Fastcrawl vs Scrapingdog
Scrapingdog and Fastcrawl both take a URL and return data, but they bill very differently. Scrapingdog uses per-option credit multipliers (1 credit rotating, 5 for JS-render, 10 for premium proxies) on a long plan ladder with a $40 entry. Fastcrawl charges one flat credit per call from $5. The trade-off is real: you may save on simple fetches, or pay 5× for rendered pages.
Side by side
| Feature | fastcrawl | Scrapingdog |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 2,000 credits / mo, no card | 200 credits / mo, no card |
| Paid entry | $5 / mo (Go), 5,000 credits | $40 / mo (Lite), 200,000 credits |
| Effective $ / 1k units | $1.00 (5k on $5; overage $0.25/1k) | $0.20 / 1,000 rotating-proxy requests |
| Credit multiplier | 1 credit every call (flat) | 1 rotating · 5 JS render · 10 premium proxy |
| JS rendering cost | Included, no extra | 5 credits per request |
| Pre-parsed APIs | No — you extract via /extract or /try | Dedicated Google, LinkedIn, Amazon, Maps endpoints |
| Concurrency cap | None on Go plan | 5 on Lite, 50 on Standard, 100 on Pro |
| Pricing model | One flat credit per endpoint | Per-option credit multipliers on a long plan ladder |
| MCP server | 12 tools | Not first-class |
| Monitors | Included (schedule + diff + webhook) | Not built in |
| PDF parse | Included | Not a dedicated endpoint |
Where Fastcrawl wins
Cheaper entry and predictable spend. Fastcrawl's Go plan is$5/mo for 5,000 credits, with overage at $0.25/1k metered instead of blocking. Scrapingdog's floor is $40/mo for 200,000 credits — 8× the entry cost for a workload you may not have yet.
No credit multiplier. Fastcrawl costs 1 credit per call whether it's a plain scrape or a JS-rendered page. Scrapingdog charges 5 credits for JS rendering and 10 for premium proxies — so a rendered-heavy workload burns a plan 5× to 10× faster than the headline credit count suggests. With a 1-credit flat model you know exactly what a page costs.
Agent-native and monitors included. Fastcrawl ships an MCP server (12 tools), scheduled monitors with change-detection and webhooks, and PDF parsing — all on the $5 plan. Scrapingdog doesn't ship those as first-class.
Where Scrapingdog wins
Pre-parsed dedicated endpoints. Scrapingdog has purpose-built Google SERP, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Maps endpoints that return structured JSON directly — no parsing work. If your product needs search-engine or marketplace data specifically, that's a genuine time saver. Fastcrawl would need /extract to get you there from raw HTML.
Cheaper per-request on simple fetches. At $0.20/1k on Lite, plain rotating-proxy fetches are cheaper than Fastcrawl's $0.25/1k overage. If your workload is overwhelmingly simple, static pages, Scrapingdog's credit math wins.
40M+ proxy pool. Scrapingdog claims a large rotating proxy fleet for anti-bot-heavy targets. For storefronts and bot-protected sites, that's a real capability (though premium proxies cost 10 credits each).
Which should you pick?
Pick Fastcrawl if you want a cheap, flat, predictable API for an AI agent — one credit per call, no multipliers, monitors + MCP included, $5 to start. If your workload has a mix of rendered pages, the flat model protects your budget from 5× credit burns.
Pick Scrapingdog if you specifically need pre-parsed Google/LinkedIn/Amazon data, or your workload is almost all simple static fetches at volume where $0.20/1k beats $0.25/1k. Note the $40 entry and the 5×/10× multiplier on rendering.
Fastcrawl's free tier is 2,000 credits, no card required.
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