--- source_url: "https://apify.com/web-scraping?utm_source=openai" title: "Need data? Turn any website into an API with web scraping. · Apify" mirrored_at: 2026-08-11T01:38:44.755Z host: apify.com cited_in_42a: true mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/apify.com/web-scraping__q__utm_source_openai" --- > **Original source:** https://apify.com/web-scraping?utm_source=openai ![Apify video](https://apify.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-cms.apify.com%2Fmaxresdefault_9d9461a577.webp&w=3840&q=75) 1 ### Choosing the URLs to scrape Select the URLs to scrape, and determine whether to gather all data from the web page or specific elements. 2 ### Inspecting the web page Use browser DevTools (e.g. press F12 in Chrome) to inspect the web page's structure. Understand the HTML before scraping. 3 ### Locating the data to extract Identify the web page's unique parts (e.g. specific `
` tags) that contain the information you want to extract, such as product reviews or prices. 4 ### Setting up your scraper Create a scraping script that specifies which parts of the web page to extract. For instance, when scraping book reviews, define the title, author's name, and rating. 5 ### Executing the code Run the code, and the scraper will gather information through 3 main steps: **Send HTTP request to server** **Extract and parse web page code** **Save data locally** 6 ### Storing the data Instruct the scraper to save the extracted information in suitable formats like Excel, CSV, or HTML for later use. [ Extract data from thousands of Google Maps locations and businesses, including reviews, reviewer details, images, contact info, including full name, email, and job title, opening hours, prices & more. Export data, run via API, schedule and monitor runs, or integrate with other tools. 553K 4.7 (1,716) ](https://apify.com/compass/crawler-google-places)[ Extract Instagram posts, reels, profiles, places, hashtags, carousels, and comments. Get data from Instagram using one or more Instagram URLs or search queries: content, context, metrics, metadata. Export scraped data, run the scraper via API, schedule and monitor runs or integrate with other tools. ![User avatar](https://images.apifyusercontent.com/Hda_Zn-vm6p1JWVT3Ri19xFEgTJysb2QWr2GTIMNMjY/rs:fill:36:36/cb:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGlmeS1pbWFnZS11cGxvYWRzLXByb2QuczMudXMtZWFzdC0xLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vWnNjTXdGUjVIN2VDdFd0eWgtcHJvZmlsZS1PbjhsSE5lbkJvLWFwaWZ5LXN5bWJvbC1jb2xvcnMtbWFyZ2luLnN2Zy5wbmc.webp) Apify 358K 4.8 (524) ](https://apify.com/apify/instagram-scraper)[ Scrape Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Select the country or language and extract organic and paid results, AI Mode, AI overviews, ads, queries, People Also Ask, prices, reviews, like a Google SERP API. Export data, run the scraper via API, schedule runs, or integrate with other tools. ![User avatar](https://images.apifyusercontent.com/Hda_Zn-vm6p1JWVT3Ri19xFEgTJysb2QWr2GTIMNMjY/rs:fill:36:36/cb:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGlmeS1pbWFnZS11cGxvYWRzLXByb2QuczMudXMtZWFzdC0xLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vWnNjTXdGUjVIN2VDdFd0eWgtcHJvZmlsZS1PbjhsSE5lbkJvLWFwaWZ5LXN5bWJvbC1jb2xvcnMtbWFyZ2luLnN2Zy5wbmc.webp) Apify 164K 4.5 (170) ](https://apify.com/apify/google-search-scraper)[ Use this Amazon scraper to collect data based on URL and country from the Amazon website. Extract product information without using the Amazon API, including reviews, prices, descriptions, and Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs). Download data in various structured formats. ![User avatar](https://images.apifyusercontent.com/A4U9mH_lvwbYSRGKO5l1ueqHCm6Kt76hBTFMVVIEkj8/rs:fill:36:36/cb:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGlmeS1pbWFnZS11cGxvYWRzLXByb2QuczMudXMtZWFzdC0xLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vVFg0clBKQkhiaFNLaTIzWHMvSFl6Umtmc204aGlOVEo3SnAtSnVuZ2xlZS5wbmc.webp) Junglee 21K 4.4 (54) ](https://apify.com/junglee/Amazon-crawler)[ Email extractor and lead scraper to extract and download emails, phone numbers, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, and Telegram profiles from any website. Extract contact information at scale from lists of URLs and download the data as Excel, CSV, JSON, HTML, and XML. ![User