brightdata-mcp

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:

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 mcp add --transport http brightdata "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

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

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

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

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

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

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

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

Add to your Zed settings:

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

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

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

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:

• 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.

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.

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.

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 sites. Every request goes through unblocking infrastructure, so agents don't fail on bot detection, CAPTCHAs, or geo-restrictions.

Coding agents

Package registry data on demand — no scraping, no stale caches.

Example prompts: "What's the latest version of express on npm?", "Get the README for