In today's data-driven business landscape, scraping tools have become an indispensable asset for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're a small business owner looking to gain insights into your competition, a data scientist needing to compile large datasets for your latest project, or a digital marketer hoping to understand your audience better, web scraping tools provide you with the power to gather all the information you need from the web.
This article explores 45 of the best free scraping tools available in 2023. From ScrapingBot.io to Grabzit, these tools offer various features and capabilities, making them suitable for a wide range of uses and applications. For each tool, we'll be discussing who it's for, why you should use it, and how to use it, helping you make an informed decision on which tool or tools might be most beneficial for your specific needs. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a beginner just starting out, there's a tool out there for you.
Dive in, and let's begin our journey into the world of free web scraping tools in 2023 !
1. ScrapingBot.io
- Who is it for: ScrapingBot is for developers, digital marketers, and businesses that require data from different websites for various purposes including SEO, pricing strategy, and market research.
- Why you should use it: ScrapingBot provides an easy-to-use API which can manage headless browsers and bypass CAPTCHAs. It offers high reliability and scalability, making it perfect for large-scale projects.
- How to use it: You can use ScrapingBot by incorporating its API into your application. It provides detailed API documentation which will guide you through the setup process.
2. Crawlbase
- Who is it for: Crawlbase is designed for data scientists, developers, and businesses that need to extract structured data from websites quickly.
- Why you should use it: Crawlbase offers easy setup, robust data extraction, and high-speed crawling. It also allows users to scrape AJAX/Javascript heavy websites.
- How to use it: Crawlbase offers a RESTful API for integration. Its comprehensive documentation provides a thorough guide to its setup and utilization.
3. Beautiful Soup
- Who is it for: Beautiful Soup is for developers and programmers who want to extract data from HTML and XML files, often for web scraping purposes.
- Why you should use it: Beautiful Soup simplifies the process of parsing HTML or XML documents and navigating through their structures. It's a Python library and is known for its simplicity and effectiveness.
- How to use it: Beautiful Soup is used in conjunction with Python. After installing the Beautiful Soup package, you can import it into your Python script and use its methods to parse and navigate HTML or XML documents.
4. Import.io
- Who is it for: Import.io is designed for businesses, marketers, and data analysts who need data from the web for tasks like competitive analysis, machine learning, and price monitoring.
- Why you should use it: Import.io not only extracts data but also cleans, prepares, and integrates it into your business systems. It handles all types of websites and offers real-time data retrieval.
- How to use it: You can use Import.io through its online platform. You specify the URL of the site you wish to extract data from, and Import.io will do the rest.
5. Mozenda
- Who is it for: Mozenda is designed for businesses of all sizes who need a powerful and flexible web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Mozenda offers both a desktop application and a cloud-based solution. It provides advanced data extraction features, and can handle complex and large-scale data extraction tasks.
- How to use it: You can use Mozenda through its desktop application or through its web app. Both offer a point-and-click interface to create your data extraction project.
6. Parsehub
- Who is it for: Parsehub is great for businesses, data scientists, and developers who need to extract complex data from websites without coding.
- Why you should use it: Parsehub has a robust desktop app that supports multi-level data extraction from sites with JavaScript, AJAX, cookies, sessions, and redirects. It also offers a free plan with basic features, making it an excellent option for beginners.
- How to use it: Parsehub uses a point-and-click interface. You select the data you want to scrape and configure how it should be structured. Parsehub then pulls the data and allows you to download it in various formats.
7. CrawlMonster
- Who is it for: CrawlMonster is suitable for SEO professionals, digital marketers, and web administrators who want to analyze their website for SEO optimization.
- Why you should use it: CrawlMonster provides a comprehensive SEO audit of your website, including checking your site's indexing, broken links, load speed, content quality, and more.
- How to use it: You simply enter your website URL into CrawlMonster, and it will generate a detailed SEO audit report for you.
8. ProWebScraper
- Who is it for: ProWebScraper is for businesses and individuals who need to extract structured data from websites without coding.
- Why you should use it: ProWebScraper is user-friendly, reliable, and efficient. It supports data extraction from dynamic and JavaScript-heavy websites and also offers data cleaning features.
- How to use it: ProWebScraper uses a point-and-click interface. You select the data you want to extract, and ProWebScraper will structure it for you.
