serp.fast

Context.dev

Web context API for AI agents that turns any URL into LLM-ready markdown or JSON-schema structured data, with a brand-data layer (logos, colors, fonts) from its Brand.dev origin.

Nathan Kessler
By Nathan KesslerUpdated

Each tool is evaluated against our methodology using public docs, vendor demos, and hands-on testing.

Web scraping APIs abstract away the hardest parts of web data collection: JavaScript rendering, anti-bot detection, proxy rotation, and data parsing. Instead of building and maintaining your own scraping infrastructure, you send a URL and receive clean, structured data back. For AI applications, many of these APIs now return LLM-ready markdown or structured JSON.

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Features

JS Rendering
Structured Output
Open Source
Self-Hosted Option
Pricing:FreemiumSee pricing →

Editorial assessment

Context.dev packs most of this category's product surface into one credit-metered API: scrape to HTML or markdown, screenshots and image pulls, sitemap and full-site crawls, a web-search endpoint, and JSON-schema structured extraction. None of its direct peers bundles the brand-intelligence layer it kept from its Brand.dev days: logo, color, font, and styleguide extraction, a logo CDN, and NAICS/SIC industry classification. JS rendering, anti-bot bypass, and proxies cost the standard one credit per page, with no surcharges. There is an MCP server, an agent quickstart that lets a coding agent register its own API key, and official SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, and PHP. The caveat is age and size. This is a solo-founder company (Yahia Bakour, ex-Amazon, who previously co-founded the acquired StockAlarm.io) in the Y Combinator Summer 2026 batch, rebranded from Brand.dev in March 2026, with no disclosed funding beyond YC and SOC 2 Type II still in progress. The customer logos on the homepage (Mintlify, daily.dev, Chatwoot, Similarweb, Klarna) are self-reported; the detailed case studies name real people at Mintlify, SiteGPT, and ION, but we could not independently corroborate the larger enterprise names. The 96%+ first-attempt success rate is likewise a vendor claim. Worth evaluating if you want markdown conversion, schema extraction, and brand or company enrichment from a single API with a $25 entry price, especially where the brand-data layer would otherwise mean a second vendor. For crawl-and-extract alone, Firecrawl remains the more established default in this category, with the bigger community and the longer production track record.

How Context.dev compares

Firecrawl

Firecrawl is the most direct competitor for URL-to-markdown and schema extraction, with a far larger community and an open-source core, but no brand-data layer.

Tabstack

Mozilla's Tabstack shares the one-API-for-agent-web-access positioning and adds automate and research endpoints, where Context.dev instead bundles brand intelligence and a logo CDN.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Context.dev cost?

Context.dev is freemium. Signing up with a work email grants 500 free API credits (250 with a free email provider), no card required. Paid plans are credit-based subscriptions that start at $25 per month and run through published tiers up to Scale 2.5M at $949 per month, with custom Enterprise pricing above 2.5 million credits a month. One credit roughly equals one scraped page, JS rendering and anti-bot handling are included at the standard rate, and failed or blocked requests are not billed. Annual billing saves two months, and startups and nonprofits get 30% off.

Is Context.dev open source?

No. The platform is closed-source hosted SaaS, and the docs contain no self-hosting option. The github.com/context-dot-dev organization publishes client SDKs (TypeScript, Go, and PHP repos are public; the Python package ships on PyPI under Apache-2.0), a Go CLI, and integrations for n8n and Cursor, but none of the public repos contain the platform source. Context.dev's own blog points readers who want self-hosting to Crawl4AI.

How does Context.dev compare to Firecrawl?

Both convert URLs into LLM-ready markdown with full-site crawling, JSON-schema structured extraction, and a search endpoint in one API. Firecrawl is the more established product, with an open-source core, a much larger community, and a longer production track record. Context.dev's differentiator is the bundled brand-intelligence layer (logos, colors, fonts, styleguides, NAICS/SIC classification) that Firecrawl does not offer; its featured case study about SiteGPT switching from Firecrawl is self-published. Pick Firecrawl as the settled default; consider Context.dev when brand enrichment would otherwise mean a second vendor.

What can the Context.dev API do?

The documented endpoint groups cover web scraping (scrape HTML, scrape markdown, scrape images, capture screenshot, search the web, crawl sitemap, and full-site crawls that return clean markdown), extraction (structured data shaped by your JSON schema, product data, and NAICS/SIC industry classification), and brand intelligence (logos, colors, fonts, styleguides, descriptions, and socials, plus a logo CDN). It ships official TypeScript, Python, Go, and PHP SDKs and an MCP server so agent tools like Claude Code and Cursor can call the API directly.

Does Context.dev render JavaScript?

Yes. Context.dev runs a headless browser layer that auto-detects whether a page needs a full render. Rendering, anti-bot bypass, and premium proxies are all part of the standard one-credit-per-page rate, so a JS-heavy page does not cost extra. The company claims it bypasses Cloudflare, DataDome, and PerimeterX and reports a 96%+ first-attempt success rate, but both figures are vendor-reported and have not been independently benchmarked.

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