Are you looking for the best website downloader for converting a website into an offline document? Then you are on the right page, as the article below will be used for discussing some of the best website downloaders in the market.
Technology has advanced that some things we have not even think of have not been made available. One of such is being able to download a website and have a local copy you can access anytime, even without a network connection. Websites are designed to be accessible online, and if you want to access a local copy, you will have to save for offline reading for each page of the website, which can be time-wasting, repetitive, and error-prone.
However, with the help of a website downloader, you can have a full website downloaded and saved locally for you in minutes. In this article, we will reveal to you some of the best website downloaders in the market that you can use for downloading websites.
What are Website Downloaders?
A website downloaded is a computer program either in the form of a simple script or a full-fledged installable software designed to make a website locally accessible on a computer memory by downloading its pages and saving them.
At its most basic level, a website downloader works like a crawler – it sends requests for a webpage, save it locally, and then scrap internal URLs from the page and add it to a list of URLs to be crawled – and the process continues until no new internal URL is found. My first encounter with a website downloader was when I got the full W3schools programming tutorials sent to me by a friend. And since then, the whole idea of downloading a website fascinated me.
If you have coding skills, you can develop one yourself as it is not difficult – all you require is the skill of sending HTTP requests, file handling, and exception handling. There are many reasons while you will want to have a website accessible locally, but the most popular reasons include being able to access it locally and save network fee upfront or even get it delivered to someone that does not have access to the Internet frequently. One thing you need to know about downloading a website is that the local copy can age quickly as updates to the websites are not rolled to the downloaded copy.
Top Website Downloader in the Market
When it comes to downloading a website, there are many website downloaders available for you to use. However, some are not as effective as others, and as such, we want to discuss some of the best website downloaders so that you can make a good choice quickly. Below are some of the best website downloaders right now.
Website Ripper Copier
The Website Ripper Copier is one of the best website downloaders you can use to convert a website into locally accessible documents. The Website Ripper Copier comes with robust and advanced features that make downloading full websites easy.
One thing you will come to like about this tool is that the downloaded website can be moved about, and you will be just fine. The Website Ripper Copier is a paid tool, but the payment you will make is worth it – thanks to the features that come with it. It is developed for the modern web and has support for JavaScript and AJAX websites, link extraction from links, web cookies, authentication, and many more.
Local Website Archive
The Local Website Archive is one of the tools developed by Aignesberger Software – their other products include site watcher, AM-deadLink, and AM-Note, among others. Their Local Website Archive product can be used to download a full website.
This tool comes in two versions – free and paid. While the free version will work, you will have more features available to you if you opt for their paid plan. Some of the features to be enjoyed as a paid user include ad-blocker, being able to archive a website as a PDF document, improved performance, duplicate finder, marking a page as read and unread, and rating documents, among others.
Website Downloader
The Website Downloader tool is another tool you can use to archive a website locally. One thing you will come to like about the Website Downloader tool is that it is available as an online tool and, as such, not platform-dependent.
Even though it is a web-based tool, it downloads all of the required assets into the website directory – this means that JavaScript files, CSS files, and even images are downloaded for you locally for you locally giving the local copy the feel of the online copy of the website. Another thing you will come to like about this tool is that it is completely free to use.
SitePuller
When it comes to downloading a website and making it and all of its assets, including images available locally, the SitePuller web app is not a pushover. This tool is available online and does not require you to install any software in other to use – you can access it from any browser of your choice – using any operating system and platform.
This tool will convert a website into a zip file for you in minutes. The SitePuller website has support for also downloading websites from Wayback Machine, which is handy for downloading websites that are no longer available. This tool will also help you copy the template of websites.
Cyotek WebCopy
The Cyotek WebCopy is an easy to use minimalistic website downloader that comes with no price tag on it – all that’s required is for you to download and start using.
This tool will examine the HTML mark-up of a website and attempt to discover all linked resources such as other pages, images, videos, file, and download everything into your device so that there is no difference between the downloaded copy and the real website as at the time of the download.
While this tool is free, minimalistic, and easy to use, it has one downside – it does not work well with JavaScript-rich websites.
HTTrack Website Copier
The HTTrack Website Copier will help you build a local copy of a website by recursively looking out for URLs on the site, downloading pages, and other site assets (images, CSS, and JS files) until there is no new URL to be crawled.
