scrapingbee vs diffbot
ScrapingBee vs Diffbot — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
ScrapingBee and Diffbot represent two different philosophies in web scraping for SEO. ScrapingBee focuses on being the reliable workhorse — a straightforward API that handles JavaScript rendering, proxies, and CAPTCHA solving so you can extract SERP data and competitor content without headaches. Diffbot takes the AI-first approach, automatically understanding webpage structure and extracting structured data without requiring you to write selectors.
The choice typically comes down to complexity and budget. If you need to scrape Google results, monitor competitor pricing, or extract specific elements from known page structures, ScrapingBee's direct approach works perfectly. If you're building knowledge graphs, need to extract data from thousands of different site structures, or want AI to handle the extraction logic, Diffbot's intelligence justifies its higher cost.
Feature Comparison
ScrapingBee excels at the fundamentals that SEO professionals actually need. It handles JavaScript rendering through real Chrome browsers, rotates premium proxies automatically, and solves CAPTCHAs without intervention. You can extract Google SERP data, scrape competitor product pages, or monitor ranking changes with simple API calls. The platform includes screenshot capture, custom headers, and geographic targeting — essential features for SEO scraping that just work. Diffbot operates on a different level entirely. Its AI automatically identifies articles, products, discussions, and other content types across any website without manual configuration. The Knowledge Graph API can discover relationships between entities, track brand mentions across the web, and build comprehensive datasets about companies or topics. While ScrapingBee requires you to specify what to extract, Diffbot understands content context and extracts structured data automatically. For technical implementation, ScrapingBee provides exactly what developers expect — RESTful endpoints, webhook support, and detailed documentation for common SEO use cases. Diffbot offers more sophisticated APIs including Natural Language Processing, entity extraction, and crawl management that can discover and map entire websites automatically.
Pricing Comparison
ScrapingBee starts at $49/month for 50,000 API calls with a generous free tier of 1,000 calls monthly. The pricing scales predictably — you pay for API calls and receive consistent proxy rotation, JavaScript rendering, and CAPTCHA solving. For most SEO teams doing regular competitor monitoring or SERP tracking, the entry tier provides excellent value. Diffbot's $299/month starting point reflects its enterprise positioning and AI capabilities. That price includes access to their pre-built Knowledge Graph with billions of entities, unlimited extraction API calls, and AI-powered content understanding. While significantly more expensive, you're paying for technology that can replace entire data science teams for complex extraction projects.
Best For
ScrapingBee is the better choice when you need reliable, cost-effective scraping for standard SEO tasks. If you're monitoring competitor pricing, tracking SERP positions, extracting product data, or building link analysis tools, ScrapingBee delivers exactly what you need without complexity. It's perfect for agencies, small SEO teams, and developers who want scraping infrastructure without the overhead. Diffbot makes sense for enterprise SEO operations building sophisticated data products. If you're creating knowledge graphs, need to extract data from thousands of different site structures, or want AI to understand content relationships, Diffbot's capabilities justify the investment. It's ideal for large brands doing competitive intelligence, market research firms, or technical SEO teams building advanced analysis tools.
The Verdict
Choose ScrapingBee unless you specifically need AI-powered extraction. For 90% of SEO scraping needs — competitor monitoring, SERP tracking, content analysis — ScrapingBee provides better value with its straightforward API, reliable infrastructure, and accessible pricing. Diffbot's AI capabilities are impressive, but most SEO teams will find ScrapingBee's direct approach more practical and cost-effective for their daily workflow.