Every single day, the world generates a staggering 402.74 million terabytes. That’s 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. This massive volume of information influences nearly every decision we make, from researching school assignments and planning vacations to running successful businesses. Web scraping with proxies will collect that data for you.
If you’re not particularly tech-savvy or are merely inexperienced, figuring out everything necessary to get started may seem like a daunting task. Let me help you.
In this article, I’ll go over the types of data scrapers that are out there, the relationship between data scraping and using proxy servers, and why those proxies are crucial.
What Is Web Scraping?
Keeping it short and sweet, web scraping is when a program visits websites on your behalf to gather the information you requested.
Web scraping allows us to automate the process of extracting data from the web, which can be used for a variety of applications, including market analysis, data mining, and competitive intelligence.
Source: Bergman, Michael K. White Paper: The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 2001.
That might not sound very impressive at first, but consider the speed and scale at which a computer can run. A single program running through proxies can do hundreds, if not thousands, of requests in the time it would take you to do a single check manually.
Also read: The Importance of Web Scraping
Is Web Scraping Legal?
Short answer: yes! As determined by law, if you are collecting data that is available in the public domain that isn’t copyright protected, then you’re good to go. Of course, this is assuming that what you plan to do with that information is legal.
If you can access the data in an incognito browser, you can scrape it, because multiple court rulings have consistently supported this principle.
Source: Adrian Horning, Scrape Creators
However, confidential information or private contact information that you gather without permission and intend to sell to a 3rd party is not legal.
Even though it is legal in most cases, use your scraper respectfully. When using a scraper through a proxy to send numerous requests a second, directing them all to a single server can overwhelm it. This can manifest as service slowdown, or even outright crash the server.
In light of this threat, many websites have restrictions in place that block sources that exceed 600 requests in an hour.
Also read: Well Paid Web Scraping Projects
What Kinds of Scrapers Are There?
There are 3 types of web scrapers: browser plugins, software, and cloud-based scrapers.
Browser plugins are extensions you install in your browser, like Excavator. However, these kinds of scrapers are fairly limited, as you can only look at one page at a time.
Software web scrapers are bots you run that then send out requests as per how it is programmed. There are no coding-required ones out there that are point-and-click to set up, like dexi. Of course, you have to pay to use more than their most limited features.
To do anything advanced for free then you need to be willing to do some coding. If you have some experience with Python, then BeautifulSoup is a beginner-friendly tool to get you going.
Lastly, cloud-based scrapers are externally run and are capable of much larger-scale scraping. All the info they gather is saved to the cloud, and no downloads are required on your part. A prime example is Diggernaut, although their free option is extremely limited.
Web Scrapers Types at a Glance
| Feature | Browser Plugins | Software Scrapers | Cloud-Based Scrapers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Browser extensions installed directly into your web browser | Desktop applications or bots installed and run on your computer | Externally hosted services that run scraping operations in the cloud |
| Ease of Use | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Easy Point-and-click interface | ⭐⭐⭐ Moderate Ranges from simple GUI to complex coding | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Easy to Moderate User-friendly dashboard |
| Technical Skills Required | None – Beginner friendly | Varies (None to Advanced coding) | Basic to None |
| Scale Capability | ❌ Limited One page at a time | ✅ Moderate to High Multiple pages/sites simultaneously | ✅✅ Very High Large-scale operations |
| Cost | $ Free to Low Most are free or inexpensive | $$ Free to Moderate Free options available; paid tools offer more features | $$$ Moderate to High Subscription-based pricing |
| Installation Required | ✅ Yes (Browser extension only) | ✅ Yes (Desktop application) | ❌ No (Web-based) |
| Data Storage | Local computer (manual export) | Local computer or database | Cloud storage (automatic) |
| Speed | 🐌 Slow Limited by browser performance | 🏃 Fast Depends on computer specs | 🚀 Very Fast Powerful server infrastructure |
| Best For | • Beginners • Small, one-time tasks • Quick data extraction • Testing/learning | • Regular scraping tasks • Custom requirements • Developers/tech-savvy users • Offline data processing | • Large-scale projects • Businesses • Continuous data collection • Multiple geographic locations |
| Main Limitations | • Single-page scraping only • Limited features • Browser must stay open • No automation | • Requires computer resources • Manual updates needed • Limited by hardware • Computer must be on | • Ongoing subscription costs • Less control over process • Free tiers very limited • Internet dependency |
| Scheduling Capability | ❌ No automated scheduling | ✅ Yes (with setup) | ✅✅ Yes (built-in feature) |
| Proxy Integration | ⚠️ Limited or None | ✅ Yes (manual configuration) | ✅✅ Yes (often included) |
Also read: Five Reasons to Never Use Free Proxies for Web Scraping
What is a Proxy?
Proxies serve as the middleman between you and the websites you are accessing. Everything you do online will involve an IP address, which is effectively the digital equivalent of your street address.