This tool has been around for a while now and has helped many Internet users convert a website into an offline site. The major setback I see about this project is that it seems to be abandoned, as the last time it got updated was in 2017. The tool is available for both Windows and Linux, and the file size is quite small. Installation is quick, and usage is easy.
SiteSucker
The SiteSucker app is a Macintosh application available for both Mac and iOS platforms. With SiteSucker, you can download a website and make it locally available online. This will enable you to share the website and have users that do not have access to the Internet access it as if they are connected to the Internet.
It downloads all of the website assets,including images, videos, and files, and duplicates the site structure locally, giving the feel that you are accessing it online meanwhile you are actually doing that offline. This tool is available in many international languages and also has a pro version with advanced features.
SurfOffline
I must confess, I like the name of this website downloader because of the creativity in it. However, it is not just about the name – the downloader is also one of the tip downloaders in the market. One thing you will come to notice is the simple interface this tool comes with even though, in reality – it is an advanced tool with powerful features.
The setup wizard will walk you through the downloading setting for websites. You can use it to download n entire website or a part of it. It is fast and can handle about 100 pages simultaneously, making it possible to download within a short period of time.
Website eXtractor
The website eXtractor tool is one of the best website downloaders you can use to download a whole website or a part of it in an easy and effective manner. The tool comes with an intuitive design that is easy to understand even for first-time users.
While it works, I feel the developers need to do a little as the tool currently does not have a website of its own – it can only be downloaded from third-party websites. If the tool is a free tool, I will understand, but for a paid tool not to have a website – that is something I don’t understand. In terms of performance, the Website eXtractor can be said to be excellent as it can download about 100 files at a go.
Web2Disk
The Web2Disk will make a website available locally for you to browse without access to the Internet after it is done downloading it for you. You have the liberty to move the folder around and use it anywhere.
With this tool, you can copy a website into a CD or a USB Disk, and it will work just fine – relative links are used, and as such, moving the folder with the website content would not break the site. This tool is not free – it comes with a price tag and but you can make use of its free trial for a start, and if you like it, you can then make a purchase.
NCollector Studio
The NCollector Studio is a product of Colluna Software. This software is one of the applications you can use to convert a website into a document you can access locally.
The NCollector is the all-in-one solution covering your needs, whether you're a professional or home user. This software might not be popular when compared to the ones discussed above, but it works quite well. This tool needs to be downloaded and installed before you can make use of it.
Offline Explorer
The Offline Explorer is another website downloader you can use to download websites to your local storage and access it offline as if you are accessing it online. This tool can be considered pricy, considering many of the downloaders on the list are free of charge. The license fee for the Offline Explorer is $79.
However, this tool comes with advanced features. Some of its features include being easy and flexible, comes with a chromium engine, makes it possible to even capture social media sites, ability to set priority for files, and many more.
Archivarix
The Archivarix software is completely easy to use. With the tools provided by Archivarix, you can do a lot related to copying a website. Some of the tools that you can get from Archivarix include a tool for restoring a website from a Wayback Machine, downloading a live website, and a WordPress plugin.
With this tool, you cannot only download a website and make it locally available offline, but you can also download a website that was once online but has been taken down – provided the website has been captured by the web archive Wayback Machine.
Webscrapbook
Looking at the list above, you can see that there is no browser extension on the list – if you are looking for a browser extension to use, then the Webscrapebook is the downloader of choice. The Webscrapebook is a Firefox browser extension that you can use to download a website and make it available locally offline on your local storage or have it copied on a CD or USB drive.
One thing you need to know about Webscrapebook is that you will need to look for a guide on how to install it. the link for it above is for GitHub; you will need to download and install it on your Firefox in other to use it.
WebWhacker
The WebWhacker 5.0 website download is the last on our list. This software has been around for a while, and a good number of Internet users have used it to convert websites into local sites browsable offline.
This tool comes with some advanced features, including duplicating the directory structure of a website, broken link finder, and filtering useless information in other to save disk space, among others. The tool is not free – it comes with a price tag of $50 but has a free trial you can make use of.
Conclusion
Looking at the list above, you can see that there are many options available to you if you want to download a website and have it locally available on other to access it offline or send it to other users to access it without access to the Internet.
While they all do the same thing, the feature that comes with each differs, and as such, the choice you will make will depend on that.
