Cost Control

Cost limits can be configured using the max_cost parameter, which allows you to define the maximum number of API credits used per scrape. This ensures that each request stays within your defined budget and avoids unexpected usage.

If the scrape cost exceeds your limit, a 403 status code will be returned for the request, with the following error message:

"This request exceeds your max_cost. You can view the cost per request in your response header or in the API Playground on the dashboard."

• API REQUEST

cURL

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.scraperapi.com?api_key=API_KEY&premium=true&max_cost=5&url=https://example.com/'

Python

import requests

target_url = 'https://example.com/'
# Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
api_key = 'API_KEY'

request_url = (
    f'https://api.scraperapi.com?'
    f'api_key={api_key}'
    f'&premium=true'
    f'&max_cost=5'
    f'&url={target_url}'
)

response = requests.get(request_url)
print(response.text)

NodeJS

import request from 'node-fetch';

// Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
const url = 'http://api.scraperapi.com/?api_key=API_KEY&premium=true&max_cost=5&url=https://example.com/';

request(url)
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response);
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.error(error);
  });

PHP

<?php

// Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
$url = "https://api.scraperapi.com?api_key=API_KEY&premium=true&max_cost=5&url=https://example.com";

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);

$response = curl_exec($ch);

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    echo 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);
} else {
    print_r($response);
}

curl_close($ch);

Ruby

require 'net/http'

params = {
  # Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
  api_key: "API_KEY",
  premium: "true",
  max_cost: "5",
  url: "https://example.com/"
}

uri = URI('https://api.scraperapi.com/')
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

website_content = Net::HTTP.get(uri)
puts website_content

Java

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
        String apiKey = "API_KEY";
        String targetUrl = "https://example.com/";

        String scraperApiUrl =
                "https://api.scraperapi.com?api_key=" + apiKey
                + "&premium=true"
                + "&max_cost=5"
                + "&url=" + targetUrl;

        HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create(scraperApiUrl))
                .GET()
                .build();

        HttpResponse<String> response =
                client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

• ASYNC REQUEST

cURL

curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "apiKey": "API_KEY",
        "url": "https://example.com/",
        "apiParams": {
          "premium": "true",
          "max_cost": "5"
        }
      }' \
  "https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs"

Python

import requests

r = requests.post(
    url='https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs',
    json={
        # Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
        'apiKey': 'API_KEY',
        'premium': 'true',
        'maxCost': '5',
        'url': 'https://example.com/'
    }
)

print(r.text)

NodeJS

import axios from 'axios';

(async () => {
  try {
    const { data } = await axios({
      method: 'POST',
      url: 'https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      data: {
        // Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
        apiKey: 'API_KEY',
        url: 'https://example.com',
        apiParams: {
          premium: 'true',
          max_cost: '5'
        }
      }
    });

    console.log(data);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
})();

PHP

<?php
$payload = json_encode([
    // Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
    "apiKey" => "API_KEY",
    "url"    => "https://example.com",
    "apiParams" => [
        "premium"  => "true",
        "max_cost" => 5
    ]
]);

$ch = curl_init("https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs");

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ["Content-Type: application/json"]);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

print_r($response);
?>

Ruby

require 'net/http'
require 'json'

uri = URI('https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs')
payload = {
  # Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
  "apiKey" => "API_KEY",
  "url" => "https://example.com",
  "apiParams" => {
    "render" => true,
    "max_cost" => 5
  }
}

response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, payload.to_json, "Content-Type" => "application/json")
puts response.body

Java

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            URL url = new URL("https://async.scraperapi.com/jobs");
            HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
            conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
            conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
            conn.setDoOutput(true);

            String payload = "{"
                    // Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
                    + "\"apiKey\": \"API_KEY\","
                    + "\"url\": \"https://example.com\","
                    + "\"apiParams\": {"
                    + "\"premium\": \"true\","
                    + "\"max_cost\": 5"
                    + "}"
                    + "}";

            try (OutputStream os = conn.getOutputStream()) {
                os.write(payload.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
            }

            try (BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
                    conn.getResponseCode() == 200 ? conn.getInputStream() : conn.getErrorStream()
            ))) {
                StringBuilder response = new StringBuilder();
                String line;
                while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) response.append(line);
                System.out.println(response);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

• PROXY MODE

cURL

curl --proxy 'http://scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5:[e-mail]:8001' \
  -k \
  'https://example.com/'

Python

import requests

# Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
proxies = {
    "http": "http://scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5:[e-mail]:8001"
}

r = requests.get('http://example.com/', proxies=proxies, verify=False)
print(r.text)

NodeJS

import axios from 'axios';

axios.get('http://example.com/', {
  method: 'GET',
  proxy: {
    host: 'proxy-server.scraperapi.com',
    port: 8001,
    auth: {
      username: 'scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5',
      // Replace the value for password with your actual API Key.
      password: 'API_KEY'
    },
    protocol: 'http'
  }
})
  .then(response => {
    console.log(response.data);
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(error);
  });

PHP

<?php

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://example.com/");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PROXY, 
    // Replace the value for api_key with your actual API Key.
    "http://scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5:[e-mail]:8001"
);

curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, false);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
var_dump($response);

Ruby

require 'httparty'

HTTParty::Basement.default_options.update(verify: false)

response = HTTParty.get('http://example.com/', {
  http_proxyaddr: "proxy-server.scraperapi.com",
  http_proxyport: 8001,
  http_proxyuser: "scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5",
  # Replace the value for http_proxypass with your actual API Key.
  http_proxypass: "API_KEY"
})

results = response.body
puts results

Java

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.net.ssl.*;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
            sc.init(null, new TrustManager[]{
                new X509TrustManager() {
                    public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return null; }
                    public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {}
                    public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {}
                }
            }, new java.security.SecureRandom());
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier((hostname, session) -> true);

            String apiKey = "API_KEY"; // Replace with your actual API Key.
            Authenticator.setDefault(new Authenticator() {
                protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                    return new PasswordAuthentication(
                        "scraperapi.premium=true.max_cost=5", apiKey.toCharArray()
                    );
                }
            });

            System.setProperty("jdk.http.auth.tunneling.disabledSchemes", "");
            System.setProperty("https.proxyHost", "proxy-server.scraperapi.com");
            System.setProperty("https.proxyPort", "8001");

            HttpsURLConnection conn = (HttpsURLConnection) new URL("https://example.com/").openConnection();
            conn.setRequestMethod("GET");

            BufferedReader in;
            if (conn.getResponseCode() >= 400) {
                in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getErrorStream()));
            } else {
                in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
            }

            StringBuilder resp = new StringBuilder();
            String line;
            while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
                resp.append(line).append("\n");
            }
            in.close();

            System.out.println(resp);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}