This post will show you how mobile proxies and web scraping can be fused together.

Web scraping has become essential in increasing lead generation capacity, outrunning market competitors, monitoring market developments and activities, and understanding customers’ needs and demands.

Due to the increasing use of web scraping tools, websites now use anti-scraping bots to block web scraping bots from harvesting data on their sites.

Now, let’s explore how web scraping bots can successfully harvest data using mobile proxies to evade anti-scraping bots used on websites.

Mobile devices are used as proxy servers for mobile proxies because they do not have a static IP address for connecting to the internet. Instead, they use IP addresses assigned by their Mobile Network Operators for each internet connectivity session that they establish. Likewise, the assigned IP address is withdrawn at the end of each connectivity session.

Therefore, thousands of mobile device users using the same MNO share the same IP addresses because their MNO does not issue permanent IP addresses for connecting to the internet. Instead, they rotate a set of IP addresses amongst their users.

Benefits Of Using Mobile Proxies For Web Scraping

Since proxies act as ‘the middleman’ through which scraping bots connect to a website, the mobile proxy shields the web scraping bot’s IP address and location, making the scraping bot appear as an anonymous user. Proxies also protect the scraping bot by making their requests appear as though it emanates from a mobile device.

Here are the significant benefits of using mobile proxies for web scraping:

Using proxies helps data scraping bots to evade IP blocking by the target website. Even when scraper bots exceed their request limits per time, the site won’t be able to block out the bot because it cannot access the bot’s original IP address.

If the proxy IP address is blocked, the scrapper bot can easily change to another proxy IP address and continue its data scraping activities on the target website.

When mobile proxies are used, it helps the scrapper bot to bypass request limits set by websites. Most anti-scraping websites use software that limits the number of requests a device can make from the website within a given timeframe. Exceeding this limit will cause the website to automatically block the IP address sending the series of web requests.

However, when using proxies, the bot channels its requests through several IP addresses, making it look like the request comes from several devices. Therefore, automatic bot blocking is not triggered off since the request is coming from multiple IP addresses.

How To Choose A Mobile Proxy For Web Scraping

When choosing a mobile proxy for web scraping, users should consider the following factors: speed, reliability, and price.

Based on the above factors, proxies are classified into three categories.

Although public mobile proxies are free, they pose a danger to the user because they are low-quality proxies that do not use HTTPS. Hence, data channeled through such proxies are not encrypted and secured. This implies that such data can be viewed and intercepted by third parties.

Additionally, because such proxies are from untrusted sources, they can contain malware that can harm users’ devices. In fact, a public mobile proxy is not an option for web scraping.

As the name implies, shared mobile proxies are mobile proxies shared by more than one user. This implies that the users access the server simultaneously and also bear the cost. Although this option is better than using a free mobile proxy, it is relatively faster.

Unlike shared mobile proxies, dedicated mobile proxies are mobile proxies that are accessed by a single user. A dedicated mobile proxy is much faster and expensive; hence, choosing a dedicated mobile proxy for web scraping will depend on your budget, proxy performance, and project size.

Irrespective of the cost, investing in a dedicated mobile proxy is the best choice for web scraping.

Check out our full Range of Mobile Proxies

Why You Need A Proxy Pool For Web Scraping?

For successful data scraping, data scraping bots will require a collection of mobile proxies to work with. This is because anti-scraping software or bots will recognize a data scraping bot when it makes incessant requests from only one IP address.

Hence, having a proxy IP address pool will enable the scraping bot to change proxy IP addresses at regular intervals to avoid being blocked by the targeted website.

Proxy pool pricing depends on the number of proxy IP addresses within a proxy pool. The question most often raised by data miners is how many proxies do they need in a pool? There is no satisfactory answer since needs and bot types vary.

An estimated 100 proxy IP addresses are needed in a proxy pool. This figure is arrived at by making the following deductions.

How To Ensure A Successful Web Scraping Session

Subscribing and using proxy pools for web scraping isn’t a big issue. The big deal here is managing proxy pools to ensure that the mobile proxies are not banned.

These factors are essential for a successful web scraping session with a proxy pool:

: you should also avoid falling into honeypot traps by configuring the scraping bot to prevent clicking on hidden links.

What Is The Best Mobile Proxies Service Provider?

While several mobile proxies service providers are out there, a significant number falls short in speed, reliability, and pricing.

