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Web Scraping vs Web Crawling: Who’s the Real Data Hero?
If you are also new to web scraping and web crawling, like Lonely_Skin_5017, and want to learn about the difference between web scraping vs web crawling, then this blog is for you.
By the end of this blog, you’ll learn everything about scraping and crawling.
So let’s get started!
But first, let’s understand,
What is Web Scraping?
Let’s imagine that you like collecting quotes from your favorite novels, but you don’t have to go through hundreds of pages yourself.
That’s what web scraping is – your super-bright assistant quickly does it for you in a few seconds.
It’s a kind of “copy-paste on steroids” in the digital world—where a software (not a human) goes to websites, extracts the information you need (such as prices, news, or contact information), and tidily arranges it for you in a spreadsheet or database.
Example:
Suppose you wanted to monitor the current iPhone prices on Amazon, Flipkart, and eBay. Web scraping would fetch all those prices for you automatically—no need to check manually!
What is a Web Scraper?
A web scraper is the “bot” that actually scrapes. It can be:
- A simple tool (such as a Chrome extension—click what you’re looking for).
- A custom script (made in Python using libraries such as BeautifulSoup).
- A powerful software (such as ScrapeLead or Scrapy for large projects).
How It Works:
- Visit the Website – Just like you opening a webpage.
- “Reads” the Page – Scans the HTML (the programming language behind the site).
- Picks the Data – Retrieves the precise information you want (e.g., product names, prices).
- Saves It – Saves everything in Excel, CSV, or a database.
Fun Fact: Some web scrapers can even click buttons, scroll pages, or log in to websites—just like a human would!
What is Scraping a Website?
It involves scraping data from that website using a scraper.
But here’s the twist—not all websites enjoy being scraped! Some attempt to prevent it.
Why?
They don’t want their data being stolen by competitors.
Too many bots slow down their site. If you want to know the meaning of web scraping in full detail, then
Now,
What is Web Crawling?
Suppose you are a librarian attempting to catalog all the books in a gigantic library.
Rather than read each book, you scan the titles, authors, and genres quickly to produce a catalog.
That is what web crawling accomplishes—but on the internet!
Web crawling is the automated navigation of the web to find and index pages.
It’s like a big web spider (again, that’s why it’s called a “crawler”) that jumps from link to link, charting what’s available.
Example:
Google’s crawler (Googlebot) is always browsing the web, refreshing its search index so when you search “best pizza near me,” it knows which pages to display for you.
What is a Web Crawler?
A web crawler, also referred to as a “spider” or “bot”, is the software that does the crawling. It may be:
- Search engine crawlers (such as Googlebot, Bingbot).
- SEO tools (such as Screaming Frog, which tests your website’s health).
- Custom crawlers (developed by businesses to monitor competitors or save information).
How It Works:
- Begins with a URL – Such as opening a homepage.
- Follow Links – Clicks from pages like a user would.
- Records Info – Saves page titles, content, and links.
- Stores for Later – Adds pages into a database or index.
Fun Fact: Crawlers don’t “see” websites like humans—they read raw HTML and metadata.
What is Crawling a Website?
It means sending a crawler to visit that site’s pages. Websites usually manage crawling with:
- robots.txt – A file that says, “Hey crawler, stay away from these pages!”
- Sitemaps – A blueprint of key pages for crawlers.
Alright, now you know what is scraping and what is crawling.
So, let’s move on to the main topic.
Web Scraping VS Web Crawling
Now let’s understand the simple difference between web scraping and web crawling with a table.
| Aspect | Web Scraping | Product description |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Extracts specific data (prices, emails, reviews) | Discovers and lists all web pages |
| How it works | Visits exact pages → copies what you need | Follows all links → maps the web |
| Scale | Small & precise—takes data from a few pages. | Big & broad—checks millions of pages. |
| Speed | Fast (grabs and goes) | Slow (explores thoroughly) |
| Tools | BeautifulSoup, Scrapy, ScrapeLead, Octoparse. | Googlebot, Screaming Frog. |
| Output | Clean data (Excel, CSV) | List of URLs/index |
| Used for | • Price tracking • Lead generation • Research | • Search engines • SEO checks • Web archives |
| Effect on Websites | Can annoy websites (if too aggressive) | Gentle (just looks around) |
| Rules | Follows robots.txt | Follows robots.txt |
| Frequency | When you need data | Regularly (daily/weekly) |
When to use Scraping and Crawling?
Use scraping if you need to:
- Extract specific data
- Analyze trends over time
- Monitor competitors
- Feed data into an app or database
Use Crawling if you need to:
- Map a website’s structure
- Check SEO health
- Discover new/updated pages
Can Web Crawling and Scraping Work Together?
Yes! Many projects combine both techniques:
A crawler discovers relevant pages.
A scraper extracts data from those pages.
Example:
An e-commerce price monitoring tool might:
- Crawl multiple online stores to find product pages.
- Scrape prices, ratings, and reviews from those pages.
Challenges in Crawling and Scraping
For Web Crawling:
Crawling Too Much
- Why? Some sites have endless pages.
- Fix: Implement page limits on how many to crawl.
Duplicate Content
- Why? One page available at several URLs.
- Fix: Search and skip duplicate pages.
JavaScript-Heavy Sites
- Why? New web pages load content dynamically.
- Fix: Use browsers such as Puppeteer that can run JavaScript.
For Web Scraping:
Getting Blocked
- Why? Sites don’t like bots showing up too fast.
- Fix: Make your scraper slow down (add 2-5 second delays between requests) and use proxy servers.
Website Layout Changes
- Why? Sites redesign themselves, messing up your scraper.
- Fix: Write code that can handle even minor changes.
CAPTCHA Walls
- Why? Sites make you “prove you’re human.”
- Fix: Use software that can solve CAPTCHAs, or go to official APIs if they exist.
Golden Rules for Crawling and Scraping
- Be polite: Don’t overload sites (put delays between requests)
- Follow the rules: Check out robots.txt before scraping/crawling
- Stay legal: Don’t scrape private or copyrighted data without authorization
Conclusion: Web Crawling vs Web Scraping – Which One Do You Need?
In very simple language, web scraping copies specific information you want, while web crawling explores websites to discover what’s available.
Fast Cheat Sheet:
Want data? → Use scraping (e.g., monitoring prices, capturing leads).
Want to discover? → Utilize crawling (e.g., search engines, SEO audits).
Large project? → Do both! (Scrape after you crawl.)
Last Tip:
Play nice always! Look at robots.txt, don’t bombard sites, and follow privacy guidelines.
Whether you’re building a search engine, tracking deals, or researching trends, now you know which tool to pick.
Best of luck with data hunting!
FAQ
Yes, web scraping is legal only if you scrape publicly available data.
If you want to go into details – click here.
Web-crawling can be legal, but it depends on several factors, like:
- Terms of service
- Copyright
- Robot.txt
- Private data vs public data
- Website impact
- Scrapy
- Apache Nutch
- Octoparse
- ZenRows
- Crawlee
- Zyte
- Node Crawler
- ScrapeLead
- Apify
- Octoparse
- WebHarvy
- ScrapingBee
- BeautifulSoup
- Parsehub
Yes, you can use crawling and scraping both when you are working on a large-scale project.
A crawler explores the web, while a scraper gathers data from it.
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