Web crawler – Web crawling (also known as web scraping) is a process in which a software or automated script browses the World Wide Web in a systematic, automated manner with the goal of retrieving fresh or updated data from any website and storing it for later use. Web crawler solutions have been highly popular in recent years because they have streamlined and automated the entire crawling process, making data crawling simple and accessible to everybody. We’ll take a look at the top 20 most popular web crawlers in this article.
1. Cyotek WebCopy
WebCopy is a free website crawler that lets you copy parts or all of a website to your hard drive for offline viewing.
It will scan the given website before downloading the website’s content to your hard disc, and it will auto-remap the links to the site’s resources, such as photos and other web pages, to match its local route, excluding a piece of the website. There are also additional choices, such as downloading a URL to include in the copy but without crawling it.
In addition to the rules and forms listed above, you may also select domain aliases, user agent strings, default documents, and other options to customise how your website is crawled.
WebCopy, on the other hand, lacks a virtual DOM and no JavaScript parsing. If a website relies heavily on JavaScript to function, WebCopy is unlikely to be able to make a true copy if it is unable to locate the entire page since JavaScript is used to dynamically build links.
2. HTTrack
HTTrack, a free website crawler, has functions that are perfectly suited for downloading a full website from the Internet to your PC. Versions for Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, and other Unix systems are available. It can replicate a single site or multiple sites at once (with shared links). Under “Set options,” you can specify the number of connections to open simultaneously while downloading web pages. You can download the full directories’ photographs, files, and HTML code, as well as refresh the current mirrored website and continue halted downloads.
In addition, HTTTrack has proxy support for increased speed, as well as optional authentication.
HTTrack is a command-line software or a shell that can be used for personal (capture) or professional (on-line web mirror) purposes. With that in mind, persons with advanced programming skills should prefer and use HTTrack more.
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3. Octoparse
Octoparse is a free and powerful website crawler that allows you to extract nearly any type of data from a website. With Octoparse’s wide functions and capabilities, you can shred a website. Non-programmers can easily learn Octoparse by using one of two learning modes: Wizard Mode or Advanced Mode. After installing the software, you may use its point-and-click UI to take all of the text off the page, allowing you to extract practically all of the material and save it in an organised format like as EXCEL, TXT, HTML, or your databases.
It has also added Scheduled Cloud Extraction, which allows you to refresh the website and acquire the most up-to-date information.
You can also use the built-in Regex tool to extract numerous problematic websites with complex data block layouts, and the XPath configuration tool to accurately pinpoint web items. You won’t be plagued by IP blocking any longer, thanks to Octoparse’s IP Proxy Servers, which automate IP removal while avoiding detection by hostile websites.
To summarise, Octoparse should be able to meet the majority of users’ crawling demands, both basic and advanced, without requiring any coding knowledge.
4. Getleft
Getleft is a free and simple website grabber that allows you to rip a website. Its simple UI and various choices allow it to download a full website. After launching Getleft, you can enter a URL and select which files to download before starting to download the website. While it’s running, it modifies the original pages and converts all links to relative links for local browsing. It also has multilingual support, with 14 languages now supported by Getleft. However, it only supports a restricted set of Ftp protocols; it will download files but not in a recursive manner. Overall, Getleft should be able to meet users’ fundamental crawling requirements without requiring more advanced tactical skills.
5. Scraper
The scraper is a Chrome addon with limited data extraction capabilities, but it’s useful for web research and data export to Google Spreadsheets. This tool is designed for both novices and experts who can use OAuth to copy data to the clipboard or store it in spreadsheets. The scraper is a free web crawler that runs in your browser and automatically generates smaller XPaths for crawling URLs. It may not provide all-inclusive crawling services, but it also eliminates the need for beginners to deal with complex configurations.
6. OutWit Hub
OutWit Hub is a Firefox add-on that simplifies web searches by providing hundreds of data extraction tools. This web crawler programme can search through pages and save the information it finds in a useful format.
OutWit Hub provides a single interface for scraping small or large volumes of data depending on your need. OutWit Hub allows you to scrape any web page directly from the browser, as well as construct automated agents that harvest data and format it according to your preferences.
It is one of the most basic web scraping tools available, and it is free to use. It allows you to extract web data without writing a single line of code.
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7. ParseHub
Parsehub is a fantastic web crawler that can collect data from websites that employ AJAX, JavaScript, cookies, and other similar technologies. Its machine learning technology can read, evaluate, and convert web content into useful information.
Parsehub’s desktop programme runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, or you can utilise the browser-based online client.
You can only create five public projects in Parsehub as a freeware. You can establish at least 20 private scraping projects with the paid membership levels.
8. Visual Scraper
VisualScraper is another amazing non-coding web scraper that can be used to harvest data from the web. It has a simple point-and-click interface. You can extract real-time data from several web pages and save it as CSV, XML, JSON, or SQL files. Aside from SaaS, VisualScraper also provides web scraping services such as data distribution and software extractor creation.
Users can schedule their projects to run at a certain time or have the sequence repeat every minute, day, week, month, and year with Visual Scraper. It could be used by users to extract news, updates, and forum posts on a regular basis.
9. Scrapinghub
Scrapinghub is a cloud-based data extraction platform that assists tens of thousands of developers in obtaining useful information. Its free visual scraping application allows users to scrape websites without having to know how to code.
Scrapinghub makes use of Crawlera, a sophisticated proxy rotator that allows it to crawl large or bot-protected sites while avoiding bot counter-measures. Through a simple HTTP API, users can crawl from numerous IP addresses and locales without having to deal with proxy maintenance.
Scrapinghub organises all of the content from a web page. If its crawl builder fails to meet your expectations, its team of professionals is prepared to assist.
