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Developer Tools & APIs

Spider

Fast static-page scraping, but weak cleanup and poor reliability on dynamic or protected sites.

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Open-sourcePay as you goJS-heavy pages struggledAnti-bot blocked

Useful for quick static grabs, not for dependable modern-site extraction

In this hands-on test, Spider preserved core content on a recipe page, but its cleanup was noisy and it left major boilerplate in the output. It also only partially rendered a Nike product page and was fully blocked on Glassdoor. Based on these results, Spider looks better suited to fast indexing of simpler public pages than to clean, production-ready extraction from JavaScript-heavy or protected sites.

Download video: Demo video
Source-report walkthrough of Spider’s playground and test flow.

In-Depth Review

Our detailed analysis of Spider — features, performance, and real-world testing.

A
Admin
AI Demos Team
Verified Review

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Markdown extraction from static pages
Captures core page copy accurately, but does a weak job removing site boilerplate.
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Test Summary
Feature tested: Markdown extraction from static pages
Result: Partial — Captures core page copy accurately, but does a weak job removing site boilerplate.

Feature tested: Markdown extraction from static pages

Result: Partial

Verdict: Captures core page copy accurately, but does a weak job removing site boilerplate.

Expected behavior: Spider can scrape a public page and return rendered text/markdown-style output through its playground. This was tested on a recipe blog page for chocolate chip cookies, where Spider preserved the central recipe content and layout blocks but also pulled in large amounts of non-essential site text.

Test case: Text prompt → Image

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Recipe blog URL

Observed output: Output artifact (Image): On the recipe-page test, Spider preserved the core recipe title and central content structure, but the rendered output was bloated with navigation categories, s — spider-spider-playground-sallys-baking-scrape.png

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Recipe blog URL

Output artifact: Output artifact (Image): On the recipe-page test, Spider preserved the core recipe title and central content structure, but the rendered output was bloated with navigation categories, s — spider-spider-playground-sallys-baking-scrape.png

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Image

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider can pull the main content from a static page, but it does not reliably return clean markdown when the source page carries heavy navigation and boilerplate.

Spider can scrape a public page and return rendered text/markdown-style output through its playground. This was tested on a recipe blog page for chocolate chip cookies, where Spider preserved the central recipe content and layout blocks but also pulled in large amounts of non-essential site text.

INPUT
A public recipe-blog page for chocolate chip cookies was scraped in Spider’s cloud playground to test noise reduction on a static but boilerplate-heavy page.
↓
image
Output artifact for "Markdown extraction from static pages" test: On the recipe-page test, Spider preserved the core recipe title and central content structure, but the rendered output was bloated with navigation categories, s, spider-spider-playground-sallys-baking-scrape.png

On the recipe-page test, Spider preserved the core recipe title and central content structure, but the rendered output was bloated with navigation categories, site-wide menu links, cookie-preference text, social/share elements, and other non-essential page copy. The result showed accurate text capture but poor noise stripping for downstream markdown use.

Bottom Line
Spider can pull the main content from a static page, but it does not reliably return clean markdown when the source page carries heavy navigation and boilerplate.
JavaScript-rendered page scraping
Partially works on a JS-heavy product page, but misses important hydrated content.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: JavaScript-rendered page scraping
Result: Partial — Partially works on a JS-heavy product page, but misses important hydrated content.

Feature tested: JavaScript-rendered page scraping

Result: Partial

Verdict: Partially works on a JS-heavy product page, but misses important hydrated content.

Expected behavior: Spider’s Smart mode is intended to handle dynamically rendered pages without manual selector work. It was tested on a Nike Air Force 1 product page to see whether client-side product details would fully load before extraction.

Test case: Text prompt → Image

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Nike product page URL

Observed output: Output artifact (Image): On the Nike product-page test, Spider extracted the product title, category, and $115 price, but large blank regions remained in the rendered output and the siz — spider-spider-playground-nike-air-force-scrape.png

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Nike product page URL

Output artifact: Output artifact (Image): On the Nike product-page test, Spider extracted the product title, category, and $115 price, but large blank regions remained in the rendered output and the siz — spider-spider-playground-nike-air-force-scrape.png

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Image

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider can capture some top-level product attributes from a JS-heavy page, but it missed vital transactional elements and did not fully render the page state.

Spider’s Smart mode is intended to handle dynamically rendered pages without manual selector work. It was tested on a Nike Air Force 1 product page to see whether client-side product details would fully load before extraction.

INPUT
A Nike Air Force 1 ’07 product page was scraped using Spider’s Smart configuration to test client-side JavaScript hydration on a modern e-commerce layout.
↓
image
Output artifact for "JavaScript-rendered page scraping" test: On the Nike product-page test, Spider extracted the product title, category, and $115 price, but large blank regions remained in the rendered output and the siz, spider-spider-playground-nike-air-force-scrape.png

On the Nike product-page test, Spider extracted the product title, category, and $115 price, but large blank regions remained in the rendered output and the size-selection interface did not load. The result indicates Smart mode did not wait long enough for critical client-side components to finish hydrating.

