brightdata-mcp is a free, open source data extraction & web scraping project written in JavaScript and released under MIT. It has 2,648 GitHub stars, 328 forks and 40 open issues, and was last pushed 9 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #35 of 45 tracked projects in Data Extraction & Web Scraping, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 2 stars over the last 3 tracked days.

What is brightdata-mcp?

What it is

brightdata-mcp is a Model Context Protocol server in JavaScript under the MIT license. It exposes web search, page scraping, structured data extraction, browser automation, LLM response collection, and package registry data to AI agents, coding agents, chat assistants, and other MCP-compatible clients. It lives in the MCP ecosystem.

The concrete problem is that public web data is often blocked or awkward for agents. Ordinary HTTP clients can fail when pages use bot detection, CAPTCHAs, rate limits, or geo-restrictions. The project routes requests through Bright Data's unblocking infrastructure and returns structured results, so clients do not need to maintain proxies, headless browsers, or retry logic.

Key capabilities

  • It provides web search tools that return Google, Bing, and Yandex results as structured data.
  • It scrapes any URL as Markdown or HTML while handling bot detection, CAPTCHA solving, and proxy rotation on each request.
  • It extracts clean JSON from platforms such as Amazon, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Reddit, Facebook, Crunchbase, and Zillow without manual HTML parsing.
  • It controls a remote browser session with navigation, clicking, typing, screenshots, and page reading.
  • It sends prompts to ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity and collects their answers as structured data.
  • It reads npm and PyPI package versions, READMEs, dependencies, and metadata.
  • It can be filtered through URL parameters so a client enables selected tool groups or individual tools.

Who uses it and how

  • AI agent developers add the hosted MCP URL to Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Zed, and Warp to give agents web access.
  • Local MCP users run npx @brightdata/mcp with API_TOKEN set.
  • Data extraction workflows use it to turn web or platform pages into Markdown, HTML, or JSON.
  • Browser automation workflows use it for tasks that need clicking, typing, screenshotting, or reading a rendered page.
  • Agent and data collection workflows use web search, LLM answer collection, and package registry tools in agent conversations.

Getting started

The typical methods are adding https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN to an MCP client, or running npx @brightdata/mcp with API_TOKEN set. New Bright Data accounts include 5,000 free requests per month, renewing monthly, with no credit card required.

When to use it — and when not to

It is useful when an MCP client needs public web data without building proxy, browser, retry, and platform parsing infrastructure. It is less suitable for offline, fully self-hosted scraping, because hosted use requires a Bright Data API token and local use still depends on Bright Data infrastructure and account access. The free tier is limited to 5,000 requests per month, unused requests do not roll over, and team accounts share it, so heavy or multi-user workloads can exceed the free tier.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
Bright Data Logo

Bright Data MCP

Web search, page scraping, structured data extraction, and browser automation for AI agents and LLMs over the Model Context Protocol.

Works with AI agents, coding agents, chat assistants, and any MCP-compatible client.

npm version npm downloads License

Quick StartPricingUse CasesToolsAgent SkillsDocsSupport

Free tier: 5,000 requests per month. No credit card required. Renews monthly.


Overview

The Bright Data MCP server gives AI agents real-time access to public web data. It exposes 69 tools covering:

  • Web search — Google, Bing, and Yandex results as structured data
  • Page scraping — any URL as Markdown or HTML, with bot detection, CAPTCHA solving, and proxy rotation handled automatically on every request
  • Structured data extraction — clean JSON from Amazon, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Reddit, Facebook, Crunchbase, Zillow, and other major platforms, without parsing HTML
  • Browser automation — navigate, click, type, screenshot, and read pages in a remote browser session
  • LLM response collection — send prompts to ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity and get their answers back as structured data
  • Package registry data — npm and PyPI package versions, READMEs, dependencies, and metadata

Every request is routed through Bright Data's unblocking infrastructure, so pages that block ordinary HTTP clients (bot detection, CAPTCHAs, rate limits, geo-restrictions) return normally. No proxy setup, no headless browser maintenance, no retry logic to write.

Two deployment options: a hosted remote server (one URL, no installation) or a local instance via npx @brightdata/mcp.


