Top 21 Web Crawling Tools for Extracting Data

Web crawling is the process of visiting and indexing web pages. It is a common method for diverse purposes. Although manual web crawling is feasible, the substantial data volume makes it time-consuming. This is why users use different tools to avoid the tedious process.

Discover the top 21 web crawling tools for efficient data extraction. Keep reading to learn more about the tools and their unique features that can help with your crawling projects.

Web Crawling: What It Is and How It Works

Web crawling is an automated method using a script or program. It involves extracting structured data from web pages using internet bots. The bots are programs or scripts called spiders, spider bots, web crawlers, or site crawlers. 

The process works by getting the HTML code and the data from a site's database. First, the bots will download the robot.txt file from the target website. This file includes sitemaps listing all the URLs that search engines can crawl.

As the bots crawl a page, they discover new pages through its hyperlinks. The bots include the discovered URLs in the crawling queue. This way, every web page crawler can index every page interlinked to others.

Check out this video to get a better grasp of how web crawling works: 

Best Web Crawling Tools To Extract Data

Web crawling can be time-consuming and complex, especially as a manual process. Many issues and problems can occur in this activity, like the following:

• IP bans or blocks
• Inaccurate source parsing
• Incompatible data generation
• Poor data cleaning

Besides these issues, most targets have so much data that manual crawling will take a long time. That is why most web crawling projects usually rely on tools to make the process easier, simpler, and faster.

Picking the best web crawlers is crucial to the accuracy and effectiveness of your task. Here are some of the top data scraping tools to ensure efficient and successful crawling:

1. Nimble: Easy-to-use and Efficient Crawling Tool

Key Features:

• Lightweight browser for data collection
• Efficient and versatile APIs for beginners
• Easy and simple integration with other apps
• Reliable security measures
• Premium proxy infrastructure for seamless data access

Nimble (also known as  Nimbleway) is an excellent data-gathering, collection, and analysis tool. It has a dedicated API, browser, and IP that make data gathering quick, accurate, and efficient.

This tool uses a reliable IP infrastructure and a proxy program for data-gathering tasks. It also boasts a 99.99% uptime, state and urban location targeting, and more features. Nimble is the first company to use AI's power to enhance results and set new standards for the industry.

2. Bright Data: For Users with Web Development Experience

Key Features:

• Ready-to-use crawling script templates
• Interactive preview for better monitoring
• Integrated debugging tools
• JavaScript browser scripting
• Pre-made crawling functions
• Seamless parser-making
• Infrastructure with auto-scaling capability
• Integrated proxy service for unblocking
• Seamless API integration

The Bright Data Web Scraper IDE has features that maximize your crawling efficiency. It is one of the top choices for developers for large-scale crawling.

This tool's main selling point is the included ready-to-use crawling scripts. It helps users reduce work time and scale projects with no worries.

Bright Data’s flexibility works well with experienced developers. Beginners may take some time to understand the tool, but there are ready-to-use templates that they can also work with.

3. Parsehub: Free Tool for Light Tasks

Key Features:

• Cloud-based data collection and storage
• IP rotation for efficient crawling
• Web crawling activity scheduling
• HTML and text cleaning
• API for seamless integration to any apps or software
• Data format in JSON and Excel

Parsehub is a web scraper and crawler with a free plan. Its crawling or scraping process takes longer on a free plan, making Parsehub more suitable for light projects. The paid plans have advanced features that are easy to understand, even for beginners.

4. Helium Scraper: Best for One-Time Projects

Key Features:

• Quick data collection through off-screen web browsers
• Simple workflow with its clean and minimalist interface
• Provides scalability with increasing parallel browsers
• Collect complex data using JavaScript
• One-time payment
• Compatible with Windows

Helium Scraper is an excellent tool for users that need regular web crawling. The main selling point of this tool is its one-time payment, meaning you only pay once and get its benefits for life. It is ideal for startups or users who constantly handle data crawling tasks.

5. 80legs: Best for Users Who Need Specific Data

Key Features:

• Products for fast and custom data gathering
• Quick data fetching
• Fast cloud-based platform for storing crawled data
• Simple and easy-to-use tools for crawling
• Offers API for creating crawlers, managing data, and more
• JavaScript-based app for customization
• Includes IP servers for efficient crawling

80legs is an efficient web crawling tool for users who need specific data from target sites or the web. This tool lets you set the data that you need through customized requirements.

Moreover, it supports gathering enormous amounts of data with instant extraction and downloading. The tool's selling point is its free plan, wherein users can crawl one target at a time. It offers unlimited use and can get up to 10,000 URLs for every crawl.

6. Scrapingbee: For Crawling Projects with Headless Browsers

Key Features:

• JavaScript rendering for efficient and customized data crawling
• Uses rotating proxies to bypass restrictions and avoid IP blocks
• Efficient scraping for tasks like price monitoring, real estate, reviews, and more
• SERP scraping for various purposes
• Growth hacking for lead generation, contact information, or social media

Scraping Bee offers a web scraping API that you can use to deal with headless browser scraping. It also provides proxy rotation for higher success rates. 

