The Oxylabs alternative
Oxylabs has no dedicated Instagram parser — you get raw HTML to parse yourself, or pay extra for AI parsing; herascrape returns ready structured Instagram JSON across 37 endpoints out of the box. herascrape returns structured Instagram JSON across 37 endpoints over a single real-time REST call, at a flat $0.40 per 1,000 with only successful calls billed.
Oxylabs sits in the “general web-data & proxy platforms” tier. Scrape any website at scale; Instagram is one of hundreds of targets. Usually an async job you trigger and collect later, returning raw HTML or batch datasets — powerful for pipelines, heavy for a single live lookup.
Why teams switch from Oxylabs
Oxylabs is priced at $0.25–0.50; herascrape is a flat $0.40 per 1,000 ($0.0004 per request) at any balance.
Oxylabs delivers Instagram data via sync + async; herascrape answers synchronously in about a second.
Profiles, followers, following, likers, comments, stories, highlights, tagged posts, reels, hashtags and locations — one API.
You pay for successful (2xx) calls only — no quota, credits or units to decode.
herascrape vs Oxylabs
| herascrape | Oxylabs | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Instagram-only | General web-data |
| Instagram data | Deep — 37 structured endpoints: profiles, followers, following, likers, comments, stories, highlights, tagged, reels, hashtags, locations | Raw HTML — no Instagram parser (parse it yourself) |
| Data format | Structured JSON | Raw HTML |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Delivery | Synchronous | Sync + async |
| Response time (p90) | 1,720 ms | Not measured |
| Rate limit | 50 req/s (raisable) | Not published |
| Price / 1,000 | $0.40 flat | $0.25–0.50 |
| Pricing model | Flat per request at any balance; only successful (2xx) calls billed | Per result, subscription |
| Billing | Only successful (2xx) | Per result |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes |
| Client SDKs | Python, JavaScript | Python |
| Free tier | $1 free (~2,500 calls) | $5 credit |
Oxylabs figures verified on their live pages on 2026-10-24; re-check before relying on a number. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Frequently asked questions
- Is herascrape a Oxylabs alternative?
- Oxylabs has no dedicated Instagram parser — you get raw HTML to parse yourself, or pay extra for AI parsing; herascrape returns ready structured Instagram JSON across 37 endpoints out of the box.
- How does the pricing compare?
- Oxylabs is priced at $0.25–0.50 (per result, subscription); herascrape is a flat $0.0004 per request ($0.40 per 1,000) at any balance, billing only successful (2xx) calls.
- What Instagram data does herascrape return?
- Structured JSON across 37 endpoints — profiles, followers, following, likers, comments, stories, highlights, tagged posts, reels, hashtags and locations.
- Is there a free tier?
- herascrape gives $1 free on signup, about 2,500 calls. Oxylabs's free tier: $5 credit.
- Does herascrape have an MCP server and SDKs?
- Yes — herascrape ships Python and JavaScript SDKs and an MCP server, so you can call it from code or wire it into an AI agent.