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Anonymous Raccoon
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Anonymous Raccoon, 672d ago
June 23, 2023
what are the best web scraping API services?
During my research, I visited Reddit threads, blog posts, and web scraping API comparison articles to gather information on the best web scraping API services. There was a fair amount of consensus on some of the top options, with a few services being mentioned frequently across sources. However, opinions varied depending on the user's needs and preferences. Overall, the sources were relevant to the query, but some uncertainty remains due to the varying preferences and experiences of the users and authors.
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Scrapfly
SerpMaster
ScraperAPI
SerpAPI
Data Collector by Bright Data
Apify
"We’ll put our own product first because we believe it’s the best web scraping API you can use to extract website data in 2023. Try it out and we think you’ll agree 😄"
"**Pros:** Easy to use, even for beginners"
"Apify is a web scraping API service that is easy to use and integrates with many systems."
Oxylabs
ScrapingBee
Zyte
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Research
"Wanting to build a web scraper with no prior coding knowledge. Where do I start as fast as possible?"
- The webpage is a Reddit post titled “Wanting to build a web scraper with no prior coding knowledge. Where do I start as fast as possible?”
- The user who posted is looking to build a web scraper to monitor various online UK retailers’ websites for a specific product that is in high demand and always gets sold out quickly after they become available to buy. They want the scraper to post a message to a Discord server and tweet via a Twitter account as fast as possible.
- Some users recommended searching for a web scraping service or tool.
- One user sarcastically responded that building a scraper without prior coding knowledge is like trying to build a car without any experience and recommended seeking a service instead.
- Another user suggested learning to code with Python and using the Beautiful Soup library for web scraping.
- Another user recommended using Scrapy, a Python framework for web scraping, and provided links for learning how to use it and deploying the scraper to the cloud.
- One user advertised their no-code web scraping tool, Datagrab.io.
- Some users cautioned that automating the buying process for high-demand products like the user’s desired product may not be successful and recommended trying to buy manually instead.
- One user mentioned that the game is getting harder, particularly in their web scraping industry, and it’s a back and forth game where new technology is put in place to block automated data acquisition, but then they figure out how to work around it.
- Another user provided three options for scraping data: doing manual scraping using programming languages such as Python or Ruby on Rails, using data scraping tools available in the market (both free and paid), or opting for data scraping service providers for more customized scraping requirements.
- One user recommended Octoparse or similar software for scraping data.
"https://www.zenrows.com/blog/web-crawling-tools"
- The title of the webpage is “20 Best Web Crawling Tools & Software in 2023 - ZenRows.”
- The intro paragraph explains that people and companies use web crawling tools to extract data from different sources, and that web crawling is faster, more accurate, and more efficient than manual scraping.
- The table lists the 20 best web crawling tools and software to use. It includes columns for “Best for,” “Technical knowledge,” “Ease of use,” “High crawling speed,” and “Price.”
- ZenRows is described as “the best web crawling tool to easily extract data from tons of websites without getting blocked.” It can bypass antibots and CAPTCHAs and offers rotating proxies, headless browsers, and geotargeting. It is best for developers and requires basic coding skills. It offers a 14-day free trial with plans starting as low as $49 per month.
- Other popular crawling tools listed include HTTrack, ParseHub, Scrapy, Octoparse, Import.io, Webz.io, Dexi.io, Zyte, WebHarvy, ScraperAPI, 80legs, UiPath, Apache Nutch, Outwit Hub, Cyotek WebCopy, WebSPHINX, Helium scraper, Mozenda, and Apify.
- These crawling tools are best for a range of uses, including copying websites, scheduled browsing, web scraping using a free library, non-coders to scrape data, pricing analysts, dark web monitoring, analyzing real-time data in e-commerce, programmers who need less basic features, SEO professionals, testing alternative crawling APIs, getting data quickly, all sizes of teams, and browsing offline.
- Some of these crawling tools are free, such as HTTrack, Scrapy, Apache Nutch, Outwit Hub, Cyotek WebCopy, and WebSPHINX. Others offer free versions with paid plans available, such as ParseHub, Octoparse, Import.io, Webz.io, and Dexi.io. Prices for paid plans range from $29 to $420 per month.
- The page provides a brief explanation of what web crawling is and the types of web crawling tools that are commonly used: In-house, commercial, and open-source.
