Daniel - October 26, 2019
Best Web Scraping Extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers
In this tutorial, we will show you some of the best web scraping extensions for popular web browsers i.e. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
Web scraper works by using a web crawler, also known as a ‘bot,’ a web spider, or a web crawler to search for contents from given websites by following URL links. If a website contains the needed information, the web scraper harvests the data from the website.
Several data collected by web scrapers, includes email addresses, phone numbers, texts, videos, images, prices of products, etc.
Meanwhile, Web scrapers are used for:
Find the perfect Proxy Product.
For collecting personal information like addresses, emails, and social media account details, etc. for advert related purposes, political campaigns, or for spamming.
To monitor the prices of competing goods, revenue optimization, product trends, etc.
To gather relevant data for decision making and brand compliance
Extract data valuable for financial purposes
To gather data for market research and analysis from a comprehensive stock market research perspective, particularly in investing prospects.
How does a web scraper work?
A web scraper is used to target and collect information from a given website
The extracted information is retrieved from the web scraper in HTML format
The collected data is parsed to extract the needed data
The extracted data is stored in specified formats. E.g., CSV, TSV, Excel, or JSON for further processing.
Best Web Scraper Extensions for Google Chrome
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Check out our USA Rotating Proxies for Scraping
Check out our Mixed Rotating Proxies for Scraping
Web scraper extensions are ideal for scraping or extracting data from small websites and other less complicated sources.
There are several web scraping extensions for Google Chrome but will be focusing our attention on the best web scraper extensions for Google Chrome.
1 .Web Scraper
The Web Scraper is a free web scraping extension on Google Chrome. With the web scraper, you can create a sitemap to determine the type of data you can collect from a website and the best way of scraping such data from the website. You can also use the sitemap to navigate the site and export the scraped data in CSV format.
Features of Web Scraper
The Web Scraper can scrape data from sites with several navigation levels and also store scraped data locally
The Web Scraper can even scrap multiple data types simultaneously
Web Scraper has an extraction feature that extracts data from dynamic pages built with JavaScript and Ajax, and are less accessible to other data scrapers.
Web Scraper has a modular selector system you can use to create sitemaps from different selectors. This makes it possible to extract data from websites with different structures.
You can also browse scraped data with Web Scraper and export the data in CSV format
Web Scraper has a feature that enables you to import and export sitemaps.
Download the Web Scraper extension from Google Chrome Store or the official website
2 .Data Scraper – Easy Web Scraping
Data Scraper is a web scraping tool you can use to extract data from HTML webpages. Data Scraper extracts data in table and list formats and exports the data in XLS, Google Sheets, CSV, or TSV format.
Data Scraper is available as a free version and also as paid version.
The free version allows you to scrape 500 pages monthly. The paid version has additional features like API, anonymous IP proxies, scraping data automatically from paginated websites with a single click, etc.
Features of Data Scraper
Data Scraper ensures the safety of data by using HTTPS encryption to protect users’ privacy and security
Data scraper has more than 50,000 extraction queries. You can use any of these queries to mine and export data in CSV format with a single click
Use Custom scraping to extract data from any website
You can run automated data scraping from a list of URLs using Data Scraper
You can combine Data Scraper with SEO tool, CRM recruiter systems to scrape and convert data easily for various purposes like email campaigns, recruitment screening, etc.
Data miners can extract a wide array of data ranging from emails, social media IDs to price and product information.
Download Data Scraper extension from Google Chrome store
Listly is a web Scraper tool for extracting and storing data in XLS format. With a single Click, Listly extracts and parse and arrange the data into rows and columns.
Features of Listly
You can schedule daily extraction on Listly
You get an email notification from Listly
Listly has a multiple extraction feature that allows you to extract and store multiple pages in XLS format
You can load more data on Listly by ‘Repeat Click’ and also ‘Repeat Scroll to load more data
Anonymous IP address to mask your IP address
Listly detects the iFrame link and also extracts Hyperlinks over the content.
Download Listly web scraper extension for Google Chrome here
The Grepsr is a web scraping tool for efficiently mining and converting data to spreadsheets using the intuitive point and click toolkit.
To use Grepsr web scraping extension, download and install Grepsr for Chrome from the Google Chrome store. After installation, you can automate Grepsr to look for particular data types.
Features of Grepsr
Use Grepsr on your web browser to extract data by using Grepsr’s intuitive tagging toolkit to point and click on the data element you want to extract.
With Grepsr, you can scrap and save data in any format of choice by clicking on the ‘Download’ icon and selecting your download format
Use Grepsr built-in integration to export data to Dropbox, Google Sheets, Box, Amazon S3 and other document management systems
Automate your data scraping activity by scheduling Grepsr to scrape data only at scheduled days, or period using the calendar schedule feature to mine new data
Grepsr use workflow tools, built-in support, and API to manage your daily data mining activities.
Grepsr has a simple user interface with a project form to submit your data scraping queries.
5 .Agenty – Advanced Web Scraper
Agenty is a screen web scraper for scraping data from various types of sources and websites like password-protected websites, public websites, XML sitemaps, JSON APIs, RSS Feeds, etc.
Features of Agenty
Agenty uses point-and-click CSS selectors to mine, preview, and export data to JSON, CSV, or TSV format.
