0. Overview
When it comes to web scraping (crawling), the choice of tools greatly affects the results and convenience of the work. In this article, I would like to introduce four major tools in this field that stand out: Selenium, Undetected Chromedriver, Playwright, and Pyppeteer.
1. Selenium: Seasoned Veteran, but Fading in Spotlight
Selenium used to be a leading figure in the web scraping world. Originally created for browser automation and testing, this tool has shown vulnerability to advancements in anti-bot software over time.
While Selenium was once beloved in the scraping community, its charm is diminishing as other tools with new features and focuses emerge.
2. Undetected Chromedriver: Tuned Alternative
Undetected Chromedriver is an advanced alternative to standard web drivers. This Python library offers a more powerful and straightforward solution compared to Selenium.
It stands out for using modified and compiled drivers, which excel in evading detection.
However, a drawback is that immediate updates are not possible as modification and compilation are required when Chrome browser updates.
For more details on Undetected Chromedriver, refer to the blog below.
3. Playwright: Emerging Star
Debuting in 2020, Playwright quickly gained attention for its versatility and user-friendly interface.
Supporting various browsers and offering flexible environment configurations, it rose as a sought-after scraping tool by many developers.
While Playwright was not originally designed for web scraping, when combined with browsers and configurations appropriately, it demonstrates outstanding performance in this area. This tool provides various scraper options ranging from basic Chrome usage to compatible detection-preventing browsers like GoLogin.
Despite the lack of plugin updates for customizing bundled browsers, Playwright has proven to be a trustworthy choice for developers and has secured the top spot in the preferred tool list for many developers.
4. Pyppeteer: Appealing Alternative
Lastly, Pyppeteer is a Python port of the original Puppeteer. Puppeteer, originally a Node.js library, is more popular among overseas developers than Selenium, commonly used in Korea. Pyppeteer is also valuable for scraping due to the presence of stealth mode. However, this feature does not always work properly in actual tests, leading to limitations in overall performance.
5. What tools do Python developers use for web scraping?
According to community surveys, Scrapy ranks first with 54%, while Playwright and Pyppeteer tie for second place with 23%. Selenium ranks lowest as the least preferred tool.
*Scrapy is an API, so it is not covered separately in this post.
6. Conclusion: Flexibly Choose According to the Situation
The success of web scraping is greatly influenced by the choice of tools.
While Selenium and Undetected Chromedriver have their own advantages, Playwright and Pyppeteer are emerging as strong competitors due to their modern features and flexibility.
It is important to consider the project requirements, scale, and technical capabilities comprehensively and choose the optimal tool rather than being tied to a single tool.
Check out this article as well:
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