Data is becoming more important every year, and data-driven decisions are key for any modern organisation. According to Forbes, 59% of businesses already use data to at least some capacity. And while this is a big number already, analysts predict that even more businesses will turn to data in the future. Competing in today’s market is tough, but wise businesses can take advantage of technological progress and automatically get the data they need.
Many data professionals rely on a data gathering technique called web scraping, which is essential for everything from market research, to planning marketing campaigns or even scouting competitors. Creators of a popular scraping tool (or scraper) Octoparse have highlighted 25 different fields, in which web scraping can be a huge boost. And if you are still getting warmed up in this field or simply looking to increase your knowledge, there is a great introduction to web scraping on Economalytics.
When it comes to the actual technology involved, minus the scraper itself, proxies are extremely important. As most websites try to protect themselves from DDoS attacks they usually ban IP addresses that send multiple requests in a short amount of time, which is exactly how most scrapers work when gathering information. One of the solutions scrapers use are rotating proxies, which give users a random IP address constantly, which allows them to avoid restrictions and successfully scrape data. However, it is important to note that proxies must have high success rates and speeds too — otherwise the scraping operation might go to waste.
As the proxy market is full of providers, it is easy to get lost and choose the wrong provider. To help those in need, Proxyway has issued a Proxy Market Research Report which evaluates how suitable leading providers are for certain proxy-related fields, including web scraping or data scraping. These are the best web scraping proxy service providers in 2020.
A provider that needs no introduction in the proxy world. Being one of the top in the market, it is no surprise that this company has managed to emerge as the top proxy provider for web scraping. With 30m residential IPs, great success rates (over 91%), great pricing plans and high reliability, Oxylabs is a no brainer, when choosing proxies for data scraping.
2. Luminati
A giant of the proxy market. With 40m residential IPs, it has the largest IP pool out there. Their proxies did have a lower success rate than Oxylabs, with an average rate of almost 67%, but overall they are the second fastest amongst all providers. Luminati is one of the oldest and widely-known providers of proxies, so if you go with them, you can be sure that all of your proxy needs will be taken care of.
3. Smartproxy
One of the biggest surprises of this year’s Market Research. A relative newcomer to the proxy scene, Smartproxy is already going head to head with the giants of the industry. They can’t compare to Oxylabs or Luminati in terms of IP pool with around 10m, but their success rates on targeted websites are some of the best amongst all the providers (91.5%). Being “small” comes with other perks — their prices are much lower than those of “older” providers, so they’re usually the go-to option for lower budget projects.
4. NetNut
In business since 2017, this provider has already managed to become a strong presence in the proxy market. Even though it is advised to use this provider for ad verification or retail price comparison, their great success rates on targeted websites (almost 94%) suggest that they are amongst the top picks of web scraping proxies, even despite a relatively small IP pool of 0.5m.
5. Packetstream
Definitely the newcomer of the year. They not only had the highest success rates on targeted websites out of all providers tested (over 96%), but were the fastest too, with an average response time of 1.39 seconds. In addition to that they offer an IP pool of 7m, but there is still much work to be done improving their service, as well, as customer support. However, they’re on the right track and if they keep it up, they’ll be amongst the top 3 providers very soon.
Web scraping is one of the most important business analysis fields of the future. Information gathered by scraping can be used by virtually any organization — from small-team e-commerce projects to Wall Street companies. However, it is important to note that whether it is a scraper, a proxy or any other technological solution — the price should not be the only factor you consider. Different providers often offer different solutions, so it is very important to do your research and find what fits you best. And of course, going for free proxies in this field is always a no, unless you want to leak the data you scrape.
If you still feel like you want to read more about Proxies, don’t hesitate to check out the Proxy Service Awards 2020!
