Electric vs Spider Cloud

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

Analysis reviewed Live tool data as of 2026-10-18
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At a glance

DimensionElectricSpider Cloud
Primary use caseCollaborative multi-agent systems with Postgres syncWeb crawling and scraping for AI agents
Core enginePostgres sync engine with Shapes partial replicationRust-based crawling engine
Client librariesTypeScript, Elixir, Phoenix, TanStack DBAPI-based; integrations with LangChain, LlamaIndex, etc.
Unique featureDurable Streams with Fork (rewind, branch, probe); Yjs collaborationBrowser AI commands (Act, Extract, Observe) via WebSocket
Open sourceOpen-source core (Agents, Streams, Sync)Open-source core on GitHub

Choose Electric if you need to build real-time, collaborative multi-agent systems with Postgres sync and durable agent runtimes. Choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, cost-effective web crawling and scraping for AI agents and RAG pipelines. They solve different problems: Electric is for live data sync and agent orchestration, Spider Cloud for external data extraction.

Try ElectricTry Spider Cloud
Electric
Electric

Electric delivers Postgres sync and durable HTTP streams for real-time apps and long-lived AI agents.

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Spider Cloud
Spider Cloud

Spider Cloud is a web scraping, crawling, and search API that streams live pages as markdown or JSON for AI agents and RAG pipelines.

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Pricing
Freemium
Freemium
Plans
$0/mo
$249/mo
$1,999/mo
Custom
$1/GB + $0.0001/CPU-min
From $6/mo
From $40/mo
Custom
Popularity
4 views
7.5k views
Skill Level
Advanced
Intermediate
API Available
Platforms
WebAPI
WebAPIPluginCLIDesktop
Categories
⚙️ Developer Infrastructure🧠 Agent Memory & Runtimes
🌐 Web Scraping & Search APIs🖱️ Browser & Computer-Use Agents
Features
Postgres Sync: real-time read-path sync from Postgres to clients over plain HTTP using Shapes
Durable Streams: persistent, addressable, append-only streams over HTTP for agent session data
Fork: branch any Durable Stream to rewind or probe agent state
Electric Agents: deploy long-lived, durable agents that scale to zero and resume across devices
Durable sessions for collaborative AI: persistent, resumable session state for multi-agent systems
TanStack DB: reactive client store with sub-millisecond reactivity and instant local writes
PGlite: embeddable Postgres with reactivity and sync for browsers, Node.js and edge runtimes
Function-based auth parameters in the TypeScript client, sync or async, resolved in parallel
TypeScript client for streaming Shapes into browsers and JavaScript environments
Elixir client with Phoenix integration
HTTP API and open protocol, Apache 2.0 licensed
Electric Cloud: managed data delivery with CDN caching and request collapsing
Telemetry for real-time system monitoring
Deployment guides for sharded PostgreSQL databases
Scrape a single page into markdown, JSON, HTML, raw, or plain text
Crawl entire sites with each page streamed as one JSONL line in order as it finishes
Web search endpoint returns SERP results plus the scraped pages behind them
Custom browser renders like a user: scripts run, lazy images load, infinite scroll reaches the end
Load protected pages through a real browser engine with geo checks, returning a 200
Run full browser sessions over WebSocket with anti-detection and rotating exits
Send AI commands (Act, Extract, Observe) over the Browser API WebSocket
Send a prompt on a scrape or crawl request and get named fields back as JSON
Two-phase AI extraction: a fast model for most pages, a stronger model for complex layouts
Provider router sends scrape and crawl requests to outside providers on your own keys
Data connectors pipe crawl results into S3, GCS, Google Sheets, Azure Blob, or Supabase
Proxy network with 215M+ residential and ISP exits in 199 countries, rotated per request
MCP server at mcp.spider.cloud for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Claude Desktop
1,000+ ready-made scraper examples across 32 categories, each with working code
API responses support JSON, JSONL, CSV, and XML; up to 10,000 core API requests per minute by default
Integrations
React
Next.js
TanStack
Elixir
Phoenix
Redis
MobX
Yjs
LiveStore
Expo
AWS
Cloudflare
Google Cloud Platform
Fly.io
Render
LangChain
LlamaIndex
CrewAI
FlowiseAI
Langflow
Dify
Agno
MCP
Claude Code
Codex
Cursor
Claude Desktop
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Google Sheets

What real users say: Electric vs Spider Cloud

Not marketing copy and not our opinion — a structured sweep of public discussion (reviews, forums, communities and video comments), showing what people praise and what they complain about for each tool.