The proxy will hand out its IP address instead, so it looks like those bot requests are coming from different places. There are a lot of different kinds of proxies out there, which can seem pretty confusing. I’ll go over them in just a little bit though, don’t worry.
Also read: Anti-Scraping Technology
Why Do I Need A Proxy When Web Scraping?
As I mentioned earlier, websites often have anti-bot measures in place to protect themselves from negative use cases. When your proxy hands them different IP addresses though, it can look like a bunch of different people are all doing normal requests. This way they won’t ban you due to spamming them.
Not only that but web scraping with proxies can make it look like you’re from a designated part of the globe. This way you can view location-specific information on the sites you’re collecting data from. Unfortunately, this feature often limits your available IP addresses and also raises the cost of the proxy.
Similarly, you can make it seem like you’re on a mobile device from a PC, or vice versa if you want to access the site’s alternate version.
Also read: Five Tips for Outsmarting Anti-Scraping Techniques
What Kinds of Proxy IPs Are Available?
There are three primary types of proxies with sub-variations within them. They are datacenter IPs, residential IPs, and mobile IPs.
Datacenter IP proxies are the most plentiful and affordable type of proxy. They’re a massive pool of IPs from collections of servers within data centers. Their downside is that the fact they are a proxy is detectable. Depending on what websites you are gathering data from, they might mass-ban the IP range that the data center has as part of their anti-bot countermeasures.
Residential IP proxies use collections of IP addresses that belong to private residences. This way any website you access via the proxy thinks it’s just a normal person doing a regular request. They can’t identify it as a proxy. Of course, this aspect raises the price of the proxy service, but it isn’t necessarily expensive. This is the optimal proxy for web scraping.
Mobile IP proxies use collections of mobile device IP addresses. These are the rarest type of proxy services and are also the most expensive. When data scraping, it’s generally advised to only pay extra for mobile IPs when you specifically want to see mobile-targeted results.
There are two types of residential proxies, rotating and static, which I’ll cover briefly.
Also read: Residential Proxy Use Cases
Types of Residential Proxies
The majority of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) give users rotating IP addresses by default. You’ll be assigned a new IP address each time you plug your modem in after having it unplugged for a while. Some ISPs let you sign up for a static IP address so it will never change. This is generally reserved for commercial use though.
A static residential proxy mimics this behavior, giving you one fixed IP address. This isn’t well suited for web scraping purposes though.
Sticky sessions can give you a specific IP for 1, 10, or 30 minutes depending on the proxy’s settings. There are many use cases for this style, but generally when web scraping you’ll want to go with a rotating residential proxy.
However, you’ll want to use a sticky session if the site you are gathering data from requires a login and a continuous session to access.
Also read: Top 5 Best Rotating Residential Proxies
Can I Use A Free Proxy?
Regardless of what you’re using a proxy for, you always should steer clear of free proxies. They’re the lowest quality, and can often be potentially hazardous to use. Because they’re free to use, they are usually blacklisted by most websites thanks to people using them to slam requests on their servers in the past.
Even worse, those public proxies are often carrying malware that can infect you. To add insult to injury, they might also expose your scraping activities if your security isn’t set up properly. In much lighter news, any respectable paid service won’t allow such antics.
Also read: Free Libraries to Build Your Own Web Scraper
Conclusion
Now that you’re familiar with a few of the various web scraping tools that are available along with the proxies they are best paired with, I have one last piece of advice for you. When you’re setting up your scraper, avoid using direct links. Set it up to act like a ‘real’ user that finds the site from a search engine, goes through the site’s built-in search features, and maybe even makes it wander through a few random pages.
Whether you’re going to dip your toes into coding a scraper or use one with no coding required, you’re going to need a reliable proxy. Except for a few niche scenarios, you’ll want a rotating residential proxy. KocerRoxy is easy to use, affordable, and has top-tier customer service. Now that you know what to do, it’s time to start web scraping with proxies backing you up!
FAQs About Web Scraping With Proxies
Q1. Do I need proxies for web scraping?
Yes, proxies are essential for effective web scraping. They mask your IP address, preventing websites from blocking you due to multiple requests. Proxies also allow you to bypass anti-bot measures, access location-specific content, and maintain continuous scraping operations without interruption or bans.
Q2. What’s the best proxy type for web scraping?
Rotating residential proxies are optimal for web scraping. They use real residential IP addresses that websites can’t identify as proxies, preventing blocks. They automatically rotate IPs to mimic natural user behavior, making them more reliable than datacenter proxies, which are easily detected and banned.
Q3. Are free proxies safe for web scraping?
No, free proxies should be avoided. They’re typically blacklisted by websites, carry malware risks, and may expose your scraping activities. Free proxies offer the lowest quality service and are often blocked, making them unreliable and potentially dangerous for any scraping operations.
Q4. Is web scraping legal?
Yes, web scraping is legal when collecting publicly available, non-copyrighted data. However, scraping private information, confidential data, or personal contact details without permission is illegal. Always respect website terms of service and avoid overwhelming servers with excessive requests.
