alterlab_estimate_cost
Preview scraping costs for any URL before committing. Check anti-bot tier (1–4), estimated cost, and confidence level to avoid surprises on protected sites.
Instructions
Preview the cost of scraping a URL before committing — no credits charged. Returns the predicted anti-bot tier (1-4), estimated cost per request, and confidence level. Call this before scraping protected or unfamiliar sites to avoid surprises. Tier 1 (simple HTTP): $0.0001. Tier 4 (full browser + anti-bot bypass): $0.001. Use render_js and use_proxy flags to see how options affect cost.
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | Yes | URL to estimate scraping cost for | |
| mode | No | Scraping mode | auto |
| formats | No | Output formats to include in the estimate. Passed to the API but does not currently affect the cost estimate — the endpoint uses URL-pattern heuristics only. 'json_v2' returns a structured section tree. 'rag' returns chunked text for retrieval-augmented generation. 'content' returns body_markdown + content_hash + images + links. 'raw' returns the response body byte-for-byte with no transformation. | |
| render_js | No | Enable JS rendering (forces Tier 4 minimum — no separate add-on charge) | |
| use_proxy | No | Include premium proxy cost (+1 credit) |