Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups
Register | Login

Selenium VS Web Scraper

Compare Selenium VS Web Scraper and see what are their differences

ScreenshotMAX
The all-in-one Screenshot API for developers: capture websites, generate PDFs, record videos, and automate it all with powerful, scalable infrastructure. No browser setup, no hassle. Just clean results, fast. featured
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.
Contents:
  1. » Base Details
  2. » Videos
  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Selenium logo Selenium

Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that.

Web Scraper logo Web Scraper

Web site data extraction tool ⚒️
  • Selenium Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-08-22
  • Web Scraper Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-28

Selenium features and specs

  • Open Source
    Selenium is an open-source tool, which means it is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. This makes it a cost-effective choice for companies of all sizes.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Selenium supports multiple browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. This allows testers to ensure that web applications work seamlessly across different browsers.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Selenium can run on various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This provides flexibility to test on multiple platforms to ensure consistent user experience.
  • Supports Multiple Programming Languages
    Selenium supports multiple programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, and JavaScript. This allows testers to write their scripts in the language they are most comfortable with.
  • Rich Community and Documentation
    Being a widely-used tool, Selenium has extensive community support and a wealth of documentation and tutorials available. This makes it easier for new users to get started and find solutions to problems.
  • Integration with Other Tools
    Selenium integrates well with various testing frameworks and tools like TestNG, JUnit, and Maven, as well as CI/CD tools like Jenkins and Docker. This makes it a versatile and comprehensive automation solution.

Possible disadvantages of Selenium

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Selenium requires knowledge of programming to create and maintain test scripts. For those new to automation or coding, the learning curve can be quite steep.
  • No Built-in Reporting
    Selenium does not come with built-in reporting features. Testers must rely on third-party tools or build custom reporting solutions to generate test reports.
  • Limited Support for Desktop Applications
    Selenium is designed primarily for web application testing and offers limited support for desktop applications. This limits its use in scenarios where desktop application testing is needed.
  • Manual Effort for Maintenance
    Test scripts require regular maintenance to accommodate changes in the web application, such as updates to the UI or changes in element identifiers. This can lead to significant manual effort.
  • Performance Issues
    Selenium can be slower compared to other automation tools, especially when running extensive test suites. This can affect the speed of the overall testing process.
  • Browser Compatibility Issues
    Although Selenium supports multiple browsers, each browser's implementation of WebDriver may have unique quirks and bugs. This occasionally leads to test script compatibility issues across different browsers.

Web Scraper features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Web Scraper offers a user-friendly interface with a visual scraper builder that makes it accessible for users with minimal technical expertise. The browser extension facilitates easy setup and execution of scraping tasks.
  • Cost-effective
    It has a free tier that supports a wide range of scraping needs. The paid plans are reasonably priced, offering advanced features and capabilities for those who need them.
  • Multi-site Scraping
    Users can scrape data from multiple websites with support for pagination, which is essential for scraping large datasets spread across different web pages.
  • Cloud Scraping
    Web Scraper provides cloud services that allow users to run scraping jobs on their servers, thus freeing up local resources and ensuring more reliable execution of tasks.
  • Data Export Options
    It supports various data export formats, including CSV, JSON, and Excel. This flexibility makes it easier to integrate scraped data into different data processing workflows.

Possible disadvantages of Web Scraper

  • Limited Free Plan
    The free tier has limitations in terms of the number of scrapers, sitemap sizes, and scraping frequency. Users with higher demands may need to upgrade to a paid plan.
  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is user-friendly, there is still a learning curve, especially for more complex scraping tasks involving intricate website structures or dynamic content loaded via JavaScript.
  • Cloud Dependency
    For large-scale scraping tasks, reliance on the cloud service can be a downside if there are any service outages or latency issues, which could disrupt scraping jobs.
  • Limited Dynamic Content Handling
    Handling websites with heavy JavaScript content can be challenging. Although there are some capabilities for dealing with dynamic content, it might require additional tools or manual interventions for more complex scenarios.
  • Browser Extension Compatibility
    The Web Scraper extension is primarily designed for Google Chrome, which may be a drawback for users who prefer or are restricted to using other browsers.

Analysis of Selenium

Overall verdict

  • Selenium is a valuable tool for automated testing of web applications, providing flexibility, broad compatibility, and extensive support. It is particularly beneficial for teams looking for an open-source solution with a wide range of capabilities.

Why this product is good

  • Selenium is a highly popular open-source framework for automating web browsers. It supports multiple programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, and JavaScript, providing flexibility for testers with different coding skills. Selenium WebDriver, a core component, allows for creative and sophisticated testing through direct interaction with web pages. Its broad browser compatibility, community support, and extensive documentation make it a valuable tool for automated testing. It also integrates well with other tools and frameworks like Selenium Grid for parallel testing, and it can be used with CI/CD pipelines to facilitate continuous testing.

Recommended for

  • Software testers and QA engineers
  • Development teams implementing continuous integration and continuous testing
  • Organizations needing cross-browser testing solutions
  • Testers with programming skills in languages like Java, Python, or C#

Analysis of Web Scraper

Overall verdict

  • Web Scraper is a reliable and efficient tool for web data extraction. It combines ease of use with robust features, making it suitable for users who need to extract data without writing code.

