The Best Web Scraping Tools in 2024

Web scraping is the process of collecting a lot of data from several internet websites. But why do businesses use web scraping? To understand web scraping better, you’ll want to know how businesses use this data.

Companies extract data from several internal and external sources and hire data scientists and analysts to help generate actionable insights. However, one of the key issues with this is the large scope of data collection and aggregation.

A sizable business might generate thousands of gigabytes of data every few months for market research, competitive price monitoring, and trend monitoring. After a point, it isn’t realistic or secure to collect and collate this data manually. This is where techniques like web scraping and automation can help.

Web scraping tools and apps can help analysts parse through a large number of websites. The scraper tools collect data from relevant sites and convert it to a structured format, making it easier to analyze and integrate into existing workflows.

This article will review some basic features you should look for in web scraping tools. We’ll also include our recommendations for the best web scraping tools in 2024, which can be used with Linux, Windows, or macOS.

Features offered by web scraping tools

Here are a few factors to consider when choosing a web scraping tool.

Scalability

Business needs evolve over time, and so should your web scraping abilities. As your business scales up, you’ll need to capture and analyze more data from more sources. Your web scraping tool should be able to keep up with these data needs and scrape websites efficiently, even for large datasets.

Techniques like distributed web crawling can help web scraping tools handle large-scale data loads without compromising efficiency. While every tool is expected to slow down a little while handling an extremely high volume of data, you should ensure the tool can still function well enough for your needs.

Transparent pricing

A clear pricing model applies to every business tool you shop for on the internet. Any web scraping tool provider you choose should be transparent about their pricing structure and the services included in a certain package.

For example, if a provider doesn’t state the additional charge (in addition to your subscription price) to work with hard-to-scrape search engines like Google or important e-commerce websites like Shopify and Amazon, this should be a red flag.

While it isn’t uncommon for advanced web scraping packages to cost more, most prices should be listed on the website (or you should have another opportunity to review the rates before making the purchase).

Data delivery

Your choice of web scraping tool should also depend on the data formats in which the results will be delivered. Web scraping tools collate collected data in structured or semi-structured formats. If this data isn’t presented in the right format, you may not be able to use it with important business intelligence (BI) tools like Microsoft’s Power BI or even Excel.

Ideally, a web scraping tool should give you the option to download collected data in a wide range of standard formats (e.g., XML, JSON, and CSV). The tool should also be able to deliver the results directly to you via FTP, Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud storage service.

Proxy API

Proxy application programming interfaces (APIs) help web crawlers become more effective by giving them access to sites that might not be available in your region.

As the term suggests, proxy APIs help mask your tool’s identity while it crawls through webpages. How is this helpful? Many modern websites employ antiscraping measures, like captcha, where users are denied access to the site if the traffic seems irregular. That said, you should read and comply with a website’s terms and conditions before scraping it. Some websites don’t permit scraping.

Proxy scraper APIs create several proxy user identities, which make the traffic look more regular. Further, proxy identities act as an extra layer of protection between your devices and malicious websites. However, there’s no way to guarantee this will always prove to be effective, which is why you’ll still want to have antimalware tools to protect your devices.

Our top picks for web scraping tools

Now that we’re aware of some of the most desirable features to look for in web scraping tools, let’s look at our top picks. We’ll also provide a list of alternative tools to check out in case you’re looking for something that better suits your business needs.

Octoparse

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Octoparse is a user-friendly bulk web data extraction and web scraping tool. The tool provides advanced web scraping features like multiformatted data extraction (which supports CSV, Excel, and API formats), IP address rotation, and scheduled data scraping.

Octoparse is our top pick because it has a unique, intuitive design with a simple learning curve, allowing both experienced and newbie developers (and even nondevelopers) to use it without much hassle. The tool is marketed as a no-code web scraping solution and comes with dedicated templates for social media data scraping, e-commerce and retail data scraping, and lead generation.

Scalability: High

Transparent pricing: Yes; free plan available; paid plans start at $99 per month (billed annually)

Data delivery: On-demand, multiformat (Excel, CSV, HTML, JSON, or your database)

Proxy API: Yes

Scrapy

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Scrapy is a legacy web scraping tool that works on Python. Developed in 2008 by Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub) as one of the world’s earliest dedicated web scraping companies, Scrapy is good for developers looking to work with a tool that allows them to have complete control over the web scraping process.

Unlike most other tools on our list, Scrappy is an open-source and collaborative framework for Python developers who want to build their own scalable web crawlers. Essentially, it’s a Python library that helps developers make web scraping tools from scratch.

Scrappy’s biggest advantage is that it’s free to use. The only drawback is that you must manually code advanced features like rotating proxies into the web scraper using middleware and other library imports.

