{"slug":"apify","name":"Apify","domain":"apify.com","verdict":"As of 2026-07-19, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok collectively rank Apify first for web scraping api for javascript developers (one of 5 leaderboards it appears on). Source: https://modelsagree.com/product/apify (modelsagree.com, CC BY 4.0).","best_rank":1,"categories":5,"brief":{"category":"best-web-scraping-api-for-javascript-developers","title":"Best Web Scraping API for JavaScript Developers","rank":1,"of":11,"top":null,"day":"2026-07-19","why":[{"t":"JavaScript-native Crawlee and first-class SDK","m":["ChatGPT","Claude","Gemini","Grok"],"q":"Best overall JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem: Crawlee, first-class SDK"},{"t":"Local scripts deploy to managed cloud","m":["ChatGPT","Claude","Gemini","Grok"],"q":"go from local script to production API without changing stacks"},{"t":"Proxies, scheduling, storage, and scalable execution","m":["ChatGPT","Claude","Gemini","Grok"],"q":"proxies, scheduling, storage, monitoring"},{"t":"Large marketplace of reusable scrapers","m":["ChatGPT","Claude","Grok"],"q":"a large library of reusable scrapers"}],"gap":[],"fix":[{"t":"Steep learning curve and platform lock-in","m":["ChatGPT","Gemini","Grok"],"q":"Has a steep learning curve and significant platform lock-in"},{"t":"Usage-based costs become hard to predict","m":["ChatGPT","Claude","Grok"],"q":"Costs become hard to predict at large scale"},{"t":"Overkill for simple stateless scraping","m":["ChatGPT","Gemini"],"q":"overkill for developers who only need simple, stateless request-response scraping"}]},"entries":[{"slug":"best-web-scraping-api-for-javascript-developers","title":"Best Web Scraping API for JavaScript Developers","rank":1,"of":11,"score":15,"appearances":4,"modelRanks":{"ChatGPT":1,"Claude":1,"Gemini":3,"Grok":4},"reason":"Best overall JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem: Crawlee, first-class SDK, managed Actors, proxies, scheduling, storage, monitoring, and a large library of reusable scrapers; strongest value when a practitioner needs both custom code and production-scale operation","reasons":[{"model":"ChatGPT","reason":"Best overall JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem: Crawlee, first-class SDK, managed Actors, proxies, scheduling, storage, monitoring, and a large library of reusable scrapers; strongest value when a practitioner needs both custom code and production-scale operation"},{"model":"Claude","reason":"The most JavaScript-native platform in the category — its open-source Crawlee library (TypeScript-first, Playwright/Puppeteer integration) pairs with a hosted Actor platform, per-site pre-built scrapers, proxy rotation, and storage/scheduling, so a JS developer can go from local script to production API without changing stacks; generous free tier and pay-per-use pricing suit solo devs through mid-size teams. Assumption: the \"typical practitioner\" wants both a library and managed infrastructure, which Apify uniquely bundles."},{"model":"Gemini","reason":"Deeply rooted in the JavaScript ecosystem, it leverages the open-source Crawlee framework to let developers build scrapers locally and deploy them to the cloud as containerized \"Actors.\" The API excels at managing large queues, state persistence, and long-running distributed crawls."},{"model":"Grok","reason":"Full platform with managed cloud execution, marketplace of pre-built tools, JS SDK, and seamless scaling/proxies for developers who want to focus on logic over ops; strong for both custom and reusable scrapers."}],"fixes":[{"model":"ChatGPT","fix":"Its Actor/platform model has more concepts, configuration, and variable marketplace costs than a simple request-in/page-out API"},{"model":"Claude","fix":"Costs become hard to predict at large scale (compute-unit billing), and the hardest anti-bot targets still often need supplementing with a dedicated unblocker service."},{"model":"Gemini","fix":"Has a steep learning curve and significant platform lock-in, making it overkill for developers who only need simple, stateless request-response scraping."},{"model":"Grok","fix":"Platform lock-in for full managed benefits and usage-based pricing can add up for massive scale."}],"updated":"2026-07-19","rank_history":{"days":["2026-07-18","2026-07-19"],"ranks":[1,4]},"api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-web-scraping-api-for-javascript-developers.json"},{"slug":"best-ai-web-scraping-api","title":"Best AI web scraping API","rank":2,"of":9,"score":10,"appearances":3,"modelRanks":{"ChatGPT":2,"Claude":2,"Grok":4},"reason":"Near-tie for first and stronger for heterogeneous or difficult jobs: a vast Actor ecosystem, custom Crawlee-based scrapers, proxies, scheduling, datasets, API clients, and native MCP/agent integration provide exceptional breadth.","reasons":[{"model":"ChatGPT","reason":"Near-tie for first and stronger for heterogeneous or difficult jobs: a vast Actor ecosystem, custom Crawlee-based scrapers, proxies, scheduling, datasets, API clients, and native MCP/agent integration provide exceptional breadth."