With its headless browsing feature, you can render a web page like an actual browser. This lets you deal with thousands of headless cases using Chrome

7. Zyte: Best for Beginners with Zero Programming Experience

Key Features:

• Compatible with Python, Scrapy, Node.js, PHP, and cURL
• Automated proxy rotations and retries
• Smart banning detection
• Geolocation accessibility through proxies
• Built-in scriptable browser for customization
• Cookie jar feature for better efficiency and saving settings
• Screenshot features for taking screenshots of target pages

Zyte, formerly known as Scrapinghub, is a cloud-based tool for web crawling valuable data. It is an open-source tool ideal for users who are unfamiliar with programming.

It uses Crawlera for crawling, which is a proxy rotator used to access geo-restricted and bot-secured targets. This feature lets users crawl targets using several IPs without proxy management.

With Zyte, you can convert full web pages into an organized data set. Moreover, the company has a team of experts to help you manage your projects in case of problems.

8. Octoparse: For Non-Coders Who Must Organize Crawled Data

Key Features:

• Visual workflow design
• Web automation for faster crawling
• Spreadsheet automation for data gathering
• A failsafe method suitable even for non-coders
• Capture and manage screenshots
• Task scheduling for organizing crawling activities

Octoparse is a website crawler that is ideal for users who need to collect and organize data in spreadsheets. The software offers a user-friendly interface that suits even non-coders.

The tool boasts an AI web scraping assistant and point-and-click software for beginners. It lets users crawl sites and organize data into sheets. Moreover, it can automate the process for faster and more efficient results.

9. Visual Web Scraper: Web Crawler in Browsers

Key Features:

• A browser extension for extracting data from specific web pages
• Mark-and-click process for easy data gathering
• Intuitive with its element selection and data gathering algorithm
• Tested with sites like TripAdvisor, YellowPages, Amazon, and Twitter

Visual Web Scraper is a Chrome extension web scraping tool. If you only need specific data from a page, this is the right tool for you. However, it is not an efficient web crawler for most projects because it will only crawl part of the site. 

Users can enjoy an intuitive tool for light data scraping with Visual Web Scraper. It works by extracting data that users mark. Once the crawling is done, you can even export the data into CSV or JSON formats.

10. UiPath: Best for Users Who Want Automated Crawling

Key Features:

• Robots for remote and on-demand crawling execution
• 24x7 available customer support from UiPath experts
• Uptime guarantee
• Supports several clients hosted in any of the covered regions

UiPath is a web crawling tool that helps users extract data as if it were from an actual browser. It offers more features than simple scraping methods. For instance, it can automate logging in to sites and extract data from several web pages. This tool also lets you filter and transform the collected data into the preferred format.

11. Webz.io: Best for Crawled Data Conversion and Filtering

Key Features:

• Offers high-res data structuring
• Provides ready-made repositories
• Creates machine-readable data using its grab-and-go API

Webz.io is more than a simple web data crawling tool. With this software, you can structure crawled data in JSON or XML formats. Its main selling point is its various packages that suit every need or preference. You can get a particular crawling API and extra data structuring solutions.

12. HTTrack: Best for Users Who Need Offline Viewing

Key Features:

• A free and open-source tool
• Supports basic JavaScript, Applets, or Flash

HTTrack is a free offline browser tool that works as a website crawler. This tool lets users download websites to a local computer. This way, you can view every page of that website offline as if you're browsing online.

13. OutWit Hub: Best for Getting Structured Content

Key Features:

• A custom scraper for efficient and accessible web scraping
• Ad Hoc Tool Development for specific power scraper
• Extraction Services for users who want to pay for data extraction

OutWit Hub is an excellent web crawling tool with built-in features for every user. This tool offers scraping functions and data structure identification.

It allows users to crawl and scrape data even with no coding experience. It has a free version for simple data-gathering and enterprise plans for power users.

14. DataStreamer: Best for Crawling Unstructured Data

Key Features:

• Offers a catalog of natively integrated data sources
• Automates time-consuming processes for quicker data extraction and structuring
• Provides a pool of data sources for high-quality data
• Works with external data sources and organizes them into workable structures

DataStreamer is an excellent tool for users dealing with unstructured and semi-structured data. This tool can automate data crawling, extraction, and transformation.

With a simple API tool, users can crawl and extract web pages' data and make them usable. It's an easy tool that will work for beginners with little to no coding experience.

15. Scraper API: Offers Complete Web Crawling Features

Key Features:

• JavaScript-rendering for simpler data structuring
• IP geo-targeting for avoiding geo-restrictions
• Residential Proxies for avoiding IP Bans
• JSON auto parsing for structured data exports

Scraper API offers complete web crawling and scraping features. With this tool, you can crawl and get HTML from web pages. 

Moreover, it supports proxy, browser, and CAPTCHA management. It even comes with an API for more efficient data crawling and scraping.

16. WebHarvy: Known for its Crawling and Structuring Features

Key Features:

• Point-and-click interface for easy web scraping
• Intelligent pattern detection for efficient data structuring
• Supports Excel, XML, CSV, JSON, and TSV formats for data exporting
• Pagination feature for data with several pages
• Keyword-based data scraping
• Use of proxy or VPN for secure searches
• Compatible with JavaScript for running personal code
• Automates browser tasks

WebHarvy is an interactive web crawling tool that can work with any content from any site. It can scrape texts, HTML, URLs, emails, and images. You can even save the data in several formats.

