An In-Depth Review of ZenRows

ZenRows is a web scraping tool used for data extraction; it handles common obstacles such as CAPTCHAs, rotating proxies, headless browser functionality, and advanced anti-bot systems. It is used by developers to collect online data without the risk of being blocked.

By providing an advanced toolkit that bypasses anti-bot measures, ZenRows provides an easy way to collect data for websites. Its combination of automated proxy management, JavaScript rendering, and anti-detection mechanisms makes it a powerful choice for developers looking for a web scraping solution.
This review takes a detailed look at ZenRows, covering its core functionality, available products, and how it differentiates itself from other scraping solutions.

General Overview

Founded in 2021, ZenRows secured its first funding round of €1.1 million, and one of its plans is to use it to enhance its platform’s capabilities and strengthen its marketing and sales strategies. However, since its inception, ZenRows has positioned itself as a reliable solution for businesses and developers looking for data collection tools.

One of ZenRows’ primary strengths lies in its seamless integration with automation frameworks like Selenium, Puppeteer, Scrapy, and Playwright. Rather than requiring users to configure proxies, request headers, and browser automation manually, ZenRows abstracts these complexities into a single API. This significantly reduces setup time and minimizes the chances of hitting roadblocks due to anti-bot measures.

The platform is designed for large-scale data collection and automation, making it a preferred choice for industries such as e-commerce, finance, real estate, and AI. ZenRows’ advanced anti-bot bypassing capabilities and high success rate in handling CAPTCHAs ensure reliable data extraction from even the most protected websites. But if you run into a CAPTCHA inside a page, like the ones found in some forms, ZenRows might not be able to help; however, you can integrate ZenRows with a third-party Captcha solver in that instance.

A key feature of ZenRows is its built-in rotating proxy system, which helps prevent IP bans and avoids rate-limiting restrictions by distributing requests across a diverse pool of IP addresses. This approach enhances data collection reliability and maintains uninterrupted access to websites with stringent access controls.

However, ZenRows’ abstraction of the scraping process may not appeal to developers who prefer granular control over proxy management, request handling, and browser behavior. While its ease of use is a significant advantage for most users, those who require full customization might find its approach limiting.

While ZenRows offers a robust all-in-one scraping solution, Bright Data’s Scraper API is a top alternative. With dedicated Scraper APIs for over 100 websites, Bright Data provides a highly customizable approach to data extraction, making it ideal for enterprises needing more control over their scraping operations. Although ZenRows also has prebuilt scrapers however, it is for very limited websites.

What are the Different Products Offered?

Scraper APIs

ZenRows’ Scraper API, which is still in Beta, is used for extracting structured data from major e-commerce and real estate platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, Zillow, and Idealista. These APIs offer predefined endpoints to simplify the retrieval of product details, reviews, property listings, and search results with minimal configuration, the currently have 13 of these APIs. These domain-specific APIs ensure precise and relevant data extraction, which is valuable for businesses and developers looking to streamline their data-gathering processes.

One of the standout features of ZenRows’ Scraper APIs is their geolocation support. With the ability to utilize a ‘country’ parameter, users can access localized data from a global pool of over 55 million residential IPs spanning more than 190 countries. Their extensive proxy network allows businesses to gather location-specific insights without handling proxy management.

They emphasize reliability and scalability, boasting a 99.99% success rate in data retrieval. Unlike traditional scraping solutions that require ongoing adjustments and fine-tuning, these APIs eliminate the need for manual maintenance, allowing you to focus on deriving insights rather than troubleshooting data extraction issues. The platform’s infrastructure ensures a hands-off approach to managing requests, significantly reducing the technical overhead often associated with large-scale web scraping.

Universal Scraper API

ZenRows’ Universal Scraper API is used to extract data from a number of websites; it handles challenges posed by dynamic content and sophisticated anti-bot measures from these websites. This API is engineered to handle both static and JavaScript-rendered pages, ensuring that users can access the complete spectrum of web data without the need for extensive manual configurations.

A notable feature of the Universal Scraper API is its ability to bypass CAPTCHAs and other anti-bot mechanisms. ZenRows reports an average success rate of 98.7% in handling CAPTCHAs, coupled with rapid response times. However, for instance, where certain websites become difficult to scrape, you can use the Premium proxies and also turn on JavaScript rendering, this will increase the success rate by 62%.

The API’s versatility is further highlighted by its support for multiple programming languages, including Python, Node.js, Java, PHP, Go, Ruby, and C#. This broad compatibility allows developers to integrate the API seamlessly into their existing workflows, regardless of the technology stack in use. Additionally, ZenRows offers dedicated SDKs for Python and Node.js, which abstract many low-level details such as request handling, retries, and response processing, thereby simplifying the integration process for both novice and experienced developers.

In terms of performance, independent benchmarks indicate that the API maintains an above-average success rate of 63.6% compared to the industry average of 60.8% and an average scraping speed of 7.1 seconds, outperforming the industry average of 10.1 seconds. However, it’s worth noting that the service’s cost is higher than average, at $4.5 per 1,000 scrapes, compared to the industry average of $3.3.