9. Common Crawl
- Who is it for: Common Crawl is for data scientists, researchers, and developers who need large amounts of web data for their projects or analyses.
- Why you should use it: Common Crawl provides a massive dataset of web pages crawled from the internet, making it an excellent resource for large-scale data analysis. The data is freely accessible and can be used for a wide range of research purposes.
- How to use it: Common Crawl's data is stored on Amazon S3. You can access the data directly or use the Common Crawl API to retrieve the specific data you need.
10. Crawly
- Who is it for: Crawly is ideal for developers and businesses that require high-level web scraping capabilities.
- Why you should use it: Crawly is an open-source web scraping framework written in Elixir, providing a way to build scalable and maintainable web crawlers.
- How to use it: You can use Crawly by setting it up in your development environment and running your crawling scripts. Comprehensive documentation and community support are available to help with setup and troubleshooting.
11. Content Grabber
- Who is it for: Content Grabber is for businesses and data extraction professionals who need a powerful, yet easy-to-use web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Content Grabber is highly customizable, capable of handling enormous volumes of data, and allows for the creation of standalone web scraping agents which can be sold as a commercial product.
- How to use it: Content Grabber utilizes a point-and-click interface for defining what data to scrape. You can further refine your data extraction process using its scripting & debugging interface.
12. Diffbot
- Who is it for: Diffbot is suitable for developers, businesses, and data scientists who need to turn unstructured web data into structured data.
- Why you should use it: Diffbot uses machine learning to automatically recognize and extract data from web pages, providing high-quality and consistent data output.
- How to use it: Diffbot offers APIs for different types of data extraction. You can incorporate these APIs into your application to extract data.
13. Dexi.io
- Who is it for: Dexi.io is for businesses and individuals that need to automate data extraction from websites.
- Why you should use it: Dexi.io supports data extraction from complex and dynamic websites. It also offers data processing and integration capabilities, providing an all-in-one data extraction solution.
- How to use it: Dexi.io utilizes a browser-based interface. You design your data extraction robots using their point-and-click tool.
14. Grabbly
- Who is it for: Grabbly's AI-based scraping solution is designed for individuals, businesses, and professionals of all technical abilities who need to extract clean and complete data from any website.
- Why you should use it: Grabbly simplifies the data extraction process by offering a one-click tool that eliminates the need for extensive learning or manual selection of scraping elements. It handles complicated websites with pagination, scrolling, and other dynamic actions, making it a user-friendly option for everyone.
- How to use it: Getting started with Grabbly is easy. First, install the Grabbly Chrome extension. Once installed, select the website you want to scrape and set up your query. With the parameters set, simply click the "Grabb" button, and Grabbly takes care of the rest. It intelligently detects key data points on the page using Artificial Intelligence.
15. Easy Web Extract
- Who is it for: Easy Web Extract is designed for businesses and individuals who need a visual web scraping software.
- Why you should use it: Easy Web Extract provides an intuitive point-and-click interface for easy data extraction. It also supports working with dynamic websites and can handle complex scraping tasks.
- How to use it: You can use Easy Web Extract by designing your data extraction project using its visual interface. You then run the project to scrape your data.
16. FMiner
- Who is it for: FMiner is suitable for businesses and developers who need a visual tool for web scraping and web automation tasks.
- Why you should use it: FMiner provides a user-friendly, visual interface for designing your data extraction tasks. It supports working with forms, JavaScript, and AJAX-loaded content.
- How to use it: You can use FMiner by designing your data extraction project using its drag-and-drop interface. It allows you to visually select the data you want to scrape and structure it as per your needs.
17. Scrapy
- Who is it for: Scrapy is designed for developers and data scientists who need a powerful and flexible web scraping framework.
- Why you should use it: Scrapy is an open-source Python framework that provides all the tools needed to extract data from websites. It supports large-scale and complex data extraction tasks.
- How to use it: You can use Scrapy by installing it in your Python environment, and then creating and running a Scrapy project. Scrapy's comprehensive documentation provides guides and tutorials to help you.
18. Helium Scraper
- Who is it for: Helium Scraper is for businesses, marketers, and data analysts who need to extract structured data from websites.
- Why you should use it: Helium Scraper is easy to use, yet powerful. It allows you to scrape large amounts of data, navigate complex site structures, and schedule projects to run at specific times.
