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Most buyers should pick Bright Data.
Choose Bright Data for broad public-web collection: scraping APIs, datasets, archives, browser access, and proxies, plus a listed free tier with 5,000 monthly credits or requests. Choose Captain Data for a narrower REST API focused on finding and enriching people and companies. Bright Data starts at $0, with paid usage rates and committed tiers; Captain Data's Silver estimate is shown in EUR, while USD pricing is not published. Their jobs differ, but Bright Data is the more flexible starting point.
01Side by side
| Bright Data | Captain Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0/month listed; usage billed separately | USD price unpublished; Silver estimate shown in EUR |
| Free plan | Yes; 5,000 monthly credits or requests | No free plan listed |
| Best for | Broad scraping, proxies, datasets, and public-web access | People and company data API enrichment |
| Core strength | Scraper APIs, web access, archives, and proxy network | People and company search and enrichment endpoints |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Data coverage | Web data, datasets, archives, and proxy access | People profiles, companies, and employee lookup |
| Team and seat costs | Unlimited seats on custom Enterprise | Seat pricing not published |
| Support | Review support score: 5 | Review support score: 5 |
Bright Data Choose Bright Data if
- Choose Bright Data if you need scraping, proxies, and datasets together.
- Choose Bright Data if you want a listed free tier to start.
- Choose Bright Data if you need unlimited seats on Enterprise.
Captain Data Choose Captain Data if
- Choose Captain Data if you need people and company data endpoints.
- Choose Captain Data if your workflow centers on profile enrichment.
- Choose Captain Data if employee lookup is a required endpoint.
02Pricing compared
Bright Data has the clearer entry point: its pricing lists a free tier with 5,000 monthly credits or requests, then pay-as-you-go rates. Those include $1.50 per 1,000 Web Unlocker, SERP or Crawl API requests, $0.75 per 1,000 Scraper API records, and $8 per GB for Browser API or residential proxies. Scale is listed at $499/month; Business at $999/month; Premium at $1,999/month. Product-specific limits vary, and annual prices are not published.
Captain Data’s Silver estimate is billed monthly in EUR, but the amount and USD equivalent are not published. Silver includes 20,000 credits and up to 20,000 records per month. Growth, Enterprise and Titanium use usage-based or volume pricing; annual billing offers volume discounts. For a budget comparison, Bright Data is more transparent. Captain Data’s actual cost needs a quote or current checkout estimate.
03Features and depth
These products solve different data problems. Bright Data is a web data platform: its listed tools cover scraper APIs, structured datasets, a web archive, AI Scraper Studio, web access APIs and proxy services. Its browser and access tools support JavaScript rendering, remote browsers, search, crawling and navigation. Proxy targeting includes country, city, carrier and ASN. That breadth fits teams collecting public-web data across multiple sites or methods.
Captain Data is narrower and centered on people and company records through a REST API. Its listed endpoints cover people search and enrichment, finding a person by name and optional company, company search and enrichment, and employee lookup. Inputs can include a LinkedIn URL, name or domain, according to its homepage.
Choose by output, not feature count: Bright Data is the broader collection layer; Captain Data is aimed at structured people and company discovery and enrichment. The published descriptions do not establish that one replaces the other, or that Captain Data offers Bright Data’s proxy, archive or general scraping products.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Captain Data’s described workflow is direct if your job is an API lookup: send a LinkedIn URL, name, domain or search query and request a people or company endpoint. The available information does not specify setup steps, integrations or required coding, so we would not treat that as proof of a no-code workflow.
Bright Data offers more ways to collect data, but the product list also means more choices to evaluate: APIs, datasets, browser access and proxies have distinct usage units and limits. Its free tier gives teams a listed starting allowance without a credit card. Before switching, map your current jobs to the relevant product and calculate overages. The published review rates ease of use at 6.5 for Bright Data and 6 for Captain Data; those scores are not a substitute for checking your own workflow.
Questions people ask
What was the controversy surrounding Bright Data?
The published material does not describe a Bright Data controversy or establish what happened. It identifies Bright Data as a public-web data platform and advises checking usage costs and data-access rules before committing. We can’t responsibly give a more specific account from these sources alone.
Which is better, Bright Data or Oxylabs?
The published information covers Bright Data and Captain Data, not Oxylabs, so it does not support a direct comparison. Bright Data is described as a broad scraping, dataset, browser and proxy platform. To compare it with Oxylabs, check matching product scope, usage limits and current prices.
How much is Bright Data?
Bright Data lists a free tier, pay-as-you-go usage, and committed plans at $499/month for Scale, $999/month for Business and $1,999/month for Premium. Pay-as-you-go rates vary by product. Annual prices are not published, and Enterprise is custom-quoted.
Who is the founder of Bright Data?
The published material does not name Bright Data’s founder, so we can’t verify the answer from these sources. It describes the company’s products and pricing but gives no founder or ownership details.