However, the best mobile proxies service provider is ProxyRack. Thankfully, ProxyRack provides both 3G and 4G mobile proxies for their users to facilitate successful web scraping sessions.

Additionally, they offer unlimited IP address switching. That way, you can switch to a new IP address from their cellular ASN of IP addresses pool.

You will also be provided with dedicated access to a real 4G device connected to a real residential 4G Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Their mobile proxies are available in three pricing packages: Shared, Rotating, and Dedicated Proxies.

Data harvesting plays vital roles in several aspects, including increased lead generation. Hence, careful consideration must be given to mobile proxies and web scraping tools used to scrap quality data.

Using mobile proxies for web scraping reduces the likelihood of being detected and banned by anti-scraping bots.

The bottom line is this: mobile proxies remain the best choice of proxy for high-quality web scraping. Thankfully, data miners can subscribe to quality mobile proxies from 

Mobile Proxies And Web Scraping

If you are looking for the best proxies for Selenium, we have got you covered.

Webmasters carry out web automation and web scraping tasks all the time. In fact, they use several tools that incorporate a variety of options.

Hence, in this post, we will take a closer look at Selenium, and show you the best proxies for Selenium.

What Types Of Proxies Work With Selenium?

The best type of proxy to use with Selenium will depend mainly on what you intend to do with the tool. However, the primary use of Selenium is web automation and web scraping, while the best proxy type for such tasks is rotating residential proxies.

 are difficult to detect by websites because they utilize real IP addresses from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Any request sent with Selenium using a residential proxy would appear as if it emanates from a real user.

However, it doesn’t end at just switching your IP address. This is why you need a rotating residential proxy. If you maintain only one residential proxy, the IP address can be blocked for sending multiple requests. With rotating residential proxies, the IP address is changed with every new request or at intervals, depending on how it is set.

rotating residential proxies from ProxyRack

. With a subscription, you gain access to over 2 million IP addresses with unmetered data transfer.

, is not recommended for tasks like web scraping as they could be easily detected. They are best for only IP masking to bypass geo-restrictions.

Furthermore, you must stay off free proxies as most free proxy service providers collect your private information.

Selenium is a web browser automation tool. You can use it to fill information, carry out searches, automate web apps, submit forms, automate button clicks, and more on any website.

Due to all of these features, Selenium is an invaluable tool for web scraping and web automation. Also, many webmasters use this tool to test their websites and web applications.

Conversely, it is an open-source tool, which implies that many developers have contributed to its development. However, the tool was initially created in 2004 by Jason Huggins. Also, it was originally written in JavaScript.

Notably, Selenium is compatible with major web browsers, including Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, etc. Also, it supports various operating systems.

As a result, there are various Selenium versions. Hence, you’ll have to download the specific version for the browser you’re trying to automate and also the operating system.

Furthermore, you can execute requests with Selenium using different programming languages such as Java, Python, and C#.

As mentioned earlier, Selenium is used for web scraping and web automation. If you use the tool to scrape data or automate web requests on your website, there should be no hassles. If you intend to scrape other websites, it is essential that you use a proxy.

Using Selenium to access websites for scraping data or executing automated requests will get your IP address blocked. This is common on many sites as such activities are not supported.

With a proxy, you can fully use Selenium on any website of your choice without worrying about being blocked. That way, it will be difficult for sites to identify you or detect an automated request. If you use the best proxy for Selenium, it’ll be impossible to detect.

Besides, a proxy will mask your IP address. For instance, if you reside in the US, your real IP address would be a US one but with a proxy, you can mask it and browse with an IP address of any country of your choice.

Also, if you intend to automate requests or scrape data from a blocked website in the US, the proxy will help you bypass it.

Selenium is a useful tool with lots of advantages. As a web developer, you have no problems using Selenium on your website, but you’ll need a proxy for usage on others’ websites.

With a proxy, you won’t get blocked access to these websites. Thankfully, ProxyRack offers the best proxies for Selenium.

Best Proxies For Selenium

Are you looking for the best proxies for Puppeteer? Or wondering which proxy is the best for Puppeteer? You can get your answer in this post as we discuss not only the best proxies for Puppeteer but also an overview of the API’s functions and why you need a proxy for it.

What Types Of Proxies Work With Puppeteer And Which Is Best?

