ScrapeStorm Review 2024 (Pros & Cons): 10 Best Alternatives & Competitors

ScrapeStorm is one of the best web scrapers out there but lets face it, it is not the tool for everyone. If you intend to make use of an alternative, then read the article below to discover our 10 recommended ScrapeStorm alternatives.

ScrapeStorm Alternatives

The Internet is a major source of data to many businesses, marketers, social researchers, and government agencies, among others. In the past, you will need coding skills to be able to scrape any website but things have changed and now, even without writing a single line of code, you can collect any amount of data you want — web scraping has even become easier for non-coders as they do not have to deal with a lot of things on their end — all thanks to already-made web scrapers that are developed to be used by non-coders.

ScrapeStorm is one pot the most popular already-made web scrapers in the market that has made a name.

However, keeping the name aside, you will see that it is not different from the other web scrapers around. It does have its downsides that they wouldn’t microphone it for you to know except you dig dipper. If you find out that ScrapeStorm is not the web scraper for you, then this does not mean you should give up on web scraping.

There are many more tools that you can use for scraping the web without using ScrapeStorm and as you will come to find out, some of these tools are even better when you compare their specs and features with that of ScrapeStorm. We would be recommending the top ScrapeStorm alternatives. Before that, let take a look at an overview of ScrapesStorm and why you will need an alternative.


Brief ScrapeStorm Review


ScrapeStorm Pros

ScrapeStorm is a web scraping tool that you can use to scrape all kinds of websites, including dynamic pages that require Javascript rendering. ScrapeStorm is a visual web scraper and provides you with a point and click interface to be used for identifying elements/data of interest on a page. With this tool, you do not need coding skills to scrape data from the Internet.

One thing you will come to like about ScrapeStorm is its AI-powered system, which makes it possible for it to automatically identify data of interest on a page without you using the point and click interface in a manual operation.

YouTube video

It supports multiple export data formats including both file formats as well as databases.

ScrapeStorm has support for a cloud account, which makes it possible to keep your scraping tasks saved in the cloud and avoid losing them. The application is available on Windows, Mac, and a good number of Linux distributions.


ScrapeStorm Cons

As good as ScrapeStorm seems to be, it is not the perfect web scraping tool for everyone.

Why Use a ScrapeStorm Alternative?

While it works for many others, it might not for others too because the tool lacks some important features they would want in a web scraper or it is not working as expected. The below are some of the major reasons why users would want to make use of an alternative web scraper.

  • Seems Buggy and Unstable

ScrapeStorm is quite popular and there is no denying that it works. I have personally used it to know that it is one of the best especially if you are a non-coder. However, it is far from perfect. When used on simple websites with no complex structures, you would not notice any problem.

However, if you try it on a website with a complex structure, then you will need a lot of time setting it up and even at that, it can be unstable and not work. But giving the right attention to detail and patience, you should be able to use it for such.

  • It is a Paid Tool

Do not get me wrong, you should pay for software you use and I am not a proponent of always wanting free things. However, there are some users that cannot afford the price considering the fact that you will also have to purchase proxies to be used. ScrapeStorm offers a free tier but that comes with limitations that would want you to use look for an alternative.

However, it might interest you to know that if the reason you need an alternative web scraper is that ScrapeStorm is paid, then you will find it difficult getting the web scraper you want without paying for it as good web scrapers with advanced features would most likely cost you money.


Best ScrapeStorm Alternatives

ScrapeStorm is just one out of the many web scrapers in the market. If you do not find it worthy to be used, then you can take a look at the other web scrapers in the market. There are many alternative web scrapers that you can use to scrape the web for the data you need. In this section of the article, we would be recommending some of the best web scrapers out there that can serve as an alternative to ScrapeStorm.


Data Collector

Bright Data - Luminati

  • Pricing: Starts at $350 for 100K page loads
  • Free Trials: Available
  • Data Output Format: Excel
  • Supported Platforms: web-based

Bright Data for data Collector

Data Collector is one of the best tools you can use for collecting data from the Internet if you d out have coding skills. The service is provided by Bright Data, a leader in the proxy market. Data Collector is available as a web-based tool. With it, you can scrape structured data from the popular websites on the Internet ranging from social media to e-commerce, to Yellow pages, and other business/property listing websites without using any point and click interface. Data Collector is arguably the easiest tool to use for web scraping on the list and can be seen as a good alternative to ScrapeStorm provided the specific site your data of interest is available on is supported.

