Sometimes you need to extract data from different websites as quickly as possible. So how would you do this without going to each website manually? Is there any services available online which simply get you the data you want in the structured form.
The answer is yes there are tons of python web scraping services providers in the market. This article sheds light on some of the well-known web scraping providers which are actually masters in data export services.
What is web scraping?
In a simple word, Web scraping is the act of exporting the unstructured data from different websites and storing it in the structured one in the spreadsheet or database. These web scraping can be done in either manual way or automatic way.
However manual processes like write python code for extracting data from different websites can be hectic and lengthy for the developers. We will talk about the automatic method accessing websites data API or data extraction tools used to export a large amount of the data.
Manual method for the web scraping follows several steps as,
Visual Inspection: Find out what to extract
HTTP request to the web page
Parse the HTTP response
Utilize the relevant data
Now find out how easy to extract web data using the cloud-based web scraping providers. The steps are,
Enter the website url, you’d like to extract data from
Click on the target data to extract
Run the extraction and get data
Why web scraping using the cloud platform?
Web scraping cloud platforms are making web data extraction easy and accessible for everyone. One can execute multiple concurrent extractions 24/7 with faster scraping speed. One can schedule scraping frequency to extract data at any time at any frequency. These platforms actually minimize the chances of being blocked or traced by providing service as anonymous IP rotation. Anyone who knows how to browse can extract data from dynamic websites and no need for programming knowledge.
Cloud-based web scraping providers
1.) Webscraper.io
Webscraper.io is an online platform that makes web data extraction easy and accessible to everyone. One can download webscraper.io chrome extension to deploy scrapers built and tested. It also allows users to easily trace their sitemaps and shows where data should be traveled and extracted. One of the major advantages of using webscraper.io is Data can be directly written in CouchDB and CSV files can be downloaded.
Data export
CSV or CouchDB
Pricing
Browser Extension for local use only is completely Free which includes dynamic website scraping, Javascript execution, CSV support, and community support.
Other charges based on the number of the pages scraped and each page will deduct one cloud credit from your balance which will be called cloud credits.
5000 cloud credits – $50/Month
20000 cloud credits – $100/Month
50000 cloud credits – $200/Month
Unlimited cloud credits – $300/Month
Pros
One can learn easily from the tutorial videos and learn easily.
Javascript Heavy websites supported
Browser extension is open source, so no worries about if vendors shutdown their services.
Cons
Large-scale scrapers are not suggested, especially when you need to scrape thousands of pages, as it’s based on chrome extension.
Scrapy Cloud is a cloud based service, where you can easily build and deploy scrapers using the scrapy framework. Your spiders can run on the cloud and scale on demand, from thousands to billions of pages. Your spiders can run, monitor and control your crawler using an easy to use web interface.
Data export
Scrapy Cloud APIs
ItemPipelines can be used to write to any database or location.
File Formats – JSON,CSV,XML
Pricing
Scrapy Cloud provides a flexible pricing approach which only pays for as much capacity as you need.
Provides two packages as Starter and Professional.
Starter Package is Free for everyone, which is ideal for small projects.
Starter Package has some limitations as one can use 1 hour crawl time, 1 concurrent crawl, 7 day data retention.
Professional package is best for companies and developers which have unlimited access for crawl runtime and concurrent crawls, 120 days of data retention, personalized support.
Professional package will cost $9 per Unit per Month.
Pros
The most popular cloud based web scraping framework- One can deploy a Scraper built using Scrapy using cloud service.
Unlimited pages per crawl
On demand scaling
It provides easy integration for Crawlera, Splash, Spidermoon, etc.
QA tools for built in spider monitoring, logging and data.
Highly customizable as it is Scrapy
For large scale scraping it is useful.
All sorts of logs are available with a decent user interface.
Octoparse offers a cloud based platform for all users who want to perform web scraping using the octoparse desktop application. Non coders also can scrape data and turn their web pages into structured spreadsheets using this platform.
Data export
Databases: MYSQL, SQL Server, ORACLE
File Formats: HTML, XLS, CSV and JSON
Octoparse API
Pricing
Octopars provides a flexible pricing approach with plan range from Free, Standard Plan, Professional Plan, Enterprise Plan, Data services plan and standard plan.
Free plan offers unlimited pages per crawl, 10000 records per export, 2 concurrent local runs, 10 crawlers and many more.