You can use proxies from a premium proxy service provider like 

Any type of proxy will work with Puppeteer but if you’re going to use it for web automation, web scraping, or site rendering, the best proxy type to use are 

This is because such activities are easily detected by anti-bot systems, while the IP address involved is banned. So, if you want to perform advanced activities with Puppeteer successfully, you need to make the connection as organic as possible.

 make use of “real” IP addresses from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This implies that the IP addresses that would be issued to regular users emanate from ISPs. This makes residential proxies practically impossible to detect.

However, there are still different types of residential proxies and you should go for rotating ones. 

 switch your browsing IP address with each request or at intervals depending on the settings. That’s ideal to appear like you’re browsing from different locations.

The other type of residential proxies is the private/dedicated ones. Although they are very reliable, 

 are not ideal for a task like web scraping because the generated IP addresses are static.

 is a headless Chrome API provided by Google. On the other hand, a headless browser is simply a browser without a GUI (Graphic User Interface).

With Puppeteer, you can take website screenshots or save a page as PDF. Also, you can submit forms, enter keyboard commands, and perform a UI test automatically.

Furthermore, Puppeteer can be used to generate pre-rendered content from a website’s server-side and to crawl Single-Page Applications (SPA).

Likewise, Puppeteer allows you to test chrome extensions and run tests using JavaScript and Chrome features. In addition, you can get site performance results using timeline tracing and also create an automated testing environment.

Additionally, you can perform more advanced tasks with Puppeteer, most especially web scraping with Node.js.

Besides, web scraping involves downloading large data/files from a website, usually without admin access. As a web automation tool, web scraping is easy with Puppeteer which makes it popular among web scrapers.

Check out our full range of Residential Proxies

Check out our full Range of Datacenter Proxies

Google supports the use of proxies with Puppeteer. Basically, you need proxies with Puppeteer to switch your IP address and to handle cookies.

If you use only Puppeteer to automate a website or attempt web scraping, you can get banned. Using an API with codes to access a website implies using a bot and the majority of websites are only user-friendly, they don’t support bots access.

The website will be able to detect bot access when there are unusual and non-human-like traffic or requests coming from a specific IP address. But, if you switch your IP address at intervals, it will be difficult to detect that you’re using a bot.

That’s exactly what a proxy does. The proxy comes between you and the website. Your request first gets to the proxy server who then forwards it to the website. Likewise, if the website is sending back data or files, it gets to the proxy server who then forwards it to you.

Conversely, proxies feature a pool of IP addresses and pull one for each request. It then appears as if you are browsing from different locations using distinct devices.

Conclusively, residential proxies are the best proxies for Puppeteer. They are ideal for running advanced tasks without hassles.

However, it is ideal to stay clear of free proxies because not many are reliable. From ProxyRack, you can get reliable residential proxies for Puppeteer.

Best Proxies For Puppeteer

In this post, we will show you the best proxies for Scrapy, a popular framework for building web scraping tools.

In essence, web scraping involves downloading data from websites without accessing the website’s database or using its API. All you need is access to the website and with a good web scraper, you can get all the data you want.

The reason for scraping websites for data with scrapers is to save time and improve efficiency. If you were to scrape data manually using copy and paste, you are sure to spend hours and possibly days if it is a large database.

Although there are several web scrapers available, in this article, our interest is on Scrapy. Hence, we’ll be looking at what Scrapy is all about and the best proxies for Scrapy.

To scrape data with Scrapy, you need a premium proxy. Using free proxy services is not recommended as the majority of them are unreliable.

. However, I would recommend residential proxies for any web scraping tasks as they are not easily detected. This is because residential proxies consist of real IP addresses that are generated by Internet Service Providers.

Additionally, we also have static and rotating proxies; static proxies maintain a particular IP address, while rotating proxies switch the IP address to another one after a sequence of requests. The latter is the best to use.

 you can maintain your connection while your IP address gets switched at intervals. To the website you’re scraping, it will appear as though the requests are coming from multiple devices.

 to rotate your IP address while using Scrapy.

 is a non-proprietary framework for developing scalable web scrapers. In other words, you can use Scrapy to create a web scraping program and subsequently use it to scrape data. The framework is based on Python and was released in 2008. It would work with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS devices.

Currently, Scrapy is managed by Scrapinghub, a web scraping company that utilizes cloud-based technologies. It was initially developed by Mydeco, a London-based eCommerce and web-aggregation company, and Insophia, an Uruguayan web-consulting company.

Thankfully, Scrapy’s functionality has extended beyond only web scraping; it’s now a general-purpose web crawler. To use it, you just have to code your set of instructions using any of its spider crawlers.

