Bright Data alternatives: 12 tools compared (October 2026)

Browserbase runs headless browsers in the cloud so AI agents and developers can automate websites, log in, fill forms and extract data at scale, with recordings of each session.

Key functions

• Stagehand SDK automates browser steps from natural-language instructions
• Fetch API converts URLs into HTML, JSON or Markdown
• Model Gateway and agent runs included in paid plans

Compared with Bright Data

• Can store data in the EU; Bright Data states no EU option.
• Different pricing model: freemium instead of usage-based.
• Names fewer security certificates: 1, Bright Data 5.

Check before buying: Session recordings can capture personal data shown on pages; the terms require consent and a visible label when recording is active. SSO and a DPA are only part of the Scale plan. The tool offers features for bypassing CAPTCHAs and bot protection: CAPTCHA solving in paid plans, a stealth mode and Agent Identity, which Browserbase promotes for getting past anti-bot systems. Using them can breach the target sites' terms of use and is legally risky in Germany, for example under Section 202a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or database rights. Have their use legally reviewed before deployment. Before processing EU data, confirm that your sessions run in the EU Central region.

Firecrawl is a web data API for developers who feed websites into AI applications. It scrapes, crawls, searches and maps sites and returns Markdown, HTML, screenshots or structured JSON.

Key functions

• Extracts structured data that matches a JSON schema you pass to the scrape endpoint
• Interact endpoint operates pages through natural-language instructions
• Returns clean Markdown prepared as input for language models

Compared with Bright Data

• Different pricing model: freemium instead of usage-based.
• Names fewer security certificates: 1, Bright Data 5.
• Strongest elsewhere: United States.

Check before buying: Check whether scraping the target sites is allowed by their terms and applicable law; Firecrawl respects robots.txt by default, but that does not settle the legal question. The hosted service stores data in the United States; zero data retention and SSO are limited to Enterprise. Estimate credit use per page type before choosing a plan, and note that AGPL-3.0 has obligations if you modify and offer the code as a service.

Exa is a web search API built for AI agents, chatbots and research tools. It returns search results, full page contents and structured answers, and offers agents that research or monitor topics on a schedule.

Key functions

• Web search for agents with configurable latency
• Deep Search for multi-step workflows with structured answers and citations
• Asynchronous research agents and monitors that check the web on a schedule

Compared with Bright Data

• Starts higher: from $4 usage-based, Bright Data from $1.50 usage-based.
• Names fewer security certificates: 1, Bright Data 5.
• Strongest elsewhere: United States.

Check before buying: Decide whether you need zero data retention and a DPA, which Exa lists for the Enterprise plan only. Estimate volumes per product, since search, contents, deep search and agent runs are priced differently. If you use people search, check the legal basis for processing personal data about the people you look up.

Scrapfly is a web scraping platform from a US based, bootstrapped vendor. Developers and data teams use one API key for a scraping API, cloud browser, screenshot API, crawler and an extraction API that uses LLM prompts and AI models to return structured data.

Key functions

• Extraction API pulls data from HTML by LLM prompt
• Pre-trained AI models for products, articles and reviews
• MCP server connects AI assistants to scraping and extraction

Compared with Bright Data

• Names fewer security certificates: 3, Bright Data 5.
• Strongest elsewhere: United States.

Check before buying: Scraping legality depends on the target site's terms, copyright, database rights and any personal data on the pages, so get legal advice before large jobs. The vendor's Unblocker is built to bypass anti-bot systems, and its terms forbid uses such as card testing and credential cracking. The privacy policy states processing occurs in the United States, and no EU region is listed.

ScrapingBee is a web scraping API from a French company. Developers send a URL and receive page content, rendered in headless Chrome with rotating proxies, or structured data extracted by CSS selectors or AI, without running their own scraping infrastructure.

Key functions

• AI extraction: describe the data in plain English (ai_query) or define fields with ai_extract_rules and receive structured JSON
• MCP server and CLI that let AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor call the scraper
• Dedicated ChatGPT and Gemini APIs that return AI answers with citations as JSON, Markdown or plain text

Compared with Bright Data

• Can store data in the EU; Bright Data states no EU option.
• Headquartered in France, Bright Data in Israel.
• Names fewer security certificates: 1, Bright Data 5.

Check before buying: Check scraping rules yourself: respect each site's terms and avoid personal data unless GDPR, supervised in France by the CNIL, or US state privacy laws give you a legal basis. ScrapingBee acts as processor, its DPA applies once an account is activated, and Standard Contractual Clauses cover US sub-processors. Request logs are kept for 14 days without response content. Estimate credit use early, because rendering, premium proxies and AI extraction raise the cost per request.

Zyte API is a web scraping API that handles blocking, browser rendering and data extraction in one call. Its AI Extraction returns structured records for common page types and custom fields.

Key functions

• AI Extraction returns product, article, job posting and search result data without selectors
• Custom attributes let an LLM extract fields described in natural language
• Generate mode summarizes, transforms or translates captured data before delivery

Compared with Bright Data

• Headquartered in Ireland, Bright Data in Israel.
• Starts lower: from $0.13 usage-based, Bright Data from $1.50 usage-based.
• Names fewer security certificates: 1, Bright Data 5.

Check before buying: Prices depend on the difficulty tier Zyte assigns to each website, so run the trial on your real target sites before estimating a budget. Per the privacy policy, data may be processed in the United States and Ireland; the DPA includes standard contractual clauses. Check that collecting data from your sources is legally permitted, especially for personal data. The tool offers features for bypassing CAPTCHAs such as reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha as well as website bans. Using them can breach the target sites' terms of use and is legally risky in Germany, for example under Section 202a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or database rights. Have their use legally reviewed before deployment.

Apify is a cloud platform for web scraping and browser automation. Teams use ready-made scrapers called Actors or build their own, and pass the data to AI applications or business systems.

Key functions

• Website Content Crawler outputs text and Markdown for LangChain, LlamaIndex and vector databases
• Optional AI summary per crawled page via OpenRouter, at extra cost
• Apify MCP server lets Claude and other clients call Actors directly

Compared with Bright Data

• Headquartered in Czechia, Bright Data in Israel.
• Different pricing model: freemium instead of usage-based.
• Strongest elsewhere: Czechia.

Check before buying: Actors in the store come from Apify and third parties, so check the author, maintenance and terms of each one. The data processing addendum allows transfers to the United States and other subprocessor countries. Usage-based billing depends on compute units and proxies, so test real workloads before committing. Confirm that scraping the target sites is allowed, especially where personal data is involved. The tool offers features for bypassing bot protection, such as circumventing anti-scraping protections with browser fingerprinting and proxies. Using them can breach the target sites' terms of use and is legally risky in Germany, for example under Section 202a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or database rights. Have their use legally reviewed before deployment.

Diffbot offers APIs that turn web pages into structured JSON without site-specific rules, together with a Knowledge Graph, web search and a natural language API for data and research teams.

Key functions

• Classifies pages by type and extracts standard fields such as price or author with pretrained models
• Natural Language API processes documents for entities and relations
• Knowledge Graph built from Diffbot's own web crawl with entity linking

Compared with Bright Data

• Different pricing model: freemium instead of usage-based.
• Strongest elsewhere: United States.

Check before buying: Diffbot processes data in its own California data center; a public DPA, subprocessor list or certification was not found on the pages checked in September 2026, so request them. Knowledge Graph exports cost 25 credits per entity, which adds up quickly. If the Knowledge Graph holds data on people, check your legal basis before using it for sales outreach.