Why this product is good

  • Web Scraper (webscraper.io) is considered good due to its user-friendly interface and powerful scraping capabilities. It offers a browser extension for easy setup, allows data export in multiple formats, and provides features like pagination handling and element selection, making it accessible for both beginners and advanced users. Additionally, it supports scheduled scraping and has cloud services for large-scale projects.

Recommended for

    Individuals and small to medium-sized businesses looking for a straightforward and effective way to collect data from web pages without the need for advanced programming skills. It is also ideal for marketers, researchers, and data analysts who require regular web data extraction.

Selenium videos

+ Add

What is Selenium | Selenium Explained in 2-minutes | Introduction to Selenium | Intellipaat

Web Scraper videos

+ Add

Web Scraper intro tutorial

More videos:

  • Review - Web scraper review
  • Tutorial - How to Extract Multiple Web Pages by Using Google Chorme Web Scraper Extension

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Selenium and Web Scraper)

Selenium

Web Scraper

Automated Testing
100 100%
Automated Testing
0% 0
Web Scraping
0 0%
Web Scraping
100% 100
Browser Testing
100 100%
Browser Testing
0% 0
Data Extraction
0 0%
Data Extraction
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Selenium and Web Scraper. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Selenium and Web Scraper

Selenium Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Nightwatch.js simplifies the setup and use of Selenium WebDriver, providing an abstraction layer that is easier to work with for JavaScript developers. While it offers the broad compatibility and standardization of Selenium WebDriver, it aims to improve the development experience with its simplified syntax and support for the Page Object pattern, making it a middle ground...
Source: bugbug.io
Top 5 Selenium Alternatives for Less Maintenance
And that’s why code-free test automation is important. Implementing codeless Selenium alternatives can address the challenges posed by traditional Selenium testing. They help testers with various skill sets to contribute to the testing process, enhancing collaboration and accelerating the testing lifecycle. For an in-depth discussion on the significance of codeless Selenium,...
Source: www.leapwork.com
Best Automation Testing Tools (Free and Paid) | July 2022
Automation testing is the process of testing the software using an automation tool to find the defects. In this process, executing the test scripts and generating the results are performed automatically by automation tools. Some most popular tools to do automation testing are HP QTP/UFT, Selenium WebDriver, etc.,
Source: www.softwaretestingmaterial.com
20 BEST Selenium Alternatives in 2021
Selenium is an open-source automated testing tool. It can perform functional, regression, load testing on web applications across different browsers and platforms. Selenium is one of the finest tools, but it does have some drawbacks.
Source: www.guru99.com
Top 10 Best Selenium Alternatives You Should Try
Selenium is a convenient and portable software testing tool specifically used for testing web applications. It acts as an API (Application Program Interface) for browser automation. Selenium is the widely used free and open-source tool used for automation testing of web applications through various browsers and platforms.
Source: www.softwaretestinghelp.com

Web Scraper Reviews

We have no reviews of Web Scraper yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Web Scraper should be more popular than Selenium. It has been mentiond 34 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.

Selenium mentions (9)

  • Top 7 Puppeteer Alternatives for Web Automation and Testing (2025)
    Selenium is one of the most popular and mature automated testing frameworks for web applications. Unlike Puppeteer, which is limited to Chromium, Selenium supports all major browsers—including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge—making it a reliable choice for Cross-platform browser testing. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How to write tests in Django for JavaScript fetch
    You won't be able to test the javascript function itself from within python, but you can exercise the front-end code using something like cypress (https://cypress.io) or the older but still respectable selenium (https://selenium.dev). Source: over 2 years ago
  • Having Issues with selenium
    In addition, .find_element_by_class_name is deprecated since selenium 4.3.0 and the replacement is .find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "class"). Check selenium's site for more info. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Issues with Selenium 4.8.0
    This is the code again after checking selenium's official site :. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Having Issues with selenium
    I also tried the following code seen on the selenium.dev website. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Web Scraper mentions (34)

  • How do I create a script that inspect the website and click all the button(parse address)?
    Point and click web browser plugin GUI: https://webscraper.io/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Web scraper for a flight price comparison website?
    In my 5+ years of experience as the scraper guy in the office, paying for these services could take a lot of money. So automated scraping might be your option. If you need help, tap me. Or you could use webscraper.io for easier nocode approach to it if you wanna do it yourself. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Data from EuroNews.com
    I don't know what corpus linguistic analysis is, but you can scrape the articles off of their website and analyse it in whichever software you're comfortable with. If you're not familiar with a programming language, you can use a GUI scraper like this one. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Issues scouting the right web scraper
    I'm looking into VPNs that have rotating IPs with time-set features. Didnt find any yet that I can try for free first. For the scraping Im using a free chrome browser extension from https://webscraper.io/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • [Help] how to make a copy of an online database
    For text only dbs a even a scraper addon would do. Try something like webscraper.io, it takes a bit of fucking around to get it working but it's foolproof. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Selenium and Web Scraper, you can also consider the following products

Katalon - Built on the top of Selenium and Appium, Katalon Studio is a free and powerful automated testing tool for web testing, mobile testing, and API testing.

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

Cypress.io - Slow, difficult and unreliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Install Cypress in seconds and take the pain out of front-end testing.

Scrapy - Scrapy | A Fast and Powerful Scraping and Web Crawling Framework

BrowserStack - BrowserStack is a software testing platform for developers to comprehensively test websites and mobile applications for quality.

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.

Loading...