Introduction to proxies in Web Scraping. The ultimate guide for using proxies for Web Scraping with Python Posted at

Introduction to proxies in Web Scraping. The ultimate guide for using proxies for Web Scraping with Python Posted at

Python is a high-level programming language that is used for web development, mobile application development, and also for scraping the web.

Python is considered as the finest programming language for web scraping because it can handle all the crawling processes smoothly. When you combine the capabilities of Python with the security of a web proxy , then you can perform all your scraping activities smoothly without the fear of IP banning.

In this article, you will understand how proxies are used for web scraping with Python. But, first, let’s understand the basics.

 

WHAT IS WEB SCRAPING?

Web scraping works by first crawling the URLs and then downloading the page data one by one. All the extracted data is stored in a spreadsheet. You save tons of time when you automate the process of copying and pasting data. You can easily extract data from thousands of URLs based on your requirement to stay ahead of your competitors.

 

EXAMPLE OF WEB SCRAPING

An example of a web scraping would be to download a list of all pet parents in California. You can scrape a web directory that lists the name and email ids of people in California who own a pet. You can use web scraping software to do this task for you. The software will crawl all the required URLs and then extract the required data. The extracted data will be kept in a spreadsheet.

 

WHY USE A PROXY FOR WEB SCRAPING?

• Proxy lets you bypass any content related geo-restrictions because you can choose a location of your choice.
• You can place a high number of connection requests without getting banned.
• It increases the speed with which you request and copy data because any issues related to your ISP slowing down your internet speed is reduced.
• Your crawling program can smoothly run and download the data without the risk of getting blocked.

Now that you have understood the basics of web scraping and proxies. Let’s learn how you can perform web scraping using a proxy with the Python programming language.

Web Scraping API. What is API Web Scraping (How Does it Work?)

Let’s say you’re on Amazon and you want to download a list of certain products and their prices to better tailor your business strategy. You have two options: first, you could use the same format the website you’re viewing uses, or two, you could manually copy and paste the information you need into a spreadsheet. If both of those options sound daunting and like a lot of work, you’re right. Fortunately, web scraping can make this process easier.

In short, a web scraper API is the perfect solution for any developer, digital marketer, or small business leader who is looking for a programmatic way to scrape data without any need to worry about the management of scraping servers and proxies. An API will handle all of the obscure processing stuff for you and simply funnel scraped data into your existing software programs and processes. From there, you can do whatever further data processing you need. An API can drive data-driven insights in limitless ways. Treat data as a valuable resource, use the right tools to optimize that collection process, and then you can use its value to guide your processes in whatever direction you need.

What is web scraping?

Web scraping is the process of extracting large amounts of data into a spreadsheet or another format of your choosing. In order to scrape a website, you’ll pick a URL (or several) that you want to extract data from and load it into the web scraper. Once this URL is entered, the web scraper will load the HTML code, allowing you to customize what type of data you’d like to be extracted.

For example, let’s say you sell camping gear and you want to extract all of the products and their prices from your competitor’s website for the same kind of products but you want to omit the excess information like reviews and other information you don’t need. All you’d have to do is filter out what you don’t want to be included and the web scraper will compile a list containing only the information you need. This is where API comes in.

What is API?

Application programming interface (commonly abbreviated as API) allows two different types of programs to talk to one another. An API is a computing interface that simplifies interactions between different pieces of software you use APIs every single day. Chatting with someone through social media and even checking your daily email on your iPhone are both common examples of how an API works. In the case of our web scraping API, you can use a piece of software to send a request to our API endpoint and execute a web scraping command, as defined in the documentation . Users can submit a web scraping request and get the data they need immediately – 60 seconds to be exact – and have it organized and downloaded in their preferred format, all of which is done in real-time.

VPN for Web Scraping. Scrape hidden data from complex & protected website — Opera VPN my precious

To build a data science project, we first need data. In many use cases, the data comes from internal relational or non-relational databases. But, the best way to get massive free data collection is to use Crawling/Scraping techniques. Of course, in the last ten years of scraping, companies have updated the way they protect their data and it can be very difficult today to collect data from some websites.

Even though the task is more complex, some of us continue to do it and try to elevate it to an art form. The latest case studies have focused on LinkedIn and Facebook in particular, where, using advanced scraping techniques, they have managed to collect more than 70% of all the data they have.

In this article, we will see the use of Opera VPN, to bypass complex geolocation restrictions when scraping a website.

Disclaimer: this informations on this article is provided for education and informational purpose only. Please note that the information provided on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute professional legal advice on the practice of web scraping. If you are concerned about the legal implications of using web scraping on a project you are working on, it is probably a good idea to seek advice from a professional, preferably someone who has knowledge of the intellectual property (copyright) legislation in effect in your country. Selenium supports automation of all the major browsers in the market through the use of WebDriver .

