ZenCrawl operates on a simple, transparent Credit System. This unifies billing across all our services—from basic HTML scraping to advanced headless browsers and residential proxies—allowing you to scale flexibly without managing multiple usage quotas.
The Core Concept: What is a Credit?
To make pricing predictable, we anchor our credits to a simple real-world value:
*Based on the standard Pay-As-You-Go rate. Subscription plans offer significant discounts (up to 90% off) on this rate.
How Consumption Works
You only pay for what you use. Different actions consume different amounts of credits based on their complexity and infrastructure costs.
1. Data Suite APIs (Scraping & Extraction)
Our core APIs for retrieving and parsing web data.
| Product | Usage | Cost (Credits) | Why this price? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch API | Standard HTML Request | 1 Credit / req | The most basic unit of work. Efficient and fast. |
| Fetch API | + JS Rendering | 5 Credits / req | Includes booting a headless browser to render JavaScript. |
| Extract API | AI/Rule Extraction | 2 Credits / req | Fetches data and parses it into structured JSON (rules-based). |
| Target API | Specialized Data | 10 Credits / req | Returns fully structured, maintained data for complex sites (e.g., LinkedIn, Amazon) with zero configuration. |
2. Infrastructure & Add-ons
Enhance your requests with specialized capabilities.
| Feature | Unit | Cost (Credits) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium Proxy | Residential Traffic | 5 Credits / MB | Access millions of residential IPs. Charged by bandwidth usage ($5.00/GB equivalent). |
| Scraping Browser | Session Duration | 1 Credit / min | Full control over a persistent browser session. Charged per minute of uptime. |
| Unblocker | Anti-Bot Bypass | +3 Credits / req | Automatically bypasses complex CAPTCHAs and WAFs. |
| GenAI Extraction | LLM Processing | 10 Credits / 1k tokens | Uses advanced LLMs (e.g., Gemini Pro) to parse unstructured content. |
Real-World Cost Example
Transparency is key. ZenCrawl provides tools to help you predict costs before you run a job, and audit them precisely afterwards.
1. Estimate in Console
Use our Playground Console to toggle parameters. The Estimated Cost calculator updates in real-time based on your selected Add-ons (e.g., JS Rendering, Unblocker).
Above: Selecting "JS Rendering" and "Premium Unblocker" shows a base estimate of 8 Credits.
2. Actual Usage Breakdown
Every API response includes a detailed usage object. This breaks down exactly what you were charged for, including variable costs like bandwidth or browser runtime.
Above: The final cost is 8.014 Credits. This includes the fixed add-ons plus a tiny fraction for the Residential Proxy bandwidth used.
Example Usage Response
"usage": [
{ "slug": "api.fetch.request", "quantity": 1 }, // Base Cost
{ "slug": "api.addon.render", "quantity": 1 }, // JS Rendering (+4 Cr)
{ "slug": "api.addon.unblocker", "quantity": 1 }, // Unblocker (+3 Cr)
{ "slug": "inf.browser.session.seconds", "quantity": 3 }, // Browser Session (+3 Cr)
{ "slug": "inf.proxy.residential.bytes", "quantity": 3016 } // Bandwidth cost
]
3. Audit in Dashboard (Run History)
You can verify the final billing for any request in the Runs dashboard. This provides a unified view of fixed costs and variable infrastructure usage.
Smart Pricing: Inclusive Rendering
Did you notice? In the screenshot above, the inf.browser.session.seconds (3 seconds) is tracked but not
billed. When you use the Fetch API with JS Rendering, you pay a flat "Job Fee" (+4 Credits). We cover the cost of
the browser uptime, regardless of whether the page takes 2 seconds or 20 seconds to load. You only pay for browser
time when using the dedicated Scraping Browser product.
Subscription Plans
Subscribing is the most cost-effective way to use ZenCrawl. The higher the tier, the cheaper each Credit becomes.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Included Credits | Cost Efficiency | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 / mo | 1,000 | Free | Testing and personal prototypes. |
| Starter | $49 / mo | 100,000 | $0.49 / 1k Cr | Independent developers & small projects. |
| Growth | $199 / mo | 500,000 | $0.40 / 1k Cr | Startups and growing data teams. |
| Scale | $799 / mo | 2,000,000 | $0.40 / 1k Cr | High-volume business needs. |
Annual Billing
Pro Tip: Switch to Annual Billing to get 2 months free. For example, the Growth plan drops to ~$166/month (billed annually).
Overage & Top-ups
What happens if you run out of credits? We ensure your service isn't interrupted.
Pay-As-You-Go (Overage)
Once your subscription credits are exhausted, additional usage is billed at the standard rate or a discounted rate based on your plan:
- Free Plan: Service pauses until renewal.
- Starter Plan: $0.95 / 1,000 Credits.
- Growth Plan: $0.90 / 1,000 Credits.
- Scale Plan: $0.80 / 1,000 Credits.
Billing FAQ
Do credits roll over? No, subscription credits reset at the beginning of each billing cycle (monthly or yearly). This allows us to keep subscription prices significantly lower than on-demand rates.
How are proxies billed? Data Center proxies are included in the base request cost (Fetch API). Residential and Mobile proxies are billed additionally based on bandwidth usage (MBs), ensuring you don't overpay for light pages.
What counts as a "Request"? A request is counted when our server receives your API call and returns a status code (success or error handled by your logic). Internal retries performed by our "Unblocker" system to ensure success are not billed extra; you only pay for the successful result.