Choose Firecrawl if
- Agents that need scrape/search/crawl tools over one shared credit balance
- Small recurring website ingestion with a published free monthly allowance
Firecrawl is organized around scrape, crawl, map and search jobs that can return agent-ready page content. Zyte API starts with a target request and can return HTTP content, browser HTML or structured extraction. Choose by the shape of the job before comparing their very different usage meters.
Published entry offers, reviewed 2026-09-14
Compare usable output and required integration work under each API contract. Request the same permitted pages with equivalent rendering and output requirements; validate the returned fields before comparing the bill.
| Decision | Firecrawl | Zyte | ProxyLane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example route for this job | FirecrawlScrape API (Markdown/structured output) | ZyteZyte API | ProxyLaneResidential proxy gateway for your own fetcher or browser; no managed scraping API |
| Charging basis | Product-specific requests, results or credits | Product-specific requests, results or credits | Prepaid GB that never expires |
| How you pay | The free tier refreshes 1,000 credits monthly. Paid plans include monthly credits, with pay-as-you-go top-ups in $5 increments under a configurable limit. Basic scrape/crawl/map costs one credit per page; search costs two per ten results, browser Interact two per minute, and structured formats can add credits. Included-credit rollover depends on plan. | Zyte API offers pay-as-you-go without a monthly commitment and discounts at monthly commitments. Successful requests are charged according to the website tier and HTTP versus browser mode; extraction, forced residential, extended geo and some advanced actions can add usage costs. The CDP session meter is the greater of page navigations or rounded-up 15-second units at the domain's browser tier. | 350 MB trial for $1.95, then prepaid packages from $6.50/GB for 1 GB down to $2.50/GB for 1 TB. Unused traffic never expires. |
| Integration work | Send authorized requests to Firecrawl's Scrape/Crawl/Search endpoints or configure the official MCP server with an API key via the hosted URL or local FIRECRAWL_API_KEY environment variable. Choose basic Markdown or higher-credit structured/browser modes per job. | POST to https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract with the API key as Basic-auth username and request HTTP body, browser HTML or extraction; proxy mode uses api.zyte.com:8011. Eligible verified accounts can connect Playwright/Puppeteer to browser.zyte.com via CDP. | HTTP(S) and SOCKS5 endpoints on three regional gateways: Europe, the Americas and Asia. Export proxy lists in 8 formats for scripts, scrapers and antidetect browsers. |
| A small or irregular job | Use the 1,000-credit monthly free tier for simple pages and compare the $19 Hobby plan only after pricing search, structured output or browser minutes separately. | Enter the actual domain in Zyte's calculator and price its HTTP/browser tier plus options; the $0.13 Simple rate is not universal. | Start with the 350 MB trial for $1.95 or a 1 GB package. Unused traffic never expires. |
| Browser workflow | Use Interact for managed browser minutes when clicks are needed; a basic scrape credit does not buy the same interactive work. | Use a browser-rendered API response for one page; use CDP only if interactive control is needed and verification/spending-limit requirements are met. | Sticky sessions from 1 second to 72 hours, with a named session ID for each browser profile. |
| Connecting an agent | Connect the first-party hosted or local MCP server and cap paid-plan top-ups before allowing autonomous crawl or extract loops. | Wrap Zyte API in a custom MCP tool as Zyte documents, or evaluate the explicitly community-built Zyte Labs server; do not label it a hosted official API MCP service. | Point your agent's fetcher or browser tool at the proxy endpoint. ProxyLane supplies the network, not a hosted browser. |
| A growing production workload | Track credits across endpoints, rate/concurrency limits and rollover terms; higher tiers change both quota and throughput. | Track per-site request tiers and RPM limits, then choose a commitment only if actual billed usage justifies the discount. | Target by country, region, city, ZIP, ISP or ASN across 195 countries. Larger packages lower the rate to $2.50/GB. |
| Check before moving |
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When a documentation assistant needs a site's linked pages, try Firecrawl Crawl or Map and inspect whether the returned Markdown preserves the sections and links the assistant will cite. For a known list of product URLs, send the same URLs to Zyte API as HTTP requests first, then enable browser HTML only where the target requires it. Record usable pages, missed pages and the work needed to clean each response.
Firecrawl charges page, search and browser work in credits, with different rates for advanced formats. Zyte charges successful responses by site tier and HTTP versus browser mode, with extraction and other options potentially adding cost. Both can feed an agent, but Firecrawl has an official hosted/local MCP server; Zyte documents a build-your-own route and a community repository that disclaims official product status. Price the exact paths used by the assistant.
ProxyLane offers premium residential IPs with ultra-low fraud scores, from ethically sourced, real devices.
Test your workload for $1.9598.7%
of 1,000 sampled IPs rated low risk by Scamalytics
Low risk: scores 0–19 on Scamalytics’ 0–100 scale. Aggregate sample result; individual countries vary.
Advertised starting offers use different products and billing units. Price the matched route before choosing a plan.
$19per month
Free: 1,000 credits/month, no card. First paid Hobby: $19/month billed monthly or $16/month billed annually for 5,000 credits/month; $5 top-ups on a paid plan provide 1,000 Hobby credits. Prices effective September 4, 2026.
$0.13per 1K requests
$5 free Zyte API credit for a 30-day trial; pay-as-you-go has no monthly commitment. Simple-tier HTTP response body starts at $0.13 per 1,000 successful requests; browser-rendered Simple tier starts $1.01 per 1,000. Target tier and options set the real cost.
$1.95350 MB trial
350 MB trial for $1.95. Packages from $6.50/GB for 1 GB down to $2.50/GB for 1 TB, with traffic that never expires.
Try 350 MB for $1.95Same targets, same fields. Compare the cost of each usable record. Worksheet
Same targets on both routes
Not just 200 responses
Minimums, expiry, add-ons
Keep a rollback ready
From $2/GB. Buy the traffic you need, keep it until you use it.
Test our IP quality: 350 MB$1.95
For your first requests
per GB · Traffic never expires
For projects taking shape
per GB · Traffic never expires
For everyday workflows
per GB · Traffic never expires
For growing workloads
per GB · Traffic never expires
For bigger operations
per GB · Traffic never expires
For high-volume data
per GB · Traffic never expires
For your business, at your scale
Let's build your setup together
Firecrawl starts at $19 per month (5,000 credits), Zyte at $0.13 per 1K requests (simple-tier HTTP responses). Billing units differ, so compare the cost of a usable record on the same workload, not the headline rate.
Compare usable output and required integration work under each API contract. Firecrawl: Scrape API (Markdown/structured output). Zyte: Zyte API.
Yes. The 350 MB trial costs $1.95 and runs on the same residential network as paid packages. Unused traffic never expires.
Country, region, city, ZIP, ISP and ASN targeting across 195 countries. Sessions can rotate on every request or stay sticky from 1 second to 72 hours, over HTTP(S) or SOCKS5.
No. ProxyLane is a residential proxy network for the client, scraper or browser you already run. Your team keeps control of fetching, rendering and parsing.
Run the targets you would send to Firecrawl or Zyte. Get 350 MB of residential traffic with sticky sessions up to 72 hours. Keep any unused traffic for later.