Best FREE Proxy List. 7 Best FREE Proxy Server List (2023 Update)

Hiding your IP is especially important to research sensitive information. Whether your research is business-related or private, your ISP or government can track those back to you. Even if you are not doing anything wrong, it is always natural to dislike monitoring.

A Proxy Server is a service that allows you to access the internet through it while being anonymous. Instead of directly accessing your target website, the Proxy will fetch the data for you. With the Proxy as a gateway, you can view and access websites privately. Your ISP will only see you accessing the Proxy, but they will not know which websites you visited or what you did there.

Following is a handpicked list of Top Free Proxy List, with their description, USP, and key statistics.

Best Free Proxy Server & Sites for Anonymous Web Browsing

is the market-leading data collection company that offers all-inclusive proxy services globally.

Bright Data has the most reliable and among the largest number of proxies in the market with an IP pool that cuts across both residential and mobile proxies. Its proxies are widely used for web scraping and crawling, SEO auditing, brand protection, and ads verification. It provides free access to powerful tools like Bright Data Proxy Manager, Proxy Browser Extension, and API.

#1 Top Pick

Bright Data

5.0

Total Proxies: 81,000,000+ (Datacenter, Residential, Mobile and ISPs)

Total Countries: Worldwide

Secure HTTPS Connection to Site: Yes

HTTPS Proxy: Yes

Free Trial: 7-day free trial

Visit Bright Data

Features:

• 99.9% Success Rate
• Full/worldwide geo-location
• Fully compliant and patented
• Most stable and reliable proxy pool
• Exceptional, around-the-clock Customer Service (rated 4.8 on Trustpilot)
• Real-time network performance dashboard for full transparency.

Key Specs:

• Total Proxies: 81,000,000+ (Datacenter, Residential, Mobile and ISPs)
• Total Countries: Worldwide
• Secure HTTPS Connection to Site: Yes
• HTTP Proxy: Yes
• HTTPS Proxy: Yes
• SOCKS4 Proxy: Yes
• SOCKS5 Proxy: Yes
• Choose Country: Yes
• Choose City: Yes

is a proxy service that is known for its signature Rotating Datacenter proxies. They offer free proxy services with fast connection speed, which makes them ideal for fast scraping projects.

#2

Webshare

4.9

Total Proxies: 40,000,000+ (Residential, Datacenter, Mobile)

Total Countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, France, Hong Kong & 20+ more.

Secure HTTPS Connection to Site: Yes

HTTPS Proxy: Yes

Free Trial: 10 Free Proxies (No Credit Required)

Visit Webshare

Features:

• Free trial available.
• Offers rotating datacenter proxies.
• Provides private and anonymous proxy servers.
• Allows integrating SOCKS5 proxy with any application.

Key Specs:

• Total Proxies: 40,000,000+ (Residential, Datacenter, Mobile)
• Total Countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, & 20+ more.
• Secure HTTPS Connection to Site: Yes
• HTTP Proxy: Yes
• HTTPS Proxy: Yes
• SOCKS5 Proxy: Yes
• Mobile Proxy: Yes
• Choose Country: Yes
• Choose City: Yes

Launched in 2018,has grown to a premium proxy service provider and aspiring data extraction platform. A quickly growing proxy provider gets compliments for a reason – despite affordable prices, it offers business-class customer service and impressive performance metrics for speed and stability. If the service doesn’t live up to your expectations, Smartproxy offers a 3-day money-back option.

Features:

• 40M+ real device residential IPs
• 195 + locations with country, state, and city-level targeting
• Success rate: 99.47%
• Average proxy speed
• Full anonymity and security
• Unlimited connections and threads
• Pay As You Go option – pay as little as $12.5/GB
• Instant 24/7 live-chat support
• Smoothest self-service experience with no commitments

Key Specs:

• Total Proxies: 40,000,000+ (Residential, Datacenter, Mobile)
• Total Countries: 195
• Secure HTTPS Connection to Site: Yes
• HTTP Proxy: Yes
• HTTPS Proxy: Yes
• SOCKS5 Proxy: Yes
• Mobile Proxy: Yes

4) Spys. one

Spys. one is one of the know proxy sites that started their service in 2008 and hosted on its current URL since 2017. It provides Proxy/IP/network tools and is free. Spys. one also supports various protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS.

Spys. one also supports Squid Proxy. Squid Proxy is a Unix-based Proxy Server capable of caching and Proxying. It can store web app data in your local files so that the next time you visit the site, the browser can fetch the cached app data from your local machine. Caching will make the site load faster and save some bandwidth on your end. There are > 3500 Squid Proxies in Spys.one at the time of writing.