Agenty creates a free web scraper agent for its cloud platform or for Data Studio, which is a windows desktop app.
Agenty uses automatic IP rotation and anonymous proxies to extract data from any website like real human browsing from a specific location.
You can use Agenty’s ‘Batch URL Crawling’ feature to mine data from multiple pages using a single agent. All you need do is input a URL in an agent’s input or upload a URL list for automatic data extraction.
Agenty is equipped to scrape data from websites with login details, complex pagination, AJAX-based sites, etc.
Enjoy unlimited support from Agenty.
Download the Agenty web scraper from the Google Chrome store to enjoy its unlimited features.
Best Web Scraper Extensions for Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a much older but reliable web browser loved by many for its speed, stability, and security. Mozilla Firefox supports a vast array of extensions or add-ons. Notable among these add-ons are web scraper tools.
Mozilla Firefox is known to support a vast array of web scraper tools. But we will be focusing on the best of web scraper extensions that work well for Mozilla Firefox.
1 .Web Scraper
The Web Scraper is a free web scraping extension on Mozilla Firefox. With the web scraper, you can create a sitemap to determine the type of data you can collect from a website and the best way of scraping such data from the website. You can also use the sitemap to navigate the site and export the scraped data in CSV format.
The web scraper is built with a modular selector engine and can be set up using several types of selectors to adapt Web Scraper to a particular site.
Features of Web Scraper
The Web Scraper can scrape data from sites with several navigation levels and also store scraped data locally
The Web Scraper can even scrap multiple data types simultaneously
Web Scraper has an extraction feature. This extracts data from dynamic pages built with JavaScript and Ajax.
Web Scraper has a modular selector system you can use to create sitemaps from different selectors. This makes it possible to extract data from websites with different structures.
You can also browse scraped data with Web Scraper and export the data in CSV format
Web Scraper has a feature that enables you to import and export sitemaps.
Functions of modular selector engine
Use link selectors to browse websites for data extraction.
Use the element selectors to extract multiple data types from a single webpage.
It utilizes text, element Attribute, Image, and Table Selectors to extract data from websites
Use the scroll down selectors and Element click to load additional data for extraction
Permission
Web Scraper tool will require your permission to access the following on your PC
Data from all websites
Browsing history, cookies, etc.
Download files to your PC
Notify you
Control your PC proxy settings
Access opened browser tabs
Add the Web Scraper extension to your Mozilla Firefox to enjoy its amazing features.
2 .Data scraper by Rajkot
The Data Scraper from Rajkot is a web scraper extension for extracting data from various tables to a single file. Data Scraper uses the jquery selector for configuring import and export tools for optimized performance.
Rajkot DataScraper needs your permission to:
Access data from websites
Access your browser tabs
Download DataScraper from Mozilla Firefox
Limitations of Web Scrapers
Data storage
Scraping a large volume of data from several websites (about 100-200) a day presents you with the challenges of warehousing your data. For a large quantity of data mining, you need a scalable and secure data storage infrastructure.
Amazon Web services and Relational Database Services are excellent options you can look to for a solution to your data warehousing challenges.
Modern anti-scraping Technologies
Some websites like LinkedIn uses anti-scraping technologies to block a web scraper with the same IP address sending consistent requests to its server.
Overcoming this challenge requires that you use a rotating proxy service to mask your IP address and also improve scraping speed.
By opting for any of ProxyRack’s subscription plans, you will be provided with access to more than 2 million proxies monthly.
Every connection you make using Rotating Proxy get you assigned to a new and unique proxy IP address. The assigned IP address bypasses anti-scraping technologies that may be present on a website.
ProxyRack Proxies Packages
1 .The Residential Rotating Proxies
For $80 monthly subscription, ProxyRack’s residential rotating proxies gives you access to more than 1,250,000 unique proxies monthly
Benefits of subscribing to the Residential Rotating Proxies
Medium speeds
HTTPS & SOCKS Protocols
Ideal for use with data scraper
Ideal for scaling data extraction.
The US Rotating Proxies are Proxies from US data centers. These proxy servers have high speed and reliability.
Features you enjoy when you subscribe to the USA Rotating Proxies plan for $120 monthly
Fast connection speeds with high reliability
Connects using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols
Great for web browsing and data mining
Mixed Rotating Proxies uses proxies from data centers spread around the world. These proxies are noted for their high speed and reliability.
Subscription to Mixed Rotating Proxies costs $120 monthly with the following benefits
Fast connection speeds with high reliability
Connects using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols
Great for web browsing and data mining
Combining your data scraper tool with proxies offers you three advantages:
Proxy server masks your IP address each time you make a connection to a particular website
You’re able to get past the rate limits of websites.
Overcome geo-restriction barriers of some websites.
Conclusion
Data scraper extensions are great tools for mining data, converting, and storing data in chosen formats. However, using Data Scrapers tools has its limitation, the greatest of which is the anti-scraping technologies and rate limits of websites.
ProxyRack is one of the best proxy services you can use to overcome these challenging obstacles to data mining.
Check out our Residential Rotating Proxies for Scraping
Check out our USA Rotating Proxies for Scraping
Check out our Mixed Rotating Proxies for Scraping
