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7 Best Reddit Scraper 2023: Extract data from Reddit without Coding Skill

Reddit Scraper

Do you want to improve your marketing campaign with Reddit scrapers, but you don’t know which Reddit scraper to use? This article provides you with the best Reddit scrapers to aid your Reddit data scraping.

To some people, Reddit is just a place to pass the time and engage in casual conversation about whatever interests them. However, it’s a goldmine of social data for Internet marketers and social scientists. Reddit is by far the most popular online forum, and there is a subreddit for just about anything you can think of.

The conversations on Reddit about a certain issue allow social researchers to conduct analysis and develop inferences, as well as implement concrete plans. Using Reddit text data for numerous purposes, from politics to business to security, is possible. It is possible to get access to Reddit’s publicly available data utilizing the official Reddit API for free.

The Reddit API, on the other hand, was made available for Reddit automation rather than scraping. There are still certain constraints, so you’ll need to employ a web scraper to get over them. With web scrapers, it’s difficult to extract data from complicated online pages. You should check the Reddit API documentation before beginning a web scraping project on Reddit to ensure that it is not applicable to your needs. Use the API if you can’t.

Reddit scraping is the technique of extracting readily available information from the Reddit domain using computer tools known as web scrapers. The official Reddit API has a lot of limitations, which is why these tools were made. Use a Reddit scraper with caution because Reddit is not a fan of it.

As far as I know, using a web scraper that does not make use of a legitimate API is against the Reddit terms of service. Web scraping is often regarded as legal, despite the fact that it breaches their conditions. Because Reddit does not allow web scraping, if you want a smooth scraping experience, you’ll have to get around the anti-scraping measures the site has put in place.

In contrast to many other websites on the Internet, Reddit does not take bot access very seriously, which is a good thing! IP tracking and Captchas are two of the most effective anti-bot measures employed by Reddit.

IP tracking will no longer be a problem thanks to the use of proxies and IP rotation. For Captchas, they show up whenever Reddit thinks your traffic is coming from a bot, even if you’re using a proxy server. Captcha solutions like 2Captcha are needed to crack them.


7 Best Reddit Scrapers in 2023


1. Bright Data (BrightData’s Reddit Collector) — A Splendid Reddit Scraper for Scraping Data from Reddit Web Pages

  • Price: Begins at 500 USD
  • Data Format: Excel
  • Platform Supported: Web-based

The first Reddit scraper that has made this list is the popular Bright Data. Bright Data’s Data Collector is a web data extraction software. One of the many collectors supported by the service is a Reddit profile collector. Bright Data does not have a large number of collectors for Reddit, which may be due to a lack of demand.

You can request a custom content collector from the forum staff if you want to collect user-generated content. It’s possible to do this yourself by utilizing their coding environment for those with programming skills. Payment for Data Collector is made on a pay-per-use basis, although funds are required to begin using the service.


2. Apify (Apify’s Reddit Scraper) — Best for Reddit Data Extraction without Reddit API Usage

  • Price: Begins at 49 USD monthly
  • Data Format: RSS, HTML, XML, Excel, CSV, JSON
  • Platform Supported: Desktop, Cloud

The next on this list is Apify. Apify’s ready-made Reddit Scraper makes it simple to collect data from Reddit without having to use the API directly. In other words, you don’t have to log in, you don’t need a developer API key, and you don’t require Reddit’s permission to obtain the data for commercial use. Reddit accounts are not required.

Another useful feature of Apify’s platform is an integrated proxy service. The scraping program is capable of crawling comments, posts, forums, and individual users. You can sort by relevance, hotness, newness, or the number of comments. You can use keywords or a starting URL to narrow your search.


3. Octoparse — Best for Easy Reddit Data Scraping

  • Price: 75 USD monthly
  • Data Format: SQLServer, MySQL, JSON, Excel, CSV
  • Platform Supported: Desktop, Cloud

A list of Reddit scrapers would be incomplete if it did not include Octoparse. Octoparse is a Reddit web scraper that is both tough and cutting-edge. Octoparse is jam-packed with features and was designed to last. It even has a slew of anti-scraping evasion measures built in to help it avoid detection and the IP blocks and bans that follow.

If you’d like, Octoparse can convert Reddit into a spreadsheet format that you can work with. Scheduled scraping, cloud-based scraping, as well as IP rotation are all supported. Incredibly capable and simple to use, Octoparse.


4. Webscraper (Webscraper.io Extension) — Best for Beginners and Novices to Scrape Reddit Publicly Available Data for Free

  • Price: Free
  • Data Format: CSV
  • Platform Supported: Chrome

Webscraper.io makes it simple for anyone, irrespective of coding expertise, to scrape and access publicly available Internet data. Even if you don’t know how to code, you can use the Webscraper.io browser extension to scrape websites like Reddit. Using the Webscraper.io Chrome add-on, you can scrape content from online sites.

One of the top scrapers for Reddit has been tested on the site and found to be effective. The Webscraper.io Extension is a no-cost option that’s also quite simple to set up. Webscraper.io offers a variety of options for exporting data.


5. ScrapeStorm — Best Reddit Scraper Best for Automatically Identifying Specific Data Points On a Page Using Artificial Intelligence

  • Price: 49.99 USD monthly
  • Data Format: Google Sheets, MySQL, JSON, Excel, CSV, TXT
  • Platform Supported: Desktop

One of the most renowned web scraping tools is ScrapeStorm. Unexpectedly, scraping Reddit is a breeze with this method. ScrapeStorm’s use of Artificial Intelligence to find crucial data points on a page is something I’ve come to enjoy. This means that most web pages can be scraped without the need for special rules.

