Top 8 Alternatives to Import.io for Data Scraping (2023 Edition)

WebscrapingAPI on Nov 01 2022

Import.io is a tool used for scraping data from eCommerce web pages. It's easy to use and supports many different file formats and languages. Yet, you might need to consider an alternative to import.io.

Import.io is a web scraping tool that allows you to collect data from the web. Websites are constantly changing, and it is more difficult to scrape web data at scale. Import.io thus offers the technology and experience to deliver accurate eCommerce web data.

Import.io has also designed its processes to scale up as needed. It prioritizes data completeness and quality. In doing so, you can use the data and may have high trust in the visualizations and models you build.

There are currently so many kinds of web scrapers on the market that it is tough to pick one. There is a possibility that the web scraper you select doesn't serve you well. Even if you believe you have made the perfect decision.

In this blog, I'll share some alternatives to Import.io that you can try. You can use these alternatives if you don't like having everything in one place. You might also want more control over importing your data into other systems.

What does Import.io Do?

Import.io automates online data scraping from any eCommerce web page for enterprises ranging from small and medium businesses to corporate. It offers complete, accurate, and reliable data. Teams such as IT, market researchers, and data scientists can use this data.

Import.io Online Data Integration views the entire web data lifecycle as a single process in which extraction, processing, integration, and analysis can all take place in a single environment, increasing data quality and control. 

Within the platform, data may be seen and formatted, cleaned and arranged, visualized and analyzed. The acquired data can be processed within the platform before being incorporated into other systems.

Why you need an alternative to Import.io

The main reason why you need an alternative to import.io is that it's a paid tool. Many people prefer free solutions. Yet, there are also some limitations to the free version. You can only extract data once within your trial period.

It also limits the number of users allowed on any given day to one hundred per day. Furthermore, other tools are offering similar functionality to import.io. Some even surpass it. Yet, the fact remains that they all need investment before putting them to use in earnest.

The import.io tool is not for you if you are seeking an easy-to-use program for scraping data from the web. Yes, if you are a new user, you will need to spend some time getting acclimated to the tool. But, once you get accustomed to it, it becomes second nature.

There is no question that the import.io tool works, and many firms use it to scrape eCommerce web data. But, if its drawbacks turn you off, then here are the eight best alternatives to import.io.

Choosing the right data extraction tool can be challenging for your brand. I recommend you try a few and choose the best one that fits your requirements. Import.io is one of the most popular tools and has many features.

The free version allows you to extract data from websites and more! It also works with any website or app. You don’t need to worry about accessing their API key or any other technical jargon required. Yet, import.io has its disadvantages.

The following are my main reasons why you need an alternative to import.io:

1. Accuracy

Scraping the information is only half the battle. You can finish the task after verifying its accuracy. Choose one that preserves snapshots of scraped pages, making it possible to check the data. 

If you desire such functionalities, you have to submit unique requirements to DaaS providers

2. Ecommerce Solutions

Import.io delivers Data for dealing with a variety of eCommerce-based issue statements. eCommerce-specific solutions are also provided by  PromptCloud, Apify, Octoparse, and Oxylabs.

3. Compliance

It is preferable to scrape data while remaining on the right side of the law. This is because of the increasing regulations and legal fights surrounding online scraping. Choose one that especially emphasizes GDPR and CCPA compliance. 

If you choose some options, you may need to clarify the laws in the area. Clarify laws on the Data you are covering from which you are obtaining.

4. Scale

Import.io claims to expand as needed, scraping as many websites as you choose. You can also do this as you want and collect billions of data points. Every DaaS service provider might find similar functionalities, such as PromptCloud. 

You will need to consider the cost and the time required to scrape a specific quantity of data. It would be best if you had this before deciding on a final solution.

Top 8 Alternatives to import.io for Data Scraping

1. Prompt Cloud

Prompt Cloud is a web-based data extraction tool. It helps you to extract data from websites, web pages, and documents. It can extract data from many sources at the same time. Prompt Cloud has two versions; one for Windows and macOS and one for Linux.

The interface of Prompt Cloud looks simple but efficient. It displays your results in a table with columns for each column name and its value. You can also choose what kind of information should appear in each column by clicking on any cell.

You can click again on the "Next" button under the "Results" section to move further. Scroll to your desired results table until reaching an endpoint. The endpoint is where you can scrape all possible values from all chosen sources

Prompt Cloud will assist you in:

• Large scale or Enterprise Web Scraping
• Scraping Solutions in the Cloud
•  Live crawls and data mining that generate an updated data stream
• Extractions on Schedule
  2. Bright Data

 You can extract data from various sources into Bright Data. Bright Data supports standard file formats such as CSV, XML, and JSON. It also integrates databases into your organization's analytics pipeline.

You can use its out-of-the-box connectors to connect with several popular databases. Such databases are MySQL and Postgresql.

It is also wholly CCPA and GDPR-compliant. This allows organizations on different continents to use it. Scraping data from firms and individuals in different countries is also possible. 

Bright Data's scraping technology is cloud-based and has minor downtime. Its AI-based solutions arrange the scraped data. 

3. Apify

Apify is a platform for data extraction, processing, and analysis. It helps you extract data from any source and make it available in your application. You can also use Apify to process and analyze the raw files you have stored on our servers all in one tool.

Apify is a "one-stop for data extraction, web scraping, and robotic process automation." It provides both custom solutions. But, you will need to fill out and submit a form to receive a price and ready-to-use tools. 

Most of these aim at eCommerce sites such as Best Buy or Amazon. You may test Apify's ready-to-use products for free before committing to them. Their services enable you to scrape any page and convert it to a web scraped API.

