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The term ‘web scraping’ will often come up when you’re looking for a way to extract data from websites. Scrapers come in many shapes and forms, and the exact details of what a scraper will collect will vary greatly, depending on the use cases.
A very common example is search engines that continuously crawl and scrape the web for new and updated content to include in their search index. However, other common examples include ecommerce, finance, and job site scraping tools. As Ecommerce agency, keeping track of our clients competition is critical, tracking prices, promotions, campaigns, contacts, investment policy. In order to do that we have a dedicated Phyton team that uses many tools to speed up integration of this information with SQL databases and Data Studio.
But, with so many options, how do you find the best scraping tool available? In this article you’ll hear about some of the top scraping tools on the market and what they can do for you!
What is the purpose of web scraping tools?
By removing the underlying HTML code and data from a database, a web scraper uses bots to extract structured data and content from a website.
There are many processes involved in data extraction, from keeping your IP from being blocked, to producing data in a readable format, web scrapers and data scraping software make the process of collating and analyzing data simple, quick, and accurate.
If you’re attempting to gather a significant amount of online data — whether it’s to analyze competitors’ prices or perform consumer sentiment analysis — it’s almost impossible to do this manually. Because of this, businesses that use web scraping tools may be able to gather more data at a lower cost and in less time.
Which scraping tools are best for data extraction? Which ones do we use?
1. ScrapingBee
ScrapingBee makes data extraction easy, fast and effective, even if you’re trying to extract data from sites using sophisticated mechanisms to block unwanted traffic. Plus, the number of useful guides and documentation available means getting to know the software is a stress-free process.
The software can be used in 6 main ways: general web scraping, data extraction, JavaScript scenarios, screenshots, search engine results, and no-code web scraping. There are packages designed for everyone from freelancers to large enterprises, so no matter what your requirements are, ScrapingBee has it covered.
2. Scrape.do
Scrape.do is an easy-to-use web scraper tool that provides a scalable, fast, proxy web scraper API in an endpoint. If you’re on the hunt for a cost-effective solution, Scrape.do is one of the cheapest scraping tools available. It only charges for successful requests and doesn’t charge for Google and other hardscape websites.
Some of the top features of this tool include fully customizable settings, unlimited bandwidth on all plans, geotargeting options for over 10 countries, 4 times faster gateway speed than many providers. and a 2-3-second average speed in collecting anonymous data from Instagram.
3. Scrapingdog
Scrapingdog's Proxy API for Web Scraping is a great scraping tool that allows businesses to easily and efficiently extract valuable data from the web, saving them time and resources. Scrapingdog's is one of the fastest when compared to all available APIs in the market. It can handle large number of simultaneous requests with quick and efficient data pulling.
4. Apify
Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can be used for data extraction from websites and APIs. It provides a number of tools and features that make it easy for users to extract data from the web, including a scalable web crawler, a browser-based tool called Apify actor, and a library of pre-built actors.
One of the key features of Apify is its web crawler, which is designed to extract data from websites and APIs in a scalable and efficient manner. The crawler is capable of navigating through websites and following links to extract data from multiple pages. It can be configured to extract specific data points using CSS selector, XPath, or regex, and it can handle AJAX, JavaScript, and cookies.
5. Oxylabs
With Oxylabs’ web scraping API, you can extract data from even the most complex websites without undue hassle. Their built-in patented proxy rotator, JavaScript rendering, and other smart solutions will ensure a quick and reliable data extraction process.
Plus, with an integrated proxy rotator, Oxylabs rotate IP addresses to ensure you achieve the best data gathering results while staying anonymous online. Oxylabs maintain over 1.5 million dedicated proxies and 30 million residential proxies across 180 countries.
5. Beautiful Soup
Due to its simple ways of navigating, searching and modifying the parse tree, Beautiful Soup is ideal even for beginners, and usually saves developers hours of work. Plus, it’s a great choice if you’ve decided to go with Python for your scraper but do not want to be restricted by any framework requirements.
Beautiful Soup offers a straightforward set of functions that will support you in building your own scraper. Beautiful Soup supports the HTML parser included in Python’s standard library, but it also supports several third-party Python parsers.
6. Pyspider
Pyspider is another open-source web crawling tool. It has a web UI that allows you to monitor tasks, edit scripts, and view your results — this makes it more suitable for the general public and provides a more user-friendly UX. It also solves a lot of common web scraping issues.
It’s open source, has a powerful web UI, and the software is trusted by many developers. The features available make data extraction simple and effective.
7. Diffbot
Diffbot is another web scraping tool that provides extracted data from web pages. This data scraper is one of the top content extractors out there. It allows you to identify pages automatically with the Analyze API feature and extract products, articles, discussions, videos, or images.
Although plans start from $299 per month, the extensive features include article, product, discussion, video, and image extraction APIs, as well as custom crawling controls, visual processing, and more.
8. ScrapeBox
ScrapeBox is a desktop scraper that runs on Windows and macOS and focuses heavily on SEO-related tasks. It might be referred to as a ‘Swiss Army Knife of SEO’. The tool is used primarily for SEO purposes, but it may be equally useful for general content scraping and bulk YouTube scraping.
ScrapeBox may be especially helpful for scraping projects with smaller datasets, and where it’s not necessary to rotate or specify the client location due to its scalability and proxy support limitations. Smaller projects benefit greatly from this feature-rich software, but keep in mind that proxies are an extra expense.
9. Scraper API
Scraper API is created for designers who want to build web scrapers. It handles browsers, proxies, and CAPTCHAs, which means that raw HTML from any website can be obtained through a simple API call.
Some of the key features include easy integration, geolocated rotating proxies, a special pool of proxies for ecommerce price scraping, search engine scraping, social media scraping, and help rendering Javascript.
10. Import.io
Import.io aids with mass data collection. Accuracy, comprehensiveness, and dependability are all provided, while offering operational management of all your web data. By importing the data from a particular web page and exporting the extracted data to CSV, Import.io provides a builder that allows you to create your own datasets. Additionally, it enables you to build more than 1000 APIs based on your needs.
Import.io can deliver the data you require at scale with unmatched capabilities and expertise. Any ecommerce data you desire, from as many websites as you like, can be delivered in the frequency and format you require.
In the modern digital world, web scraping is an essential tool for digital marketing agencies. It is a powerful tool that allows marketers to quickly and efficiently gather data from websites, allowing them to better understand their target audiences and make informed decisions. Web scraping can provide digital marketing agencies with invaluable insights into the behaviors and preferences of their target audiences. This data can help marketers craft more targeted campaigns and tailor content to better meet their customers’ needs. It can also help them better understand their competitors, allowing them to make better decisions about pricing, product offerings, and overall strategy. Additionally, web scraping can be used to help agencies identify potential customers and areas for growth. By gathering data from social media, search engine results, and other sources, marketers can gain valuable insights into the trends and interests of their target audiences, helping them better shape their marketing campaigns.
Web scraping is a powerful tool that can help reach your goals more efficiently and effectively.
About CodeDesign
Codedesign is a digital marketing agency specializing in e-commerce and B2B online marketing. Our digital team utilizes the latest digital marketing tools and strategies to help clients reach their business goals. We offer comprehensive services such as website design, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, performance marketing, social media marketing, CRM and marketing automation, email marketing, and more. Our experts create and implement customized digital marketing campaigns to increase website traffic, generate leads, and drive sales. Our expertise in e-commerce and B2B marketing allows us to understand the nuances of the digital marketplace and create effective marketing solutions tailored to their client's needs.
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