This tool allows users to enjoy data crawling functions with a point-and-click interface. It also offers complete customization for experienced users.

17. Cyotek Webcopy: Allows Full Website Crawls and Downloads

Key Features:

• Automated link mapping for offline usage
• Advanced settings for customizing download options
• HMTL mapping and downloading

Cyotek WebCopy is a free and open-source tool for downloading a website's content on your device. It is an effective way to view the website's content offline. This crawler allows users to scour an entire website and download specific data. 

One downside of Cyotek WebCopy is its lack of JavaScript support. It can’t replicate dynamic content or any JavaScript-powered element.

18. Dexi.io: Provides Advanced Solutions 

Key Features:

• Automated data intelligence environment for data structuring
• Quick and accurate insights from data intelligence
• Advanced data scraping and processing technology solutions
• Image and IP address extraction
• Data processing, monitoring, and extraction
• Web crawling, data mining, and content aggregation
• Research management
• Sales and data intelligence

Dexi.io is an excellent tool for professional and large-scale crawling projects. It is an efficient web extraction tool for users who work with data from complex targets. 

The tool provides its users with an automated data intelligence environment. This allows them to get quick and accurate insights from crawled targets. It also offers advanced extraction and processing solutions to get the best results.

19. Puppeteer: Best for Crawl Testings

Key Features:

• High-level API for crawling and other processes
• DevTools Protocol for controlling Chrome or Chromium
• Allows Headless or Headful mode for Chrome or Chromium

Puppeteer is a Node.js library you can use to crawl a website. It offers an API that controls browsers using the DevTools Protocol. 

With this tool, you can do several processes related to data crawling. For instance, you can generate screenshots and PDFs of crawled pages. You can also create a testing environment using JavaScript and browser features.

20. Import.io : Offers Premium Features and Functions

Key Features:

• Point-and-click and beginner-friendly UI
• AI-powered API for efficient extraction of complex sites
• Intuitive web platform complete with web crawling features
• Service team for data access
• Managed data gathering for scaled projects

Import.io is a simple yet efficient scraping tool for beginners and experts. This tool provides features that allow even non-coders to scrape and crawl targets. It also offers premium functions for experts who want customized data extraction.

The tool uses intuitive apps, efficient APIs, and expert services. Thus, it can deliver your preferred data without exerting effort.

21. ScrapeHero Cloud: For Users Who Want Ready-Made Crawlers

Key Features:

• A pool of crawler APIs for every possible use case
• Offers custom crawlers and APIs based on user preference

ScrapeHero Cloud is one of the best tools for web crawling needs. With this tool, users can access a ton of ready-to-use web crawler APIs. 

This lets users download and export data into spreadsheets with only a few clicks. For instance, you can use this tool to scrape Google’s SERP for SEO purposes.

The table below shows a quick sum-up of all the tools discussed above. It presents the starting plan’s prices and user experience. It also highlights if they rotate IPs and crawl or scrape JavaScript websites.

Factors To Consider When Choosing a Web Crawling Tool

Choosing the right web crawling tool for data gathering involves several factors. Since every project has specific preferences, you must consider the following before choosing:

Pricing

Pricing is a crucial aspect of choosing the right web crawling tool. The best tools should offer transparent pricing in their plans. This includes a detailed view of what you get from their asking price.

While it's easy to pick low-priced tools, they usually have limited features. Moreover, you have to consider your budget for web crawling tools. This will help you narrow down the options.

User Experience

A web crawling tool will only be efficient and worth using if you know how to use it. Thus, user experience should also be considered. 

If you're unfamiliar with coding, you should get a web crawler with accessible functions. A beginner-friendly tool can allow you to scrape data without using any programming language. 

However, if you’re an expert scraper, you can do well with a tool that provides premium functions for more efficiency. It will also help you customize your settings for more precise and better data collection.

Scalability

Some projects need scaling because they need a higher data volume to analyze. While most tools work well for light tasks, it may become an issue if you scale in the future.

It is easy to find tools for small and large projects. However, as you switch web crawlers that fit the scale of your projects, you might come across a site crawler that works well for both. Always keep an eye out for such a tool. 

Data Accuracy and Quality

A web crawling tool will only be valid if it can provide accurate and high-quality data. If it's not, then it's not worth choosing.

Consider the way a web crawling tool cleans and structures the data. Change your web crawling software if you still need to clean and organize the data after crawling.

Customer Support

While most of the tools are self-served, customer support is still crucial. Your preferred web crawling software must have a responsive, helpful, and knowledgeable staff. This way, you have someone reliable to help you when encountering issues with the tool. 

Conclusion

Web crawling tools are valuable tools for data-gathering tasks and projects. They offer functions that work well for gathering and organizing data.

Each of the mentioned tools serves the specific preferences of every data-gathering project. Thus, it's up to you to consider the functions you need to find the best web crawling tool to use.