--- title: "Octoparse Alternative — a Developer API, Not a No-Code App" description: "An Octoparse alternative: a stateless HTTP scraping API with proxies, JS rendering, and AI extraction — no desktop app, no task-building. From $29/mo." url: https://webscraping.ai/octoparse-alternative markdown_index: https://webscraping.ai/llms.txt --- OCTOPARSE ALTERNATIVE # The developer Octoparse alternative Octoparse is a no-code, point-and-click desktop tool. WebScraping.AI is a developer API: send a URL, get HTML, text, or AI-extracted fields — no app to install, no visual tasks to build and maintain, priced per request from $29/mo. [Start Free Trial](https://webscraping.ai/auth/sign_up)[View Documentation](https://webscraping.ai/docs) 2,000 free API credits · No credit card required ## WebScraping.AI vs Octoparse at a glance An honest, side-by-side comparison. Verify the numbers — this is a market where you should. | | WebScraping.AI | Octoparse | | --- | --- | --- | | Model | **HTTP API** (call from your code) | No-code desktop app + cloud tasks | | Setup per site | **One API request** | Build & maintain a visual task | | Pricing unit | Credits per request | Tasks + concurrent cloud runs | | Entry price | $29/mo (250k credits) | $83/mo (Standard; ~$69 billed annually) | | Pay-as-you-go | **Yes — prepaid credits from $20, no subscription** | No — subscription plans | | JS rendering & proxies | Built into each request | On paid plans (residential, CAPTCHA) | | AI extraction | Yes (`/ai/fields`, `/ai/question`) | Yes (auto-detect / AI) | | Developer scrape-by-URL API | **Yes — the core product** | Task-management / export API only | | MCP server for AI agents | Yes | Yes | Pricing and credit costs last checked July 2026. Sources: [Octoparse pricing](https://www.octoparse.com/pricing) · [WebScraping.AI pricing](https://webscraping.ai/#pricing). ## What Octoparse does well No tool is right for everyone. Octoparse is a capable product, and these are the areas where it genuinely shines — worth weighing before you switch. **No-code accessibility** for non-developers — build scrapers by clicking, with no programming. **500+ preset templates** for popular sites (Amazon, LinkedIn, Zillow) in multiple languages. **Auto-detect, scheduling, and cloud extraction** that runs 24/7 on Octoparse's servers. **Built-in anti-bot handling** — IP rotation, residential proxies, and CAPTCHA solving on higher plans. ## Why developers look for a Octoparse alternative The most common reasons teams evaluate a switch. #### It's a tool to operate, not an API to call With Octoparse you build and maintain visual tasks in a desktop app. WebScraping.AI is **one HTTP request** from your code — nothing to install, nothing to rebuild when you scale. #### Its API manages tasks — it doesn't scrape URLs Octoparse's API retrieves data from tasks you already built and **caps exports at 1,000 rows per request**. WebScraping.AI's API takes a URL and returns rendered HTML, text, or fields directly. #### Scaling means higher tiers Task counts and concurrent cloud runs are capped per plan, and the jump to Professional is **$299/mo** ($249 billed annually). WebScraping.AI prices per request, with no task or run caps. #### Reliability on protected, dynamic sites Users report trouble getting past Cloudflare on non-template sites. WebScraping.AI offers explicit **residential and stealth proxies** per request. ## Transparent, published pricing Every request type has a fixed, published credit cost — no surprises, and you only pay for successful requests. Request type No JS + JS render Datacenter proxies 1 credit 5 credits Residential proxies 10 credits 25 credits Stealth proxies 50 credits 50 credits AI extraction add-on +5 credits Google SERP ([`/serp`](https://webscraping.ai/google-serp-api), parsed JSON) 15 credits per search Structured site data ([`/data`](https://webscraping.ai/docs#data), e.g. YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit) 15 credits per page (50 for Reddit), incl. empty parses Plans from **$29/mo** (250k credits) · **$99/mo** (1M) · **$249/mo** (3M) · or **pay-as-you-go** from $20 (100k credits, no subscription, valid 12 months). Failed requests are always free. [See full pricing](https://webscraping.ai/#pricing). ### Built for developers, not point-and-click Octoparse is designed for analysts and non-developers who want a GUI: install the app, click to build a task, schedule