Jan 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

DimensionJanSpider Cloud
Core Focus100% offline private AI with local models & agentsWeb crawling & scraping API for AI agents
SetupRequires local GPU/RAM (≥8GB); full controlCloud API key; zero setup beyond API call
Offline CapabilityFully offline (no account or internet needed)Cloud-only; requires internet
Best ForPrivacy, customization, local experimentationReal-time web data, RAG, scraping at scale
LimitationNot for low-end hardware or out-of-box polishNot for aggressive anti-bot sites or fixed subscriptions

Choose Jan if you value total privacy and offline AI with customizable local models; choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, real-time web data for AI agents or RAG pipelines. They solve different problems — Jan is your private AI workstation, Spider Cloud is your web data pipeline.

Try JanTry Spider Cloud
Jan
Jan

Jan is a free, open-source local AI assistant that runs open models — Llama, Mistral, Qwen, DeepSeek — right on your desktop.

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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
Free
Freemium
Plans
$0
$1/GB + $0.0001/CPU-min
From $6/mo
From $40/mo
Custom
Popularity
6 views
7.5k views
Skill Level
Intermediate
Intermediate
API Available
Platforms
DesktopAPI
WebAPIPluginCLIDesktop
Categories
💾 Local & On-Device AI🤖 AI Assistants
🌐 Web Scraping & Search APIs🖱️ Browser & Computer-Use Agents
Features
Offline chat with local open models from HuggingFace
Bundled llama.cpp engine 0.5.0 shipped inside the app (v0.8.5)
Native web_search and web_fetch tools (v0.8.4)
Per-model chat template kwargs for llama.cpp (v0.8.4)
Token counter for remote and MLX providers (v0.8.4)
Backend-managed settings and credentials store (v0.8.4)
Message version branching with history (v0.8.3)
HTML and SVG artifact previews in chat (v0.8.3)
Video input for local vision models (v0.8.3)
Unified reasoning and tool timeline (v0.8.3)
AMD ROCm/HIP backend support on Linux (v0.8.2)
Pause-and-resume model downloads (v0.8.2)
Anthropic-compatible custom providers (v0.8.1)
Multi-Token Prediction for llama.cpp models (v0.8.0)
MCP tool images delivered to the model (v0.8.6)
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
HuggingFace
OpenAI
Anthropic
Google
LangChain
LlamaIndex
CrewAI
FlowiseAI
Langflow
Dify
Agno
MCP
Claude Code
Codex
Cursor
Claude Desktop
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Google Sheets

Who should pick which

  • Privacy-focused researcher
    Pick: Jan

    100% offline, no account required, and full control over models and data.

  • Developer building a RAG pipeline
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Spider Cloud’s API provides structured web data (markdown, JSON) with high reliability and low cost, plus integrations with LangChain and LlamaIndex.

  • Solo founder with limited budget
    Pick: Jan

    Free and runs on existing hardware; avoid cloud API costs for AI chat and agents.

  • Team needing web scraping at scale
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Pay-per-usage model scales efficiently with high success rate; data connectors to S3/GCS simplify pipeline.

  • AI agent developer requiring web context
    Pick: Spider Cloud

    Browser AI commands (Act, Extract, Observe) via WebSocket are tailored for agentic workflows needing real-time browsing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jan vs Spider Cloud: which should you choose?

Choose Jan if you value total privacy and offline AI with customizable local models; choose Spider Cloud if you need fast, real-time web data for AI agents or RAG pipelines. They solve different problems — Jan is your private AI workstation, Spider Cloud is your web data pipeline.

Can Jan run on my laptop?

It requires at least 8GB RAM; a GPU is recommended for good performance. Light models like TinyLlama work on CPU but may be slow.

Does Spider Cloud support captcha solving?

Yes, it has a custom AI model (Silk) for captcha solving, plus an unblocker with rotating proxies.

Is Jan completely free?

Yes, it's open-source Apache 2.0 with no paid tiers. All features are included.

Can I use Spider Cloud for free?

Yes, there's a free tier with limited credits. After that, it's $0.003 per 1000 pages.

Which tool is better for autonomous web agents?

Spider Cloud excels at web data extraction; Jan excels at local agent orchestration. They can be combined.

Does Jan have any cloud dependency?

No, it runs 100% offline. Cloud provider integration is optional for users who want to use remote models.

What output formats does Spider Cloud support?

Markdown, HTML, JSON, CSV, XML, plain text, and screenshots.

Can I self-host Spider Cloud?

Yes, the core engine is open-source and can be self-hosted. The cloud version offers additional features like AI Studio and Browser AI commands.

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Explore each tool further

Jan
View Jan reviewJan alternatives
Spider Cloud
View Spider Cloud reviewSpider Cloud alternatives

Browse these categories

Best AI Local & On-Device AI toolsBest AI Web Scraping & Search APIs toolsBest AI AI Assistants toolsBest AI Browser & Computer-Use Agents tools
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Last reviewed: July 3, 2026