- How to use it: Helium Scraper operates with a point-and-click interface. You select the data you want to scrape, and Helium Scraper will do the rest.
19. Scrape.it
- Who is it for: Scrape.it is suitable for developers and businesses that need a custom web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Scrape.it provides customized scraping services tailored to your needs. They can handle a wide variety of websites and data extraction tasks.
- How to use it: You can use Scrape.it by reaching out to their team with your specific data needs. They will create a custom scraping solution for you.
20. ScraperWiki
- Who is it for: ScraperWiki is ideal for journalists, data scientists, and researchers who need to extract and analyze data from the web.
- Why you should use it: ScraperWiki not only provides web scraping capabilities but also offers data analysis and visualization tools. It also supports collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same dataset.
- How to use it: You can use ScraperWiki by creating an account on their website. From there, you can create your scraping scripts and run them directly in the browser.
21. Phantombuster
- Who is it for: Phantombuster is designed for businesses, marketers, and growth hackers who need to automate actions on web platforms.
- Why you should use it: Phantombuster provides a variety of automation tools, or "Phantoms", for different platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and more. These tools can be used to scrape data, automate actions, and increase productivity.
- How to use it: Phantombuster operates through a cloud-based interface. You choose the Phantom that suits your needs, configure it, and then run it either on-demand or on a schedule.
22. Web Robots
- Who is it for: Web Robots is for businesses, researchers, and developers who need a custom web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Web Robots provides custom web scraping services and data delivery. They handle the whole data extraction process, making it hassle-free for their clients.
- How to use it: You can use Web Robots by reaching out to them with your specific data needs. They will provide you with the scraped data in your preferred format.
23. Salestools.io
- Who is it for: Salestools.io is perfect for sales teams, marketers, and recruiters who need to extract data from social platforms and professional networks.
- Why you should use it: Salestools.io offers an excellent way to automate the process of finding and extracting relevant contact information, saving you a tremendous amount of time and effort.
- How to use it: Salestools.io operates through a cloud-based platform where you select the platform to scrape from, and then it does the rest, extracting the relevant data you need.
24. ScrapeHero
- Who is it for: ScrapeHero is suitable for businesses, data analysts, and researchers in need of custom web scraping solutions.
- Why you should use it: ScrapeHero offers a fully managed service that can handle complex and large-scale web scraping tasks, saving you the trouble of maintaining the scraping setup yourself.
- How to use it: With ScrapeHero, you provide your specific requirements, and they will take care of the rest, delivering the data in your desired format.
25. UniPath
- Who is it for: UniPath is ideal for developers and businesses requiring a powerful and robust web scraping tool.
- Why you should use it: UniPath is an all-in-one tool that combines web browsing, data extraction, and data manipulation in a single platform. It allows for advanced data extraction and transformation operations.
- How to use it: You use UniPath by creating an account on their platform, then you can design and run your web scraping tasks directly in your browser.
26. Web Content Extractor
- Who is it for: Web Content Extractor is designed for businesses and individuals who need a straightforward, user-friendly web scraping software.
- Why you should use it: Web Content Extractor offers a point-and-click interface, which makes it easy to define what data you want to extract. It can handle both static and dynamic websites and can extract data from several pages simultaneously.
- How to use it: You can use Web Content Extractor by selecting the data you want to scrape using its visual interface. Then, the software will scrape the data and export it into a format of your choice.
27. WebHarvy
- Who is it for: WebHarvy is for businesses, researchers, and individuals who require a simple and intuitive web scraping tool.
- Why you should use it: WebHarvy is a visual web scraper that does not require any coding skills. It can automatically navigate through links and pages to scrape data and can handle websites using JavaScript, AJAX, cookies, etc.
- How to use it: With WebHarvy, you can use its point-and-click interface to select the data you want to scrape. The tool will then extract the data and save it in the format you specify.
28. Web Scraper.io
- Who is it for: Web Scraper.io is great for developers, data analysts, and businesses who need a simple and effective tool for web data extraction.
- Why you should use it: Web Scraper.io provides a Chrome extension for simple data extraction tasks and a cloud service for large-scale and automated scraping tasks.
- How to use it: For simple tasks, you can use the Web Scraper.io Chrome extension to select and extract data. For larger tasks, you can use the cloud service to configure and run your scrapers.
