At Bright Data, we’ve built a limitless web data infrastructure for AI & BI. 🗃️ So yeah, we know a thing or two about how users with totally different needs (and from every corner of the globe 🌎) tap into web data.\Now, when it comes to accessing high-quality web data, there’s a power trio you need to know about. No, not The Good 😊, the Bad 👿, and the Ugly 🧌…\We’re talking about:API 🔗SDK 🛠️MCP 🪄\Time to understand these three approaches, who they’re built for, and how to get started through actionable insights!1. API: The Flexible Bridge to Web DataWhen you think “integration,” the first thing that comes to mind is “API.”\ \And there's a good reason for that. Whether you’re writing a backend, frontend app, or script, integration with third-party services is usually just an API call away.\Take Bright Data. Most of Bright Data's products are available via API:Web Scraper API → Pull structured data from 120+ sites. No proxies, no hassle, just clean results on demand.Browser API → Run Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium scripts at scale with CAPTCHA-solving, proxy rotation, and zero setup.Web Unlocker API → Say goodbye to blocks and CAPTCHA. Pay only for successful results, and scrape globally without lifting a finger.SERP API → Get geo-targeted search results from Google, Yandex, and more—fully parsed and ready to use.Crawl API → Define a root URL and grab entire sites in HTML, JSON, Markdown, or plain text.\See the pattern? 🕵️ There’s a reason, if it says “API” in the product name…\The fact that all those services are available via API shouldn’t come as a surprise. APIs have been the standard for years (so no need to bore you with the obvious details 😉).\The provider (Bright Data, in this case) handles architecture, scaling, updates, deployments, unblock logic… all the tricky stuff that usually gives devs headaches. In return, you just get exactly what you want: functionality! 💡\Here, functionality means unlocked, free, infinitely concurrent access to the web. That includes web data, the most valuable asset on Earth! 💰\Thanks to their extreme flexibility, APIs work for individual developers, small to mid-sized companies, and even enterprises like Deloitte or McDonald’s. With APIs, there are no limits to what you can build!Getting StartedCreate a Bright Data account, set up a Web Unlocker zone, and get your Bright Data API key.\Then test it by calling Web Unlocker (one of the scraping services available via API) via this Python snippet:\# pip install requestsimport requestsheaders = { # Step 1: Get your API token here: https://brightdata.com/cp/setting/users "Authorization": "Bearer ", "Content-Type": "application/json"}data = { # Step 2: Get your Web Unlocker zone name here: https://brightdata.com/cp/zones "zone": "web_unlocker1", # Step 3: Set your target URL "url": "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/cloudflare-challenge", "format": "raw"}# Make a POST request to the Bright Data Web Unlocker APIurl = "https://api.brightdata.com/request"response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers)# Print the API responseprint(response.text)\The result will be something like this:\ Cloudflare Challenge - ScrapingCourse.com You bypassed the Cloudflare challenge! :D \Boom! 💥 That’s the HTML unlocked by Web Unlocker, ready for you to parse and extract.\Learn more in this video 🎥:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3DkHwqSweA&embedable=true2. SDK: The Developer’s Toolkit for Web DataCalling API endpoints directly gives you maximum control. 💪\ \But let’s be real… it also comes with longer development times, error handling overhead, and updates every time the API changes. 😩\That’s where SDKs come in! An SDK simplifies access to your favorite products and services without all the boilerplate.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG-fLp9BTRo&embedable=true\Specifically, the Bright Data Python SDK is an open-source library that lets you call Bright Data’s scraping and search tools with single method calls! 🤩\Yes, a single method! Way simpler than crafting raw API requests. On the flip side, you’re limited to what the SDK exposes in terms of available methods and configurations. For some projects, that might feel restrictive…\⚠️ Note: Right now, the SDK is only available for Python and JavaScript. That means if you’re coding in other languages, you won’t be able to take advantage of it.\Anyway, calling one method and getting ready-to-use web data back is still pretty sweet. 😎 Want to discover all the available SDK methods? Here they are: 👇\| Method | Feature | Description ||----|----|----|| scrape() | Scrape websites | Scrape any website with Bright's anti-bot bypass capabilities || search() | Web search | Query Google and other search engines (supports batch searches) || crawl() | Web crawling | Discover and scrape multiple pages with filtering and depth control || extract() | AI data extraction | Extract specific info using natural language queries and OpenAI || parse_content() | Content parsing | Extract text, links, images, and structured data from JSON or HTML || connect_browser() | Browser automation | Get a WebSocket endpoint for Playwright/Selenium integration || search_chatGPT() | ChatGPT search | Prompt ChatGPT, scrape answers, and handle follow-ups || scrape_linkedin.posts(), scrape_linkedin.jobs(), scrape_linkedin.profiles(), scrape_linkedin.companies() | Scrape LinkedIn | Scrape LinkedIn and get structured data || download_snapshot(), download_content() | Download web data from snapshots | Download content for sync or async requests |\Disclaimer: Check out the docs, as new methods may be added soon!Getting Started\Install the Bright Data Python SDK:pip install brightdata-sdk\Get your Bright Data API key with Admin permissions, pass it to the bdclient class (or set it in the BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN environment variable), and scrape a real-world website like ESPN by calling a single method:\# pip install brightdata-sdkfrom brightdata import bdclient# Initialize the Bright Data SDKclient = bdclient(api_token="") # The API key can also be defined as a BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN environment variable# The target pagepage_url = "https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/46190196/carlos-alcaraz-defeats-rival-jannik-sinner-us-open"# Scrape a news article and print itnews = client.scrape( url=page_url, data_format="markdown", # Parse the result to Markdown)print(news)\The result will be:\Carlos Alcaraz defeats rival Jannik Sinner at US Open - ESPN (...)NEW YORK -- Three years after winning his first major title and becoming the youngest No. 1 player in history, \[Carlos Alcaraz\](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=3782) reclaimed his place atop the sport with another win at the US Open.On Sunday, facing rival \[Jannik Sinner\](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=3623) for the third straight major final, Alcaraz, from Spain, utilized his powerful forehand, ever-improving serve and electric athleticism for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory in a relatively swift 2 hours, 42 minutes. In doing so, he took back the world's top ranking from Sinner, after a 65-week run, and extended his head-to-head record to 10-5 over the Italian player.After Alcaraz secured the win with an ace on his third championship point, he threw his hands in the air above his head before crouching over on his knees with his trademark smile radiating across his face. Seconds later, he was hugging Sinner at the net and the two -- who have a friendly relationship -- had their arms around each other as they walked off the court.(omitted for brevity...)\U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e! 🤯3. MCP: The AI-First Free Gateway to Web DataAPI, SDK… yeah, nothing new there. APIs are perfect for custom integrations in any programming language. SDKs? Great for direct integration in specific tech stacks.\ \But what if you want to supercharge AI with web data retrieval? That’s a whole different game… 🤔\Sure, you could build on top of APIs (or even an SDK) to create AI-ready functions for frameworks like LangChain, Hugging Face, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, and the like. But that means boilerplate code and slow integrations. Not exactly what you want when dealing with AI, which moves way too fast to be wasting time. ⌛https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j1t3UZA1TY&embedable=true\Now imagine a way to connect Bright Data’s most powerful web search, extraction, and data retrieval solutions to AI… with zero effort and no charge (yeah, you read that right 😉). That’s Bright Data’s Web MCP server for you!\MCP is an open AI protocol that standardizes how AI apps and agents connect to and use external tools, such as the products in Bright Data’s AI infrastructure. Basically:Install the Web MCP locally.Configure it in CLI solutions like Gemini CLI or Claude Code, AI agent frameworks like CrewAI or LangChain, or desktop AI chat apps like Claude Desktop.The AI agent immediately gains access to these two tools (for free!):\| Tool | Description ||----|----|| search_engine | Scrape search results from Google, Bing, or Yandex. Returns SERP results in Markdown (URL, title, description). || scrape_as_markdown | Scrape a single webpage URL with advanced content extraction. Returns results in Markdown. Works even on pages with bot detection or CAPTCHA. |\In short: your AI agents can now search the web and scrape any page—tasks that LLMs usually struggle with. 🔥\And that’s just the beginning. Fund your Bright Data account, enable Pro Mode, unlock ~50 more advanced tools, including cloud browser interaction, web automation, and much more.\Cool note: The Bright Data Web MCP server also works remotely, supporting your AI workflows anywhere, anytime. 🌐Getting StartedGrab your Bright Data API key, and use it to configure the Bright Data Web MCP server in most technologies with a setup like this:\{ "mcpServers": { "Bright Data": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@brightdata/mcp"], "env": { "API_TOKEN": "" } } }}\And just like that, your agent now has access to a whole suite of new features—as we covered here on HackerNoon: “MCP + OpenAI Agents SDK: How to Build a Powerful AI Agent.”\Otherwise, see the Web MCP action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W99pmJLM90IAPI vs SDK vs MCP for Web Data: Summary Table| Method | Project Size | Target Audience | Platform | Control | Integration Difficulty | Price ||----|----|----|----|----|----|----|| API | From small to large projects | Individual developers, small teams, large teams | Any programming language or solution that can make an API call | Maximum | Medium | Pay only for successful requests || SDK | Mainly small to medium projects | Python/JavaScript developers, small teams | Python and JavaScript/Node.js projects | Medium | Low | Free SDKs, then pay for successful requests only || MCP | AI agent projects of any size | AI enthusiasts, vibe coders | Any AI framework or solution supporting MCP integration | Low (as AI does its magic) | Very low | Free (with premium tools available) |Final ThoughtsNow you know the three best ways to access web data and how they differ, so you can pick the right approach for your project. No matter which path you take, with Bright Data, you always have access to a web data infrastructure that supports multiple use cases at scale.\At Bright Data, our mission is simple: make the web accessible for everyone, everywhere — whether via API, SDK, or AI through MCP. Until next time, keep building and exploring!