4. Diffbot

 Diffbot is a web crawler that extracts structured data from web pages. It has two versions, one free and another paid one. The free version has some limitations, but it can still be in use in many situations. The paid version has more features and performance capabilities than the free one.

Diffbot can extract data from a single page or many pages. It also can crawl websites by following links. It's ideal for extracting data from deep web pages that aren't linked on Google search results.

Diffbot offers several services, including:

• Finding and gathering news data about current events, organizations, and people.
• Increase the number of web sources used to supplement current datasets.
• Natural language reasoning of entities and connections, as well as data sentiment analysis
• Crawling any webpage and transforming all its material in an organized way.
  
  5. Octoparse

Octoparse is a web scraping tool that uses Python 3. It is built on top of the Selenium library, which makes it easy to write tests in Python.

Octoparse supports scraping all major web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. The tool can also scrape data from dynamic web pages (like Google Analytics).

You can configure Octoparse with different options. You can do this by disabling images or setting an interval between requests.

Octoparse is a powerful tool that scrapes data from any website. The octoparse user interface is understandable and can get you started with web scraping.

You may construct your web crawler using Octoparse. You can also extract data from any e-commerce platform using Octoparse. The point-and-shoot Octoparse functionality can help you scrape data from your E-commerce site.

This program handles AJAX requests and login authentication. It also handles dropdown menus and endless scrolling in a snap. Octoparse's perks include cloud platform-based architecture, IP rotation, and scheduled scraping. 

6. ParseHub

ParseHub is a web service that allows you to extract data from websites. It's a great alternative to import.io. It has many features that make it easy for beginners to start scraping.

ParseHub offers a free plan which includes up to 5,000 records per month). It also offers paid plans with different limits on the number of monthly records you can access.

ParseHub supports standard file formats such as CSV, XML, and JSON. Analysts, consultants, aggregators and marketplaces, sales leads, and journalists use ParseHub. It has also been used by developers, data scientists, and eCommerce enterprises.

7. Proxycrawl

Proxycrawl is a proxy-based web scraping tool. It allows you to extract data from websites that are not available via APIs, and it's also cloud-based.

It's essential to remember that Proxycrawl is a paid service. If you don't need the extra features, then it may not be worth using as an alternative solution. It may also be the case if you don't want to pay for them (like the ability to extract structured Data).

You can use it in your web scraping project or a larger automated workflow. You can use it where many tools work together on different parts of the same domain or website.

You can crawl both static and produced JavaScript webpages. You can crawl websites built using Vue, Ember, Angular, React, and other frameworks. You can then translate them to basic HTML and extract them for data points.

Proxycrawl preserves scanned-page screenshots for further data verification. 

8. Web Scraping API

WebScrapingAPI has a highly user-friendly experience which with no doubt is my best experience. Additionally, WebScrapingAPI’s starting price is $49 per month. That offers me a reasonable price without any headaches.

In addition to the interface, WebScrapingAPI has offered me customizability. I cannot describe in one word how this feature has come in handy for me. But it is definitely worth every penny.

WebScrapingAPI also manages transparency in the backend. It provides a knowledge base of every client and API documentation. Apart from that, it has an excellent technical proficiency with over 100 million proxies ensuring you don’t get blocked.

Further to this, WebScrapingAPI provides Javascript rendering. You can activate this feature using real browsers. This enables you to see what is exactly being displayed to users. That includes single-page applications using React, Vue, AngularJS, or other libraries.

Think of this. What they see is what you get. What better competitive edge could that have?

Moreover, having an infrastructure built in Amazon Web Services gives you access to secure, reliable, and extensive mass data.

In my honest opinion, there is no way you can resist using WebScrapingAPI

Advantages

• Built on AWS
• Speed Obsessive Architecture
• EVERY package has Javascript rendering
• High-quality services uptime and absolute stability
• Customizable features
• Affordable pricing
• Over 100 million rotating proxies to reduce blocking
  

Disadvantages

None discovered yet.

Pricing

• The starting plan for WebScrapingAPI is $49 per month. With that, you get standard email support, data center proxies, Javascript rendering, 10 concurrent requests, and 100000 API calls.
• Free trial options with all packages

Why WebScrapingAPI is my Top Pick:

WebScrapingAPI is my top pick. Why? Because it offers a straightforward one-click solution for everyone in one API. When other tools make up for their incapability by using a user-friendly interface, WebScrapingAPI makes no compromises.

Also, WebScrapingAPI's infrastructure has been built on Amazon Web Services. How is this beneficial? Well, if you would love a book on early immigrants of a country, for example, would you have a better chance of finding it at a local library or any world library?

That is what you get when you have access to Amazon Web Services. You get access to any back door in the world. Hence, companies like SteelSeries, Perrigo, InfraWare, Deloitte, and Wunderman Thompson trust WebScrapingAPI for their data needs and web scraping services.

Let us not forget the advanced feature in WebScrapingAPI that allows you to customize your requests. You can pick from IP geo locations, headers, or sticky sessions with simple mouse clicks, to meet your specific needs. 

How cool is that? You save both time and money.

Take a moment and think of all you can do with such data at your disposal. You can use the API to get your hands on the competition's costs and offer your clients a better deal. 

A prospective investor can also make investment decisions based on the latest financial data to know if it will bring them a profit or loss.

Moreover, the starting plan for WebScrapingAPI is $49 per month. Combined with the free trial options, it becomes one of the most cost-effective services. You get quality service with affordable pricing. That makes WebScrapingAPI a pocket-friendly choice for you.

The nature of WebScrapingAPI makes it an easy and capable solution for individuals to big enterprises. That makes it my top choice as the best web data extraction tool out here! It has all the features you need and saves you time freeing you from unnecessary headaches.

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