---
title: ZenRows
slug: zenrows
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/zenrows"
homepage: "https://www.zenrows.com"
categories: browser-automation-apis
last_verified: 2026-11-07
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# ZenRows

> Scraper API plus a CDP scraping browser on a shared residential pool

- Started as a per-request scraper API, added a Scraping Browser with a real CDP connection
- Serves both one-shot fetches and stateful flows
- Anti-bot handling, fingerprinting and residential rotation bundled at entry tiers; undercuts Bright Data noticeably

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | ZenRows |
| Company | ZenRows |
| One-liner | Scraper API plus a CDP scraping browser on a shared residential pool |
| Site | https://www.zenrows.com |
| Docs | https://docs.zenrows.com |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Funding | Seed |
| Open source | No |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Browser APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis)
Ranked **#10 of 14** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Anti-bot pass rate | 99.9% | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://docs.zenrows.com/browser-sessions/introduction.md | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--antibot_success |
| Stealth mode | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.zenrows.com | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--stealth_mode |
| CAPTCHA solving | ● | Inferred | 2026-07-01 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--captcha_solving |
| Residential proxy | included | Inferred | - | - | Residential rotation is bundled into the scraper tiers; the standalone proxy product is priced separately. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--residential_proxy |
| Cold start | - | Unknown | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--cold_start |
| CDP endpoint | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.zenrows.com/scraping-browser/introduction | Via the Scraping Browser product, not the classic scraper API. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--cdp_endpoint |
| Playwright | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.zenrows.com/scraping-browser/get-started/playwright | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--playwright_support |
| Puppeteer | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-01 | https://docs.zenrows.com/scraping-browser/get-started/puppeteer | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--puppeteer_support |
| Session persistence | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Sticky sessions, no profile store. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--session_persistence |
| Live view | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--live_view |
| Session replay | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--session_replay |
| Max concurrency | 1,000 sessions | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://docs.zenrows.com/first-steps/pricing.md | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--concurrency_ceiling |
| File downloads | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--file_downloads |
| Chrome extensions | - | Unknown | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--extension_support |
| Browser regions | global | Inferred | - | - | Country targeting including Australia via proxy geography. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--regions |
| Agent API | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--computer_use_api |
| MCP server | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://docs.zenrows.com/mcp/overview | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--mcp_server |
| Human handoff | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--human_handoff |
| Pricing model | per-credit | Inferred | - | - | Scraper API bills credits per request; the Scraping Browser is metered separately. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--pricing_model |
| Per browser-hour | $0/browser-hour | Vendor-claimed | 2026-11-07 | https://docs.zenrows.com/browser-sessions/introduction.md | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--price_per_hour |
| Free tier | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Trial credits. | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--free_tier |
| GitHub stars | - | Unknown | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--github_stars |
| Funding stage | seed | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--funding_stage |
| Open-source core | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--open_source_core |
| Positioning | Anti-bot scraping API with a CDP browser attached | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--positioning |
| Launched | 2021 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/browser-automation-apis#zenrows--launch_year |

**Verdict.** The value pick for unblocking: most of Bright Data at a lower price, minus the largest IP pool.

## Alternatives

- [Airtop](https://toolweight.com/tools/airtop), Natural-language browser API, describe the page, skip the selectors
- [Anchor Browser](https://toolweight.com/tools/anchor-browser), Cloud browsers built around authenticated sessions and human takeover
- [Apify](https://toolweight.com/tools/apify), Actor platform for scraping and agents, with Crawlee as the open-source core
- [Bright Data Browser API](https://toolweight.com/tools/bright-data-browser-api), CDP browsers on a 70M+ residential IP network with challenge handling built in
- [Browser Use](https://toolweight.com/tools/browser-use), The open-source browser agent library, with stealth cloud browsers and a hosted agent API
- [Browserbase](https://toolweight.com/tools/browserbase), Managed headless browsers for AI agents, with Stagehand as the SDK
- [Browserless](https://toolweight.com/tools/browserless), Self-hostable headless Chrome service; BrowserQL for bot-heavy sites
- [Cloudflare Browser Rendering](https://toolweight.com/tools/cloudflare-browser-rendering), Puppeteer and Playwright bindings for Workers, plus REST render endpoints
- [Hyperbrowser](https://toolweight.com/tools/hyperbrowser), Agent-first browsers with hosted scrape, crawl and CUA endpoints
- [Kernel](https://toolweight.com/tools/kernel), Fast-starting browsers plus a runtime for deploying browser agents
- [Self-hosted Playwright](https://toolweight.com/tools/playwright-self-hosted), The baseline: run Chromium in your own container and own everything
- [ScrapingBee](https://toolweight.com/tools/scrapingbee), One-call HTML API with JavaScript rendering and premium proxy tiers

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/zenrows
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/zenrows.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.