29. Web Sundew
- Who is it for: Web Sundew is for businesses and developers that need to extract data from websites quickly and efficiently.
- Why you should use it: Web Sundew offers a user-friendly, flexible solution for extracting data from all kinds of websites. It can handle both small-scale and large-scale data extraction tasks.
- How to use it: You can use Web Sundew by creating a data extraction project using its point-and-click interface. You select the data you want to scrape, and Web Sundew will structure it for you.
30. Winautomation
- Who is it for: Winautomation is for businesses that need a comprehensive automation solution, including web scraping.
- Why you should use it: Winautomation offers a suite of automation tools that not only scrape data but also automate web and desktop applications, thus increasing productivity.
- How to use it: With Winautomation, you can create your automation tasks using their visual interface. These tasks can be anything from simple data extraction to complex workflows.
31. ScrapingBee
- Who is it for: ScrapingBee is perfect for developers and businesses that need to extract data from websites that are difficult to scrape.
- Why you should use it: ScrapingBee handles the proxies, browsers, and CAPTCHAs, allowing you to focus on extracting the data you need. It also provides a simple API that is easy to integrate into your application.
- How to use it: ScrapingBee operates through an API. You send your requests to the ScrapingBee API, and it returns the data you need in the format you specified.
32. ScreamingFrog
- Who is it for: ScreamingFrog is ideal for SEO professionals and website administrators who need to crawl websites and analyze their SEO performance.
- Why you should use it: ScreamingFrog offers comprehensive SEO auditing, enabling you to identify issues and opportunities for improving your website's SEO.
- How to use it: ScreamingFrog is a desktop application. You enter the URL of the website you want to analyze, and it will crawl the website and generate a detailed SEO report.
33. Octoparse
- Who is it for: Octoparse is for businesses, researchers, and individuals who need to extract structured data from websites without coding.
- Why you should use it: Octoparse offers a user-friendly, point-and-click interface for extracting data. It can handle both simple and complex data extraction tasks, including scraping data from dynamic websites.
- How to use it: With Octoparse, you select the data you want to scrape using its visual interface. The tool then extracts the data and exports it into a format of your choice.
34. ScrapeBox
- Who is it for: ScrapeBox is for digital marketers, SEO professionals, and businesses who need a multifunctional tool for SEO and web scraping.
- Why you should use it: ScrapeBox provides a variety of features including keyword research, URL harvesting, and bulk URL scraping, making it a comprehensive tool for SEO and data extraction.
- How to use it: You can use ScrapeBox by running it on your desktop and configuring the specific tasks you need it to perform.
35. Apify
- Who is it for: Apify is designed for businesses, developers, and data scientists who need a flexible and scalable web scraping and automation solution.
- Why you should use it: Apify provides a wide range of automation tools, including web scraping, data extraction, and workflow automation. It offers both pre-built solutions and the ability to create custom scripts.
- How to use it: With Apify, you can create an account, then select a pre-built solution or use their SDK to create your custom automation tasks.
36. ScrapeAPI
- Who is it for: ScrapeAPI is perfect for developers and businesses that need an easy-to-use API for web scraping.
- Why you should use it: ScrapeAPI takes care of the difficulties of web scraping, such as handling JavaScript rendering and rotating proxies, so you can focus on getting the data you need.
- How to use it: You use ScrapeAPI by sending HTTP requests to their API endpoints. The service then returns the HTML of the page, which you can process to extract the data you need.
37. Oxylabs
- Who is it for: Oxylabs is designed for businesses and developers that need to scrape large amounts of data from the web.
- Why you should use it: Oxylabs provides residential and data center proxies that help you scrape data without being blocked. They also offer Real-Time Crawler, a powerful tool for extracting data from search engines and e-commerce websites.
- How to use it: You use Oxylabs by signing up for their services, then you can use their proxies or Real-Time Crawler to scrape data.
38. Scrape-It.Cloud
- Who is it for: Scrape-It.Cloud is for businesses and developers who need a powerful and scalable cloud-based web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Scrape-It.Cloud handles the complex parts of web scraping such as IP rotation, browser fingerprinting, and CAPTCHAs, allowing you to focus on the data you need.
- How to use it: You can use Scrape-It.Cloud by setting up your scraping tasks in their platform, then the service will execute these tasks and return the data you need.
