Extracto vs ScrapingBee
ScrapingBee handles proxies, CAPTCHAs, and anti-bot, returning rendered HTML. Extracto returns typed, schema-validated JSON. They solve different halves.
How they differ
ScrapingBee and Extracto both reach hard pages, but they hand back different things. ScrapingBee is a rendering and proxy API: you request a URL and it returns the rendered HTML, with rotating proxies, automatic CAPTCHA handling, anti-bot evasion, and JavaScript rendering doing the work of reaching the page. It can also run CSS extraction rules so you pull specific values, but you own the parsing of whatever comes back.
Extracto reaches the page too and then goes one step further. You send a URL plus a JSON schema, it runs the page through a real headless browser, and it returns typed JSON validated against your schema, with null for any field it cannot find. Every request includes a managed anti-bot bypass layer that handles protected sites such as Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX, with proxies and anti-bot handling taken care of for you and no setup. It works on any public HTTPS URL, including JavaScript-rendered and anti-bot-protected pages. There are no CSS selectors to maintain and no HTML to parse, which is Extracto's main edge: ScrapingBee returns rendered HTML you parse yourself, while Extracto returns the structured fields directly.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Extracto | ScrapingBee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default output | Typed schema-validated JSON | Rendered HTML | ScrapingBee hands you HTML to parse yourself; Extracto hands you the structured fields directly, no parsing step. |
| Proxies | Included (no setup) | Yes | Extracto manages proxies for you with nothing to configure; ScrapingBee's rotating proxies are a core strength with geo controls you select. |
| Anti-bot / CAPTCHA handling | Yes, managed | Yes, automatic | Extracto includes a managed anti-bot bypass layer that handles Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX; ScrapingBee also handles CAPTCHAs and evasion. |
| JavaScript rendering | Yes, real headless browser | Yes | Both render JS pages; the difference is what you get back, raw HTML versus validated structured JSON. |
| Login-gated pages | Enterprise only | Limited | Login-gated content (LinkedIn, X, Instagram) needs session cookies, available on Extracto Enterprise; neither tool is a general solution for authenticated scraping. |
| No selectors to maintain | Yes, schema-first | CSS rules optional | ScrapingBee's CSS extraction rules break on redesigns; Extracto describes the data by schema so there is no selector to update. |
| Schema-validated output | Yes, every response | No, you validate | Extracto checks output against your schema before returning; with ScrapingBee you write the validation around the HTML yourself. |
| Null instead of guessed values | Yes, never guesses | N/A (raw HTML) | Extracto returns null for fields it cannot find; ScrapingBee returns the page and leaves correctness of extraction to you. |
| Setup time | Minutes, describe fields | Minutes + parsing code | ScrapingBee fetches fast, but you still build the parse and validate layer; Extracto's setup ends at the schema. |
| Free tier | 100 pages, no card | Trial credits | Extracto's free plan needs no credit card; ScrapingBee offers trial credits, so compare on the volume you actually need. |
Pricing
As of 2026, Extracto's free plan is 100 pages with no credit card and paid starts at $14/month (Hobby, 5,000 pages). ScrapingBee's paid plans start at roughly $49/month. Both include proxy and anti-bot handling, so the real difference is output: ScrapingBee returns rendered HTML you parse yourself, while Extracto returns typed, schema-validated JSON from your schema. Pick the tool whose output matches your job. With Extracto you only pay when it works: failed requests and cache hits are free.
Pricing for ScrapingBee reflects their public plans at the time of writing. Check their site for current numbers.
Migrating to Extracto
- 1
Drop the separate proxy and anti-bot layer
Extracto manages proxies and includes an anti-bot bypass layer on every request, so for public HTTPS URLs you no longer need ScrapingBee's proxy configuration to reach anti-bot-protected pages.
- 2
Replace your parsing code with a schema
Take the CSS rules or HTML parsing you maintained on top of ScrapingBee and rewrite the target fields as a JSON schema. Extracto returns those fields directly, so the parsing layer goes away.
- 3
Send the URL plus schema to Extracto
Swap the ScrapingBee request for an Extracto call with the same URL and your schema. Extracto runs the page through a real headless browser and returns validated JSON, with null for fields that are missing.
- 4
Keep ScrapingBee for specific proxy or geo needs
If you have particular proxy, region, or raw-HTML control requirements, keep ScrapingBee for those, and route schema-based extractions to Extracto where typed, validated JSON with no parsing pays off.
When to choose which
Choose ScrapingBee when you want raw rendered HTML you control yourself, or have specific proxy and geo-targeting requirements you want to set directly. ScrapingBee gives you the page and the proxy knobs, and leaves the parsing in your hands, which some teams prefer.
Choose Extracto when you want clean, typed, schema-validated JSON without writing or maintaining CSS selectors and parsing code. Extracto works on any public HTTPS URL, including JavaScript-rendered and anti-bot-protected pages, with proxies and a managed anti-bot bypass layer handled for you and no setup. If your job is "structured fields from a URL," Extracto removes the parse and validate work that you would otherwise build on top of ScrapingBee's HTML.