# A ScrapIn alternative an agent can buy itself.

> A ScrapIn alternative for LinkedIn data: $5 to start instead of a paid trial and a pay-as-you-go minimum. Profiles $0.004, quote first.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/alternatives/scrapin · Updated 2026-10-22

ScrapIn sells real-time B2B data from a paid trial and a pay-as-you-go minimum. If you are testing an idea or running an agent on a small budget, the entry point is the difference.

- Profiles from: $0.004
- To start: $5
- Free trial: $0.10
- Facts checked: October 2026

> **The short answer** Start here if you want to spend $5, not a minimum purchase, and keep what you do not use.

## API for Agents and ScrapIn, side by side

Their side is from their own pages, linked below, as seen on 16 October 2026. Prices change: check the source before you decide.

|  | API for Agents | ScrapIn |
|---|---|---|
| To start paying | $5 top-up, no plan | $30 paid trial; pay as you go from $500 |
| Unused money | Kept, no expiry | Pay-as-you-go credits valid 12 months |
| Agent signs itself up | Yes: one POST, a person claims it later | No |

## When ScrapIn is the better pick

- You already spend at their pay-as-you-go level and like their data.

## When API for Agents is the better pick

- You want to start at $5 and keep unused money.
- Your agent should sign up and quote on its own.

## What you get with API for Agents, whichever you pick

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Try it before you move anything

quote a profile, free:

```bash
curl -s -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/agent/identity -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type":"anonymous"}'
# exchange identity_assertion at /oauth2/token, then:
curl -s -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/v1/linkedin -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFA_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"op":"profiles","subjects":["satyanadella"],"estimateOnly":true}'
```

## Sources

1. [ScrapIn pricing](https://www.scrapin.io/pricing), seen 16 October 2026

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md