Extracto vs Diffbot
Compare Extracto and Diffbot. You define the exact schema and get validated typed JSON, versus Diffbot's automatic AI extraction and Knowledge Graph.
How they differ
Diffbot and Extracto solve overlapping problems from opposite directions. Diffbot is an automatic AI extraction platform: you point its Article, Product, Discussion or Analyze API at a URL and its computer-vision and machine-learning models decide what fields a page contains and return them, no schema required. On top of that sits a Knowledge Graph of (as of 2026) hundreds of millions of organizations and billions of articles that you can query directly, plus crawling, enrichment and a natural-language API. That breadth is genuinely hard to match. Extracto is narrower and more controllable. You send one URL plus a JSON schema, the page runs through a real headless browser, and you get back typed JSON validated against your schema, with any field it cannot find returned as null instead of a guessed value. The difference is who owns the field set. With Diffbot's automatic APIs the model picks the shape and you adapt to it (or write X-evaluate JavaScript rules to extend it). With Extracto you declare the shape up front and the output is guaranteed to conform to it for any field set you can describe, not only the page types Diffbot recognizes.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Extracto | Diffbot | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic extraction without a schema | No, you must supply a JSON schema | Yes, Article/Product/Analyze APIs auto-detect fields | Diffbot's core strength: its ML models classify a page and return fields with zero configuration, which is faster to start when you do not care about the exact shape. |
| You define the exact output fields | Yes, your JSON schema is the contract | Partial, fixed page types plus X-evaluate custom JS | Extracto returns any field set you describe; Diffbot returns its model's fields and you extend them with custom JavaScript rules layered on the automatic output. |
| Schema-validated typed output | Yes, output is validated against your schema or the call is free | No formal per-request schema validation | Diffbot returns structured JSON but its shape is defined by the API type, not validated against a contract you author for that specific request. |
| Missing fields returned as null, never guessed | Yes, explicit null on absence | Fields may be omitted or inferred by the model | Both avoid hallucinating wildly, but Extracto's explicit null contract makes absent data unambiguous for downstream code rather than a missing key. |
| Knowledge Graph of pre-crawled entities | No | Yes, hundreds of millions of orgs and billions of articles | Diffbot's Knowledge Graph and Enhance API let you query and enrich entities you never crawled yourself, which Extracto does not attempt to offer. |
| Site crawling and link spidering | No, single URL per call by design | Yes, Crawlbot spiders sites and extracts at scale | Diffbot wins clearly here; Extracto is a per-URL extraction call, so you bring your own URL list or crawler. |
| Managed anti-bot rendering and proxies | Yes, managed bypass layer and proxies, no setup | Yes, full JS rendering plus proxy support | Both run real rendering with managed infrastructure for protected sites; this is a genuine parity area rather than a differentiator for either. |
| No-code and platform breadth | API-first, TypeScript SDK | Broader platform: dashboard, NL API, LLM, MCP server | Diffbot ships more surrounding tooling including a fine-tuned LLM and an MCP server, suiting teams who want a platform rather than a focused endpoint. |
| Login-gated content | Enterprise only, needs session cookies | Limited, focuses on the public web | Neither targets authenticated scraping of LinkedIn or X private data as a self-serve feature; both center on public HTTPS pages. |
| Free-on-failure billing | Yes, invalid JSON against your schema is not charged | Credit consumed on successful extraction | Extracto ties cost to schema-valid output; Diffbot charges one credit per successful page extraction regardless of whether the fields matched your intent. |
Pricing
Pricing is approximate and as of 2026, so confirm current numbers on Diffbot's pricing page before deciding. Diffbot publishes tiered monthly plans built on credits: a Startup tier around 299 dollars for roughly 250,000 credits, a Plus tier near 899 dollars for about 1,000,000 credits with crawl access, a Professional tier near 3,999 dollars for about 5,000,000 credits, and custom Enterprise pricing, with overage billed per call (roughly 0.0008 to 0.0009 dollars). A key nuance: a Diffbot credit is not the same as a page, since a single extraction is one credit but crawls only consume credits on successful page extraction, and anti-bot or heavier pages can differ. Extracto charges in credits at one flat rate, a scrape is 1 credit and an AI extraction is 5 credits, with anti-bot, residential proxies, and JavaScript rendering all included at the same price and no multiplier for protected pages. It does not bill for output that fails to validate against your schema, and cache hits are free, so you only pay when a request works. Compare on cost per successfully validated record for your real workload, not on headline credit counts.
Pricing for Diffbot reflects their public plans at the time of writing. Check their site for current numbers.
Migrating to Extracto
- 1
Map your Diffbot fields to a JSON schema
List the fields you currently consume from Diffbot's Article or Product response, plus any X-evaluate custom rules you added, and translate them into an explicit Extracto JSON schema with types. This is where you regain control: fields Diffbot omitted or named awkwardly become first-class properties you define, and optional fields become nullable rather than silently missing.
- 2
Bring your own URL list
Diffbot's Crawlbot discovers URLs for you, so before switching extract the page URLs you actually need, whether from a sitemap, your existing crawl output, or a database. Extracto takes one URL per call by design, so the migration is mostly about supplying that list from whatever source already feeds your pipeline today.
- 3
Run both in parallel and diff the output
Send the same sample URLs to Diffbot and to Extracto, then compare field by field. Confirm that anti-bot-protected pages render correctly through Extracto's managed layer and that null appears where Diffbot previously omitted or inferred a value, so downstream code that expected a guess is updated to handle explicit nulls.
- 4
Cut over and keep the Knowledge Graph if you still need it
If you only used Diffbot for live extraction, switch your pipeline to Extracto and retire the calls. If you also relied on the Knowledge Graph or Enhance API for entity enrichment, keep that subscription for those queries, since Extracto does not replace pre-crawled entity data, and use Extracto only for the per-URL extraction half of your workload.
When to choose which
Choose Diffbot when its breadth is the point. If you want to crawl entire sites without managing a URL list, query pre-crawled entities from the Knowledge Graph, enrich a CRM with company or article data you never scraped yourself, or use automatic extraction precisely because you do not want to define a schema, Diffbot is the better tool and Extracto does not try to compete there. Its 2026 additions like an LLM-ready markdown option, a fine-tuned LLM and an MCP server also make it attractive for teams building a broad data platform. Choose Extracto when you already know exactly which fields you need and want a guarantee that the JSON conforms to your schema for any field set, not just Diffbot's recognized page types. It fits well when you have your own URL list, want explicit nulls instead of inferred values, prefer paying only for output that validates, and need managed anti-bot rendering on a focused per-URL endpoint rather than a full platform.