Scalability: Very high

Transparent pricing: Yes; free

Data delivery: On-demand, multi-format (XML, CSV, or JSON)

Proxy API: Through middleware

ScrapingBot

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ScrapingBot is a powerful web scraping solution provided by a France-based tech company of the same name. Unlike some of our other top picks, ScrapingBot is a web scraping API that can integrate with larger tools and platforms.

ScrapingBot performs exceptionally well when it comes to scraping data from retail and e-commerce websites. The most basic version of the tool allows for no-coding scraping, where all you need to do is enter the site’s URL. ScrapingBot is specialized in HTML-based content and comes with several other features, like geolocation and high-quality proxies.

Scalability: Low

Transparent pricing: Yes

Data delivery: On-demand, multi-format (TXT, HTML CSV, or Excel)

Proxy API: Yes

Alternative tools

Here are a few alternative options (web browser extensions, desktop tools, etc.) that might be a good fit for specific use cases.

Data Miner

Dataminer.io’s Data Scraper (or Data Miner) is a Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge web scraping browser extension. The tool is specialized for scraping public data off profile pages and real estate listings to generate business leads. You can further run custom Javascript commands to clean up, filter, and normalize the data. Data Scraper is the most efficient web scraping Chrome extension available on the internet today.

However, note that the tool’s monthly page limit on data scraping makes it more useful for small businesses rather than large corporations that might run out of monthly limits over the course of a single extraction.

Scalability: Low

Transparent pricing: Yes

Data delivery: On-demand, multi-format (Excel, CSV, Google Sheets)

Proxy API: Yes

ParseHub

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ParseHub was  developed and marketed by a company based in Toronto, Canada. ParseHub is priced according to its scraping speed and efficiency, which allows businesses to use the tool at a reduced speed for free indefinitely. The free plan allows users to retain data from five public projects for up to 14 days.

Premium subscription packages also come with a dedicated account manager and specialized experts to monitor the data scraping for you.

Scalability: High

‍Transparent pricing: Yes; free plan available; paid plans start at $155 per month (billed quarterly)

Data delivery: On-demand, multi-format(AJAX, drop-down coverage, CSV, JSON)

Webscraper.io

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Web Scraper, marketed by Webscraper.io, is an easy-to-use, coding-free web scraping solution that also comes with a specialized cloud scraper and simple user interface. The cloud scraper helps it double as a comprehensive business analytics tool that scrapes websites over the internet dynamically, stores and analyzes the data in real time, and submits the detailed reports to the cloud platforms of your choice (including Amazon S3, Google Sheets, and DropBox).

Web Scraper’s core cloud-based architecture makes it an excellent choice for businesses looking for highly scalable scrapers. Other important features like IP rotation and click-to-choose scraping make Web Scraper a truly flexible and dynamic web data scraping tool.

Scalability: Best in class

Transparent pricing: Yes; free plan available; paid plans start at $40 per month (billed annually)

Data delivery: On-demand, multiformat (CSV, JSON, XLSX)

Proxy API: Yes

OutWit Hub

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OutWit Hub is a web scraping company that provides fully customizable web scraping services and solutions for businesses of all sizes. It’s a custom scraper that can help you scrape any website without the hassle of coding.

And if you prefer to outsource the work instead of learning how to operate a new tool, you can hand out the work to OutWit’s team. They’ll run the scraper on their servers and give you the final results. However, the biggest drawback to using the tool is that there’s no clear pricing structure.

Scalability: High

Transparent pricing: No

Data delivery: On-demand, multi-format (JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, BMP, and TIF)

Proxy API: Yes

Dexi.io

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Dexi.io is a cutting-edge BI solution manufacturer that markets its own automated data extraction tool. Dexi’s tool sets itself apart from the competition by using intuitive machine learning and neural network algorithms that simulate human browsing patterns for dynamic web scraping.

Dexi also allows for third-party integration, making it easier for businesses to develop a custom, scalable web crawler tailored to fit their needs.

Scalability: High

Transparent pricing: No; free trial available but no specific pricing

Data delivery: On-demand, multiformat (CSV, JSON, XML, and XLS)

Proxy API: Yes

Hire a web scraping expert to help

Web scraping involves a steep learning curve and isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially when you have extremely specific data needs. For most projects, businesses require only a certain type of data from relevant websites. This usually requires a custom-coded scraping tool or extractor and dedicated data analysis professionals who closely monitor the extraction processes.

With Upwork, you can find the right freelance web scrapers for your next project. The independent professionals on our platform have the relevant experience and certifications to help get your project started and keep it up and running. Our transparent user ratings and reviews can help you decide who would best fit your needs.

If you’re an independent professional looking for freelance web scraping jobs, join us today. Many companies are looking for an expert like you.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.