# Migrating from ScrapingBee to Zyte API
Learn how to migrate from [ScrapingBee](https://www.scrapingbee.com/) to [Zyte API](../../get-started.md#zyte-api).
## Feature comparison
The following table summarizes the feature differences between both products:
| Feature | ScrapingBee | Zyte API |
|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Client software | Python, NodeJS | [Python](https://python-zyte-api.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html), [Scrapy](https://scrapy-zyte-api.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html) |
| [Pricing](#spb-pricing) | Fixed plans | Pay as you go Monthly commitment over $100 |
| [Ban avoidance](#spb-bans) | Manual, may increase costs | Automatic, no extra costs |
| [Automatic extraction](#spb-extract) | Google SERP, custom LLM prompts | Standard schemas including Google SERP, custom LLM prompts |
| [Geolocation](../../usage/features.md#zapi-geolocation) | 243 countries, no data center support | 249 countries, data center support |
| Sessions | Client-managed only (5m) | Client-managed (15m) and server-managed |
| [Actions](#spb-actions) | Basic only (9) | Basic (15), advanced, website-specific and custom |
| Screenshots | Yes, can target an element | Yes, cannot target an element |
| Body size limit | 2 MB | 10 MB |
| Custom headers | Yes | Only in HTTP requests, limited to `Referer` in browser requests, cannot disable ban-avoidance headers |
| Ad blocking | Yes | No |
| Resource blocking | Yes | No |
| Custom proxies | Yes | No |
| Server-side CSS/XPath selectors | Yes | No |
| [Rate limiting](#spb-rate-limiting) | Concurrency-based | RPM-based |
| Usage API | Yes, up to 6 requests per second | [Yes](../../usage/stats/index.md#stats-api), up to 20 requests per second |
### Pricing
ScrapingBee offers 4 plans with a fixed price per month, each with a fixed
number of “credits” per month that you have to spend on that month or lose.
With Zyte API you pay only for what you use, up to a $100 monthly
[spending limit](../../pricing.md#zapi-spending-limit). If you need a higher spending
limit, you must commit to paying half as [monthly commitment](../../pricing.md#zapi-monthly-commitment), which you do not get back if you spend less during
a month.
With ScrapingBee, HTTP requests cost 1 credit each, while browser requests cost
5 credits each. If you need to use device residential IPs (“premium proxies”)
to avoid bans, costs raise to 10 credits per HTTP request (10×) and 25 credits
per browser request (5×). For scenarios where device residential IPs do not
avoid bans either, ScrapingBee offers special “stealth” proxies for browser
requests at 75 credits per request (15×). ScrapingBee also charges 20 credits
when targetting Google domains.
With Zyte API, request cost varies depending not only on the type of request
(HTTP or browser), but also on the [tier](../../pricing.md#tiers) of the target website,
which covers the cost of any tech that Zyte API may use to get you a ban-free
response, including browser rendering and device residential IPs. No extra cost
for Google domains; not even for automatic extraction of SERP
([serp](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/serp)).
Unless you are never using premium or stealth proxies, you are targetting
mostly high-tier websites, and the number of credits per month that you need is
close to those included in one of ScrapingBee‘s plans, **Zyte API tends to be a
cheaper choice**.
For example, the $49 ScrapingBee plan includes 150k credits, i.e. 150k HTTP
requests. For tier 1-2 websites (i.e. most websites), Zyte API is cheaper. And
Zyte API can also be cheaper for higher-tier websites if you need fewer than
150k requests: 114k requests for tier 3, 70k requests for tier 2, and 39k
request for tier 5.
### Ban handling
ScrapingBee makes it your responsibility to choose the right technologies
(browser rendering, device residential IPs, “stealth IPs”) to avoid bans, with
the corresponding [cost increase](#spb-pricing).
Zyte API automatically chooses the leanest technology possible transparently,
without any extra cost, and automatically adapting to website changes.
### Automatic extraction
ScrapingBee supports automatic extraction through user-defined LLM prompts.
[Zyte API automatic extraction](../../usage/extract/index.md#zapi-extract) provides automatic
extraction for [supported types](../../usage/extract/index.md#zapi-extract-fields) *and* user-defined
LLM prompts to extract additional fields.
Both ScrapingBee and Zyte API support Google SERP extraction
([serp](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/serp)).
### Rate limiting
ScrapingBee limits the number of concurrent requests that you can send,
starting at 5 with the most basic plan.
Zyte API limits the number of requests per minute (RPM) that you can send. It
is 3000 by default for all Zyte API keys, but [you can request a higher
limit](../../usage/rate-limit.md#rate-limit-increase).
For services like these that support advanced features like [browser
rendering](../../usage/browser.md#zapi-browser) or [automatic extraction](../../usage/extract/index.md#zapi-extract), which
usually increase response times, RPM rate limiting allows you to maintain your
throughput regardless of which features you use thanks to unlimited
concurrency, while concurrency-based limits slow down your crawls as you use
features that make requests slower.
For example, assuming an [HTTP request](../../usage/http.md#zapi-http) takes 2 seconds and a
[browser request](../../usage/browser.md#zapi-browser) takes 20 seconds, switching from HTTP
requests to browser requests with ScrapingBee would make your crawl 10 times
slower, while Zyte API would allow you to maintain a similar crawl speed by
using more concurrent requests to make up for the response time increase.
## Migrating
The main differences between the HTTP APIs of ScrapingBee and Zyte API are how
request parameters are defined and how the response is encoded.
In **ScrapingBee**, you send a `GET` request, and you specify parameters in
the URL query string, URL-encoded, e.g.
