Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ScrapingBee VS Screen Scraper

Compare ScrapingBee VS Screen Scraper and see what are their differences

ScrapingBee logo ScrapingBee

ScrapingBee is a Web Scraping API that handles proxies and Headless browser for you, so you can focus on extracting the data you want, and nothing else.

Screen Scraper logo Screen Scraper

Screen Scraper is a web data extraction tool that allows users to extract data from any website according to their requirement and save it online or download it.
  • ScrapingBee Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-12

Web Scraping is hard, scraping at scale can be very challenging.

You have to handle:

  • Javascript rendering 💻
  • Chrome headless 🛠
  • Captcha 🤖
  • Proxy 🕵️‍♀️

ScrapingBee is a simple API that does all the above for you, and much more.

  • Screen Scraper Landing page
    Landing page //
    2020-07-02

ScrapingBee

$ Details
freemium $49.0 / Monthly (Freelance / 10,000 searches / 100,000 credits)
Platforms
REST API
Release Date
2019 July

Screen Scraper

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

ScrapingBee features and specs

  • Easy to Use
    ScrapingBee provides a simple API that allows developers to scrape web pages without worrying about handling proxies or web browser rendering.
  • JavaScript Rendering
    With built-in JavaScript rendering, ScrapingBee can handle complex web pages that rely heavily on JavaScript for content display, making it suitable for scraping modern websites.
  • Proxy Management
    ScrapingBee automatically manages proxies, meaning developers don't have to deal with proxy rotation, blacklisting, or bans.
  • Rate Limiting Control
    The service offers control over rate limits, making it possible to scrape at a custom speed that suits your needs and prevents being blocked by target websites.
  • Custom Headers Support
    ScrapingBee allows the use of custom headers, enabling users to mimic different browsers or add specific headers required by the target site.
  • Geolocation
    It provides geolocation-based scraping, which is useful for accessing content that is region-restricted.

Possible disadvantages of ScrapingBee

  • Cost
    ScrapingBee is a paid service, and costs can add up depending on the volume and complexity of your scraping needs.
  • Rate Limits
    Even though it offers control over rate limits, there are still predefined limits depending on your plan, which might not suit very high-volume scraping needs.
  • Dependency on External Service
    Relying on an external service means that you are dependent on ScrapingBee's uptime and performance, which may affect your operations if the service faces downtime.
  • Data Privacy
    Using a third-party service for web scraping means sharing your scraping activities with ScrapingBee, which could raise data privacy concerns.
  • Limited Customization
    While ScrapingBee handles many aspects of web scraping for you, it may not offer the level of customization that a self-built scraping solution could provide.

Screen Scraper features and specs

  • Versatility
    Screen Scraper can extract data from websites that use a variety of technologies, making it a versatile tool for different scraping needs.
  • Customization
    The tool offers customizable scraping scripts, allowing users to tailor their data extraction processes to meet specific requirements.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Screen Scraper provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of setting up scraping tasks, even for those with limited technical knowledge.
  • Data Export Options
    The software supports multiple data export formats, such as CSV and XML, providing flexibility in how users manage and utilize scraped data.
  • Scheduling
    Screen Scraper allows users to schedule scraping tasks to run automatically at specified times, enhancing workflow automation.

Possible disadvantages of Screen Scraper

  • Cost
    The software is not free, and the cost might be prohibitive for individual users or small businesses with limited budgets.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there can be a learning curve for new users, particularly when dealing with advanced features and complex scraping scripts.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    Screen Scraper relies on a stable internet connection for its operations, which could be a limitation in areas with unreliable connectivity.
  • Legal and Ethical Concerns
    Users must be aware of legal and ethical considerations surrounding web scraping, as inappropriate use could lead to violations of terms of service or legal consequences.
  • Performance Limitations
    For extremely large-scale projects, the software might face performance limitations compared to more robust, custom-built scraping tools and solutions.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ScrapingBee and Screen Scraper)
Web Scraping
78 78%
22% 22
Data Extraction
76 76%
24% 24
Web Scraping API
100 100%
0% 0
Data
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ScrapingBee seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ScrapingBee mentions (3)

  • Self-hosted, simple web browser service – send URL, get screenshots
    If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. *... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Are there any APIs that maintain a database of subscriptions?
    If you really just need the data you can use something like https://scrapingbee.com to scrape the info from the various price pages to make sure your info is always up to date. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Our bootstrapped SaaS just turned 3 and reached $1.5m ARR: the lessons learned.
    Well done! And posting here was a great idea. Not sure I would have found scrapingbee.com otherwise. We will probably become a customer. Signed up for the trial account. Source: almost 3 years ago

Screen Scraper mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Screen Scraper yet. Tracking of Screen Scraper recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ScrapingBee and Screen Scraper, you can also consider the following products

Zyte - We're Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub), the central point of entry for all your web data needs.

Diggernaut - Web scraping is just became easy. Extract any website content and turn it into datasets. No programming skills required.

Apify - Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can turn any website into an API.

Agenty - Machine Intelligence, Web scraping tool

Bright Data - World's largest proxy service with a residential proxy network of 72M IPs worldwide and proxy management interface for zero coding.

Octoparse - Octoparse provides easy web scraping for anyone. Our advanced web crawler, allows users to turn web pages into structured spreadsheets within clicks.