With this tool, you do not even need to set up proxies or try to avoid detection as the tool does that for you. Data collectors also have pre-collected databases.


Apify

Apify Logo

  • Pricing: Starts at $49 per month for 100 Actor compute units
  • Free Trials: Starter plan comes with 10 Actor compute units
  • Data Output Format: JSON
  • Supported OS: cloud-based – accessed via API

Apify Homepage

While Data Collector is the web scraper or those with no coding skill and does not want to make use of the point and click interface, Apify is the service for developers. The Apify platform has already-made web scrapers known as Actors that you can use to scrape data from the Internet without you creating your own from scratch.

The popular websites are supported either by Apify or third-party developers on the platform. If there is an unsupported site, you can develop on the platform and earn money when others use it. Apify is built for NodeJS developers and you can either run it on their platform or have the Apify SDK installed locally if you want to run it locally.


Import.io

Import io Logo

  • Pricing: Custom quote
  • Free Trials: 30-days free limited plan available
  • Data Output Format: CSV, JSON
  • Supported Platforms: Cloud

Import.io Alternatives

The import.io service is one of the best alternatives to ScrapeStorm if you do not have coding skills. This tool is much more than ScrapeStorm. Aside from helping you to collect data at the scale you want, it also comes with features to make sure you collected the right data by informing data types, validating rules, and detecting anomalies. This tool also comes with a point and click interface for manually identifying data as well as a Machine Learning (ML) based for automatic pattern detection and detection of important data of interest on a page. It has support for scraping scheduling, notification, respecting Robots.txt, as well as generating URLs, custom Javascript, Regular Expression, and XPATH, among others.


ScrapingBee

Scrapingbee Logo

  • Pricing: Starts at $49 monthly for 100K API credits
  • Free Trials: 1K free API calls
  • Data Output Format: JSON
  • Supported Platforms: Web API

ScrapingBee overview

ScrapingBee is another alternative to ScrapeStorm if you are a coder. ScrapingBee is being marketed as a web scraping API that helps you avoid blocks as you send web requests for web pages you are interested in. It also helps you take of headless browsers. The tool acts as an API and all you need to get the content of a web page is to send a simple API request. Interestingly, it does have an Extraction tool that makes it possible for you to use CSS selectors to extract structured data from the HTML document that would be returned as a response to your HTTP requests. The extraction support is available for popular programming languages such as Python, NOdeJS, Ruby, and PHP, among others.


Octoparse

Octoparse Logo

  • Pricing: Starts at $75 per month
  • Free Trials: 14 days of free trial with limitations
  • Data Output Format: CSV, Excel, JSON, MySQL, SQLServer
  • Supported Platform: Cloud, Desktop 

Octoparse Best Scrapers

Octoparse is one of the web scrapers you can say have a lot of similarities with ScrapeStorm and you would want to take a look at it if you do not find ScrapeStorm fit as your web scraper of choice. This tool is also a visual web scraping tool that provides you with a point and click interface for identifying data of interest and with only a few steps, you can convert data across multiple pages into a spreadsheet. Octoparse has a cloud scraping platform that make it easy for you to scrape and access your data from anywhere. It also has a professional data service that offers you the data you need if you do not want to interact with a web scraper yourself.


WebHarvy

Webharvy Logo

  • Pricing: Starts at $139 for a single user license
  • Free Trials: Not available
  • Data Output Format: TXT, CSV, Excel, JSON, XML. TSV, etc.
  • Supported Platforms: Desktop

WebHarvy Homepage

If you are looking for a web scraper that you will pay ones and use forever without dealing with recurring monthly payments, then WebHarvy is the web scraper for you. WebHarvy is also a visual web scraper that is developed as a generic scraper, providing support for all kinds of websites. The tool is quite simple and easy to use but powerful, having the ability to scrape data from multiple pages, categories, and even keywords. WebHarvy comes with an intelligent pattern detection system, making it possible to scrape the same data type from multiple pages. It has got support for many data export formats, allows you to run custom Javascript, and even automates your web tasks — a feature you do not get from ScrapeStorm.


