Modern Webscarping tool
| Library | Primary Use | Key Strengths | Main Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scrapy | Full web scraping framework | Powerful, scalable, async support, efficient for large-scale data | Steep learning curve, complex framework |
| Selenium | Browser automation | Can handle dynamic content, multi-browser support | Slower, resource-intensive, cannot read status codes |
| Playwright | Browser automation | Modern API, better performance than Selenium, multi-browser support | Complex framework, resource-intensive, frequent updates |
| Lxml | XML/HTML parsing | Very fast, excellent performance for large datasets | Less user-friendly, requires technical expertise |
| Requests-HTML | HTML parsing | Built-in JavaScript support, user-agent mocking, async support | Less maintained, limited for complex tasks |
| MechanicalSoup | Automated web interaction | Combines Requests and BeautifulSoup features, easy to use | Limited advanced features |
| Urllib3 | HTTP client | Thread safety, connection pooling, enhanced security | Basic functionality, more verbose, parsing limitations |
For 2024, Playwright and Scrapy are emerging as particularly strong alternatives, with Playwright being recommended for those starting new projects due to its modern features and better performance. However, the choice ultimately depends on specific project requirements and complexity levels.