A Bright Data alternative for teams that want results, not proxy plans
Updated 1 Oct 2026 · Tested on 1 Oct 2026
If you use Bright Data for country-specific pages, Skryp returns the page with the exit country checked before the request and shown on every result, through an API or 17 MCP tools. Bright Data remains the broader choice: raw proxies, ready-made datasets, ZIP-level targeting and very large volumes, and its Web Unlocker costs less per page that needs heavy unblocking.
Which to choose
| If you need | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pages as seen from a country, with proof in every result | Skryp | The exit is checked before each request and recorded in the result's receipt; strict mode fails rather than substitutes. |
| An AI agent that reads, searches and collects through one connection | Either | Bright Data's MCP server has 5,000 free requests a month[1 Oct 2026]; Skryp's 17 MCP tools were tested in Claude Code and Codex[1 Oct 2026]. |
| Ordinary pages, priced per page | Skryp | 1 credit a page on its own network, $0.20 to $0.45 per 1,000 depending on the plan[1 Oct 2026], against $1.50 per 1,000 on Bright Data's Unlocker. |
| Many pages that need advanced unblocking | Bright Data | Its Web Unlocker is $1.50 per 1,000 successful requests pay as you go[1 Oct 2026]; on Skryp the same pages cost 25 credits, $4.99 to $11.25 per 1,000. |
| Raw proxies, ready-made datasets or a search-results API | Bright Data | Skryp sells results per page, not proxy access or datasets. |
| City or ZIP-code targeting on Amazon | Bright Data | Its Unlocker accepts city and ZIP headers for Amazon[1 Oct 2026]; Skryp targets countries only. |
| Very large volumes with contracts and SLAs | Bright Data | It sells enterprise plans with contracts; Skryp sells self-serve monthly plans. |
We use Bright Data too
For the hardest pages, Skryp's last route is Bright Data's own Web Unlocker. Skryp tries its own routes first (a plain request, residential IPs, a browser, a real Chrome window) and uses the Unlocker only when all of them fail, only for workspaces with a paid plan or purchased credits, and never for strict-country requests: the Unlocker's exit is reported by Bright Data, not checked by Skryp[1 Oct 2026]. If most of your pages need that last route, buying the Unlocker directly costs less.
Country-specific pages
When the AI agents in our study were asked how to prove where a request came from, both picked Bright Data. Skryp's answer is in every result. One product, four countries, strict mode on; it ran as shown:
# One product page as shoppers in four countries see it: each request leaves from a checked exit in that
# country (strict: fail rather than substitute), and prices are converted to one currency to compare.
# pip install httpx export SKRYP_API_KEY=...
import os
import httpx
API = os.environ.get("SKRYP_API_URL", "https://api.skryp.dev")
out = httpx.post(
f"{API}/v1/compare",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SKRYP_API_KEY']}"},
json={"url": "https://store.steampowered.com/app/620/Portal_2/", "countries": ["ZA", "US", "GB", "DE"], "base_currency": "USD"},
timeout=300,
).json()
print(f"{'country':<9}{'price shown':>13}{'in USD':>9} exit used")
for row in out["rows"]:
shown = f"{row['price']:,.2f} {row['currency']}" if row.get("price") is not None else row["status"]
usd = f"{row['price_usd']:.2f}" if row.get("price_usd") is not None else ""
print(f"{row['country']:<9}{shown:>13}{usd:>9} {row['exit']['country']} ({'verified' if row['exit']['verified'] else 'not verified'}), {row['route']}")
s = out["summary"]
print(f"\ncheapest {s['cheapest']}, dearest {s['dearest']}: {s['spread_pct']}% apart; same product in every country: {s['same_product']}")
print(f"exchange rates from {s['fx']['source']}, {s['fx']['updated']}; {out['receipt']['credits']} credits")country price shown in USD exit used
ZA 20.00 ZAR 1.22 ZA (verified), http:direct
US 1.99 USD 1.99 US (verified), http:res:us
GB 1.70 GBP 2.26 GB (verified), http:res:gb
DE 1.95 EUR 2.21 DE (verified), http:res:de
cheapest ZA, dearest GB: 85.2% apart; same product in every country: True
exchange rates from open.er-api.com, Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:02:31 +0000; 31 creditsEach row names the exit Skryp used and whether its country was verified before the page loaded. In a test of 20 countries with strict mode on, 19 returned through a verified exit in the requested country[30 Sept 2026]. Bright Data's Unlocker chooses a location automatically or takes a country you name, and documents a debug header with details of each request[1 Oct 2026].