it, and export the results. That's a great fit if you don't write code. If you're embedding scraping into an application, a desktop task builder is the wrong shape. WebScraping.AI is a **stateless HTTP API** with 7 official SDKs — you call it from your code, and proxies, JS rendering, and AI extraction all happen in a single request. ### One request vs a maintained task Every Octoparse target is a task you build in the GUI and maintain as the site changes. WebScraping.AI has nothing to build: send a URL and get back rendered HTML, clean text, CSS-selected elements, or AI-extracted fields. Pricing follows the model — you pay per request (1 / 5 / 10–25 / 50 credits, +5 for AI), not per task or per concurrent cloud run. ## Switching is one API call Point your requests at WebScraping.AI — here's the equivalent call in your language. **cURL** ```bash curl -G "https://api.webscraping.ai/ai/fields" \ --data-urlencode "api_key=YOUR_API_KEY" \ --data-urlencode "url=https://example-store.com/product/widget" \ --data-urlencode "fields[title]=The product title" \ --data-urlencode "fields[price]=The current price as a number" \ --data-urlencode "fields[in_stock]=Whether the product is in stock (true/false)" # Response: # { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **Python** ```python # pip install webscraping_ai # https://pypi.org/project/webscraping-ai/ from webscraping_ai import Client client = Client(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY") result = client.fields( "https://example-store.com/product/widget", fields={ "title": "The product title", "price": "The current price as a number", "in_stock": "Whether the product is in stock (true/false)", }, ) print(result) # Response: # { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **JavaScript** ```javascript // npm install webscraping-ai // https://www.npmjs.com/package/webscraping-ai import { WebScrapingAI } from 'webscraping-ai'; const client = new WebScrapingAI({ apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY' }); const result = await client.fields({ url: 'https://example-store.com/product/widget', fields: { title: 'The product title', price: 'The current price as a number', in_stock: 'Whether the product is in stock (true/false)', }, }); console.log(result); // Response: // { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **PHP** ```php fields('https://example-store.com/product/widget', [ 'title' => 'The product title', 'price' => 'The current price as a number', 'in_stock' => 'Whether the product is in stock (true/false)', ]); print_r($result); // Response: // { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **Ruby** ```ruby # gem install webscraping_ai # https://rubygems.org/gems/webscraping_ai require 'webscraping_ai' client = WebScrapingAI::Client.new(api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY') result = client.fields( 'https://example-store.com/product/widget', fields: { title: 'The product title', price: 'The current price as a number', in_stock: 'Whether the product is in stock (true/false)', } ) puts result.inspect # Response: # { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **Go** ```go // go get github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4 // https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4 package main import ( "context" "fmt" webscrapingai "github.com/webscraping-ai/webscraping-ai-go/v4" ) func main() { client, _ := webscrapingai.NewClient(&webscrapingai.Config{APIKey: "YOUR_API_KEY"}) result, _ := client.Fields(context.Background(), &webscrapingai.FieldsOptions{ URL: "https://example-store.com/product/widget", Fields: map[string]string{ "title": "The product title", "price": "The current price as a number", "in_stock": "Whether the product is in stock (true/false)", }, }) fmt.Println(result.Result) } // Response: // { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **Java** ```java // Maven: ai.webscraping:webscraping-ai:4.2.0 // https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/ai.webscraping/webscraping-ai import ai.webscraping.Client; import ai.webscraping.Config; import ai.webscraping.option.FieldsOptions; import ai.webscraping.result.FieldsResult; Client client = new Client(Config.builder().apiKey("YOUR_API_KEY").build()); FieldsResult result = client.fields(FieldsOptions.builder() .url("https://example-store.com/product/widget") .addField("title", "The product