Fetch Router
Compare

Fetch Router vs Jina Reader

Jina Reader (r.jina.ai) turns any URL into clean markdown and bills by output tokens. It's cheap and fast, and it gives you what the site served, with a warning if it looks like a CAPTCHA. Fetch Router checks the page, falls back when it fails, and only bills a pass.

Checked against official docs and pricing pages on 2026-11-02. Sources at the bottom. Spotted something out of date? Email hello@fetchrouter.dev and we'll fix it.

Use Jina Reader when

  • You want the cheapest markdown for ordinary pages: about $0.05 per million output tokens, so most pages cost a fraction of a cent.
  • You also need search, PDF reading, image captions, screenshots or structured extraction from the same key.
  • You prototype non-commercially: 10M free tokens on a new key, and 20 requests a minute with no key at all.
  • You need CSS target/remove selectors, cookies, custom headers or your own proxy on each request.

Use Fetch Router when

  • You need a hard pass or fail: a page that's a challenge, an empty shell or missing your expected text counts as failed and isn't billed.
  • You want automatic fallback: plain HTTP first, a headless browser when that fails, without writing the retry logic.
  • You want a machine-readable reason (blocked:datadome, too_short, expect_text_missing) instead of a free-text warning.
  • You want public per-domain pass rates to decide how to fetch a site.

Side by side

Fetch RouterJina Reader
Pricing unitPer verified page: 1 credit static, 5 browser ($0.001 / $0.005)Per output token: $0.05 per 1M ($50 for 1B tokens)
Typical cost per 1,000 pages$1 static, $5 browserRoughly $0.003–0.81 in our tests (54 to 16,217 tokens a page)
Failed requestsFree. 'Failed' includes block pages, empty shells and missing expected text'Tokens are not deducted for failed requests'; a target 404 or challenge page still comes back as a success and is metered by length
Block detectionVendor signatures (Cloudflare, DataDome, PerimeterX, Akamai, Imperva, Kasada…), text checks, your expect.text/selectorTarget status in data.httpStatus; a CAPTCHA warning when content is short and the HTML mentions captcha/turnstile
Fallback when a fetch failsAutomatic: plain HTTP → headless browser (→ unblockers when enabled)None automatic; you choose the engine per request
Anti-bot policyPublic pages only; no logins or paywalls'Does not actively circumvent or bypass any website defense mechanisms'
Search, PDFs, screenshots, extractionNoYes
Free tier500 credits once10M tokens (non-commercial) or 20 RPM keyless
MCPHosted (fetchrouter.dev/mcp) and npx fetchrouter-mcpHosted (mcp.jina.ai/v1) with read, search and screenshot tools
Open sourceMCP server only (MIT)Reader service code Apache-2.0; models CC-BY-NC

Cost

On price, Jina Reader is much cheaper for ordinary pages: a 2,000-token article costs $0.0001, against our $0.001 static or $0.005 browser price.

The difference is what you're paying for. Jina returns what the site served and tells you the target status, so your agent decides whether it worked. In our test a Crunchbase Cloudflare challenge came back with HTTP 200 and was metered as 54 tokens. That's a tiny cost, but the agent still has to notice it. Fetch Router would have marked it blocked:cloudflare, tried a browser, and billed nothing if that failed too.

FAQ

Is Fetch Router a Jina Reader alternative?

For agents that need to know whether a page really loaded, yes. If you just want cheap markdown for ordinary pages, Jina Reader costs less.

Does Jina Reader detect blocked pages?

Partly. It returns the target's HTTP status and adds a 'may require CAPTCHA' warning when the page is short and mentions a CAPTCHA. It doesn't name anti-bot vendors, check for content you expected, or fall back to another route.

Does Jina Reader charge for failed requests?

Its FAQ says no. But a target 404 or a challenge page usually comes back as a successful response and is metered by its length.

Can I use both?

Yes: Jina for cheap bulk reading of friendly sites, Fetch Router where a silent failure would cost you more than the fetch.

Sources

How our routes perform: benchmark with method and CSV. Other comparisons: Fetch Router vs Firecrawl · DIY Playwright vs a fetch API.