ZenRows vs Apify – Top Differences
| ZenRows | Apify | |
|---|---|---|
|
Success Rate
|
Very High | Moderate |
|
Customer Support
|
24/7 chat with developers and dedicated support. | Only community forums and email support. |
|
Pricing
|
A simple per-request pricing structure | Compute unit-based pricing. |
|
Structured data
|
JSON for popular sites. | JSON for 100s of websites. |
“We power it all with ZenRows. It’s the most cost-effective and reliable data enrichment tool on the market.”
1. ZenRows
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0
ZenRows stands out with consistently high success rates, top-notch support, and clear documentation. Unlike traditional web automation platforms that require extensive setup and maintenance, ZenRows provides instant scraping capabilities through a single API call that handles everything from proxy rotation to JavaScript rendering.
It optimizes your request headers, bypasses CAPTCHAs and any anti-bot systems, and more. With ZenRows, you'll never get blocked when web scraping again.
Getting started with ZenRows is extremely easy. Let's see how it works against the Anti-Bot Challenge page, a web page protected by an anti-bot.
Start by signing up for a new account, and you'll get to the Request Builder page.
There, paste your target URL, and activate premium proxies and JS rendering.
Select your programming language (Python, in this case) and choose the API connection mode. Then, copy and paste the generated code into your scraper file.
Here's what the generated Python code looks like:
# pip install requests
import requests
url = "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/antibot-challenge"
apikey = "<YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY>"
params = {
"url": url,
"apikey": apikey,
"js_render": "true",
"premium_proxy": "true",
}
response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params)
print(response.text)
The above code outputs the protected site's full-page HTML, showing that it bypassed the anti-bot measure:
<html lang="en">
<head>
<!-- ... -->
<title>Antibot Challenge - ScrapingCourse.com</title>
<!-- ... -->
</head>
<body>
<!-- ... -->
<h2>
You bypassed the Antibot challenge! :D
</h2>
<!-- other content omitted for brevity -->
</body>
</html>
Congratulations 🎉! You bypassed anti-bot protection using ZenRows.
2. ScrapingBee
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.9
While Apify focuses on providing a complete web automation platform, ScrapingBee offers a more streamlined approach to web scraping. ScrapingBee provides better documentation and simpler integration compared to Apify's actor-based system. Their pricing is more transparent, but they lack important capabilities such as auto-parsing and standalone proxy access.
Pros:
✅ Good documentation
✅ Easy to integrate
✅ Javascript rendering
Cons:
❌ Geo-targeting has an additional cost
❌ No auto-parsing capabilities for most popular websites
3. Bright Data
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.7
Bright Data offers a versatile scraping infrastructure that competes with Apify's ecosystem. While they provide an extensive proxy network and various scraping tools, users often face challenges with high costs, and their success rates tend to be inconsistent, especially with heavily protected websites.
Pros:
✅ Largest proxy network available
✅ Pre-collected datasets
✅ Scraping browser
Cons:
❌ More expensive
❌ Steep learning curve for developers
4. Oxylabs
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5
Oxylabs provides enterprise-level scraping solutions similar to Apify but with a stronger focus on proxy services. Their infrastructure is robust, but users often struggle with integration complexity and high costs. Additionally, users often report difficulties with their technical support response times.
Pros:
✅ Extensive proxy network
✅ ML-driven Scraper APIs
✅ Readily available datasets
Cons:
❌ More expensive
❌ Slower customer support