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alternative · zenrows

The ZenRows alternative for crawling protected sites on a schedule

ZenRows unblocks one request at a time and bills it by the options it needed. MeshArc crawls the whole site, earns a session once and reads the rest of a protected site with it, and tells you what changed since the last run.
Start free — 1,000 creditsSee the pricing compared

No card. 1,000 credits to start. Blocked pages, 404s and unchanged pages are never charged.

01why teams switch

Where the bill comes down

  • Repeat reads of a protected site cost less: ZenRows prices every protected request by its proxy and rendering: 10 credits with premium proxies, 25 with JavaScript too. Here one browser visit earns a session, and the rest of the site is read with it at 2 credits a page.
  • A 404 is free: ZenRows counts 404 and 410 responses as successful and bills them. Here neither costs anything, nor does a page that has not changed.
  • The crawl is built in: ZenRows reads the URLs your code sends. MeshArc finds the pages from the site or its sitemap, keeps to the scope and runs on a schedule.
  • What changed, delivered: each run is compared with the last, down to the field, and the changes go to one of 18 destinations or to Slack.
02pricing

ZenRows pricing and MeshArc pricing

ZenRows multiplies a request’s credits by the options it used. MeshArc prices a page by how it had to be read, and remembers what worked on each site.

ZenRowsMeshArc
Free5,000 credits a month, no card1,000 credits once, no card
Monthly plansBuild $16, Launch $57, Growth $165, Scale $456; Enterprise on requestStarter $29, Growth $99, Scale $349; Enterprise from $1,500
A request1 credit; 5 with JavaScript, 10 with premium proxies, 25 with both1 credit plain; 2 with an earned session; 4 rendered; 16 rendered from a residential address
BilledSuccessful requests, including 404 and 410Pages read; blocked pages, 404s and unchanged pages are free
Per 1,000 pagesZenRows Growth ($165)ZenRows Scale ($456)MeshArc Growth ($99)MeshArc Scale ($349)
Plain page$0.14$0.09$0.20$0.14
Page rendered in a browser$0.69$0.46$0.79$0.56
Protected site$1.38–3.44$0.91–2.28$0.40 once a session is earned$0.28
404billed as abovebilled as abovefreefree

ZenRows’s figures follow from zenrows.com/pricing, read on 1 October 2026: Growth is $165 for 1,200,000 credits and Scale $456 for 5,000,000, and a request costs 1 credit, 5 with JavaScript, 10 with premium proxies and 25 with both. MeshArc’s are list prices.

03side by side

What each one does

ZenRowsMeshArc
Read one URL through an APIYesYes
Crawl a whole site or a sitemap sectionNo: your code sends each URLYes, with scope and a schedule
Cheaper repeat reads of a protected siteNo: each request priced on its ownYes: session reuse at 2 credits
What changed since the last runNoBuilt in, down to the field
404 billedYesNo
A browser you drive yourselfYesBrowser steps only
Residential proxies to rentYesNo: used for you on Growth and up
MCP serverYesYes, 17 tools

ZenRows facts from zenrows.com and docs.zenrows.com, checked on 1 October 2026; we review them quarterly.

04when not to switch

Where ZenRows is the better choice

If you read each URL once, or your pages are plain, ZenRows’s Scale plan is cheaper per page than ours, and its free tier gives 5,000 credits every month. It also rents residential proxies and a browser you drive yourself. MeshArc pays off when you crawl the same protected sites again and again.

05migrating

Switch without touching your parsing

  • Give the site instead of each URL: MeshArc finds the pages from the site or its sitemap.
  • Drop the proxy and render flags: each page is read the cheapest way that works, and the response says which.
  • Keep your parsing: take the same HTML, or Markdown and JSON if you would rather.
  • Put it on a schedule: later runs report what changed.
06more comparisons

Comparing with someone else?

Firecrawl alternativeChange tracking, free failures and somewhere for the data to land.Apify alternativePay per page, not per minute of compute, with change tracking and no actor to maintain.Bright Data alternativeOrdinary pages at ordinary prices, repeat visits cheaper, and what changed.ScrapingBee alternativeWhole sites crawled on a schedule, and a 404 never billed.
questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the best ZenRows alternative?

For single requests, other unblocking APIs such as ScrapingBee and Scrapfly; the compare page has them side by side. For crawling the same protected sites on a schedule, with what changed sent to your database, MeshArc.

How much does ZenRows cost?

Plans run from Build at $16 a month for 45,000 credits to Scale at $456 for 5,000,000, with 5,000 free credits a month; paying yearly gives 12 months for the price of 10. A request costs 1 credit, 5 with JavaScript, 10 with premium proxies and 25 with both. Figures from zenrows.com/pricing, read on 1 October 2026.

Does ZenRows charge for 404 pages?

Yes. It counts 404 and 410 responses as successful and bills them, and does not bill failed requests. MeshArc bills neither a 404 nor a blocked page, nor a page that has not changed since the last run.

Do I need a proxy for web scraping?

For most pages, no: a plain request from a datacenter address reads them. A site that refuses datacenter addresses, or fences by country, needs a residential one. MeshArc climbs to a residential address only for the pages that need it, on the Growth plan and up, so there are no proxies for you to manage.

Try it on the site you unblock most

Count how many pages really needed the premium way in.

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