For those who prefer a point-and-click interface, the program employs an element pattern identification system to recognize patterns. Pagination is also handled by this software. Developed by a team of ex-Google crawlers, ScrapeStorm can be used on a wide variety of platforms and operating systems.


6. Helium Scraper — Best Reddit Scraper for Fast and Easy Complex Web Data Extraction from Reddit with the Use of an Easy Workflow

  • Price: Begins at 99 USD monthly
  • Data Format: SQLite, JSON, XML, Excel, CSV
  • Platform Supported: Desktop

Using Helium Scraper for Reddit scraping is another option. If you want to utilize Helium Scraper, you’ll need to install it on your computer first. Helium Scraper’s straightforward methodology allows you to quickly extract even the most complex online data.

It’s easy to use because of the point-and-click design. Helium Scraper’s web scraping tasks can be scheduled. Other advanced features include proxy rotation, similar element recognition, multiple data exports, text manipulation, and API calls.


7. ParseHub — Best General Reddit Scraper for Scraping Reddit Web Pages that are publicly available

  • Price: Begins at 149 USD monthly
  • Data Format: JSON, Excel
  • Platform Supported: Desktop, Cloud

One of the renowned Reddit scrapers on the market, ParseHub, has made a name for itself in the scrapping industry. Scraping current webpages with AJAX and JavaScript execution and rendering is easy with this general-purpose online scraping tool. ParseHub can also be used to scrape Reddit content that is publicly accessible.

Simple web pages can be easily scraped using the free ParseHub desktop tool, which has a number of useful advanced features. Data point training can be accomplished using the program’s point-and-click interface. Although the ParseHub cloud-based platform is more expensive, it offers a higher level of functionality.


FAQs

Q. How do I use Python, Beautifulsoup and Requests to scrape Reddit?

Reddit has an API that can be used to retrieve data from Reddit websites. If the API Reddit provides is unhelpful, you should rule out the possibility of scraping that data. This is due to the fact that using APIs to access data is simpler. To get over these limits, you’ll have to resort to site scraping, which is a more time-consuming option.

Python and third-party modules and frameworks for web scrapers and crawlers can be used to build Reddit scrapers. A Reddit scraper is as simple as inspecting the HTML of a Reddit page and noting the HTML element that surrounds the data you’re interested in.

Sending HTTP requests to download the page and utilizing Beautifulsoup to parse the relevant data utilizing CSS selectors and other ways offered by Beautifulsoup is possible using Requests.

Choosing a database to store your information is an important consideration as well. There are many occasions where plain CSV, TXT, or even Excel will accomplish the job just fine. Using a database system like SQLite is the best choice for efficient storing and searching.

Q. What’s the point of scraping Reddit?

Reddit is more than simply a forum for exchanging ideas with others who share your worldview; it has evolved into much more than that in recent years. As a research and marketing hub, Reddit has become a valuable resource for businesses. If you look at Reddit from the perspective of a brand, you’ll realize that there is a plethora of information available to help your marketing efforts.

You should undoubtedly make use of Reddit’s richness of information when it comes to web scraping in order to optimize your future marketing operations, just like you should with other big social media networks today.

Even though scraping Reddit pages isn’t illegal, each social media network has distinct terms and conditions about this practice; therefore, I recommend that you look into these and determine whether or not the official API is available to you. The terms and conditions for scraping Reddit web pages are quite lax on Reddit, but it’s best to use a Reddit web scraper anyhow if you’re going to be doing a lot of it.

Q. What should I expect from scraping Reddit?

When it comes to a Reddit scraper, you should not only hope to be able to find the data you need, but you should also anticipate being safe while you are doing it. As long as your personal information is protected and secure, Reddit won’t be able to detect it and block your account. A competent Reddit scraper will also ensure that you can download or export the data you need in an easy-to-read manner.

Q. How do I scrape Reddit comments using ParseHub?

Reddit comment scraping works well. You can begin by selecting a few posts that you want to extract data from. Follow these steps to scrape comments from Reddit using ParseHub.

  • A new project on ParseHub should be created with the URL you intend to extract comments from. Remember that only comments that are certainly showcased on a page can be scraped by ParseHub.
  • In order to choose the first commenter, you can click on the ‘Select’ command once the site has been generated. Your selection should be renamed to user.
  • Choose the ‘Relative Select’ command by clicking on the PLUS sign next to the user selection.
  • You can extract the comment’s date, points, and text by utilizing the ‘Relative Select.’ And that’s all.

Conclusion

That is it for Reddit scraping. As you can see, it is practically easy to scrape comments and answers from Reddit using the best Reddit scrapers on the market. When it comes to scraping Reddit, it’s not as tough or unlawful as some people make it out to be—especially if you aren’t already logged in and are not scraping for profit. If you’ve already decided to scrape Reddit, you can do it with any of the above-mentioned web scrapers, which have all been put to the test.

Kalle Hallden

Written by Kalle Hallden

Kalle Hallden is a programming code expert known for his expertise in social media growth hacks. With his deep understanding of coding and social dynamics, he has gained a reputation for his innovative approaches to increasing online presence. Kalle's tutorials and hacks provide valuable insights and practical techniques for programmers looking to enhance their skills and make a significant impact in the online world.