$75/Month when billed annually, and $89 when billed monthly, Most popular plan is a standard plan for small teams, which offers 100 crawlers, Scheduled Extractions, Average speed extractions, Auto API rotation API access, Email support and many more.
$209/Month when billed annually, and $249 when billed monthly, Professional plan for middle sized businesses. This plan provides 250 crawlers, 20 concurrent cloud extractions, Task Templates, Advanced API, Free task review, 1 on 1 training, and many more.
Pros
No Programming is required
For heavy websites, it supports Javascript.
If you don’t need much scalability, it supports 10 scapers in your local PC.
Supports Point and click tool
Automatic IP rotation in every task
Cons
Vendor Lock in is actually disadvantageous so users can’t export scapers to any other platform.
As per Octoparse, API functionality is limited.
Octoparse is not supported in MAC/Linux, only windows based app.
Parsehub is a free and powerful web scraping tool. It lets users build web scrapers to crawl multiple websites with the support of AJAX, cookies, Javascript, sessions using desktop applications and deploy them to their cloud service.
Data export
Integrates with Google Sheets and Tableau
Parsehub API
File Formats – CSV, JSON
Pricing
The pricing for Parsehub is a little bit confusing as it is based on speed limit, number of pages crawled, and total number of scrapers you have.
It comes with a plan such as Free, Standard, Professional and Enterprise.
Free plan, you can get 200 pages of data in only 40 minutes.
Standard Plan, You can buy it $149 per month and it provides 200 pages of data in only 10 minutes.
Professional Plan, You can buy it $449 per month and it provides 200 pages of data in only 2 minutes.
Enterprise Plan, You need to contact Parsehub to get a quotation.
Pros
Supports Javascript for heavy websites
No Programming Skills are required
Desktop application works in Windows, Mac, and Linux
Includes Automatic IP Rotation
Cons
Vendor Lock in is actually disadvantageous so users can’t export scapers to any other platform.
Dexi.io is a leading enterprise-level web scraping service provider. It lets you host, develop and schedule scrapers like other service providers. Users can access Dexi.io from its web-based application.
Data export
Add ons can be used to write to most databases
Many cloud services can be integrated
Dexi API
File Formats – CSV, JSON, XML
Pricing
Dexi provides a simple pricing structure. Users can pay for using a number of concurrent jobs and access to external integrations.
Standard Plan, $119/month for 1 concurrent Job.
Professional Plan $399/month for 3 concurrent jobs.
Corporate Plan, $699/month for 6 concurrent jobs.
Enterprise Plan, contact Dexi.io to get a quotation.
Pros
Provides many integrations including ETL, Visualization tools, storage etc.
Web based application and click utility
Cons
Vendor Lock in is actually disadvantageous so users can only run scrapers in their cloud platform.
Diffbot provides awesome services that help configuration of crawlers that can go in the website index and process using its automatic APIs from different web content. It also allows a custom Extractor option that is also available if users do not want to use automatic APIs.
Data export
Integrates with many cloud services through Zapier
Cannot write directly to databases
File Formats – CSV, JSON, Excel
Diffbot APIs
Pricing
Price is based on number of API calls, data retention, and speed of API calls.
Free Trial, It allows user up to 10000 monthly credits
Startup Plan, $299/month, It allows user up to 250000 monthly credits
Startup Plan, $899/month, It allows user up to 1000000 monthly credits
Custom Pricing, you need to contact Diffbot to get a quotation.
Pros
Do not need much setup as it provides Automatic APIs
The custom API creation is also easy to set up and use
For First two plans, No IP rotation
Cons
Vendor Lock in is actually disadvantageous so users can only run scrapers in their cloud platform.
In this blog we learned about different web scraping services providers, services, pricing models, etc. So what is a web crawler? A web crawler or spider is a type of automated machine that’s operated by search engines to index the website’s data. This website’s data is typically organized in an index or a database.
Follow this link, if you are looking for Python application development services.
We use Cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by
remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept??, you consent to the use of ALL the
cookies.
Hire Flutter Developers to Migrate Flutter App to Web | Flutter for Web
How Much does it cost to develop a Cryptocurrency App like Coinbase?
Budget 2022 declared Cryptocurrency as a taxable source of income in India
What is NFTs? How do NFTs Works & why are they Valuable?
Most Valuable Cryptocurrencies are Available? What are they Worth?
