If you’re a growth strategist or marketing analyst at a fast-scaling e-commerce company, your job likely depends on monitoring competitor prices, tracking market trends, and analyzing customer sentiment across multiple platforms. Every day, you need to extract thousands of data points from competitor sites, social media, and review platforms.
We’re willing to bet you’ve faced at least one of these problems:
- Competitor websites keep changing their layouts, which is breaking your scrapers.
- IP bans and bot detection stop you from scaling up, forcing you to throttle requests or pay for expensive proxies.
- Your internal team is wasting hours fixing technical problems instead of analyzing the data.
- Compliance risks are making you think twice about web data extraction because you’re not sure how to navigate them.
To manage these issues, there are reputable platforms with data extraction tools and infrastructure that can help. Here are 5 that save time, improve accuracy, and help you scale data collection without constant maintenance.
At Apify, we’ve handled these problems for many businesses that need to collect large volumes of quality data. Want help setting up a custom data extraction tool? Request a demo and schedule a live session with our team.
1. Apify
Apify is a cloud-based web scraping and automation platform designed for scaling data extraction without infrastructure headaches. It’s used by e-commerce companies, market research firms, and AI teams that need to gather structured data from the web.
Why Apify stands out
- Pre-built scrapers (Actors) – No need to build scrapers from scratch. Apify’s marketplace includes ready-made scrapers for e-commerce sites, social media, and business directories. This means you can extract data instantly instead of writing and maintaining your own scripts.
- Headless browser support – Many websites use JavaScript to load data dynamically. Apify runs headless Chrome browsers, allowing you to scrape content that traditional scrapers can’t access.
- Anti-bot evasion and proxies – Apify offers built-in proxy rotation and CAPTCHA-solving features, helping users avoid IP bans and bot detection when scraping at scale.
- Scalability – Whether you’re scraping a few pages or millions, Apify’s cloud-based system automatically handles scaling, so your team isn’t bogged down managing infrastructure.
- Data storage – Apify lets you collect data in structured, exportable formats (JSON, CSV, Excel, and others) and integrates with a wide range of applications for fluid data flows.
- Compliance and security – SOC 2 – meaning secure, reliable, and confidential handling of data, verified by independent audit and testing.
Best for
E-commerce brands tracking competitors, AI teams training models with real-world data, and market researchers needing structured web data.
2. ParseHub
If your team needs structured data but doesn’t have developers, ParseHub is a no-code web scraping tool that lets anyone click and extract data from websites.
Why ParseHub works for business teams
- Point-and-click interface – Instead of writing complex scripts, you can select elements on a webpage and extract structured data with zero coding.
- Handles pagination and infinite scroll – Many sites use lazy loading (e.g., social media feeds, e-commerce product lists). ParseHub can scroll and extract content dynamically, so no data is missed.
- Export to Google Sheets and APIs – Connects with Google Sheets, Excel, or an API for automatic data delivery.
Best for
Marketing teams and small businesses that need competitor and market data but lack coding skills.
3. Octoparse
Octoparse is similar to ParseHub but offers more advanced features for teams that want a balance between ease of use and customization.
Why Octoparse is effective
- AI-assisted scraping – Can auto-detect website structures and extract data without manual setup.
- Runs in the cloud or locally – You can choose between cloud-based scraping (for large-scale jobs) or local scraping (for one-off tasks). Note that cloud-based scraping is restricted to paid plans only.
- Auto-retry and CAPTCHA bypass – Helps maintain scraper uptime by handling minor errors automatically.
Best for
Teams that need a mix of automation and manual control when scraping dynamic websites.
4. Bright Data
Bright Data is a proxy platform designed for businesses that need scalable web scraping solutions. It’s widely used by e-commerce intelligence teams, price monitoring platforms, and enterprise data aggregators that need large-scale, uninterrupted data flows.
Why Bright Data is great for enterprise
- A network of over 72 million real residential, mobile, and datacenter IPs – meaning scrapers can rotate between real user IPs, mimicking human behavior and avoiding detection.
- Unlocker technology automatically detects and bypasses blocks without needing user intervention.
- Pre-built web scraping solutions for e-commerce price tracking (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, AliExpress, and more)
Best for
- E-commerce companies and enterprise data intelligence teams tracking competitor pricing and stock availability on hard-to-scrape websites.
5. Oxylabs
Oxylabs is a proxy provider and web scraping platform built for businesses that need scalable, high-volume data extraction. It’s widely used by e-commerce intelligence teams, price monitoring platforms, and enterprise retailers that rely on accurate, real-time product data.
Why Oxylabs is effective
- One of the largest residential proxy networks – Over 100 million residential IPs allow e-commerce businesses to collect data from multiple geographies without triggering anti-scraping protections.
- E-Commerce Scraper API – A dedicated tool built for scraping product data across marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and AliExpress, for structured, ready-to-use data.
- SERP Scraper API – Helps e-commerce businesses track search rankings, brand visibility, and competitor ad placements in real time.
Best for
E-commerce companies that need to monitor competitor prices and product availability across multiple regions without getting blocked.
| Use case | Best tool | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce price tracking & competitor monitoring | Apify | 4,000+ pre-built scrapers, anti-blocking tech, cloud scaling, compliance, fully managed |
| Scraping websites without coding | ParseHub | Point-and-click, easy UI for non-technical users |
| Web scraping with AI-assisted automation | Octoparse | AI auto-detection, CAPTCHA bypass |
| Scraping complex websites without getting blocked | Bright Data | Large proxy network, AI-based anti-bot evasion, web unlocking technology |
| Geo-targeted e-commerce data extraction & SERP monitoring | Oxylabs | 100M+ residential proxies, e-commerce scraper API, SERP tracking |
If you’re struggling with unreliable scrapers, fighting IP bans, or manually fixing data pipelines, you’re losing valuable time that could be spent on insights and strategy.
Choosing the right tool means scaling data extraction without the hassle, so your team can focus on growth, not maintenance.
Of all the data extraction tools covered here, Apify stands out for its 4,000+ pre-built scrapers, anti-bot technology, cloud scaling, SOC 2 compliance, and fully managed enterprise offerings.
Stop fixing broken scrapers. Start extracting data that fuels real business decisions with Apify.
Note: This evaluation is based on our understanding of information available to us as of March 2025. Readers should conduct their own research for detailed comparisons. Product names, logos, and brands are used for identification only and remain the property of their respective owners. Their use does not imply affiliation or endorsement.
