Benchmarks
Measured against the scrapers people use most
Same requests, run on the Apify platform: the alternatives on October 4 and 5, 2026, ours again on October 6 and 7 after our last changes; AliExpress, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all on October 10; Facebook on October 12. Alternatives = the most used scrapers for the same platform on the Apify Store, ranked by monthly users (Apify public statistics). Raw runs and outputs are kept (for the AliExpress alternative, its run record only); we can share them on request.
Reddit
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 50 posts from r/technology (hot), checked against the page read at the same minuteThe most used one returned 27 of 50 and reported success, after 775 s. | 50 of 50, exact order, 4.7 to 6.0 s | 50, 50 and 27 of 50; fastest 7.4 s |
| Comments of a 1,650-comment thread written since October 1 (263 comments, spread down to depth 12)Two of the most used; the most used one was not run on this thread. We looked up the 40 comments they missed directly on Reddit: all 40 exist, same parent, same text. | 263 of 263 | 245 and 224 |
| Deepest reply level reached in that threadBoth stop where Reddit shows a “continue this thread” link. | 12 | 9 and 9 |
| Comments of a 137-comment threadThe 6 missing everywhere were deleted on Reddit. The most used one returned 25 and reported success. | 131 of 137 | 131, 131 and 25 |
| Search “home assistant”, top of the month, 50 posts, strict modeWithout strict mode, 17 of Reddit's first 100 results contain the phrase. | 50 of 50 contain both words | — |
Threads
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 20 posts from @zuck, repeat run | 9.4 to 13.1 s | 14 and 19 s |
| Same 20 posts, first run on a new Apify account | 9.1 to 11.7 s | — |
| One profile (@mosseri), checked against the public pageThe 3.4 s one returned Instagram data; the other found the account through a search that returned 9 accounts. | 2.9 to 3.3 s, exact | 3.4 s and 14 to 21 s |
| Likes, replies, reposts, quotes, shares, views and date on 3 posts, checked against the public page a minute laterTheir run was 10 minutes earlier; two counts had moved since. | 21 of 21 values | 3 of 3 posts, at their run time |
| Carousel of 9 media | 9 URLs, the 9 on the page | 11 URLs |
| Replies of a post with 2,502 announced, in the same scraperThe same developer sells replies as a separate scraper. | 1,805 in 87 s | not offered |
Google Trends
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| One search term, US, 12 months: curve, regions and related queries, 2 runsThe run that failed twice was still billed. | 2 of 2 with data | 2 of 2, and 0 of 2 |
| Related queries in the same run | 25 top + 25 rising | not in the one that ran |
| One term, US, 12 months, interest over timeClose, not clearly faster. The test terms differed, and their runs also returned regions. | 3.6 to 6.9 s | 5.3 to 7.6 s |
AliExpress
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 50 products with full details, the same 50 product pages, shipped to the USThe most used AliExpress product scraper. Run times as recorded by Apify. | 50 of 50 in 38 s | 50 of 50 in 106 s |
| Images per productMore than 6 on 35 of the 50 products. | All: 5 to 16 | 6 at most |
| Shipping fee and delivery days to the USAliExpress shows that the 50th can't be shipped to the US; it is flagged as such. | 49 of 50 | Fee empty |
| Variants (SKUs) with their own price and stock | 1,390 across the 50 products | Also returned |
YouTube
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 10 latest videos of @TED and of @MrBeast, language left emptyThe most used YouTube transcript scraper. Counted on the 12 long videos both returned; its 10 also took in 8 Shorts. The Arabic tracks are translations attached to these English videos. | 12 of 12 in the spoken language | Arabic for 10 of 12 |
| The 5 long @MrBeast videos, English askedThese captions are styled with an outline, which YouTube stores as a second copy of each line. Their text also kept invisible characters. | Each caption line once | Every line twice |
| Run time, 10 latest videos of a channel@TED, then @MrBeast. Run times as recorded by Apify: ours are the median of about 20 runs each, with comment counts and subscribers; theirs, one run each. Their 10 included Shorts, ours are the Videos tab. | 16.8 s and 24.7 s | 18.1 s and 23.7 s |
| Videos per channel on Apify's free planAs its run log says on a free account. | Up to 10,000 | 10 |
Instagram
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 20 reel and video links shared on Reddit, the same 20 linksThe most used Instagram transcript scraper. Ours returned the other 7 as free records without speech; its 14 include a 49-character exclamation and the lyrics of a song among them. The second most used returned 5 records for the 20 links, 3 with text. | 13 transcripts | 14 transcripts |
| A 170-second reel in Hindi | Transcribed, in Hindi | No speech |
| Price of those 20 linksApify's free plan, as charged. Ours: the start fee, $0.001 per transcript and $0.0045 per minute of audio transcribed. Theirs: $0.015 per reel and $0.005 per minute beyond 3. | $0.125 | $0.215 |
TikTok
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 20 video links shared on Reddit, the same 20 linksThe most used TikTok transcript scraper. The 7th is a 3-minute video without TikTok captions, which ours transcribes with AI; it returned it empty. | 7 transcripts | 6 transcripts |
| Records charged for those 20 links12 of its 18 had no text. Ours charges transcripts only: music, photo posts and dead links come back as free records that say why. | 7 | 18 |
| Price of those 20 linksApify's free plan, as charged. Ours: the start fee, $0.001 per transcript and $0.001 per minute of audio transcribed with AI; TikTok's own captions are never charged by the minute. | $0.013 | $0.018 |
Facebook
| Test | Quarra | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| 10 reel links shared on Reddit, the same 10 linksThe most used Facebook transcript scraper. Ours returned the 10th, a rap song, as a free record without speech. The second most used returned 4 transcripts before the $0.60 spending cap we set for the test; it bills $0.001 per second of audio. | 9 transcripts | 10 transcripts |
| 3 of those reels in Hungarian“Szijjártó Péter” came back as “CIR-tópeiterát”. The second most used garbled all 3. | 3 of 3 with names right | Names garbled in 2 of 3 |
| Price of those 10 linksApify's free plan, as charged. Ours: the start fee, $0.001 per transcript and $0.0045 per minute of audio transcribed. Theirs: $0.005 per run and $0.025 per video, in two runs because their free plan takes 5 links per run. | $0.16 | $0.26 |
Where we are not ahead
- Reddit, fields per post: one alternative returns 71 fields per post, ours fewer. The difference is raw Reddit objects, duplicated URLs and fields that are empty for a reader without a login.
