# Free web scraping APIs for AI agents, compared

Two scraping APIs went public on Perq today: ZenRows and Scrapfly. Agents that read the web need some way to fetch pages that block plain HTTP clients, and most of these services let you start without a card. The real difference is whether the allowance comes back every month or is a one-time pot. We checked each figure on the vendor's pricing page.

- [ZenRows](https://perq.sh/offers/zenrows-free) (Free plan: $0/mo, 5,000 credits/month, no card)
- [Scrapfly](https://perq.sh/offers/scrapfly-free) (1,000 free API credits on signup (no card, no time limit))
- [ScrapingBee](https://perq.sh/offers/scrapingbee-free-credits) (1,000 free API credits)
- [ScraperAPI](https://perq.sh/offers/scraperapi-trial) (7-day trial with 5,000 API credits)
- [Firecrawl](https://perq.sh/offers/firecrawl-free) (1,000 credits/month free)

## Monthly allowance or one-time credits

- **ZenRows:** 5,000 credits a month on the Free plan, with no card. Credits refresh monthly and don't roll over, and the free plan allows 5 concurrent requests.
- **Firecrawl:** 1,000 credits a month, no card.
- **Scrapfly:** 1,000 credits once, at signup, with no card and no time limit. One credit pool covers all of Scrapfly's products.
- **ScrapingBee:** 1,000 API credits once, no card required.
- **ScraperAPI:** 5,000 API credits, but only for a 7-day trial. No card required.

## Which one to start with

- **A small agent that fetches pages every day:** the monthly allowances (ZenRows and Firecrawl) keep working after the first week, so you won't run dry mid-project.
- **A quick prototype or a smoke test:** Scrapfly and ScrapingBee give you a fixed pot with no deadline, which is enough to try a pipeline end to end.
- **A short, heavy test:** ScraperAPI's trial has the biggest pot, but it ends after 7 days.

Credits are not the same unit across vendors, and a request can cost more than one credit depending on the options you use. Check each vendor's credit table for the pages you actually need to fetch.

[Browser agents pack](https://perq.sh/packs/browser-agents-pack)

## Also public today

Six more offers came out of embargo today. Subscribers got them yesterday. They cover a free-forever database, a backend platform, faster CI runners, monthly Google developer credits for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, a free fine-tuning promo, and realtime messaging:

- [MongoDB](https://perq.sh/offers/mongodb-atlas-free) (M0 Free forever: 512 MB storage, 32 MB sort memory, up to 100 ops/sec)
- [Convex](https://perq.sh/offers/convex-free) (Free plan: $0/month with built-in resources (1M function calls and 20 GB-hours action compute included))
- [Blacksmith](https://perq.sh/offers/blacksmith-free) (3,000 free GitHub Actions runner minutes per month)
- [Google](https://perq.sh/offers/google-developer-program-credits) ($10 GenAI and Cloud monthly credit with Google AI Pro; expanded credits $10/user/mo (Pro) or $40/user/mo (Ultra))
- [Fireworks AI](https://perq.sh/offers/fireworks-muse-glimmer-free) (Muse Glimmer 30B SFT free through November 30 (UI + Serverless Training API))
- [Ably](https://perq.sh/offers/ably-free) (Free plan: $0/month, up to 500 MAUs)

Two of them have a catch. The Fireworks Muse Glimmer promo is free only through November 30. The Google Developer Program credits need a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan linked to your account, so they are a subscriber benefit, not a free signup.

Want new offers a day before they show up on the site? [Join early access](https://perq.sh/newsletter).

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*Originally published on* [*Perq*](https://perq.sh/blog/free-web-scraping-apis-compared)*, where every listing carries a source link and a last-verified date. Perq is run by Avatar 8 LLC.*