Bottom Line
Spider can capture some top-level product attributes from a JS-heavy page, but it missed vital transactional elements and did not fully render the page state.
Protected-site access
Failed on a site with active anti-bot protection.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Protected-site access
Result: Failed — Failed on a site with active anti-bot protection.

Feature tested: Protected-site access

Result: Failed

Verdict: Failed on a site with active anti-bot protection.

Expected behavior: Spider attempts to fetch public URLs through its native scraping infrastructure, including pages that may apply security checks. This was tested on a Glassdoor jobs page to see whether Spider could get past a standard anti-bot interstitial.

Test case: Text prompt → Image

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Glassdoor jobs URL

Observed output: Output artifact (Image): On the Glassdoor test, Spider returned a 'Humans only' security page with the blocking notice repeated in multiple languages instead of any job-listing content. — spider-spider-playground-glassdoor-humans-only.png

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Glassdoor jobs URL

Output artifact: Output artifact (Image): On the Glassdoor test, Spider returned a 'Humans only' security page with the blocking notice repeated in multiple languages instead of any job-listing content. — spider-spider-playground-glassdoor-humans-only.png

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Image

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider was not able to bypass the target site’s protection and returned only the block/interstitial page.

Spider attempts to fetch public URLs through its native scraping infrastructure, including pages that may apply security checks. This was tested on a Glassdoor jobs page to see whether Spider could get past a standard anti-bot interstitial.

INPUT
A public Glassdoor jobs/search page was scraped to test whether Spider could access a protected site and still return meaningful page content.
↓
image
Output artifact for "Protected-site access" test: On the Glassdoor test, Spider returned a 'Humans only' security page with the blocking notice repeated in multiple languages instead of any job-listing content., spider-spider-playground-glassdoor-humans-only.png

On the Glassdoor test, Spider returned a 'Humans only' security page with the blocking notice repeated in multiple languages instead of any job-listing content. The scrape was stopped at the protection layer, so no usable payload was extracted.

Bottom Line
Spider was not able to bypass the target site’s protection and returned only the block/interstitial page.
URL-to-Markdown extraction
It preserved the main recipe content accurately, but the returned markdown was heavily polluted by page chrome and secondary content.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: URL-to-Markdown extraction
Result: Passed — It preserved the main recipe content accurately, but the returned markdown was heavily polluted by page chrome and secondary content.

Feature tested: URL-to-Markdown extraction

Result: Passed

Verdict: It preserved the main recipe content accurately, but the returned markdown was heavily polluted by page chrome and secondary content.

Expected behavior: Spider can scrape a public webpage through its cloud playground and return markdown without manual selector setup. On a noisy recipe blog page, it kept the ingredients block and step-by-step directions accurate, but it also dumped header navigation, submenu links, dietary links, social sharing URLs, cookie choice notices, and user reviews into the same markdown output.

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Recipe blog page

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed markdown result

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Recipe blog page

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed markdown result

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider can capture the main text from a static page, but it did not clean the page structure well enough for downstream use without extra post-processing.

Spider can scrape a public webpage through its cloud playground and return markdown without manual selector setup. On a noisy recipe blog page, it kept the ingredients block and step-by-step directions accurate, but it also dumped header navigation, submenu links, dietary links, social sharing URLs, cookie choice notices, and user reviews into the same markdown output.

INPUT
A static but noisy recipe blog page used to test whether Spider could strip boilerplate and return only the meaningful article content.
↓
OUTPUT
Spider processed the URL zero-shot in its cloud scraper playground. The markdown kept the core ingredients section and recipe directions with good copy accuracy, but the output was highly unrefined: it included global header navigation links, submenu and dietary dropdown links, social channel sharing URLs, cookie choice notices, and user reviews alongside the main recipe content.
Bottom Line
Spider can capture the main text from a static page, but it did not clean the page structure well enough for downstream use without extra post-processing.
Smart rendering for dynamic pages
Spider's Smart mode did not reliably wait for client-side hydration to complete.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Smart rendering for dynamic pages
Result: Passed — Spider's Smart mode did not reliably wait for client-side hydration to complete.

Feature tested: Smart rendering for dynamic pages

Result: Passed

Verdict: Spider's Smart mode did not reliably wait for client-side hydration to complete.

Expected behavior: Spider offers a Smart request mode intended to handle more complex pages. On a Nike single-page product page with asynchronously loaded content, it extracted structural product descriptions and basic marketing copy, but it missed the dynamically loaded size-selection module entirely and returned an empty layout node where sizing data should have appeared.

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Nike SPA product page

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed dynamic rendering result

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Nike SPA product page

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed dynamic rendering result

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider handled some visible product copy, but it missed an important dynamic purchase element, which makes its Smart mode unreliable for JS-heavy ecommerce pages.

Spider offers a Smart request mode intended to handle more complex pages. On a Nike single-page product page with asynchronously loaded content, it extracted structural product descriptions and basic marketing copy, but it missed the dynamically loaded size-selection module entirely and returned an empty layout node where sizing data should have appeared.

