Crawlbase Alternative with 98% Success Rate on Protected Sites
Crawlbase (formerly ProxyCrawl) is primarily a proxy provider. Their web scraping API is an add-on to their core proxy business. Scrapfly is a dedicated web scraping platform built from the ground up to solve anti-bot challenges.
We maintain 98% success on protected sites. When anti-bot systems update, our proprietary ASP technology restores bypasses in days, not weeks, because web scraping is our entire focus.
Where Scrapfly Succeeds on Protected Sites
Scrapeway benchmarks test web scraping APIs using default configurations. Scrapfly achieves 98% success across protected sites where most APIs struggle.
E-commerce
Professional & Jobs
Real Estate
Social Media
Why Scrapfly Achieves 98% Success
Scrapfly's Anti-Scraping Protection (ASP) delivers consistent results on the most challenging targets like LinkedIn, Walmart, Zillow, and more. We own the full technology stack (proxies, browsers, fingerprinting, challenge solving), which means we can restore bypasses in days when anti-bot systems update, not weeks.
Full Stack Ownership
- Active anti-bot monitoring 24/7
- Bypass restoration in days, not weeks
- No third-party proxy dependencies
- Real browser TLS fingerprint matching
Protected Sites We Handle
- Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX
- Akamai Bot Manager
- Custom enterprise solutions
- CAPTCHA challenges
Quick Comparison: Scrapfly vs Crawlbase
What matters most for production web scraping: success rate on protected sites, cost efficiency, and reliability with JavaScript rendering.
| Metric | Scrapfly | Crawlbase |
|---|---|---|
| Business Focus | Dedicated scraping API | Proxy provider (scraping add-on) |
| Anti-Bot Technology | Proprietary ASP bypass | Proxy rotation only |
| Success Rate (Protected Sites) | 98% | N/A |
| Independent Benchmarks | Weekly on Scrapeway | Not tracked |
| Free Trial | 1,000 API credits | 1,000 credits |
| JS Scenarios (Browser Automation) | Full automation support | |
| Extraction API | AI-powered data extraction | |
| Smart Caching | Customizable TTL | |
| Wait for Selector | ||
| Session Management | Full session support | Basic session ID |
Success rate data from Scrapeway benchmark (at time of writing)
How Scrapfly's ASP Works
Scrapfly's Anti-Scraping Protection (ASP) achieves 98% success using stealth browser technology that mimics genuine browser behavior. Enable asp=True and the system handles everything automatically.
Real Browser Fingerprints
Matches authentic Chrome and Firefox signatures including TLS/JA3 fingerprints, HTTP/2 fingerprints, WebGL properties, and canvas rendering.
Adaptive Challenge Solving
Automatically solves Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX challenges. Recognizes challenge types and submits valid solutions.
Session Intelligence
Reuses unblocked stealth browser sessions when possible, reducing costs while maintaining high success rates.
ASP runs in dedicated cloud browser instances with full JavaScript execution and persistent sessions. Test your fingerprint with our free fingerprinting tools.
Transparent Pricing for Protected Sites
Scrapfly's ASP costs 30+ credits per request, varying by target complexity. You pay for what's actually needed, not a flat premium rate. View full pricing details.
| Configuration | Scrapfly | Crawlbase |
|---|---|---|
| Basic request (no JS) | 1 credit | 1 credit |
| JavaScript rendering | 6 credits | 2 credits |
| Premium (residential) + JS | 30 credits | 20 credits |
| ASP on protected sites | 30+ credits (varies by target) | 10-20 credits (JS+premium) |
Why Choose a Dedicated Scraping API
Proxy providers treat web scraping as an add-on feature. Scrapfly is built from the ground up for one thing: reliable web scraping at scale.
100% Focused on Scraping
Crawlbase is primarily a proxy provider. Web scraping is a secondary product. Scrapfly's entire business is web scraping.
This means faster feature development, quicker anti-bot updates, and dedicated engineering focused solely on your scraping success.
Scraping-first engineeringProprietary Anti-Bot Technology
Proxy rotation alone doesn't beat modern anti-bot systems like Cloudflare, DataDome, or PerimeterX. These require real browser fingerprinting, TLS matching, and challenge solving.
Scrapfly's ASP owns the entire bypass stack. When sites update defenses, we restore access in days.
Beyond proxy rotationJS Scenarios for Browser Automation
Crawlbase's API is limited to basic parameters. Scrapfly's JS Scenarios let you automate complex browser interactions:
- Clicks, form fills, scrolls, and conditional logic
- Infinite scroll and lazy-loaded content
- Login flows and cookie management
Extraction API
Transform raw HTML into structured data automatically. Scrapfly's AI-powered Extraction API handles:
- Auto-extraction: Automatically detect and extract data
- LLM extraction: Natural language prompts for complex data
- Template extraction: Reusable extraction rules
Developers Who Switched from Crawlbase
Capterra Rating: 4.9/5 (183 reviews)
"The price, success rate and uptime. It was trivial changing over from another provider."
"Switching to Scrapfly took us less than 15 minutes to integrate with our existing project."
"I could scrape multiple pages of reviews for companies on Glassdoor. I used the discovery and I had more than enough for my research."