Electric

67 mentions across 6 sources · 49% positive — mixed (averaged across 6 sources)

Reddit, Hacker News, App Store, GitHub, Lemmy, Tech Press

What users praise

  • • High-performance sync engine using Rust (nearly 1M ops/sec).
  • • Deep Postgres integration with Shapes for partial replication.
  • • CRDT support via Yjs for real-time collaborative editing.
  • • Open-source (Apache 2.0) with TypeScript and Elixir clients.

What frustrates them

  • • App forces ads even for purchased devices.
  • • Requires account sign-up and unnecessary permissions.
  • • Frequent device offline status requiring app restart.
  • • Steep learning curve for sync primitives and agent runtime.

Researched Jul 3, 2026

Spider Cloud

No verifiable community signal. We scanned public discussion on Oct 14, 2026 and found posts matching the name “Spider Cloud”, but could not establish that they are about this product rather than something else sharing its name. Rather than publish a score built on the wrong subject, we publish none.

Who should pick which

  • Solo founder building a local-first collaborative app
    Pick: Electric

    Electric provides Postgres sync, Yjs for collaboration, and TanStack DB for sub-millisecond reactivity — perfect for a multi-user real-time app.

  • AI agent developer needing real-time web data for RAG
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Spider Cloud's fast crawling with Rust engine, 99.9% success rate, and structured output fits RAG pipelines. AI commands via WebSocket add agentic control.

  • Team building durable, resumable AI agent loops
    Pick: Electric

    Electric Agents runtime with Durable Streams and Fork enables long-lived, auditable agents with rewind/branch capabilities.

  • Developer adding web scraping to an LLM tool
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Spider Cloud's API is straightforward with 1,000+ examples and connectors. Low cost scales with usage.

  • Large company requiring regulated data sync across regions
    Pick: Electric

    Electric Cloud's CDN caching and self-hosted option provide control; Postgres sync supports compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Electric vs Spider Cloud: which should you choose?

Choose Electric if you need to build real-time, collaborative multi-agent systems with Postgres sync and durable agent runtimes. Choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, cost-effective web crawling and scraping for AI agents and RAG pipelines. They solve different problems: Electric is for live data sync and agent orchestration, Spider Cloud for external data extraction.

Can Electric be used for web scraping?

No, Electric is for syncing Postgres data to clients and managing agent streams — not for crawling external websites.

Does Spider Cloud support real-time collaboration?

No, Spider Cloud is a crawling/scraping API; it does not offer real-time sync or collaborative editing features.

Are both tools open-source?

Yes, both have open-source cores: Electric's Agents, Streams, and Sync are open source; Spider Cloud's core is on GitHub.

Which tool has better integration with AI frameworks?

Spider Cloud integrates with LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, etc. Electric integrates with React, Next.js, Phoenix, and Yjs but not directly with LLM frameworks.

What is the pricing for Electric Cloud?

Usage-based; exact rates not specified. Self-hosted is free. Contact Electric for details.

Can Spider Cloud handle JavaScript-heavy sites?

Yes, via Browser Cloud with stealth anti-detection and Browser AI commands for interaction.

Does Electric support offline-first apps?

Yes, with PGlite (embeddable Postgres) and TanStack DB, apps can work offline and sync later.

What is the latest feature added to Spider Cloud?

As of March 2026, Browser AI commands (Act, Extract, Observe) via WebSocket are now available.

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Explore each tool further

Electric
View Electric reviewElectric alternatives
Spider Cloud
View Spider Cloud reviewSpider Cloud alternatives

Browse these categories

Best AI Developer Infrastructure toolsBest AI Web Scraping & Search APIs toolsBest AI Agent Memory & Runtimes toolsBest AI Browser & Computer-Use Agents tools
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Last reviewed: July 3, 2026