Wayback Machine Scraper API

Historical snapshots answer questions live pages can't. Our Wayback Machine scraper API collects archived page versions and CDX index data at a controlled, respectful pace – content drift analysis, link reclamation, and research datasets without clicking through snapshots by hand.

* This scraper is now a part of the Web Scraping API.

125M+

IPs worldwide

99.99%

success rate

200

requests per second

100+

ready-made templates

Free

starter plan

Be ahead of the Wayback Machine scraping game

Code block showing <!doctype html>, linked to cards labeled APP TITLES; UPDATE HISTORY; CONTACT DETAILS; PRICING

What is Wayback Machine scraper API?

Wayback Machine scraper API works with web history in bulk, operating on two layers of archive.org data.

Snapshot content

  • Full archived HTML of a page at a chosen date
  • Text and asset references as they existed then

Index data via CDX

  • Every capture timestamp for a URL or domain pattern
  • HTTP status codes and MIME types per capture
  • Change signals across years of captures

Both layers answer to the same request format through the Web Scraping API. In practice the split matters – SEO teams run a wayback machine scraper against the CDX layer for link reclamation and content-drift audits, while researchers pull snapshots to reconstruct how sites looked and behaved over time.

Dark window with bug icon and scraping UI showing Search URL https://ip.decodo.com/ and 'Start scraping' button

Collect Wayback Machine data

Rate limits at archive.org come with a please attached – it's a nonprofit asking for restraint, not a target running defenses. Clean engineering, not evasion, is the sensible setup. The volume work runs through Datacenter Proxies for fast, low-cost exits, pacing controls hold request rates inside polite bounds, and retries absorb the archive's occasional slow responses. Snapshots arrive as HTML and CDX index rows as JSON, ready for a diffing pipeline or a research database.

Built-in scraper

JavaScript rendering

Easy API integration

195+ geo-locations, including country-, state-, and city-level targeting

No CAPTCHAs or IP blocks

Scrape the Wayback Machine with Python, Node.js, or cURL

Our Wayback Machine Scraper API supports all popular programming languages for smooth integration with your business tools.

import requests
url = "https://scraper-api.decodo.com/v2/scrape"
payload = {
"url": "https://web.archive.org/cdx/search/cdx?url=example.com*&output=json",
"headless": "html"
}
headers = {
"accept": "application/json",
"content-type": "application/json",
"authorization": "Basic [YOUR_BASE64_ENCODED_CREDENTIALS]"
}
response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
print(response.text)

Get more from the Wayback Machine scraper API

Scrape Wayback Machine using an API that handles JavaScript rendering and proxy integration for you, so you get the data you need without blocks or CAPTCHAs.

100% success rate

Billing follows delivered archive data – slow or failed snapshot fetches don't count against you.

Advanced anti-bot bypass

On the rare defended mirror or asset host, fingerprint and header management keeps fetches resolving.

Real-time or on-demand results

Backfill a decade of captures as a batch job, or fetch a single snapshot the moment you need it.

Bypassing-CAPTCHAs-icon

125M+ proxy pool

Geo flexibility matters less on archive.org – pick exits by throughput instead, across 195+ geo-locations.

JavaScript rendering

Archived pages with scripted layouts render out fully, preserving how the page actually displayed.

Easy integration

CDX queries and snapshot fetches share one request format, with Python, Node.js, and cURL samples.

What does Web Scraping API cost?

Choose a plan based on your scraping volume. All plans include the same powerful features – you only pay for what you use. Start with the free plan to test before committing.

Plan price

$0

+VAT / Billed monthly

Request type

Price per 1k req.

Standard proxies

2K req.

$0.50

Standard proxies + JS

1K req.

$0.75

Premium Proxies

1K req.

$1.00

Premium proxies + JS

667 req.

$1.50

Rate limit

10 req/s

Start for free

Plan price

$19

+VAT / Billed monthly

Request type

Price per 1k req.

Standard proxies

38K req.

$0.50

Standard proxies + JS

25K req.

$0.75

Premium Proxies

19K req.

$1.00

Premium proxies + JS

12K req.

$1.50

Rate limit

10 req/s

Buy now

Plan price

$49

+VAT / Billed monthly

Request type

Price per 1k req.

Standard proxies

163K req.

$0.30

Standard proxies + JS

75K req.

$0.65

Premium Proxies

54K req.

$0.90

Premium proxies + JS

39K req.

$1.25

Rate limit

25 req/s

Buy now
Most popular

Plan price

$99

+VAT / Billed monthly

Request type

Price per 1k req.

Standard proxies

707K req.

$0.14

Standard proxies + JS

165K req.

$0.60

Premium Proxies

116K req.

$0.85

Premium proxies + JS

82K req.

$1.20

Rate limit

50 req/s

Buy now

Need more?

Request type

Price per 1k req.

Standard proxies

Custom

Standard proxies + JS

Custom

Premium Proxies

Custom

Premium proxies + JS

Custom

Rate limit

Custom

Contact sales
Standard proxies

For low-security sites and simple access

Premium proxies

For accessing guarded or sensitive pages

Test our scraping API

With each plan, you access:

99.99% success rate

Results in HTML, JSON, CSV, XHR or PNG

MCP server

JavaScript rendering

AI integrations

100+ pre-built templates

Supports search, pagination, and filtering

LLM-ready markdown format

24/7 tech support

14-day money-back

SSL Secure Payment

Your information is protected by 256-bit SSL

Why the scraping community chooses Decodo

135K+ developers, SEOs, and data teams rely on Decodo to collect public web data at scale – including from Wayback Machine. Whether you're shipping a side project or running production pipelines, our infrastructure is built to keep your Wayback Machine scraper running while you focus on what to do with the data.