- In-house web crawling tools are created internally by businesses to crawl their own website for various tasks, such as Google bots for crawling web pages. Commercial crawling software is a commercially available tool, like ZenRows. Open-source crawling tools are free tools that let anybody use and customize them as necessary,
"A web-scraping guide for beginners, part 2"
- The webpage is titled “A web-scraping guide for beginners, part 2” and is on Reddit with a post date of 3 years ago.
- The author shares their experience in the web scraping industry and that they are currently writing a series of beginner’s guide to cover every aspect of web scraping.
- This particular post discusses scraping in Python with sample codes.
- The author has also included a link to Part 1 discussing tools and concepts needed to scrape easily.
- In the comments section below, there is some request for the author to cover topics such as authenticated scraping, handling files deemed as dangerous, and the future of web scraping, among others.
- One Reddit user had asked for books related to web scraping, and another user suggested the book, “Web Scraping with Python” by Ryan Mitchell.
- Several other Reddit users have commented that they found the guide to be helpful and informative.
- One Reddit user mentioned that web-scraping is a massive industry and gave an example of companies built on finding and gathering data.
- Another Reddit user inquired about job opportunities in data scraping and mentioned their interest in getting into the industry.
- Some Reddit users suggested specific tools and libraries to assist with web scraping, such as Scrapy and BeautifulSoup.
- There was also a reply to a Reddit user on sharing their program about Data Mining in Twitter, with the link to its GitHub repository.
- A Reddit user who was building an Instagram Scraper for the heck of it but felt unsure of initial steps was grateful for the guide.
- One user was not familiar with scraping, but they were impressed with the article and suggested they will read it even though they don’t have a need for web scraping currently.
- The author provided links to other articles posted by Scraping Ninja.
"Best Web Scraping Courses for Python & JavaScript - ScraperAPI"
Not used in article
"https://blog.apify.com/best-web-scraping-api/"
- The article identified the top 10 web scraping APIs to use in 2023.
- Apify was the first pick and described as the best web scraping API to use for extracting website data in 2023.
- Apify provides access to a huge library of pre-built scrapers, called Apify Actors, which can be used as a starting point for custom scraping projects.
- The Apify API is designed to handle large volumes of data and a vast numbers of web pages without issues.
- The data can be stored and exported in different formats, such as Excel, CSV, JSON, and XML. It also includes utilities to allow developers to schedule, monitor, and manage long-running scraping jobs.
- Apify scrapers can use all popular libraries, including Python, and JavaScript. Scrapy, Selenium, Playwright, and Puppeteer.
- Apify also maintains a state-of-the-art open-source web scraping and browser automation library for Node.js called Crawlee.
- The article mentioned Pros & Cons of each API.
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The Pros of using Apify include:
- Flexible and customizable
- Extensive library of ready-to-use scrapers
- Full-featured cloud-based infrastructure
- Pricing options
- Community
- Unlimited free plan
- Multiple data formats
- Integrations
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The Cons of using Apify include:
- Learning curve
- Data quality control
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The article also covered other web scraping APIs, including:
- Oxylabs: provides several specific APIs for scraping different categories, like search engine results pages, E-Commerce, Real Estate Scraper, and the more generic Web Scraper API.
- ScrapingBee: handles rotating proxies, data extraction, headless browsers, and solving CAPTCHAS. Offers built-in CAPTCHA handling and automatic IP rotation.
- Zyte: Provides the powerful Scrapy framework, which is widely used and favored by experienced web scrapers for scraping capabilities. Offers AutoExtract and a cloud-based infrastructure.
- Bright Data: provides readily available datasets scraped from popular websites, as well as comprehensive web scraping services.
- The article highlighted the importance of web scraping in this day and age, as the whole world knows that the various AIs and LLMs out there were trained by ingesting scraped data.
"https://datarade.ai/top-lists/best-web-scraping-apis"
- Web scraping APIs are software interfaces that allow developers to extract data from websites and web pages in a structured and automated way.
- Web scraping APIs provide a set of tools and methods that enable developers to programmatically access and extract data from websites, without the need for manual intervention.
- Web scraping APIs work by sending requests to a website’s server, retrieving the HTML content of the page, and then parsing the content to extract the desired data.
- The extracted data can be stored in a structured format, such as JSON or CSV, and used for various purposes, such as data analysis, machine learning, or business intelligence.
- Web scraping APIs are commonly used in industries such as e-commerce, finance, and marketing, where data is a critical component of decision-making.
- Web scraping APIs offers a fast and efficient way to extract data from websites, without the need for manual data entry or copy-pasting.
- It is important to note that web scraping APIs must be used ethically and in compliance with the website’s terms of service and applicable laws and regulations.