Migration Takes 2 Hours
Most teams migrate from Crawlbase to Scrapfly in under 2 hours with zero downtime and no data loss.
Migration Process
- Sign up for free 1,000 API credits
- Install the SDK (Python, TypeScript, Go, or Scrapy)
- Update client initialization and request parameters
- Test on your critical targets
Run both services in parallel during testing. Test Scrapfly on your targets while Crawlbase handles production traffic.
# Crawlbase → Scrapfly: Simple parameter changes
from scrapfly import ScrapflyClient, ScrapeConfig
client = ScrapflyClient(key='YOUR_API_KEY')
result = client.scrape(ScrapeConfig(
url='https://example.com',
render_js=True, # Replaces javascript=true
asp=True, # Replaces premium=true (and more)
proxy_pool='public_residential_pool', # Residential proxies
country='us' # Same parameter name
))
print(result.content)Full parameter mapping, multiple language examples, and AI-assisted migration tool:
View Full Migration GuideFrequently Asked Questions
Does Scrapfly really achieve 98% success on protected sites?
Yes. Scrapeway benchmarks all major web scraping APIs on identical protected targets, consistently showing Scrapfly achieving 98% success. This includes sites like LinkedIn, Walmart, Zillow, and Glassdoor where anti-bot protection is most aggressive.
Can I test Scrapfly on my specific targets before committing?
Yes. The free plan includes 1,000 API credits with no credit card required. Test your exact targets before upgrading.
Is Crawlbase primarily a proxy provider?
Yes. Crawlbase (formerly ProxyCrawl) is primarily a proxy provider. Their web scraping API is a secondary product built on top of their proxy infrastructure. Their engineering focus is split between proxy services and scraping.
Scrapfly is 100% dedicated to web scraping. Our entire engineering team focuses on anti-bot bypass, browser fingerprinting, and scraping reliability, not proxy management.
Why isn't Crawlbase included in Scrapeway benchmarks?
Scrapeway benchmarks the top dedicated web scraping APIs weekly. Crawlbase, being primarily a proxy provider, is not included in their tracking. There's no independent, public verification of their success rates on protected sites.
Scrapfly is benchmarked weekly and consistently achieves 98% success on protected sites with default settings, a transparent and verifiable metric.
Does Crawlbase have real anti-bot bypass or just proxy rotation?
Crawlbase's approach relies primarily on proxy rotation, switching IP addresses to avoid detection. While this works for basic sites, modern anti-bot systems like Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX analyze much more than IP addresses.
Scrapfly's ASP (Anti-Scraping Protection) is a proprietary technology that handles browser fingerprinting, TLS signature matching, challenge solving, and behavioral analysis. This is why we achieve 98% success on protected sites while proxy rotation alone often fails.
Does Scrapfly have better API features than Crawlbase?
Crawlbase's API has limited parameters focused on basic scraping. Scrapfly offers significantly more capabilities:
- JS Scenarios: Browser automation (clicks, fills, scrolls, conditional logic)
- Smart Caching: Reduce costs with configurable TTL
- Extraction API: AI-powered structured data extraction
- Session Management: Maintain cookies and state across requests
- Wait for Selector: Wait for specific elements before returning
- Proxy Saver: Significant bandwidth cost reduction
How does Scrapfly handle heavily protected sites?
Our ASP (Anti-Scraping Protection) automatically adapts to Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX, and custom anti-bot systems by matching real browser TLS handshakes, fingerprints, and HTTP headers. No manual configuration required.
Why is Crawlbase getting blocked on protected sites?
Crawlbase primarily uses proxy rotation to handle anti-bot systems. Modern protections like Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX analyze browser fingerprints, TLS signatures, behavioral patterns, and more, not just IP addresses.
If you're getting blocked or inconsistent results, it's likely because proxy rotation alone isn't enough for that target. Scrapfly's ASP is proprietary anti-bot technology that handles the full range of detection methods, delivering 98% success on protected sites.
What happens when a request fails?
Scrapfly provides detailed error diagnostics showing why requests fail (blocks, timeouts, site issues). Automatic retries handle transient failures, and you're not charged for unsuccessful requests.
Does Scrapfly support JavaScript rendering?
Yes. Scrapfly uses dedicated cloud browser instances with headless browser JavaScript rendering for dynamic content. Enable the render_js parameter to capture content from React, Vue.js, Angular apps and SPAs.
What proxies does Scrapfly include?
Scrapfly includes residential and datacenter proxies in all plans. Both rotate across 50+ countries. All proxies are included in API credits with no separate fees.
Does Scrapfly have an Extraction API?
Yes. Scrapfly's Extraction API transforms raw HTML into structured JSON data automatically. Choose from auto-extraction for common data types, LLM-powered extraction using natural language prompts, or template-based extraction with reusable rules.
See How Scrapfly Compares to Other APIs
Explore more comparisons to find the best web scraping solution for your needs.
Start For Free Today
Test Scrapfly on your targets before committing.
- 1,000 free API credits
- No credit card required
- Full API access
- Migration support
Methodology Note: Scrapeway benchmarks test web scraping APIs using default, out-of-the-box configurations, representing the real-world experience developers encounter when first integrating an API.