INPUT
A JavaScript-heavy Nike product page used to test whether Spider's Smart mode could wait for client-side hydration and capture transactional product data such as available sizes.
↓
OUTPUT
Using Spider's Smart performance configuration, the tool extracted structural description content and basic marketing attributes cleanly. However, it failed to wait for the client-side JavaScript components to finish loading. The size selection dashboard was skipped entirely, leaving an empty node with zero available sizing attributes under the displayed $115 price area.
Bottom Line
Spider handled some visible product copy, but it missed an important dynamic purchase element, which makes its Smart mode unreliable for JS-heavy ecommerce pages.
Proxy-based access to protected sites
Spider failed completely on the protected target in this test.
▾
Test Summary
Feature tested: Proxy-based access to protected sites
Result: Passed — Spider failed completely on the protected target in this test.

Feature tested: Proxy-based access to protected sites

Result: Passed

Verdict: Spider failed completely on the protected target in this test.

Expected behavior: Spider relies on its own scraping infrastructure and proxies to reach target pages automatically. On a Glassdoor page protected by Cloudflare, the request was blocked before extraction began, and the returned text consisted only of CAPTCHA and security-warning language rather than page content.

Test case: Text prompt → Text prompt

Input type: Text prompt

Input used: Input artifact (Text prompt): Glassdoor page behind Cloudflare

Observed output: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed anti-bot result

Input artifact: Input artifact (Text prompt): Glassdoor page behind Cloudflare

Output artifact: Output artifact (Text prompt): Observed anti-bot result

What changed: Text prompt transformed into Text prompt

Why it matters / Conclusion: Spider's native proxies did not mask the scraper successfully enough to reach this Cloudflare-protected page.

Spider relies on its own scraping infrastructure and proxies to reach target pages automatically. On a Glassdoor page protected by Cloudflare, the request was blocked before extraction began, and the returned text consisted only of CAPTCHA and security-warning language rather than page content.

INPUT
A public Glassdoor target used to test whether Spider could get through standard anti-bot protections and return usable markdown.
↓
OUTPUT
Spider was blocked at the network edge by the target site's firewall rules. Automation did not proceed past the initial handshake, and the output contained only multi-language CAPTCHA strings and security warnings, including an explicit Cloudflare challenge and Ray ID rather than any usable page payload.
Bottom Line
Spider's native proxies did not mask the scraper successfully enough to reach this Cloudflare-protected page.

Usage-based pricing

The source report describes Spider as pay-as-you-go rather than subscription-first.

Pay-As-You-Go
Credits starting at $5 + usage billing
No monthly subscription, seat limits, or hidden fees. Bandwidth is $1 per GB, compute is $0.001 per minute, the reported average cost is roughly $0.03 per 1,000 pages, and failed requests cost nothing.
AI Studio (Alpha)
Starting at $6/month
Optional add-on for natural-language crawling and structured JSON extraction without CSS selectors. Mentioned in pricing, but not hands-on tested in this report.

Pricing was taken from the researcher’s report and was not independently validated with a billing artifact in this task.

Is This Right For You?

A side-by-side guide based on our hands-on testing.

✓ Use This If
●You mainly need quick scraping of static or lightly dynamic public pages and can tolerate cleanup afterward.
●You want a pay-as-you-go cost model instead of a recurring subscription.
●You care more about fast broad indexing than about perfectly cleaned markdown from every page.
✕ Skip This If
●You need markdown that automatically strips almost all nav, cookie, and site-wide boilerplate.
●You scrape JS-heavy e-commerce pages where variant selectors or other critical elements load client-side.
●You rely on access to sites with strong anti-bot protection, as Spider was blocked outright on Glassdoor.

Use case track record

How Spider performed in this research scenario

Mixed
Extract clean markdown from public web pages using AI
Spider preserved core content on a static recipe page, but it returned heavy boilerplate, missed dynamic size data on a Nike SPA, and failed completely on a Cloudflare-protected Glassdoor page.
Developer Tools & APIsAPIstext
On the recipe-page test, Spider preserved the main recipe content accurately, but the output also included heavy boilerplate such as navigation links, cookie-preference text, and other non-essential site copy. The result was usable as raw extraction, but not clean enough to count as high-quality markdown without post-processing.
Partially. On the Nike Air Force 1 product page, Spider captured the product name, category, and price, but it did not wait for all client-side components to finish loading. Important interactive content, including the size-selection area, was missing from the extracted result.
No. On a Glassdoor jobs page, Spider returned only a 'Humans only' security/interstitial page instead of the actual page content, so the scrape failed before any useful extraction happened.
No. The broader use case includes schema-driven structured extraction, and Spider’s pricing notes mention an AI Studio add-on for structured JSON extraction, but this hands-on report only tested page scraping behavior on three live URLs and did not validate JSON-schema extraction output.
The report describes Spider as converting sites into pure HTML or markdown, and the hands-on tests were run through its playground interface with Rendered, JSON, and Code views visible. For the recipe-page test, export was noted as available through markdown viewport copies.
According to the report, Spider uses pay-as-you-go billing with credits starting at $5. It charges $1 per GB of bandwidth and $0.001 per minute of compute, with an estimated average of roughly $0.03 per 1,000 pages. Failed requests are reported as free, and an optional AI Studio alpha add-on starts at $6 per month.

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