Best Data Scraping Software in 2024

Data scraping can seem like a complex and confusing task. Finding the right data source, parsing the sources correctly, handling javascript, and getting the data in a usable form is only part of the job of data scraping. Different users have very different needs, and there are scraping programs and tools for all of them: people who want to scrape without programming knowledge, developers who want to make scrapers for processing sites with large amounts of data, and many more. Below is a list of the 12 best scraping programs on the market, from open source projects to hosted SAAS solutions and desktop software, and everyone will find something to suit their needs.

List of tools and programs for parsing:

1. Scraper API

scraperapi.com

Who is it for: Scraper API is a tool for programmers to create scrapers, it handles proxies, browsers and CAPTCHAs so developers can get raw HTML from any website with a simple API call.

Features: You don’t have to manage your own proxy servers, as this tool has its own internal pool of over a hundred thousand proxies from dozens of different proxy providers and also has built-in intelligent routing logic that routes requests through different subnets and automatically adjusts requests in order to avoid IP blocking and CAPTCHA. This web scraping tool with special proxy pools is used for competitor price monitoring, search engine scraping, social media scraping, ticket scraping and much more.

2. iDatica

idatica.com

For whom: iDatica is a great service for people who need custom parsing. You just need to fill out a form with the order details, and in a few days you will receive a ready-made parser developed for your tasks.

Features: iDatica creates and supports custom parsers for clients. Send a request via the form, describe what information you need, from which sites, and we will develop a custom parser that will periodically send you the parsing results (maybe daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) in CSV/EXCEL format. The service is suitable for companies that need a parser without having to write any code on their side and without hiring developers on staff. It is suitable for people who want the entire parsing process to be built for them quickly and efficiently. In addition, Russian-language support will help with task formulation, drawing up technical specifications, data cleaning and subsequent visualization in Bi analytics.

3. Octoparse

octoparse.com

Who is it for: Octoparse is a tool for people who want to scrape websites themselves, without having to program anything. Using this scraping program, you retain control over the entire scraping process with an easy-to-use interface.

Features: Octoparse is a tool for people who want to scrape websites without learning how to code. It is a visual data processing tool where the user buy telemarketing data  selects the content on the site to be captured and the program collects this data automatically. It also includes a website scraper and a comprehensive solution for those who want to run scrapers in the cloud. The main advantage of this scraping program is that there is a free version that allows users to create up to 10 scrapers. For corporate clients, they also offer fully configured scrapers and managed solutions where they take care of everything and provide the finished scraping result.

4. ParseHub

parsehub.com

Who is it for: Parsehub is a powerful program for creating parsers without technical skills. It is used by analysts, journalists, data scientists.

Features: Parsehub is easy to use, you can parse data by simply clicking on the data you need to grab. It then exports the data in JSON or Excel format. It has many convenient features such as automatic IP rotation, allowing you to view pages that are accessible to logged in users, view drop-down lists and tabs, and get data from tables. In addition, this tool has a free version that allows users to process up to 200 pages of data in just 40 minutes. Another plus is that Parserhub has desktop clients for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

5. Scrapy

scrapy.org

Who it’s for: Scrapy is a web library for Python developers who want to build scalable web scrapers. It’s a full-featured web scraping platform that handles request queues, intermediate proxies, and basically anything that might make scraping more difficult.

Features: As an open-source tool, Scrapy is completely free. It is tested by a large number of users and has been one of the most popular Python libraries for many years and is probably the best Python tool for data scraping. It has detailed documentation and many tutorials on how to get started with this library. In addition, the process of deploying the scraper is very simple, the scraper can be run immediately after installation. There are also many additional modules available, for example for handling cookies and user agents.

6. Diffbot

diffbot.com

Who it’s for: Companies that have specific requirements for data parsing and viewing, especially those who parse sites that frequently change their HTML structure.

Features: Diffbot is different from most data scraping programs in that it uses computer vision to identify relevant information on a page. This means that even if the HTML structure of a page changes, your scrapers won’t break as long as the page looks the same visually. This tool is suitable for long-term scraping projects. Although this tool is quite expensive, the cheapest plan is $299 per month. They offer premium services that can be useful for larger companies.

7. Cheerio

cheerio.js.org

Who is it for: Suitable for NodeJS programmers who are looking for an easy way to parse data. Those familiar with jQuery will definitely appreciate the best JavaScript syntax available for parsing.

Features: Cheerio offers an API similar to jQuery, so developers familiar with jQuery will easily understand how to use Cheerio. Cheerio is fast and offers many useful methods for parsing. It is currently the most popular HTML parsing library written in NodeJS. And it is probably the best NodeJS parser tool at the moment.

8. BeautifulSoup

crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/

Who is it for: Python programmers who want a simple interface for scraping and don’t necessarily need the power and complexity that Scrapy has.

Features: Like Cheerio for NodeJS developers, Beautiful Soup is by far the most popular web scraper for Python developers. It has been around for over a decade and has very detailed documentation, and there are plenty of tutorials online that teach you how to scrape websites using Python 2 and Python 3. If you’re looking for a Python web scraping library, this is it.

9. Puppeteer

github.com/GoogleChrome/puppeteer

Who is it for: Puppeteer is a headless Chrome API for NodeJS programmers who want fine-grained control over their work when doing web scraping.

Features: As an open-source tool, Puppeteer is free to use. It is actively developed and maintained by the Google Chrome team itself.