- Main use cases of Web Scraping APIs include Market Research, Lead Generation, Content Aggregation, Price Monitoring, Data Analysis, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Monitoring, and Academic Research.
- Bright Data Web Scraping API, Zyte Web Scraping API, Datamam, and TagX offer some of the best web scraping services available in the market.
- Bright Data Web Scraping API offers powerful web scrapers, ready-to-use datasets, proxy networks, and integration compatibility.
- Zyte Web Scraping API has AI-powered web scrapers, structured data extraction API, scrapy cloud hosting, and data solutions tailored to business needs.
- Datamam provides custom code, customized solutions, optimized scraping processes, and unlimited scraping services.
- TagX’s services are designed to help businesses extract valuable data.
- Bright Data Web Scraping API is highly recommended for robust, efficient, and reliable web scraping.
- Zyte Web Scraping API is reliable and powerful with intelligent pricing models.
- Datamam offers a reliable and efficient solution for extracting and analyzing web data at scale.
- It is recommended to contact the aforementioned web scraping APIs directly through their websites for detailed pricing information.
"https://popupsmart.com/blog/best-web-scraping-api"
- Web scraping is the technique for extracting data from websites using automated scripts or programs
- Web scraping API tools help automate the data extraction process and can scrape large amounts of data quickly and efficiently
- There are several factors to consider when choosing the right web scraping API tool, such as ease of use, quality and quantity of data, scalability, pricing, security, and reliability
- The 6 best web scraping API tools in 2023 are Oxylabs, BrightData, Apify, ScrapingBee, ParseHub, and ScraperAPI
- Oxylabs provides ready-to-use code samples and multiple language support, 100M+ Residential proxies, AI-powered web unblocker, proxy manager, mobile proxies, and more.
- BrightData provides a range of tools and features, such as residential proxies, data unblocking, and advanced scraping algorithms, and offers excellent customer support
- Apify allows users to extract data from websites, automate workflows, and create custom APIs and provides a wide range of tools and features
- ScrapingBee offers a range of advanced features, such as rotating proxies, JavaScript rendering, and custom headers, and provides reliable and scalable scraping solutions
- ParseHub is a web scraping tool that provides a point-and-click interface for users to extract data from websites and offers custom templates, JavaScript rendering, and data export
- ScraperAPI provides a range of advanced features, such as rotating proxies, JavaScript rendering, and CAPTCHA solving, and offers a free plan for testing and development
- User reviews include testimonies of the ease of use, high data quality and accuracy, excellent customer support, versatility of the API, fast and reliable scraping solutions, and customizable requests
- Recommendations for choosing the right web scraping API tool include identifying web scraping needs, evaluating budget, considering the pros and cons of each tool, taking advantage of free trials, and asking for recommendations
- The webpage provides a link to user reviews about web scraping API provides, which could help make a decision
- The page provides a brief introduction to web scraping, lists the top web scraping API tools, and provides quick pros and cons of each of them, making it a valuable resource for someone looking for web scraping API services
"What's your favorite scraping tool?"
- The webpage is a Reddit thread discussing the best web scraping tools.
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Users in the thread mention several API services for web scraping:
- Scrapfly: affordable, good communication, helps with tricky issues, lower success rate on protected websites, cost $15 for 200,000 requests.
- SerpMaster: never heard of it, but seems too expensive for the volume.
- ScraperAPI: $200 for 100,000 requests. Some users had a good experience with it, while others found it to be expensive.
- SerpAPI: performance is unmatched, but pricing is high. Offers a stable JSON at every API call.
- Data Collector by Bright Data: allows users to emulate a user from any location in the world, has ready templates for all kinds of websites, has a browser extension to build custom templates, a coding environment to tweak scrapers, and can be run on a scheduler. Results can be obtained in real-time.
- Shifter: a service for residential proxies.
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Some users in the thread recommend other scraping tools:
- Puppeteer: flexible, free, but requires code.
- Selenium-wire: an extension of Selenium that allows users to log network requests made within the browser, recommended for solving issues with AJAX requests.
- A custom Perl script that uses libcurl, chromium, VNC, and the Chrome Remote Protocol, recommended for all scraping projects.
- Scrappy-splash with Crawlera as a proxy for rotating IPs and headers, recommended for protected websites.
- Users in the thread compare the pricing, success rate, and performance of different scraping tools.
- Overall, the thread provides an overview of different web scraping tools, with users discussing their experiences and opinions on different scraping services available.
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