```bash
curl "https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/?api_key=YOUR_ZYTE_API_KEY&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftoscrape.com"
```
The API response body comes straight from the target website:
```html
Scraping Sandbox
…
```
HTTP response headers and cookies from the target website are also received as
regular headers and cookies, only prefixed with `Spb-`.
```none
Spb-Content-Encoding: br
Spb-Content-Type: text/html
```
In **Zyte API**, you send a `POST` request, and you specify parameters in the
request body as JSON, e.g.
> [!TIP]
> Same as ScrapingBee, Zyte API offers a [proxy mode](../../usage/proxy-mode.md#zapi-proxy)
> that you can use instead of the HTTP API if it makes things simpler.
```bash
curl \
--user YOUR_ZYTE_API_KEY: \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{"url": "https://toscrape.com", "httpResponseBody": true, "httpResponseHeaders": true}' \
--compressed \
https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract
```
The API response is a JSON object with all the response data from the target
website:
```json
{
"url": "https://toscrape.com/",
"statusCode": 200,
"httpResponseBody": "PCFET0NUWVBFIGh0bWw+CjxodG1sIGxhbmc9ImVuIj4KICAgIDx…",
"httpResponseHeaders": [
{
"name": "content-type",
"value": "text/html"
},
{
"name": "content-encoding",
"value": "br"
}
]
}
```
> [!NOTE]
> [httpResponseBody](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/response/200/httpResponseBody) is base64-encoded to support binary
> responses, like images or PDF files.
Once you understand how to migrate a simple request like the one above, you can
migrate any other request the same way, [replacing ScrapingBee parameters
with Zyte API counterparts](#spb-params).
## Parameter mapping
| ScrapingBee | Zyte API |
|---------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (default) | [httpResponseBody](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/httpResponseBody), [httpResponseHeaders](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/httpResponseHeaders) |
| `api_key` | Use [basic authentication](../../usage/reference.md#zapi-auth) |
| `url` | [url](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/url) |
| `render_js` | [browserHtml](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/browserHtml) |
| `js_scenario` | [See below](#spb-actions) |
| `wait` | `waitForTimeout` action ([see below](#spb-actions)) |
| `wait_for` | `waitForSelector` action ([see below](#spb-actions)) |
| `wait_browser` | `waitForNavigation` action ([see below](#spb-actions)) |
| `block_ads` | Not supported |
| `block_resources` | Not supported |
| `viewport_width` | [viewport](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/viewport) |
| `window_height` | [viewport](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/viewport) |
| `premium_proxy` | [ipType=residential](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/ipType) (not required to [avoid bans](../../usage/errors.md#zapi-bans)) |
| `country_code` | [geolocation](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/geolocation) (does not require [ipType=residential](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/ipType)) |
| `stealth_proxy` | N/A, [ban avoidance](../../usage/errors.md#zapi-bans) is a transparent feature |
| `own_proxy` | Not supported |
| `forward_headers` | [customHttpRequestHeaders](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/customHttpRequestHeaders), [requestHeaders](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/requestHeaders) |
| `forward_headers_pure` | Not supported |
| `ai_query` | [customAttributes](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/customAttributes) |
| `ai_selector` | Not supported |
| `ai_extract_rules` | [customAttributes](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/customAttributes) |
| `extract_rules` | Not supported |
| `screenshot` | [screenshot](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/screenshot) |
| `screenshot_selector` | Not supported |
| `screenshot_full_page` | [screenshotOptions.fullPage=true](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/screenshotOptions.fullPage) |
| `json_response` | See [Network capture](../../usage/browser.md#zapi-network-capture) |
| `return_page_source` | Not supported (use [httpResponseBody](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/httpResponseBody) if you are only using browser rendering to avoid bans) |
| `scraping_config` | Not supported |
| `session_id` | [session.id](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/session.id) (must be UUID4) |
| `timeout` | Not supported |
| `cookies` | [requestCookies](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/requestCookies) |
| `device` | [device](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/device) |
| `custom_google` | N/A |
| `transparent_status_code` | N/A, Zyte API returns the response or not based on whether or not it is a ban, not based on the status code |
## Action mapping
ScrapingBee allows defining a sequence of browser actions through the
`"instructions"` JSON array of the `js_scenario` parameter. For example:
```json
{
"instructions": [
{"click": "#buttonId"}
]
}
```
Which URL-encoded would become:
```none
js_scenario=%7B%22instructions%22%3A+%5B%7B%22click%22%3A+%22%23buttonId%22%7D%5D%7D
```
The Zyte API equivalent is the [actions](https://docs.zyte.com/zyte-api/usage/reference.html#operation/extract/request/actions) field. The following is
a matching example:
```json
{
"actions": [
{
"action": "click",
"selector": {
"type": "css",
"value": "#buttonId"
}
}
]
}
```
These are ScrapingBee actions and their [Zyte API counterparts](../../usage/browser.md#zapi-actions):
`click`: `click`
`evaluate`: `evaluate`
`fill`: `type`
`infinite_scroll`: `scrollBottom`
`scroll_x`: `scrollTo`
`scroll_y`: `scrollTo`
`wait`: `waitForTimeout`
`wait_for`: `waitForSelector`
`wait_for_and_click`: `waitForSelector`, `click`
The following Zyte API actions are not supported by ScrapingBee:
`doubleClick`
`goto`
`hide`
`hover`
`keyPress`
`reload`
`searchKeyword`
`select`
`setLocation`
`waitForRequest`
`waitForResponse`
Zyte API also supports [custom actions](../../ide/index.md#zapi-scripts).