Arcana vs Spider Cloud

Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings

Analysis reviewed Live tool data as of 2026-09-14
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At a glance

DimensionArcanaSpider Cloud
Primary Use CaseEmbeddable RAG for Elixir appsWeb scraping and crawling for AI agents
Target Language/FrameworkElixir/Phoenix onlyAny (API-based)
DeploymentSelf-hosted (embedded in Elixir project)Cloud API (self-hostable core on GitHub)
Key StrengthsDeclarative config, agentic pipelines, no external service needed99.9% success rate, 0.03¢ per 1,000 pages, Browser AI commands
Not ForSimple one-off scrapingNon-Elixir projects

Choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, low-cost web crawling and scraping with AI-powered extraction for any stack. Choose Arcana if you're building RAG inside an Elixir/Phoenix project and want a pure Elixir solution with no external service dependency.

Try ArcanaTry Spider Cloud
Arcana
Arcana

Native RAG for Elixir/Phoenix with agentic loops and GraphRAG

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Spider Cloud
Spider Cloud

Spider Cloud is an AI web scraping API that turns any site into markdown or JSON for agents and RAG.

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Pricing
Free
Freemium
Plans
$0
$1/GB + $0.001/min CPU
from $6/mo
$40/mo
$350/mo
Popularity
4 views
7.5k views
Skill Level
Intermediate
Intermediate
API Available
Platforms
WebAPI
WebAPI
Categories
🗄️ Vector Databases & Retrieval📦 LLM App Frameworks & SDKs
🌐 Web Scraping & Search APIs🖱️ Browser & Computer-Use Agents
Features
Advanced RAG with query rewriting and hybrid search
Modular RAG via composable pipeline steps
Agentic RAG with runtime tool selection
GraphRAG with Leiden community detection
Hybrid search (semantic + fulltext) with RRF fusion
Cross-encoder reranking via Bumblebee
Local embeddings via Bumblebee (EXLA/Torchx)
Cloud LLM support (OpenAI, Anthropic, Z.ai)
Streaming support for real-time responses
Source citation with NLI hallucination check
LiveView monitoring dashboard
Telemetry events for pipeline steps
Pluggable behaviours (chunker, embedder, searcher, etc.)
Declarative configuration via mix igniter.install
Self-correcting search and answer modes
Scrape a single page into markdown, JSON, HTML, raw text, or plain text
Crawl entire sites with pages streaming back as JSONL, in order, as each finishes
Web search endpoint returns SERP results, scraped pages, and AI extraction in one call
Custom browser renders pages like a user: scripts run, lazy images load, infinite scroll completes
Unblocker handles bot walls, CAPTCHAs, and geo checks with automatic retries and rotating proxies
Browser Cloud runs full browser sessions with stealth and CAPTCHA solving on by default
AI commands (Act, Extract, Observe) sent directly over the Browser API WebSocket
AI Studio Alpha exposes natural-language extraction endpoints on your existing key
Two-phase AI extraction fallback: fast model for most pages, capable model for complex layouts
Proxy network with 215M+ residential and ISP exits across 199 countries, rotated per request
MCP server at mcp.spider.cloud for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop
Agent skill file (SKILL.md) lets a coding agent self-onboard against the entire API
1,000+ ready-made scraper examples across 32 categories, each with working code
Provider router lets you fall back to outside providers on your own keys
10,000 core API requests per minute per account by default
Integrations
PostgreSQL (pgvector)
Ecto
Phoenix LiveView
Bumblebee
EXLA
Torchx
OpenAI
Anthropic
Z.ai
Oban
Broadway
LangChain
LlamaIndex
CrewAI
FlowiseAI
Langflow
Dify
Agno
Julep
Claude Code
Codex
Cursor
Windsurf
Claude Desktop

Who should pick which

  • Solo founder building an AI agent
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    You need real-time web data and a simple API. Spider Cloud's Rust engine gives fast crawling at low cost, with AI extraction and Browser AI commands to handle complex pages.

  • Elixir developer adding Q&A to a Phoenix app
    Pick: Arcana

    Arcana provides declarative config, built-in dashboard, and deep Phoenix integration. No need to leave the BEAM ecosystem.

  • Enterprise team building a RAG pipeline over documents
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    If your data is on the web, Spider Cloud's 1000+ scraper examples and data connectors (S3, GCS) streamline ingestion. The API fits any stack.

  • Startup wanting a hosted, no-code RAG solution
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Arcana requires coding in Elixir. For non-Elixir teams, Spider Cloud's API is accessible from any language.

  • Developer needing offline RAG in Elixir
    Pick: Arcana

    Arcana is embeddable and works with local vector stores like pgvector or ETS. No external API calls needed for retrieval.

Frequently Asked Questions

Arcana vs Spider Cloud: which should you choose?

Choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, low-cost web crawling and scraping with AI-powered extraction for any stack. Choose Arcana if you're building RAG inside an Elixir/Phoenix project and want a pure Elixir solution with no external service dependency.

Can I use Spider Cloud with Elixir?

Yes, Spider Cloud is API-based and can be called from any language, including Elixir.

Does Arcana support web scraping?

No, Arcana is for RAG over your own documents. It does not include a web crawler. For web data, use Spider Cloud and feed results into Arcana.

Which is cheaper for high-volume scraping?

Spider Cloud at $0.003/page. Arcana has zero per-page cost but requires self-hosting infrastructure.

Can I self-host Spider Cloud?

Yes, the core engine is open-source on GitHub. The cloud version offers additional features like AI Studio and Browser AI.

Does Arcana require a vector database?

It requires a vector DB backend (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector) – but you can host it yourself.

Does Spider Cloud have a free tier?

Yes, a free tier with limited credits. Paid plans start at usage-based $0.003/page.

Can Arcana be used with non-Phoenix Elixir apps?

Yes, but the dashboard uses LiveView, so you'll need Phoenix for that. Core functionality works without Phoenix.

Which tool has better anti-bot detection?

Spider Cloud includes stealth anti-detection and rotating proxies. Arcana has no anti-bot features.

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Explore each tool further

Arcana
View Arcana reviewArcana alternatives
Spider Cloud
View Spider Cloud reviewSpider Cloud alternatives

Browse these categories

Best AI Vector Databases & Retrieval toolsBest AI Web Scraping & Search APIs toolsBest AI LLM App Frameworks & SDKs toolsBest AI Browser & Computer-Use Agents tools
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Last reviewed: July 3, 2026