each call keeps its path, its parameters and its parser. The address changes, and the key.

# ZenRows: before
curl "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=$ZENROWS_KEY&url=https://example.com"
# ZenRows: after
curl "https://api.specstream.ai/zenrows/v1/?apikey=$SPECSTREAM_KEY&url=https://example.com"

# ScrapingBee: before
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCRAPINGBEE_KEY" "https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/?url=https://example.com"
# ScrapingBee: after
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_KEY" "https://api.specstream.ai/scrapingbee/api/v1/?url=https://example.com"

The parameter and field tables are in the ZenRows guide and the ScrapingBee guide.

What stays the same

On the ZenRows route, url, response_type, json_response and outputs keep their meaning, and errors come back in ZenRows' codes: 404 RESP002, 422 RESP001, 400 REQS004, 401 AUTH002. On the ScrapingBee route, url, return_page_markdown, return_page_text, json_response, add_html and transparent_status_code keep theirs, and the key also works as api_key.

Not returned: ZenRows' X-Request-Id, X-Request-Cost, Zr-Final-Url and Concurrency-* headers, xhr, and headings and images from outputs. ScrapingBee's Spb-* headers, and in its JSON headers, cost, cookies, xhr, screenshot, metadata, iframes, evaluate_results and js_scenario_report.

One price for every page, from credit that does not expire

ZenRows charges 1, 5 or 25 credits a page, and ScrapingBee 1 to 75, so the same plan reads a different number of pages each month. SpecStream charges $0.80 per 1,000 pages whatever the page needs: $19 reads 23,750 pages. There is no monthly plan, credit you buy never expires, and a busy call or a page with no text costs nothing.

Scores published on the official sets

The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The Search API on the same key 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. Every score and its method is on the benchmarks page.

Zero retention on any key

Set zero_retention when you create a key. A call made with that key keeps no request text and no answer after the reply.

curl -X POST https://api.specstream.ai/v1/account/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPECSTREAM_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "production", "scopes": ["account:read", "finds:spend"], "spend_cap_cents": 500000, "zero_retention": true}'

Search, sites and rows on the same key

A scraper reads the pages you already know. On SpecStream the same key also searches the live web at $5 per 1,000 searches, maps and crawls a site at the page price, reads up to 20 pages a call with the Extract API, and runs Deep Search, which returns every match for a request as rows. Saved requests rerun hourly to yearly, and new rows arrive in Slack, a sheet, a CRM or a signed webhook.

ScraperAPI

A page API sold by monthly plan. Hobby costs $49 a month for 100,000 credits, and the credit balance resets when the subscription renews. SpecStream answers ScraperAPI's call at https://api.specstream.ai/scraperapi at $0.80 per 1,000 pages.

Scrapfly

A scrape API billed in credits. Discovery costs $30 a month for 200,000 credits, and JavaScript rendering adds 5 credits a request. SpecStream answers Scrapfly's call at https://api.specstream.ai/scrapfly/scrape at one price per page.

Scrape.do

A page API with 1,000 free credits and a Hobby plan at $29 a month for 250,000 credits. SpecStream answers Scrape.do's call at https://api.specstream.ai/scrapedo, and its credit never expires.

Firecrawl

Scrape, crawl and search endpoints billed in credits: 1 credit a page and 2 credits per 10 search results, with paid plans from $19 a month for 5,000 credits. SpecStream answers Firecrawl's v2 calls at https://api.specstream.ai/firecrawl, with search at $5 per 1,000 and pages at $0.80 per 1,000.