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CrawlForge MCP

Alternatives

CrawlForge replaces Zyte's per-site tiered pricing and minimum monthly commitments with flat per-tool credits and 31 MCP-native tools.

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01Quick answer

The best Zyte alternative for developers is CrawlForge — flat 1-10 credits per tool call with no minimum commitment, instead of per-response pricing with per-site difficulty tiers and monthly minimums for the best rates. Its 31 tools are MCP-native, so agents in Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf call them directly rather than wrapping a REST API, and 1,000 free credits get you started. Zyte remains the stronger fit for enterprise-scale scraping, Scrapy integration, and ISO 27001 compliance needs.

02Context

Overview

If Zyte's pricing model (per-response with per-site difficulty tiers 1-5 and $100-$500/mo minimum commitments for best rates) does not fit your workload, CrawlForge offers a simpler alternative. Flat 1-10 credits per tool call, no commitment, 1,000 free credits to start.

CrawlForge is also MCP-native, meaning AI agents on Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf call tools directly through the Model Context Protocol. Zyte's REST API requires manual wrapping for AI workflows.

Zyte still wins for enterprise scraping at volume — their 15+ year track record, Scrapy heritage, ISO 27001 certification, and per-site difficulty profiles are unmatched. But if you are a developer building AI applications, want predictable per-call pricing, and do not need enterprise compliance documents, CrawlForge is the more approachable choice.

03Scoreboard

Feature Comparison

05

CrawlForge wins

01

Tie

02

Competitor wins

  1. Pricing ModelCrawlForge wins
    CrawlForge
    Flat credits per tool call
    Zyte
    Per-response tiered, minimum commitment
  2. Minimum CommitmentCrawlForge wins
    CrawlForge
    None
    Zyte
    $100-$500/mo for best rates
  3. ArchitectureCrawlForge wins
    CrawlForge
    MCP-native
    Zyte
    REST API, Scrapy Cloud
  4. Tool CountTie
    CrawlForge
    31 tools
    Zyte
    Extract API + proxy manager + Scrapy Cloud
  5. Deep ResearchCrawlForge wins
    CrawlForge
    Multi-source with conflict detection
    Zyte
    Not available
  6. Heritage & MaturityCompetitor wins
    CrawlForge
    New (2026)
    Zyte
    15+ years, creators of Scrapy
  7. Enterprise ComplianceCompetitor wins
    CrawlForge
    Business tier
    Zyte
    ISO 27001, GDPR, enterprise SLA
  8. Free TierCrawlForge wins
    CrawlForge
    1,000 credits
    Zyte
    $5 free, 30 days

04The numbers

Pricing Comparison

Free / Trial

CrawlForge1,000 credits (one-time)

Zyte$5 free, 30 days

Starter

CrawlForge$19/mo — 5,000 credits

ZytePay-as-you-go from $0.13/1K responses

Professional

CrawlForge$99/mo — 100,000 credits

Zyte$100/mo minimum

Business

CrawlForge$399/mo — 500,000 credits

Zyte$500/mo minimum; Enterprise custom

05Trade-offs

Why Choose CrawlForge

  • Flat per-tool credit pricing — no per-site difficulty math
  • No minimum monthly commitment
  • MCP-native for AI agent workflows
  • 31 specialized tools including research and monitoring
  • Larger free allowance (1,000 credits vs $5 trial)
  • Simpler to forecast for mixed or low-volume workloads

Where Zyte Shines

  • 15+ years of scraping infrastructure experience
  • Home of Scrapy — first-class Scrapy Cloud integration
  • ISO 27001 certification for enterprise compliance
  • Managed data extraction services (Zyte Data)
  • Cheaper per-response at very high volume with commitment
  • Deep per-site profiling for hardest enterprise-grade sites

06Verdict

The Verdict

CrawlForge is the best Zyte alternative for developers building AI-agent applications and smaller-scale scraping where Zyte's minimum commitments do not fit. Flat credits, MCP-native architecture, and 31 tools make it simpler to adopt.

Zyte is still the right choice for enterprise-scale scraping with Scrapy integration, ISO 27001 compliance needs, or managed data extraction services. The two platforms target different points on the spectrum.

07Decision

Which one should you pick?

Pick CrawlForge when

  • You do not want a $100-$500/mo minimum commitment.
  • You are building AI agents via MCP (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf) and want native tool discovery.
  • Your scraping is mixed — fetch, extract, research, monitor — rather than pure high-volume crawls.
  • You prefer flat credit pricing over Zyte's per-response tiered model.
  • You are a developer who wants to prototype with 1,000 free credits and no card.

Pick Zyte when

  • You already run Scrapy code and want Scrapy Cloud hosting.
  • You need ISO 27001 certification or strict enterprise compliance documents.
  • You scrape at very high volume where Zyte's commitment tiers give the best per-response rates.
  • You want managed/human-assisted data extraction services (Zyte Data).

08Migration

Migration example

Replace a Zyte API request with a CrawlForge call. Both are REST-based, so the shape is similar. (Check Zyte docs for latest API.)

Before — Zyte
// Before: Zyte APIconst res = await fetch('https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract', {  method: 'POST',  headers: { Authorization: `Basic ${btoa(process.env.ZYTE_API_KEY + ':')}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },  body: JSON.stringify({ url: 'https://example.com', browserHtml: true }),});
After — CrawlForge
// After: CrawlForgeconst res = await fetch('https://www.crawlforge.dev/api/v1/tools/extract_content', {  method: 'POST',  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.CRAWLFORGE_API_KEY}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },  body: JSON.stringify({ url: 'https://example.com' }),});

09Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

01Why switch from Zyte to CrawlForge?

The main reasons are flat per-tool credit pricing (no per-site difficulty tiers), no minimum monthly commitment, MCP-native AI integration, and a broader tool set (31 tools including research and monitoring). If those matter more to you than Zyte's Scrapy heritage and enterprise compliance, CrawlForge is the better fit.

02Does CrawlForge work with Scrapy?

Not directly — CrawlForge is a hosted API, not a Scrapy backend. If you have existing Scrapy code, you would either keep running it on Zyte's Scrapy Cloud or rewrite those operations as CrawlForge tool calls. For most scraping tasks, CrawlForge's API is simpler than maintaining a Scrapy codebase.

03Is CrawlForge cheaper than Zyte?

For small to mid-sized workloads, yes — no minimum commitment and flat credits make CrawlForge simpler and often cheaper. For very high-volume scraping at the $500/mo commitment tier, Zyte can be cheaper per response, especially on easier sites.

04Can CrawlForge handle the same hard sites as Zyte Smart Proxy Manager?

stealth_mode handles most common anti-bot defenses. Zyte's Smart Proxy Manager has 15+ years of per-site profile data that makes it more reliable on the hardest enterprise sites. For standard content sites, CrawlForge is equivalent.

05Does CrawlForge have ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification?

Not at the moment. If enterprise compliance is a blocker, Zyte's ISO 27001 certification is a real advantage. CrawlForge follows security best practices but does not yet have formal certifications.

10Resources

Related resources

01

Getting started

Install CrawlForge MCP and run your first scrape in under a minute.

02

Browse all 31 tools

See every scraping, extraction, and research tool with credit costs.

03

Use cases

Lead enrichment, price monitoring, RAG pipelines, and more.

04

Pricing

Free 1,000 credits, then $19/mo Starter. Compare every plan.

05

All comparisons

See how CrawlForge stacks up against every major scraping API.

06

MCP web scraping guide

Why MCP-native scraping outperforms REST for AI agents.

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