Irmu
Comparison

Irmu vs ScrapingBee

A closely matched credit model — the difference is browser control and the proxy port.

ScrapingBee is one of the best-documented scraping APIs on the market and its credit system is the reference implementation everyone else copies: 1 credit for a plain fetch, 5 with JavaScript, 10 on premium proxies, 25 for premium plus rendering, 75 for stealth. Irmu's fetch multipliers land on the same numbers, which makes this the most apples-to-apples comparison on this site.

Where the two diverge is what sits beside the fetch endpoint. ScrapingBee gives you HTML, screenshots, a Google Search API and AI-driven extraction rules. Irmu gives you those plus a scriptable browser session and an HTTP proxy port, so existing Scrapy or Playwright code can route through without being rewritten as API calls.

Billing definitions differ in a way worth reading twice. ScrapingBee charges for requests returning 200, 404 or 410. Irmu treats any response from the target as successful and billable, including 500s and anti-bot blocks, and only absorbs failures caused on its own side or by uncovered domains such as .gov.

Pricing

What each one costs

Public list pricing, checked on 29 August 2026. Vendors change plans often — verify on their pricing page before you commit.

Irmu

$40 / month — 200,000 credits

Credits, one ledger for every API. Plain fetch is 1 credit, JavaScript rendering 5, premium residential 10, premium plus rendering 25, an AI extraction query 5, and geotargeting by country, region or city is free. A response from the target — including 404, 500 or an anti-bot block — is a successful request and is billed. Requests Irmu cannot serve for its own internal reasons, or to domains outside coverage such as .gov, are not billed.

ScrapingBee

$49 / month (Freelance) — 250,000 API credits

Credits with published multipliers: classic proxy 1, classic plus JavaScript 5, premium 10, premium plus JavaScript 25, stealth proxy 75, with AI query costing extra. ScrapingBee charges only for requests returning 200, 404 or 410.

  • ScrapingBee's entry plan is $49 for 250,000 credits; Irmu's is $40 for 200,000. Per credit the two are within a few percent of each other, so the decision rarely comes down to headline price.
  • ScrapingBee offers a 1,000-credit trial rather than a permanent free plan. Irmu's free plan is 200 credits a month, ongoing, with one concurrent request.
  • Irmu's stealth-equivalent work is priced through the premium residential tier at 10 or 25 credits rather than a separate 75-credit tier.
Feature table

Side by side

CapabilityIrmuScrapingBee
Plain fetch1 credit1 credit
JavaScript rendering5 credits5 credits
Residential / premium proxy10 credits, 25 with rendering10 credits, 25 with rendering
Hardest targetsPremium plus rendering with automatic retries on fresh IPsStealth proxy at 75 credits
Scriptable remote browserBrowser endpoint for multi-step flowsJS scenario parameter, no session control
HTTP proxy portNot available yet — use GET /crawlProxy mode available
AI extraction5 credits per query, or bring your own model for freeAI query, extra credits
GeotargetingCountry, region and city, no extra costCountry-level on premium proxies
Free plan200 credits monthly, ongoing, no card1,000-credit trial
Honest guidance

Which one fits your job

Choose ScrapingBee when

  • You want the strictest possible success definition and would rather not pay for a 500 or a block.
  • Google SERP scraping is a large share of your volume and you want a dedicated endpoint for it.
  • Your targets are handled by a single request with a JS scenario, and you have no need for session state.
  • You are already integrated and the migration cost outweighs the feature gap.

Choose Irmu when

  • You need a browser you can hold open across steps — login, filter, paginate — not a one-shot scenario.
  • City and region geotargeting matter, and you do not want them priced as an upgrade.
  • You want to point your own model at pages for extraction and pay nothing extra for the query.
  • A permanent free tier for CI and smoke tests is worth more to you than a one-off trial.

What ScrapingBee does well

  • Exceptionally clear credit documentation
  • Strict 200/404/410 success billing
  • Mature Google Search API
  • Extraction rules that avoid custom parsers

On price and on the fetch endpoint these two are close enough that either is a defensible choice. Pick ScrapingBee for the stricter billing definition and the SERP endpoint; pick Irmu when you need real browser sessions, finer geotargeting, or your own extraction model.

Migration

The same request, both ways

Both APIs are query-parameter driven, so the change is usually the base URL and two parameter names.

ScrapingBee

scrapingbee.py
import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://app.scrapingbee.com/api/v1/",
    params={
        "api_key": SCRAPINGBEE_KEY,
        "url": "https://example.com/product/42",
        "render_js": "true",
        "premium_proxy": "true",
        "country_code": "us",
    },
    timeout=90,
)
html = r.text

Irmu

irmu.py
import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://app.irmu.com/api/crawl",
    params={
        "url": "https://example.com/product/42",
        "js": "true",
        "premium": "true",
        "country": "us",
    },
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {IRMU_KEY}"},
    timeout=90,
)
r.raise_for_status()
html = r.text
Read the docs See Irmu pricing
FAQ

Switching questions

More

Other comparisons

Irmu vs Firecrawl

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Irmu vs ScrapingDog

Similar entry pricing — the split is dedicated site scrapers versus general-purpose access.

Irmu vs ScraperAPI

Structured e-commerce endpoints and no-code pipelines versus a general access layer.

Irmu vs ZenRows

Two similar credit-based platforms — the difference is agent tooling versus browser and proxy depth.

Irmu vs Bright Data

The largest proxy network in the market versus a simpler, credit-priced access layer.

Irmu vs Apify

A marketplace of pre-built Actors versus a direct API you call from your own code.

Irmu vs Oxylabs

Per-target enterprise pricing and strict pay-for-success versus a single credit ledger.

Try Irmu alongside ScrapingBee

200 free credits every month, no card required — benchmark on your own targets.

Start freeRead the docs