title") .addField("price", "The current price as a number") .addField("in_stock", "Whether the product is in stock (true/false)") .build()); System.out.println(result.getResult()); // Response: // { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` **C#** ```csharp // dotnet add package WebScrapingAI // https://www.nuget.org/packages/WebScrapingAI using WebScrapingAI; var client = new WebScrapingAIClient(new WebScrapingAIClientOptions { ApiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY" }); var result = await client.FieldsAsync(new FieldsRequest { Url = "https://example-store.com/product/widget", Fields = new Dictionary { ["title"] = "The product title", ["price"] = "The current price as a number", ["in_stock"] = "Whether the product is in stock (true/false)", }, }); Console.WriteLine(result.Result); // Response: // { "title": "Widget", "price": 19.99, "in_stock": true } ``` ### Switch to WebScraping.AI if… You're a **developer** integrating scraping into an application or pipeline. You want **no desktop app and no task maintenance** — just an API call. You want **proxies, JS rendering, and AI extraction in one request**. You want **per-request pricing** with no task or concurrent-run caps. ### Stick with Octoparse if… You're a **non-developer** who wants point-and-click scraping, no code. You rely on Octoparse's **preset templates** for popular sites. You want a **GUI with scheduling** and visual debugging. You prefer **cloud runs managed from a dashboard** over calling an API. ## Frequently asked questions Is WebScraping.AI a good Octoparse alternative? It is if you're a developer. WebScraping.AI is a stateless HTTP API you call from code — no desktop app, no visual tasks to build and maintain, with proxies, JS rendering, and AI extraction in each request. Octoparse remains a strong choice for non-developers who want a point-and-click tool. Does WebScraping.AI have a no-code interface like Octoparse? No — WebScraping.AI is API-first, aimed at developers. If you want visual point-and-click scraping with templates and a dashboard, Octoparse is purpose-built for that; if you want to integrate scraping into your own code, WebScraping.AI is simpler. How is WebScraping.AI's API different from Octoparse's API? Octoparse's API manages tasks you've built in the GUI and exports their data (capped at 1,000 rows per request). WebScraping.AI's API takes any URL and returns rendered HTML, text, or AI-extracted fields directly — there's no task to build first. How does pricing compare? WebScraping.AI charges per request (from $29/mo for 250k credits), with no caps on tasks or concurrent runs. Octoparse prices by number of tasks and concurrent cloud runs, with Standard at $83/mo and Professional at $299/mo (about $69 and $249 billed annually). Can I try the API without a monthly plan? Yes — WebScraping.AI has pay-as-you-go prepaid credits with no subscription: top up from $20 (100,000 credits at $0.0002 each) and spend them as you go. Credits stay valid for 12 months, and each new top-up extends your whole balance another 12 months. Octoparse is sold as subscription plans, so it's a low-friction way to see whether an API fits your workflow better than a point-and-click tool. Can WebScraping.AI handle JavaScript-heavy and protected sites? Yes — full Chromium rendering plus datacenter, residential, and stealth proxies, all selectable per request. That's often more reliable on Cloudflare-protected sites than a template-based tool. ## Compare other alternatives [ParseHub Alternative](https://webscraping.ai/parsehub-alternative): See how WebScraping.AI compares to ParseHub. [Diffbot Alternative](https://webscraping.ai/diffbot-alternative): See how WebScraping.AI compares to Diffbot. [Browse AI Alternative](https://webscraping.ai/browse-ai-alternative): See how WebScraping.AI compares to Browse AI. [ScrapFly Alternative](https://webscraping.ai/scrapfly-alternative): See how WebScraping.AI compares to ScrapFly. [Browserless Alternative](https://webscraping.ai/browserless-alternative): See how WebScraping.AI compares to Browserless. [All comparisons](https://webscraping.ai/alternatives): Browse every WebScraping.AI alternative comparison. ## Try WebScraping.AI as your Octoparse alternative Get started with 2,000 free API credits. No credit card required. [Start Free Trial](https://webscraping.ai/auth/sign_up)[View API Documentation](https://webscraping.ai/docs)