- Threads, spreadsheet columns: the most used alternative returns 99 flat columns per post. Ours returns fewer top-level fields, with the author, media, polls and quoted posts as nested objects.
- Google Trends, one term: the fastest alternative took 5.3 to 7.6 s, ours 3.6 to 6.9 s. Close, not clearly faster, and the test terms differed.
- Google Trends, rising queries: for broad terms, Google's rising list includes generic searches. For “coffee” it served “home workout routines”. We return the list as Google serves it.
- YouTube, run time: the median of about 20 runs of ours took 16.8 s for @TED and 24.7 s for @MrBeast, one run of the most used alternative 18.1 s and 23.7 s. Close, not clearly faster.
- Instagram, very short or sung reels: the most used alternative transcribed a 49-character exclamation and a song's lyrics that ours returned as free records without speech.
- Instagram, run time: the most used alternative took 52 s for the 20 links, ours 77 s.
- TikTok, run time: the most used alternative took 29 s for the 20 links, ours 46 s.
- Facebook, songs: on a rap song, the most used alternative returned the lyrics; ours returned it as a free record without speech.
Reddit at scale
25 of the week's most-commented threads on r/all with 300 to 6,000 comments, read on October 6, 2026 with the same code as the scraper. “Read to the end” means every “load more” link Reddit offers was followed until none was left. Reddit's announced count is not an exact count of the comments it serves, in either direction.
| Thread on Reddit | Returned | Deleted, not served | Reddit announces | Depth | Read to the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1wtjivt | 5,670 | 191 | 5,759 | 16 | yes |
| 1wvby8f | 5,296 | 260 | 5,378 | 14 | yes |
| 1wwnqmw | 5,291 | 434 | 5,694 | 29 | yes |
| 1wsxldl | 5,281 | 300 | 5,441 | 18 | yes |
| 1wxoipr | 5,176 | 88 | 5,194 | 31 | yes |
| 1wtj6u7 | 4,658 | 455 | 5,015 | 18 | yes |
| 1wvxqxj | 4,628 | 551 | 5,095 | 19 | yes |
| 1wukfau | 4,589 | 275 | 4,753 | 47 | yes |
| 1wyek82 | 4,570 | 194 | 4,653 | 13 | yes |
| 1wwqrp2 | 4,343 | 341 | 4,744 | 34 | yes |
| 1wvlast | 3,957 | 353 | 4,184 | 14 | yes |
| 1wu66dl | 3,773 | 104 | 3,802 | 13 | yes |
| 1wvntvr | 3,603 | 197 | 3,768 | 28 | yes |
| 1wuwe7m | 3,457 | 302 | 3,664 | 19 | yes |
| 1ww5371 | 3,446 | 280 | 3,691 | 19 | yes |
| 1wxvfr1 | 3,416 | 268 | 3,668 | 24 | yes |
| 1wwo1fj | 3,343 | 299 | 3,629 | 17 | yes |
| 1wxyyw4 | 3,311 | 158 | 3,401 | 14 | yes |
| 1wtu32y | 3,257 | 220 | 3,386 | 18 | yes |
| 1wvrvji | 3,155 | 128 | 3,234 | 26 | yes |
| 1wwayoa | 3,046 | 170 | 3,143 | 20 | yes |
| 1wu7013 | 3,010 | 181 | 3,152 | 72 | yes |
| 1ww338y | 3,002 | 157 | 3,164 | 27 | yes |
| 1wxxvsm | 2,963 | 113 | 2,997 | 16 | yes |
| 1wtir08 | 2,519 | 1,342 | 3,810 | 10 | yes |
98,760 comments in all; 25 of 25 threads read to the end; 0 comments whose parent is missing.
A succeeded run is not a complete run
Apify publishes how every public scraper's runs ended over the last 30 days. A run counts as succeeded when it finishes without error, whatever it returned: in our benchmark, the most used Reddit scraper reported success twice with 27 posts out of 50. That is why we check what comes back against the source, not the status.
| Most used scraper for | Runs, 30 days | Succeeded | Timed out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 321,807 | 86.4% | 8.3% | |
| Threads | 75,823 | 97.8% | 0.1% |
| Google Trends | 22,136 | 59.2% | 22.4% |
Apify public run statistics, read on October 6, 2026. Runs can also be aborted by their user.