39. Nanonets
- Who is it for: Nanonets is for businesses, developers, and data scientists who need to extract structured data from documents and images.
- Why you should use it: Nanonets uses machine learning to understand and extract data from various types of documents and images, including invoices, receipts, and ID cards.
- How to use it: With Nanonets, you can upload your documents or images, and their API will return the extracted data in a structured format.
40. Data Miner
- Who is it for: Data Miner is for businesses, researchers, and individuals who need an easy-to-use tool for data extraction.
- Why you should use it: Data Miner is a browser extension that allows you to scrape data from web pages and export it into an Excel or Google Sheets document.
- How to use it: You can use Data Miner by installing the extension in your browser, then you can select and extract data directly from web pages.
41. Scrapestorm
- Who is it for: Scrapestorm is suitable for businesses, researchers, and data analysts who need an intelligent and automated web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Scrapestorm offers an AI-powered visual interface that automatically identifies and extracts data, making it a user-friendly tool for those without coding experience.
- How to use it: You can use Scrapestorm by entering the URL of the website you want to scrape into the tool, then select the data you want to extract. The tool will then process the data for you.
42. scrape.do
- Who is it for: scrape.do is perfect for developers and businesses that require reliable and robust web scraping APIs.
- Why you should use it: scrape.do handles proxy management, CAPTCHAs, and headless browsers, allowing you to focus on extracting the data you need. It provides a simple API that is easy to integrate into your application.
- How to use it: You use scrape.do by sending your requests to the scrape.do API, and it returns the rendered HTML of the page for you to parse and extract the data you need.
43. Zyte
- Who is it for: Zyte is suitable for businesses and developers that require a comprehensive web scraping solution.
- Why you should use it: Zyte offers a full suite of tools for web scraping, including a cloud-based platform for running your scrapers, a proxy management service, and a visual tool for building scrapers.
- How to use it: You use Zyte by creating an account on their platform, then you can either use their visual tool to build your scraper or develop your scraper using their SDK and run it on their cloud-based platform.
44. Infatica
- Who is it for: Infatica is perfect for developers and businesses who need to extract data from websites and APIs quickly and efficiently.
- Why you should use it: Infatica offers an intuitive interface for defining what data you want to extract. It also provides a suite of tools for transforming and cleaning the extracted data.
- How to use it: You can use Infatica by signing up on their platform and defining the data extraction tasks. The platform will then execute these tasks and provide you with the extracted data.
45. Grabzit
- Who is it for: Grabzit is designed for businesses, developers, and individuals who need to capture screenshots, convert HTML to PDF, or scrape web data.
- Why you should use it: Grabzit offers a unique range of services, including web scraping, HTML to PDF conversion, and website screenshot capture. It provides APIs for all these services, making it a flexible tool for various use cases.
- How to use it: You can use Grabzit by signing up for their service and using their APIs to execute your tasks. You can also use their online tools for simple tasks.
The Benefits of Web Scraping Tools for Businesses
Web scraping tools are becoming increasingly crucial for businesses in the digital age. These tools offer a multitude of benefits, most notably the ability to gather large amounts of data from various websites quickly and efficiently. This data can be leveraged in numerous ways, including market research, competitor analysis, lead generation, and improving SEO strategies. Through web scraping, businesses can get insights into customer preferences, upcoming market trends, and competitor strategies, helping them stay ahead in the fiercely competitive business landscape. Moreover, many web scraping tools provide clean, organized, and structured data, ready for use in analytics and decision-making processes.
By employing these tools, businesses can automate the data extraction process, saving countless hours of manual work and allowing the focus to shift towards analyzing and utilizing this valuable data. Furthermore, as these tools take care of intricate details like handling JavaScript rendering, CAPTCHAs, and rotating proxies, businesses can avoid the technical complexities of web scraping and concentrate on their core operations.
List of free web scraping tools (2023)
In the vast ocean of the internet, data is the beacon that guides businesses towards success. As such, web scraping tools are the lighthouses that illuminate this data, making it accessible and usable. The 45 free web scraping tools discussed in this article offer a diverse range of capabilities, catering to various business needs and technical skill levels. Whether you're a small business owner, a digital marketer, a developer, or a data scientist, there's a tool out there for you.