Quick Start

Hosted server — no installation. Add this URL to your MCP client:

https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE

Get your API token from your Bright Data account settings. New accounts get 5,000 free requests per month.

Optional URL parameters:

Parameter Description Example
groups= Enable specific tool groups ...&groups=social,ecommerce
tools= Enable specific tools only ...&tools=search_engine,scrape_as_markdown
Claude Desktop
  1. Go to: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
  2. Name: Bright Data
  3. URL: https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN
  4. Click "Add"

Or run locally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
      }
    }
  }
}
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http brightdata "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightdata": {
      "url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}
VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "brightdata": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}
Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightdata": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}
Gemini CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightdata": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}
Zed

Add to your Zed settings:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "brightdata": {
      "url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}
Warp

Go to Settings > MCP Servers > Add MCP Server and add:

{
  "brightdata": {
    "url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
  }
}
Other clients (local npx)

For any client that supports local MCP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Bright Data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@brightdata/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Pricing and Free Tier

Every account includes a recurring monthly free tier. No credit card or commitment required to start.

5,000 free requests per month, renewing on the 1st of each month. Unused requests don't roll over. For team accounts, the free tier is shared across all users in the account.

What's included free:

  • Fetch any webpage and extract as Markdown
  • Access to 60+ pre-built scrapers for popular domains
  • Web search (Google, Bing, Yandex)
  • Web unlocking (bot detection bypass, CAPTCHA solving, proxy rotation)
  • Browser automation
  • Geo-targeting

Beyond the free tier — pay as you go, no commitment:

Search, Scrape & Extract Browser Navigation
Pay as you go $1.50 / 1K results $8 / GB
  • When free requests run out, requests stop. No surprise charges — unless you have deposited funds
  • Adding a credit card is a verification step only; you are not charged unless your free tier is exhausted and you have funds deposited
  • Set a spend cap in the control panel so pay-as-you-go usage never exceeds your budget

Full pricing, volume plans and enterprise →


Use Cases

Real-time research

Answer questions using live web data instead of training data. Search, then read the sources.

Task Tools
Search the web for current information search_engine, search_engine_batch
Read a specific page as clean Markdown scrape_as_markdown, scrape_batch
Find the most relevant sources for a research question, ranked by AI relevance score discover

Example prompts: "What's Tesla's current stock price?", "Get today's weather forecast for New York", "Find the most cited sources on EU AI regulation from the last 6 months".

E-commerce intelligence

Read product data as structured JSON: price, availability, rating, review count, seller, images.

Task Tools
Amazon product details, reviews, search results web_data_amazon_product, web_data_amazon_product_reviews, web_data_amazon_product_search
Walmart, eBay, Best Buy, Etsy, Home Depot, Zara products web_data_walmart_product, web_data_ebay_product, web_data_bestbuy_products, web_data_etsy_products, web_data_homedepot_products, web_data_zara_products
Cross-retailer price view web_data_google_shopping
Seller profiles web_data_walmart_seller

Example prompts: "Compare this laptop's price on Amazon vs Walmart vs Best Buy", "Get the rating and review count for ASIN B0D2Q9397Y", "Is this product in stock?".

Market and competitor analysis

Build competitor profiles from live data: funding, headcount, hiring, customer reviews, pricing pages.

Task Tools
Company funding, investors, size web_data_crunchbase_company, web_data_zoominfo_company_profile
Company pages, employees, job postings web_data_linkedin_company_profile, web_data_linkedin_job_listings
Customer sentiment web_data_google_maps_reviews, web_data_facebook_company_reviews, app store review tools
Competitor pricing pages scrape_as_markdown, scrape_batch
Market discovery search_engine_batch, discover

Example prompt: "Analyze Notion as a competitor: pricing, funding, hiring focus, and what customers complain about".

AI agents with reliable web access

Replace built-in fetch/search tools that get blocked on protected

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is brightdata-mcp free to use?

brightdata-mcp is open source under the MIT licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does brightdata-mcp do?

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides an all-in-one solution for public web access.

What is brightdata-mcp written in?

brightdata-mcp is primarily written in JavaScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/brightdata/brightdata-mcp, and it has 2,648 GitHub stars.