SignalThe ScrapeCreators alternative: faster, and about half the price
Same endpoints. Same JSON. Same x-api-key header. Change the base URL and ship. Requests come back about 2.7× faster, at roughly half the price per credit.
At a glance
Speed from our public end-to-end benchmark, price from their public pricing page, both on 3 November 2026.
| SignalShelf | ScrapeCreators | |
|---|---|---|
| Median response, 119 comparable endpoints | 1.44 s | 3.96 s |
| Faster on | 102 of 119 endpoints | — |
| Endpoint coverage | 198 of 205 ScrapeCreators endpoints (97%) | 205 |
| Response shape match | 100% of top-level keys on 120 endpoints tested | — |
| Free credits | 1,000 (no card) | 100 |
| Entry pack | $19 / 20,000 → $0.95 per 1k | $47 / 25,000 → $1.88 per 1k |
| 500k credits | $299 → $0.60 per 1k | $497 → $0.99 per 1k |
| 1M credits | $499 → $0.50 per 1k | Not compared |
| Request paths & response shape | Same /v1 paths, same JSON | — |
| Auth header | x-api-key | x-api-key |
Speed, measured
We sent the same requests to both APIs, end to end, on 3 November 2026. On the 119 endpoints both returned data for, SignalShelf’s median was 1.44 s and ScrapeCreators’ was 3.96 s. We were faster on 102 of the 119.
One run, one client location, one call per endpoint. Your numbers will vary by endpoint, region and payload size. The method, caveats, every endpoint and the raw JSON are on the benchmark page.
Why it’s faster (and cheaper)
Warm store: popular profiles and feeds are kept ready, so many requests never wait on the source.
Direct HTTP first: we read the platform’s own public JSON over plain HTTP. A headless browser only steps in when a source insists. Browsers and proxies are slow and expensive; skipping them is where the speed and the price come from.
Opt-in cache: add cache_max_age and a recent result comes back instantly, for 0 credits.
Price per 1,000 credits
Most endpoints cost 1 credit. A few heavy ones cost more: ad library and search endpoints 2 credits, Google Maps reviews 2 per 20, long AI transcripts 3. Failed requests cost 0. Opt-in cache hits (cache_max_age) cost 0. Credits never expire.
| Volume | SignalShelf | ScrapeCreators |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 credits | 100 credits |
| Entry | $0.95 (Starter, 20k) | $1.88 (25k) |
| 100k | $0.79 (Growth) | Not compared |
| 500k | $0.60 (Business) | $0.99 |
| 1M | $0.50 (Scale) | Not compared |
Migrate in two minutes
1. Create a free account and an API key (1,000 credits, no card · earn 5,000 more).
2. Swap the base URL: https://api.scrapecreators.com → your SignalShelf base URL.
3. Swap the key. Keep the x-api-key header, the /v1 paths and the query parameters.
4. Check your endpoints on the coverage page. Anything we don’t serve yet returns a clear error and costs 0.
# Before
curl "https://api.scrapecreators.com/v1/tiktok/profile?handle=stoolpresidente" \
-H "x-api-key: $SCRAPECREATORS_API_KEY"
# After: same path, same params, same JSON
curl "$SIGNALSHELF_BASE_URL/v1/tiktok/profile?handle=stoolpresidente" \
-H "x-api-key: $SIGNALSHELF_API_KEY"Where ScrapeCreators may still fit
7 of their 205 endpoints aren’t mirrored (for example find-creator-emails and detect-age-gender, which we don’t build); check the coverage page before you switch. And a few of our heavy endpoints cost more than 1 credit.