ParseHub

Parsehub Logo

  • Pricing: Free with a paid plan
  • Free Trials: Free – advance features come at an extra cost
  • Data Output Format: Excel, JSON,
  • Supported Platform: Cloud, Desktop

ParseHub Best Scrapers

ParseHub is being marketed as a free web scraper but in reality, it is not completely free. In fact, it is just its basic feature that you can use for free. If you must use the advanced features and unblock the real potentials of ParseHub, then you will need to opt-in for their paid plan. ParseHub is easy to use. All you need to do is install it on your computer, use the browser interface provided to navigate to the page with the data of interest and then use the point and click interface to select the data points and then get the tool to do the scraping for you. ParseHub is not built for any website — you can use it to scrape data on all kinds of websites including dynamic websites that are rich in JavaScript.


WebScraper.io Extension

webscraper io

  • Pricing: Freemium
  • Free Trials: Freemium
  • Data Output Format: CSV, XLSX, and JSON
  • Supported Platform: Browser extension (Chrome and Firefox)

webscraper overview

WebScraper.io is one of the unique web scrapers on the list. It is a browser extension, available to Chrome users that can be used to extract data from any web page on the Internet as it is built for the modern web. As at the time this article was written, over 400K people have already made use of this  web scraper. Interestingly, you do not need to pay to make use of it — you only pay if you want to make use of their cloud scraping solution. The extension has all of the capabilities of a web scraper and with it, you can scrape data across multiple web pages. It has a modular selector system that makes it easy for identifying specific data points you want to scrape on a page.


Helium Scraper

Helium Scraper Logo

  • Pricing: Starts at a $99 one-time purchase
  • Free Trials: 10 days free
  • Data Output Format: CSV, Excel, JSON, SQLite, etc.
  • Supported Platforms: Desktop

Helium Scraper Overview

Helium Scraper can be likened to WebHarvy in terms of pricing — you pay ones and use it forever. Helium Scraper is also an installable software that you can use to extract data from web pages. You can use it to capture complex data at a fast speed. Helium Scraper is quite fast and would depend on the project, avoid loading images so that pages would load faster, making them quite fast. This web scraper can collect and store big data as it uses SQLite which can hold up to 140 terabytes of data. It has support for generating databases and SQL. With it, you can manipulate text and use Regular Extraction to extract data hidden within texts.


Mozenda

Mozenda Logo

  • Pricing: Custom quote
  • Free Trials: 30-days free limited plan available
  • Data Output Format: CSV, JSON
  • Supported Platforms: Cloud

Mozenda Overview

Mozenda is last on our list of alternative web scrapers you can use instead of ScrapeStorm. It coming last does not mean it is inferior to the others above. The list is in no particular order as Mozenda is even a more structured tool and company than many of the other tools above. It might interest you to know that Mozenda has a good number of Fortune 500 companies that are using their scraping solutions. Mozenda data extraction solution blocks many requests web pages make to reduce sending unnecessary requests that would waste time. It is multithreaded, comes with a job sequencer, and even has support for geo-targeting for localized data harvester.


FAQs About ScrapeStorm

  • Is ScrapeStorm Illegal?

ScrapeStorm is just one of the many tools used in extracting data from web pages, an act known as web scraping. Currently, web scraping is generally considered legal provided you are scraping data publicly available. However, there are cases that it could become illegal. I will advise you to seek the help of a legal practitioner on the issue in your region.

  • Does ScrapeStorm and its Alternatives Need Proxies?

Web scraping in general needs proxies as web scrapers send too many requests within a short period of time which makes them easily identifiable. In Essence, ScrapeStorm and most of the alternatives  above all need proxies to avoid getting blocked after a few attempts. However, some of the web scrapers as in the case of Data Collector makes use of proxies under the hood so that you do not need to add proxies and as such, you will not interact manually with proxies for these as you would when using ScrapeStorm and most of the other tools.

  • ScrapeStorm Tutorials (How to use ScrapeStorm)

ScrapeStorm is quite easy to use if you know how to use a computer which is a basic skill one school have in this century. All you need to do is have the software downloaded, open your website of interest and use the point and click interface to identify the data then put the bot to work. You can watch this YouTube video to learn how to make use of the tool.

  • Does ScrapeStorm has an API?

Yes, ScrapeStorm provides an API that you can use to control and manage your tasks as well as retrieve scraped data programmatically.

Conclusion

If you take a look at the features supported by ScrapeStorm, you will see that it is indeed, one of the best web scrapers available to individuals with a small budget. However, it is far from being perfect and as such, you can opt-in for any of the alternatives described above if it meets your requirements better than ScrapeStorm.

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