Furthermore, Scrapy is used by top companies for web crawling including Sayone Technologies, Parsely, and Lyst. As an open-source framework, you can contribute to Scrapy’s development via its 

When you attempt to scrape data from websites, you increase the server load. This consumes more bandwidth and for the websites with archaic servers, it could slow download time or lead to a crash.

However, webmasters typically set a default data transfer limit for each user to prevent web scraping. As you keep sending these numerous web requests from your device, the server notices it and blocks your IP address.

Another reason is that web scraping may breach site users’ privacy especially for social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

As a result, if you attempt web scraping on websites, there’s a high possibility that your IP address will be blocked. You would no longer access that website and that’s where proxies come in.

A proxy sends web requests to web servers on your behalf and it can hide your real IP address. Additionally, proxies with unmetered data transfer limits can handle large database scraping and by switching your IP address, you won’t be blocked.

We’ve looked at the advantages that come with web scraping using Scrapy and a proxy. A proxy protects your identity, switches your IP address to avoid flagging, and generally secures your connection.

Nevertheless, it is important to choose the right proxy which is why I have provided you with the best options from 

. So, if you are looking for the best proxies for Scrapy, ProxyRack has got you covered.

Best Proxies For Scrapy

In this tutorial, we will show you what exactly an headless browser is and why it is good for web scraping.

A headless browser is a name given to a browser without the identifiable user interface that differentiates it from other standard web browsers.

It might please you to know that headless browsers are like any other real browsers you are familiar with such as Google Chrome, Opera, Safari,

etc. but with a blank page. There are no buttons or tab to click on; all you see is an empty page.

Headless browsers became more popular due to the increasing rate at which web development is evolving. Besides, headless browsers interact only with your written JavaScript.

Developers are continually improving on ways to build highly responsive and interactive websites with an optimized user interface that will give every visitor a fantastic experience navigating such sites.

Google’s revelation about the usefulness of headless browsers in giving websites high indexing in Google’s search result index is a crucial factor that has led to the rapid development of headless browsers.

Google needs only your basic HTML file with all its contents in place for its search result ranking. The headless browser makes this possible by executing your JavaScript and also filling in your web content for Google-bot to read.

As mentioned earlier, headless browsers function like all other browsers with all other components like the networking component, Javascript interpreter, rendering, and layout engines in place but without a graphical user interface (GUI).

Developers find headless browsers useful for testing websites, web apps, as well as mobile apps without the need for an interface.

Nevertheless, users can navigate on headless browsers using the browser’s API (command-line interface) or a computer console. Therefore, a developer can automate testing process, extract web content for other uses, take screenshots of a rendered JavaScript, etc.

Before choosing a headless browser solution for web development, you should consider the weight of the headless browser. A lightweight headless browser uses minimal resources and also runs efficiently in the background while working, causing a lag.

Asides choosing a lightweight headless browser, you should be able to use such a browser to carryout necessary simulation tests for conceived users’ actions.

However, not all headless browsers are well suited for various simulation tests. Hence you may have to try out several options to discover the right combination of headless browser solutions for your developmental needs.

Common examples of headless browsers include Phantom JS, Google Chrome version 59, or other higher versions, Mozilla Firefox v56, HtmlUnit, Trifle JS, SlimerJS, etc.

Headless browsers save you time and energy by automating the development, quality, and testing phases of a website, mobile app, or web app development.

Headless browsers perform up to fifteen times faster than a real browser. Besides, the headless browser does not need to load CSS and JavaScript. It does not need to open and render HTML as standard web browsers do.

Web scraping with a headless browser is possible because you don’t need to launch a website manually before scraping, you can go straight up and scrape the website’s HTML with a headless browser.

You can use a headless browser to monitor the performance of network applications. You can also use it to automate the rendering and capturing of website images for automated layout checks.

What are the use cases of headless browsers?

A headless browser is an invaluable tool in the hands of a developer. A headless browser is useful for the following functions

Is a headless browser faster than real web browsers?

What makes headless browsers 15 times faster than real browsers is that a headless browser does not have to render HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images. Also, a headless browser does not have to wait for the page to complete loading before carrying out its functions.

Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are equally as fast as headless browsers because both browser developers invest a lot of time and energy to make both browsers and JavaScript engines superfast both for regular use and automating web browser tasks.

The Graphics user interface in a real browser gives users a fantastic user experience (UI) browsing but makes it heavier to load.

