What is Instant Data Scraper?
If you need to collect website data quickly and easily, Instant Data Scraper is a browser extension that could be the answer.
This tool is particularly useful for those who want to avoid the complex coding that is usually associated with web scraping.
- Automatic extraction: The tool identifies and retrieves structured data such as tables and lists.
- Data export: Extracted data can be exported in CSV or Excel formats.
In summary, Instant Data Scraper is a handy tool for small projects where speed is a key factor.
Features
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to collect data from websites, you may be interested in the features of Instant Data Scraper. This tool is designed to make the data extraction process as easy as possible, without requiring programming skills.
- Automatic Data Extraction: The tool is able to automatically detect tables and lists on a web page to extract data.
- Easy export: Once the data is collected, you can export it with a single click in formats such as CSV or Excel.
Use cases
- Lead generation for businesses and freelancers.
- Growth Hackers looking for easy ways to gather data.
- Recruiters looking for job candidates.
- Search for results in search engines.
- Get product price data from e-commerce sites
- Get emails, addresses, and phone numbers from directories
- Obtain contact information for professional association websites.
- Get reviews and ratings.
- Analyze messages for preferences, comments, connections, and contacts.
To put it simply, Instant Data Scraper is a tool that focuses on simplicity and efficiency. It's especially useful for projects where you need to quickly gather structured data.
Pricing
When it comes to choosing a data extraction tool, cost is often a deciding factor. Instant Data Scraper offers a pricing structure that can adapt to different needs and budgets.
- Free version: Instant Data Scraper offers a free version that offers basic features for extracting data.
- Paid subscriptions: For those who need more advanced features, monthly or annual subscription plans are available.
In summary, Instant Data Scraper offers pricing flexibility that allows everyone, from freelancers to large businesses, to take advantage of its services. The choice between the free version and the paid subscriptions will depend on your specific data extraction needs.
Security and Confidentiality
When it comes to security and privacy, Instant Data Scraper has its limits. It doesn't provide advanced security or privacy features, which can be a disadvantage for some projects.
- No Advanced Features: The tool does not provide advanced security or privacy features.
- Compliance with the Terms of Use: Make sure you respect the terms of use of the website you are scraping.
To conclude, while practical, Instant Data Scraper is not the most secure tool for sensitive projects.
Customer Support
Customer support is not Instant Data Scraper's strong suit. However, it does offer online resources that may be sufficient to address minor issues.
- Online forums: Support is generally provided through online forums.
- FAQS: An FAQ section is available on the tool's website.
In short, customer support is limited but may be sufficient for basic needs.
Alternatives to Instant Data Scraper
1. Beautiful Soup
Beautiful Soup is a Python library that offers great flexibility for web scraping.
Features
- Flexibility: Allows a wide variety of queries to extract data.
- Python integration: Easy to integrate into larger Python projects.
Pricing
- Free: Beautiful Soup is an open-source and free library.
Beautiful Soup is ideal if you have more complex scraping needs and are comfortable with Python.
2. Octoparse
Octoparse is a web scraping tool that offers advanced customization and security features.
Features
- Complex Data Extraction: Allows you to scrape dynamic data and paginated pages.
- Security Features: Offers options for proxy and user agent change.
Pricing
- Free version: Offers a free version with limited features.
- Paid version: Starting at $75 per month.
Octoparse is a great option if you need more features and are ready to invest financially in a scraping tool.
3. WebHarvy
WebHarvy is a web scraping tool that can extract complex data and offers solid customer support.
Features
- Visual interface: Allows you to select the data to be scraped via a visual interface.
- Multiple export: Exports data in various formats like CSV, XML, and SQL.
Pricing
- Single license: Starting at $139 for a lifetime license.
- Updates: Updates cost 40% of the license price.
WebHarvy is a solid choice if you're looking for a tool with good customer support and a lifetime license.
Guide to getting started with Instant Data Scraper
Go to the Google Chrome Web Store and install Instant Data Scraper. It is a free add-on for Chrome that recognizes information on the website and can download it into a spreadsheet.
Step 1
Define your research requirements. Let's say you're looking for a list of lawyers in Los Angeles.
Find a website that lists the information you need, for example Yellow Pages.
Enter your search request in the search field:
Step 2
Once the search results are ready, use the Instant Data Scraper plugin to extract the information. Here's how to do it:
a. Click on the Pokeball icon in the top right corner of your browser:
b. The tool scrapes the page and gives you an overview of the results
You can choose which columns you want to keep or delete and click on Start crawling. If the results are displayed on multiple pages, click the Locate โNextโ button so the tool can explore all the other pages as well.
Step 3
Download your data as CSV or XLSX (Excel) and that's it ๐
Final Verdict
Instant Data Scraper is a handy tool for quick and easy web scraping needs.
However, if you have more advanced features or security needs, it would be a good idea to consider its alternatives.