avatar](https://images.apifyusercontent.com/7YqkC1k2E1VNGqr-zRF5KWAR5kFuXtAKSbxC3HrsrUE/rs:fill:36:36/cb:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGlmeS1pbWFnZS11cGxvYWRzLXByb2QuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS96c3VZaGR3WGtSSmZXcW9KQi9BellLRkg0Y1lGamF2NGp2RC1JTUdfMDM0MS5KUEc.webp) Vojta Drmota 57K 4.7 (89) ](https://apify.com/vdrmota/contact-info-scraper)[ Scrape jobs posted on Indeed. Get detailed information from this job portal about saved and sponsored jobs. Specify the search based on location with the output attributes position, location, and description. ![User avatar](https://images.apifyusercontent.com/glqQMrkcXSyklLABQXsGian1j3yNB5e7K8mA4QEqIc0/rs:fill:36:36/cb:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGlmeS1pbWFnZS11cGxvYWRzLXByb2QuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9KcVp5Q1doZXo2QmRXc3NSdS9BcDNwWnhlYWl3WFh6TTc1Qi1taXNjZXJlcy5wbmc.webp) Misceres 29K 3.8 (64) ](https://apify.com/misceres/indeed-scraper) ![](https://cdn-cms.apify.com/Crawlee_1180db6323.svg) Web scraping with Crawlee Crawlee is an open-source web scraping and browser automation library that helps you build fast, reliable scrapers. Crawlee runs on Node.js and it's built in TypeScript. [Build scrapers with Crawlee](https://crawlee.dev/)  ![](https://cdn-cms.apify.com/scrapy_4583074bf7.svg) Web scraping with Scrapy Scrapy is a Python-based framework used for web scraping that enables developers to write spiders to navigate websites and extract structured data efficiently. Web scraping is just extracting data from a website with tools called web scrapers. They pull the data from each page and store it so that you can use it in databases, apps, or anywhere you need it. Read our full post on [what is web scraping](https://blog.apify.com/what-is-web-scraping/) to learn more. Yes, if you [follow the rules](https://blog.apify.com/is-web-scraping-legal/). Web scraping's legality varies by jurisdiction and site. In general, scraping public data for personal use is often allowed, but scraping private or copyrighted data without permission is illegal. It depends on your technical background and use case. Basic web scraping can be straightforward with the right tools and tutorials, but more complex tasks may require advanced programming skills. Learning web scraping basics can take a few days to a week, depending on your prior programming experience. To master advanced techniques, several months of practice may be needed. [Online tutorials](https://docs.apify.com/academy) can help you get started. Begin by understanding HTML, CSS, and basic programming concepts. Familiarize yourself with Python and libraries like BeautifulSoup or Scrapy. [Online tutorials](https://docs.apify.com/academy) can help you get started. Building a scraping tool from scratch is time-consuming and requires advanced skills. Consider using existing libraries or tools unless you have specific needs that warrant custom development. Here's a list of 6 things to know [before you build or buy a web scraper](https://blog.apify.com/6-things-to-know-about-web-scraping/). API scraping is locating a website's API endpoints, and fetching the desired data directly from their API, as opposed to parsing the data from their rendered HTML pages. A [web scraping proxy](https://blog.apify.com/crawl-without-getting-blocked/) is an intermediary server that acts as a gateway between your web scraper and the target website. It hides your IP address, allowing you to make requests anonymously and avoid IP bans or access restrictions. Proxies help to enhance privacy, distribute requests, and prevent blocking while scraping data. Web scraping is a tool for anyone who wants to extract data from websites. Developers use it to programmatically extract information for applications, while [businesses apply it](https://blog.apify.com/5-ways-web-scraping-can-improve-your-business-e7691bcf5955/) for market insights, competitor analysis, and more. From researchers and journalists to hobbyists, web scraping is the most efficient method for gathering web data. Apify has web scraping and automation experts who are ready to work with your company and provide [premium, customized web scraping services](https://apify.com/professional-services) for any scale. We can offer you a dedicated delivery team, enterprise-level SLA, maximum privacy, and flexible integrations, with data quality guaranteed. Apify can deliver a complete web scraping as a service solution. For smaller projects, you can work with [certified Apify partners](https://apify.com/partners), who can help you build or set up your web scraping solutions.