Decodo

Manual data collection

Other APIs

125M+ residential, mobile, datacenter, and ISP proxies

Manage proxy rotation yourself

Limited proxy pools

Advanced browser fingerprinting

Build CAPTCHA solvers

Frequent CAPTCHA blocks

Only pay for successful requests

Handle retries manually

Pay for failed requests

100+ ready-made scraping templates

Maintenance overhead

Complex documentation

Data in JSON, CSV, HTML, and Markdown formats

Days to implement

Limited output formats

Why the scraping community chooses Decodo

135K+ developers, SEOs, and data teams rely on Decodo to collect public web data at scale – including from Wayback Machine. Ship a side project or run production pipelines – our infrastructure keeps your Wayback Machine scraper running while you focus on what to do with the data.

Attentive service

The professional expertise of the Decodo solution has significantly boosted our business growth while enhancing overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Easy to get things done

Decodo provides great service with a simple setup and friendly support team.

A key to our work

Decodo enables us to develop and test applications in varied environments while supporting precise data collection for research and audience profiling.

Decodo-best-usability-award-2025-by-G2

Best Usability 2025

Awarded for the ease of use and fastest time to value for proxy and scraping solutions.

Decodo-Highest-User-Adoption-2025-award-by-G2

Best User Adoption 2025

Praised for the seamless onboarding experience and impactful engagement efforts.

Decodo-best-value-by-Proxyway-2025-award

Best Value 2025

Recognized for the 5th year in a row for top-tier proxy and scraping solutions.

Trusted by:

RTMP.IN logo

Decodo blog

Build knowledge on our solutions and improve your workflows with step-by-step guides, expert tips, and developer articles.

Most recent

Book icon inside a rounded square.

AI Firms Are Destroying Rare Books for Training Data: Scraping Is the Alternative

Book scraping is the process of collecting public book data, such as titles, ratings, reviews, metadata, and available text, from online sources. It has taken on new relevance as AI companies buy and destructively scan physical books for training data. For material that already exists online, scraping offers a lower-friction, non-destructive way to collect some of the same kind of human-written data.

Most popular

Residential Proxy VS Datacenter Proxy — monitor icon opposite server stack on dark gradient background

Residential vs. Datacenter Proxies: Which Should You Choose?

Google Sheets Web Scraping: An Ultimate Guide for 2026

Two robots placing glowing stars to form a five-star rating against a brick wall

Manage Your Business Reputation with SERP Scraping API

Unlocked padlock being cut by dashed diagonal line over a browser search-results window on dark blue background

How to Scrape Google Without Getting Blocked

Magnifying glass highlighting green bar-and-line chart over a translucent browser search window on dark background

What Is SERP Analysis And How To Do It?

API icon exchanging 'Request' and 'Response' between APP and BACKEND

What is an API?

real estate card showing Newport Beach, California and 23% Price growth of metros over skyline and bar chart on dark grid

How to Scrape Hotel Listings: Unlocking the Secrets

Browser window labeled 'Scraping tools' showing content panel, on a dark dotted background with a wireframe bug outline

What is Data Scraping? Definition and Best Techniques (2026)

Web Crawling vs Web Scraping: What’s the Difference?

Web scraping UI with 'Start scraping' button, URL field, JSON 'Response' preview and 'Live preview' globe on dark background

What Is Web Scraping? A Complete Guide to Its Uses and Best Practices

Python logo rising from a bowl beside a spoon in neon magenta on dark background

Beautiful Soup Web Scraping: How to Parse Scraped HTML with Python

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to scrape the Wayback Machine?

A copy carries the same rights as the original. Material doesn't shed its protections by being archived, so the Wayback Machine isn't a shortcut around them. Ask who owns the underlying page. Our scraping law breakdown goes further.

How does the Wayback Machine scraper API bypass blocks and CAPTCHAs?

Mostly, it doesn't need to – archive.org relies on rate limiting rather than commercial bot detection. The API's job here is pacing, connection reuse, and retry handling so your crawl stays inside the archive's comfort zone. Where a mirrored asset host does apply filtering, standard fingerprint and rotation logic resolves it.

What output formats does the Wayback Machine scraper API support?

Snapshot fetches return archived HTML, and CDX index queries return JSON rows – timestamp, original URL, status code, MIME type – ready for analysis. Markdown output works nicely when feeding historical text to an LLM. Our walkthrough of the Python Requests library covers the client-side patterns most archive projects start with.

Can I geo-target Wayback Machine requests to a specific country or city?

You can, though for the Wayback Machine geo-targeting is rarely the point – archived content doesn't vary by visitor location. The 195+ geo-locations remain available, and most users simply choose exits for speed and cost. Where it does matter is fetching the live counterpart of an archived page for comparison.

How fast is the Wayback Machine scraper API and can it handle large-scale jobs?

Archive backfills are marathon jobs – hundreds of thousands of snapshot fetches spread over days at a deliberately capped rate. The API schedules exactly that: sustained parallel throughput inside polite limits, with per-request results you can checkpoint. One-off snapshot pulls return in a few seconds.

Can I try the Wayback Machine scraper API for free?

The free starter plan covers it. It activates card-free from the dashboard and carries up to 2K requests – enough to pull CDX indexes for a full domain and sample snapshots across years before committing.

Wayback Machine Scraper API for Your Data Needs

Gain access to real-time data at any scale without worrying about proxy setup or blocks.

14-day money-back option

© 2018-2026 decodo.com (formerly smartproxy.com). All Rights Reserved