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The response_type=markdown parameter tells ZenRows to convert the scraped page’s HTML into clean Markdown before returning the response. Instead of receiving raw HTML that you need to parse yourself, you get structured, readable content that’s ready to process or display. This is particularly useful for AI pipelines, content extraction workflows, and any use case where you need human-readable text with preserved structure (headings, lists, links, tables) without the noise of HTML tags.
response_type=markdown cannot be combined with the outputs parameter. Use one or the other depending on whether you need structured data extraction or a full Markdown conversion of the page.

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How it works

ZenRows fetches the target page, renders it if needed, and converts the resulting HTML into Markdown. The conversion preserves the semantic structure of the page: headings map to # through ######, lists remain as - items, links keep their text and URL, and tables are converted to Markdown table syntax. For example, given the following HTML:
HTML
<h1>Product Title</h1>
<p>This is a great product that does many things.</p>
<ul>
    <li>Feature 1</li>
    <li>Feature 2</li>
    <li>Feature 3</li>
</ul>
The Markdown response returns:
Markdown
# Product Title

This is a great product that does many things.

- Feature 1
- Feature 2
- Feature 3

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Basic Usage

Add response_type=markdown to your request parameters: 
import requests

url = "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/"
apikey = "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY"

params = {
    "url": url,
    "apikey": apikey,
    "response_type": "markdown",
}

response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params)
print(response.text)

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When to use Markdown response

The Markdown response is the right choice when you need the full text content of a page with its structure preserved, but don’t want to parse HTML yourself. It works well for:
  • AI and LLM pipelines: feed scraped content directly into language models without pre-processing. Markdown is cleaner and more token-efficient than raw HTML.
  • Content extraction and archiving: capture articles, documentation pages, or product descriptions in a portable, readable format.
  • Knowledge base ingestion: convert web pages into Markdown for ingestion into vector databases, RAG pipelines, or internal wikis.
  • Developer tooling: use Markdown output to power documentation crawlers, content diff tools, or search indexers.
If you only need specific data types from a page (like emails, links, or tables), use the outputs parameter instead. Markdown response converts the entire page, which may include content you don’t need.

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Best practices

Enable js_render for dynamic pages:
If the page loads content via JavaScript, combine response_type=markdown with js_render=true. Without it, the Markdown output will only reflect the initial HTML and may be missing key content. Use wait or wait_for when content loads after a delay:
For pages where content appears after a delay or user interaction, add wait (milliseconds) or wait_for (CSS selector) to ensure the full content is present before conversion.
Find more details on our Wait Documentation or Wait For Selector Documentation.
Expect navigation and boilerplate in the output:
The Markdown response converts the full page, including headers, footers, navigation menus, and sidebars. If you need only the main body content, consider post-processing the Markdown to strip boilerplate, or evaluate whether css_extractor with a targeted selector better fits your use case.
Find more details on our CSS Extractor Documentation.
Credits are charged on successful responses:
A request using response_type=markdown is charged when the API returns a 200 status code, regardless of whether the Markdown output contains the content you expected. Test on a small set of URLs before running at scale.

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Troubleshooting

The page likely renders its content via JavaScript. Add js_render=true to your request to ensure ZenRows renders the page fully before converting it. If content still appears incomplete, combine with wait_for targeting a CSS selector that’s only present once the main content has loaded.
The Markdown response converts the full HTML of the page, not just the main body. This is expected behavior. To target only a specific section of the page, use css_extractor with a selector pointing to the main content container (for example, article or main) instead of using response_type=markdown.
Markdown table conversion works on standard HTML table elements. If the site uses div-based layouts to simulate tables, they won’t convert cleanly. In that case, use the outputs=tables filter or css_extractor to target the relevant elements directly.
These two parameters are mutually exclusive. response_type=markdown converts the entire page to Markdown, while outputs performs targeted data extraction. You can only use one per request. Choose outputs when you need specific data types, and response_type=markdown when you need the full page content as structured text.

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Pricing

The response_type=markdown parameter is included at no additional cost with all ZenRows requests. You only pay extra for JavaScript Render and Premium Proxy when used.
You can monitor your ZenRows usage in multiple ways to stay informed about your account activity and prevent unexpected overages.Dashboard monitoring: View real-time usage statistics, remaining requests, success rates, and request history on your Analytics Page. You can also set up usage alerts in your notification settings to receive notifications when you approach your limits.Programmatic monitoring: For automated monitoring in your applications, call the /v1/subscriptions/self/details endpoint with your API key in the X-API-Key header. This returns real-time usage data that you can integrate into your monitoring systems. Learn more about the usage endpoint.Response header monitoring: Track your concurrency usage through response headers included with each request:
  • Concurrency-Limit: Your maximum concurrent requests
  • Concurrency-Remaining: Available concurrent request slots
  • X-Request-Cost: Cost of the current request

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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Yes, you can combine response_type=markdown with js_render=true to render JavaScript before the conversion. This is recommended for any page that loads content dynamically.
No, the response_type=markdown parameter does not add extra credit cost on its own. Credits are calculated based on the other parameters you use, such as js_render or premium_proxy, exactly as they would be for a standard request.
No, response_type=markdown is a parameter of the Universal Scraper API. It is not available in Scraping Browser (CDP/Playwright) sessions. In a Scraping Browser session, you control the page directly and can extract and convert content using your own script logic.
ZenRows converts to standard CommonMark-compatible Markdown. Most elements (headings, lists, bold, italic, links, code blocks, tables) are supported. Custom HTML components, embedded scripts, and non-semantic markup are stripped from the output.
Yes, and this is one of the most common use cases. Markdown is significantly more compact and cleaner than raw HTML, which reduces token usage and improves the quality of LLM outputs. ZenRows strips tags, scripts, and boilerplate during conversion, leaving structured prose that models can process directly.