},{"model":"Claude","reason":"Thousands of prebuilt maintained scrapers (Actors) for specific sites plus a full platform (scheduling, storage, proxies) and agent-ready surfaces (MCP server, LangChain tools); best when you need site-specific extraction (e.g., social, maps, marketplaces) without building it"},{"model":"Grok","reason":"Flexible actor marketplace, scheduling, and automation platform with strong scraping capabilities and pre-builts — great for building reusable agent workflows and custom pipelines that integrate well with AI systems."}],"fixes":[{"model":"ChatGPT","fix":"Actor quality, maintenance, startup latency, and pricing vary, making production behavior less uniform than a single-purpose API."},{"model":"Claude","fix":"Fragmented experience — per-Actor quality and pricing vary widely, and the platform's learning curve is overkill for simple \"fetch this page as markdown\" agent use"}],"updated":"2026-07-15","rank_history":{"days":["2026-07-12","2026-07-13","2026-07-14","2026-07-15"],"ranks":[2,4,2,2]},"reasoning_shift":[{"model":"ChatGPT","from":"2026-07-14","to":"2026-07-15","added":[{"t":"proxies and API clients","q":"proxies, scheduling, datasets, API clients"},{"t":"maintenance and startup latency vary","q":"Actor quality, maintenance, startup latency, and pricing vary"}],"dropped":[{"t":"browser automation","q":"browser automation"},{"t":"demands more engineering","q":"assembling the right components demands more engineering than Firecrawl"}]},{"model":"Claude","from":"2026-07-14","to":"2026-07-15","added":[{"t":"full platform with proxies","q":"a full platform (scheduling, storage, proxies)"},{"t":"LangChain tools","q":"LangChain tools"}],"dropped":[{"t":"open-source Crawlee underneath","q":"open-source Crawlee underneath"},{"t":"pay-per-event pricing","q":"pay-per-event pricing"},{"t":"near-tie with Bright Data","q":"near-tie with Bright Data, ranked ahead on agent-native ergonomics"}]}],"api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-ai-web-scraping-api.json"},{"slug":"best-web-scraping-apis-for-e-commerce-price-monitoring","title":"Best web scraping APIs for e-commerce price monitoring","rank":5,"of":8,"score":2,"appearances":1,"modelRanks":{"Claude":4},"reason":"Marketplace of maintained, ready-made e-commerce actors (Amazon, eBay, Shopify stores, price trackers) plus a full scheduling/storage platform makes it the fastest path to a working monitor at small-to-mid scale and excellent value.","reasons":[{"model":"Claude","reason":"Marketplace of maintained, ready-made e-commerce actors (Amazon, eBay, Shopify stores, price trackers) plus a full scheduling/storage platform makes it the fastest path to a working monitor at small-to-mid scale and excellent value."}],"fixes":[{"model":"Claude","fix":"Actor reliability and maintenance vary by author, and it's less suited to the hardest anti-bot targets at very high enterprise volume."}],"updated":"2026-08-09","api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-web-scraping-apis-for-e-commerce-price-monitoring.json"},{"slug":"best-website-change-detection-apis-for-competitive-monitoring","title":"Best website change detection APIs for competitive monitoring","rank":7,"of":8,"score":1,"appearances":1,"modelRanks":{"Claude":5},"reason":"A programmable scraping-and-automation platform where actors can extract structured competitor data on schedule and trigger change alerts; strong for engineers who want custom monitoring logic, a marketplace of ready actors, and integrations without running their own infra.","reasons":[{"model":"Claude","reason":"A programmable scraping-and-automation platform where actors can extract structured competitor data on schedule and trigger change alerts; strong for engineers who want custom monitoring logic, a marketplace of ready actors, and integrations without running their own infra."}],"fixes":[{"model":"Claude","fix":"General-purpose platform, not a purpose-built change detector — you assemble the monitoring workflow, and cost/complexity outweigh dedicated tools for simple page-watch needs."}],"updated":"2026-08-09","api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-website-change-detection-apis-for-competitive-monitoring.json"},{"slug":"best-serp-api-for-ai-search-visibility-tracking","title":"Best SERP API for AI Search Visibility Tracking","rank":8,"of":9,"score":1,"appearances":1,"modelRanks":{"Gemini":5},"reason":"Extremely flexible, actor-based platform that allows practitioners to run customizable browser automation workflows (like custom prompts, scrolling, and clicks) to scrape chat platforms.","reasons":[{"model":"Gemini","reason":"Extremely flexible, actor-based platform that allows practitioners to run customizable browser automation workflows (like custom prompts, scrolling, and clicks) to scrape chat platforms."}],"fixes":[{"model":"Gemini","fix":"Higher request latency and resource costs due to running headless virtual browsers (Playwright/Puppeteer) per task compared to lightweight REST APIs."}],"updated":"2026-07-19","rank_history":{"days":["2026-07-18","2026-07-19"],"ranks":[9,null]},"api":"https://modelsagree.com/api/v1/best/best-serp-api-for-ai-search-visibility-tracking.json"}],"page":"https://modelsagree.com/product/apify","check":"https://modelsagree.com/check?q=Apify","updated":"2026-08-10T18:18:45.051Z","attribution":"modelsagree.com, CC BY 4.0"}