Hence, normal browsers execute automated tasks at a much slower pace because of the resource-intensive nature of a Graphics User Interface (GUI)

You can use Google Chrome versions 59 or higher versions and Mozilla Firefox version 56 or higher version to perform functionalities related to the headless browsers.

Developers can now enjoy a fantastic performance speed using the headless versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

However, scaling real browsers in a test execution using a Continuous Integration (CI) environment is quite tricky. Because running such tests on Continuous Integration servers requires extra configuration settings as a display server, unlike using a headless browser solution that does not require additional CI configurations.

Examples of Headless Browser Software Solutions

As a developer, it is pertinent for you to try out various types of headless browsers to enable you to get the perfect combination of headless browsers suitable for automating web browser tasks and other developmental processes.

Therefore, we will be exploring some commonly used headless browser solution.

1. Google Chrome Headless Browser (version 59 of Google Chrome)

Google Chrome headless browser is a lightweight headless browser based on the Open source Google Chromium project. It has a BSD license and supports JavaScript language.

Developers use headless Chrome for the following functions:

The headless version of Mozilla Firefox allows developers to run several APIs smoothly without having to combine several simulation tools for web development tests.

However, using the headless version of Mozilla Firefox works well for web browser automation tests by combining any of the below headless drivers for maximal functionalities.

Phantom Js headless browser uses the command-line interface to handle several types of complexities in web browser automation tests and processes.

Although Phantom JS is unmaintained, it is an open-source scriptable WebKit that runs on JavaScript, PHP, Python, Java, Ruby, Haskell, C#, Perl, Objective-C, and R APIs using the BSD and 3-Clause licenses.

Phantom JS offers fast and native support for web development processes like DOM handling, JSON, SVG, Canvas, and CSS selectors.

Developers often use Phantom JS for the following purpose:

HTML unit is a headless browser solution written in Java. It is mainly used to automate website interaction with users.

On the other hand, HTML Unit can simulate different types of browsers like Chrome, Edge, IE8 &11, Firefox version 38 and above, etc. ensuring that users get a fantastic User Experience (UX) once the developer launches the site.

HTML Unit is also used for building and simulating e-commerce website elements like site security, form submission, navigation, etc.

Developers also use the HTML Unit to enhance the user experience by making a website’s Graphic User Interface more interactive. Hence, the HTML Unit is a popular tool for developing interactive websites with satisfactory performance.

The Splash headless browser is also a lightweight browser with several useful features. Splash headless browser renders JavaScript service using HTTP API implemented in Python using ‘Twisted’ and QT5. It supports all Languages and also has a BSD and 3-Clause license.

Using the Splash tool, you can render information in HAR format, take screenshots of webpages, and also integrate it with

Splash is a useful headless browser solution with multiple functionalities that makes it a much-desired tool by developers.

Is Web Scraping using Headless Browser Possible?

Headless browsers have web scraping functionalities for scraping data from websites. To perform web scraping functionalities, it essential to use a

to evade modern anti-scraping technologies employed by most websites.

, you are provided with access to over 2 million rotating proxies to mask and change your IP address at regular intervals (hence the term rotating proxy).

Besides, rotating proxies prevent websites with anti-scraping technologies from blocking your IP address due to consistent requests made to the servers.

Headless browsers are well-suited for scraping data from websites because of their flexibility and highly optimized performance.

Why you should use Rotating Proxies with a Headless Browser for Web Scraping?

You can use a rotating proxy to bypass blanket IP bans designed to block a large volume of data requests.

An essential factor to take into consideration when scraping data is the ability to scrape data anonymously without hassles.

compatible with your web scraping tool for seamless data scraping experience.

ProxyRack is compatible with all commonly-used web scraper tools. It also offers you all-round anonymity with its rotating proxy feature which changes your IP address automatically following an automated schedule IP changing, or manually.

is just the perfect combination of tools you need to evade anti-scraping technologies of websites while enjoying an optimized web scraping experience with any of the aforementioned headless browsers.

What is Headless Browser? Is Headless Browser Good for Web Scraping?

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.

Best Web Scraper Extensions for Google Chrome

Check out our Residential Rotating Proxies for Scraping

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.

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.

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.

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.

Listly web scraper extension for Google Chrome

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

. After installation, you can automate Grepsr to look for particular data types.

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.

Download the Agenty web scraper from the Google Chrome

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.

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.

Web Scraper tool will require your permission to access the following on your PC