Prices side by side
| Skryp | Bright Data Web Unlocker | |
|---|---|---|
| Free each month | 1,000 credits | 5,000 requests |
| An ordinary page | 1 credit: $0.20 to $0.45 per 1,000 | $1.50 per 1,000 pay as you go |
| A page through an IP in another country | 5 credits, 10 with a browser: $1.00 to $4.50 per 1,000, with the exit verified | $1.50 per 1,000 |
| A page that needs advanced unblocking | 25 credits: $4.99 to $11.25 per 1,000 | $1.50 per 1,000; $1.30 on the $499 Scale plan |
| A page that fails | 0 | 0: it charges only for successes |
| MCP server | Included, same credits | 5,000 free requests a month[1 Oct 2026] |
Bright Data's prices were read from its pages on 1 October 2026. Skryp's range runs from its Scale plan ($399 a month for 2,000,000 credits) to its Hobby plan ($9 for 20,000). The Unlocker is meant for blocked sites. Bright Data's plain proxies are priced by traffic rather than per page and are not compared here.
How this comparison was made
From each provider's own pages, read on 1 October 2026, and Skryp's own runs. We did not run Bright Data's Unlocker or MCP server side by side with Skryp for this page, so it makes no claims about Bright Data's success rates or speed. The sources and their limits are listed under Evidence below.
Questions
- What is Bright Data?
- A web data company. It sells proxy networks, a Web Unlocker that gets past blocks, scraping APIs, ready-made datasets and an MCP server for AI agents, mostly to teams that run large collection jobs.
- Is Bright Data free?
- Partly. On 1 October 2026 its Web Unlocker had a free tier of 5,000 requests a month without a card, and its MCP server offered 5,000 free requests a month. Beyond that, the Unlocker was $1.50 per 1,000 successful requests pay as you go.
Evidence
Bright Data's Web Unlocker pricing page lists a free tier of 5,000 requests a month without a card, pay as you go at $1.50 per 1,000 requests charged only for successful ones, and a $499-a-month Scale plan with 383,000 requests included and $1.30 per 1,000 after that.
provider docs · checked 1 Oct 2026 · brightdata.com/pricing/web-unlocker
Limits: Prices are shown in USD; local-currency amounts on their page are indicative. Re-read on 2 October 2026: unchanged.
Bright Data's MCP server page offers 5,000 MCP requests per month free without a credit card.
provider docs · checked 1 Oct 2026 · brightdata.com/ai/mcp-server
Limits: Not tested here. Re-read on 2 October 2026: unchanged.
Bright Data's Web Unlocker picks an IP location automatically and accepts country targeting; for Amazon it accepts headers that simulate a city and ZIP code; an x-brd-debug response header reports details of each request when debugging is switched on.
provider docs · checked 1 Oct 2026 · docs.brightdata.com Web Unlocker features and API reference
Limits: Not tested here.
Skryp's last route, used only after its own routes fail and only for workspaces with a paid plan or purchased credits, is Bright Data's Web Unlocker; it costs 25 credits on success, as Skryp's own real-Chrome route does, and strict-country requests never use it because its exit is reported by Bright Data rather than verified by Skryp.
observed test · checked 1 Oct 2026 · Skryp's routing (src/webtap/engine/router.py, unlocker.py)
Limits: Describes Skryp's own setup; routing can change.
Asked for 20 countries with strict country on, Skryp returned the page through an exit verified in the requested country in 19 of 20.
observed test · checked 30 Sept 2026 · One public page per country, 20 countries, strict-country requests, residential and mobile routes.
Limits: A single run of 20 pages. Exit verification proves where the request left from, not that every field on the page is correct for that market.
Blocked and failed pages cost 0 credits.
observed test · checked 1 Oct 2026 · All page reads through the API, MCP and dashboard.
Limits: Applies to page reads; a model extraction that runs is charged when it runs.
Skryp's HTTP MCP endpoint worked from Claude Code 2.1.280 (added with claude mcp add --transport http, all 17 tools listed, scrape called and answered correctly) and from Codex CLI 0.159.0 (mcp_servers.skryp with url and bearer_token_env_var, scrape called and answered correctly) on 1 October 2026.
observed test · checked 1 Oct 2026 · Claude Code and Codex CLI against the preview service; one task each.
Limits: Cursor, Claude Desktop and VS Code were not tested. Codex CLI 0.155.1 could not run the account's configured model, so the run used the 0.159.0 CLI bundled with the ChatGPT app.
Skryp's plans from 1 October 2026: Free (1,000 credits a month), Hobby ($9 a month for 20,000 credits), Standard ($49 for 150,000), Growth ($149 for 600,000) and Scale ($399 for 2,000,000); unused plan credits expire at the end of each month, and top-ups, which never expire (also after a plan is cancelled), cost $10 for 20,000 credits on Free and the plan's rate on a plan. A page costs 1 credit through Skryp's own network, 5 through a residential or mobile proxy (10 with JavaScript rendering) and 25 for advanced unblocking, only when it succeeds; model extraction adds 5; failed, blocked and cached results cost 0, and a missing page (404 or 410) costs at most 1.
observed test · checked 1 Oct 2026 · Skryp's own prices (the service's rate card).
Limits: Prices in US dollars, charged in rand through Paystack at R17 to the US dollar (Chad, 2 Oct 2026).