Extracto vs Crawlbase
Extracto returns schema-validated typed JSON from one URL, null not guessed. Crawlbase brings proxies, crawling, per-site scrapers and storage. Honest compare.
How they differ
Crawlbase (formerly ProxyCrawl) is a broad data-collection platform. You get a Crawling API that returns raw HTML, a Smart Proxy product, dedicated rotating-proxy plans, a Leads API and Cloud Storage that persists each crawled page. To turn HTML into structured fields you either parse it yourself or attach one of Crawlbase's pre-built scrapers, which are scoped to specific targets such as Amazon, Google, eBay and similar. That breadth is real, and for crawling at scale or running your own proxy pool it is a strength. Extracto is narrower on purpose. You send one URL plus a JSON schema, the page runs through a real headless browser, and you get back typed JSON validated against that schema, with any field it cannot find returned as null instead of a guessed value. There is no per-site scraper to pick, no CSS selectors to maintain, and no HTML parsing step. A managed anti-bot bypass layer (Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX) and proxies are included on every request with no setup. The honest split: Crawlbase is the platform you reach for when you need crawling, storage and proxies as separate building blocks. Extracto is the focused tool when you already know the URL and want clean, schema-shaped data in one call.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Extracto | Crawlbase | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output shape | Typed JSON validated against your schema | Raw HTML, or parsed JSON via a scraper parameter | Crawlbase can return parsed JSON when a matching pre-built scraper exists; otherwise you parse HTML yourself. Extracto always validates against your own schema. |
| Per-site scraper selection | None, your schema defines the fields | Pre-built scrapers for Amazon, Google, eBay and more | Crawlbase's per-site scrapers are a genuine convenience on supported targets. Extracto skips that catalog entirely by letting you declare fields per request for any URL. |
| Missing-field behavior | Returns null, never guesses | Depends on the parser or your own HTML handling | Extracto's contract is that an absent field comes back null rather than a fabricated value, which keeps downstream typing honest. Crawlbase leaves this to your parsing logic. |
| Crawling at scale | Single URL per call, not a crawler | Asynchronous crawling and webhook callbacks | This is a clear Crawlbase win. It is built to crawl many pages and push results back asynchronously. Extracto deliberately handles one URL per call. |
| Standalone proxies | Managed for you, not sold separately | Dedicated rotating-proxy plans (Smart Proxy) | Crawlbase sells proxies as their own product if you want to run them in your stack. Extracto bundles proxy and anti-bot handling into each request with no separate plan. |
| Storage of results | Returns data in the response, no built-in store | Cloud Storage persists each crawled page | Crawlbase's Cloud Storage with retention windows is a real platform feature. Extracto returns the JSON and leaves persistence to you, keeping the surface small. |
| Lead generation | Not offered | Dedicated Leads API | Crawlbase ships a Leads API for contact discovery, a category Extracto does not enter. If lead sourcing is the goal, Crawlbase is the broader fit. |
| Anti-bot handling | Managed bypass layer on every request | CAPTCHA handling and JavaScript rendering built in | Both handle protected, JavaScript-rendered pages through managed infrastructure. Extracto includes it by default with no flag; Crawlbase exposes rendering and proxy options as request parameters. |
| Setup and maintenance | Define a schema once, no selectors | Choose scraper or write parsers, manage proxy options | Extracto removes selector and parser upkeep because the schema is the contract. Crawlbase gives more knobs, which means more to configure and maintain. |
| Login-gated content | Enterprise only (needs session cookies) | Some social scrapers exist (LinkedIn, Instagram) | Crawlbase advertises scrapers for some social targets. Extracto restricts cookie-based, login-gated extraction to Enterprise and is upfront that this is its one stated limit. |
Pricing
As of 2026, Crawlbase prices the Crawling API per request across three difficulty tiers (the harder the target, the more it costs), with volume discounts as monthly usage rises, plus separate plans for proxies and for Cloud Storage. A free trial offers 1,000 requests without a card, or 10,000 with payment details added. Extracto bills in credits at one flat rate, and unlike Crawlbase's tiered model the difficulty of the target does not change the price: a scrape is 1 credit and an AI extraction is 5 credits, while anti-bot, residential proxies, and JavaScript rendering are all included at the same price with no multiplier for protected pages. You only pay when a request works, since failed requests and cache hits are free. Compare on your actual mix of scrape versus extraction calls rather than headline per-request figures, and confirm current numbers on each vendor's pricing page before you commit.
Pricing for Crawlbase reflects their public plans at the time of writing. Check their site for current numbers.
Migrating to Extracto
- 1
Map your scraper output to a schema
Take the fields you currently get from a Crawlbase pre-built scraper or from your own HTML parser and write them as a JSON schema. This becomes the contract Extracto validates every response against, so list each field and its type explicitly.
- 2
Swap the call to one URL plus schema
Replace the Crawling API call (and any scraper parameter or proxy options) with a single Extracto request that sends the target URL and your JSON schema. There are no CSS selectors and no per-site scraper to choose, so the request body is just the URL and the shape you want back.
- 3
Handle nulls instead of parser gaps
Update downstream code to treat null as a real, expected value for fields that were not present on the page, rather than relying on parser-specific empties or fabricated defaults. This makes typing honest and surfaces genuinely missing data.
- 4
Re-create crawling and storage if you used them
Extracto handles one URL per call and does not persist results, so if you relied on Crawlbase asynchronous crawling or Cloud Storage, keep your own URL queue and write the returned JSON to your database or object store.
When to choose which
Choose Extracto when you already have the URL and want typed, schema-validated JSON in a single call, with missing fields returned as null and no per-site scraper or selector maintenance. It fits product pages, listings, articles and profiles on public HTTPS URLs, including JavaScript-rendered and anti-bot-protected ones, where the value is clean structured output rather than raw HTML. Choose Crawlbase when the job is genuinely a crawl: many pages discovered and fetched asynchronously, results pushed back via callbacks, and pages persisted in Cloud Storage with retention. Crawlbase is also the better pick if you want to buy rotating proxies as a standalone product to run inside your own stack, if you need its Leads API, or if one of its pre-built per-site scrapers (Amazon, Google and similar) already returns exactly the fields you need with no schema work. For login-gated social data, evaluate both carefully against each site's Terms of Service, since Extracto limits cookie-based extraction to Enterprise.