Nonetheless, some users have reported limitations with specific features, such as the Output Autoparse function, suggesting that its performance may vary depending on the target website’s structure. In terms of output, you can use the API to get the HMTL of a page, query it for specific data, take a screenshot, or get the output in Markdown format.

Scraping Browser

ZenRows built the Scraping Browser as a tool to extract data from dynamic websites. This is for developers comfortable using Puppeteer and Playwright.

A standout feature of the Scraping Browser is its ease of integration. Developers can augment their existing scraping scripts with a single line of code, and it does all the heavy lifting, like getting content from dynamic websites and stimulating human interactions like clicking, scrolling, or waiting for elements to load. This eliminates the need for extensive modifications to your current workflows.

The Scraping Browser excels in stealth and evasion techniques. It employs advanced fingerprint management to generate realistic and consistent browser fingerprints, closely mimicking genuine user behavior. This can help to reduce the risk of detection and blocking by anti-bot systems. Additionally, the tool implements continually updated anti-leak measures to keep your scraping under the radar.

Scalability is another key advantage. ZenRows’ Scraping Browser cloud infrastructure manages concurrency efficiently, providing instantly available browsers that enable users to scale their operations to thousands of requests as needed. This will be beneficial for large-scale data extraction projects, where managing infrastructure can become a bottleneck.

In terms of customization, the Scraping Browser offers parameters such as proxy_region, proxy_country, and session_ttl, allowing users to tailor their scraping sessions to specific geographic regions and control session durations. This flexibility enhances the tool’s effectiveness in accessing geo-restricted content and managing session lifecycles.

Residential Proxies

ZenRows offers Residential Proxies a solution for accessing geo-restricted and location-specific content, boasting a network of over 55 million residential IPs across more than 185 countries. This extensive coverage ensures users can effectively navigate regional restrictions and obtain localized data as needed.

ZenRows’ residential proxies are designed for immediate deployment, featuring auto-rotation and residential IPs pre-configured for user convenience. Users can start utilizing the service by simply copying the provided Proxy URL. For those requiring tailored configurations, additional options are available to customize proxy usage to specific needs.

They currently only have residential proxies, which can be limiting for users who will prefer other options. For users who already have their proxies for other platforms, there isn’t detailed documentation for how they can use it with ZenRows infrastructure.

In terms of performance, you get the best outcome when you use their premium residential proxies, which have a 99.9% uptime, an average success rate of 99.93%, and a fast average response time, with most requests completed in milliseconds.

The service also offers flexible pricing plans to accommodate various data requirements. Starting at $69 per month with a bandwidth rate of $5.50 per GB, ZenRows provides scalable options for different usage levels. For higher data demands, enterprise plans offer rates as low as $2.80 per GB, allowing users to select a plan that aligns with their specific needs and budget.

Pricing and Plans for ZenRows

ZenRows offers a tiered pricing structure from individual developers to large enterprises. Each plan provides access to ZenRows’ suite of products, including the Universal Scraper API, Scraping Browser, and Residential Proxies.

How to use ZenRows

The Setup Process

Users begin by signing up for an account on the ZenRows platform, where you can access a 14-day free trial to test its capabilities. After signing in, you will be redirected to the dashboard homepage.

An API key is generated for you, which you can have access to from the settings tabs, it will serve as your authentication credential for all requests. The dashboard also allows users to set up residential proxies and adjust scraping configurations. You also get access to the 13 Scraper APIs, the universal Scraper API, and the Scraper browser from the dashboard.

How to Manage Subscription and Usage

ZenRows offers a flexible subscription model that scales according to usage. The pricing plans range from individual developer packages to enterprise-level solutions. Users can monitor their API usage directly from the ZenRows dashboard, which displays real-time metrics such as request count, data consumption, and concurrency limits. Subscription upgrades or downgrades can be handled within the dashboard, and overage charges are transparently communicated. Additionally, ZenRows provides usage alerts to help users manage costs efficiently and avoid unexpected overages.

Code Integration

ZenRows supports multiple programming languages and frameworks, making it easy to integrate into existing applications. The API can be accessed via simple HTTP requests, allowing developers to retrieve structured data with minimal effort. Example code snippets are available for Python, JavaScript (Node.js), and cURL, demonstrating how to send requests and process responses. Advanced features, such as custom headers, session management, and rotating proxies, can be configured to optimize scraping efficiency.

Documentation and Support

ZenRows provides extensive documentation that covers all aspects of its products, from the Scraping Brower, Scraper APIs, Universal Scraper API, and Residential Proxy, including API reference guides, setup tutorials, and FAQs. The documentation includes detailed explanations of request parameters. They also have a blog with a number of tutorials.
For support, ZenRows provides 24/7 developer support via chatbot and basic email support, while enterprise customers have access to dedicated support with service-level agreements (SLAs).

Conclusion

ZenRows is a robust web scraping solution with built-in anti-bot protection, proxy rotation, and JavaScript rendering. It is an excellent choice for businesses and developers who need a hassle-free scraping API with high success rates.

However, for users requiring dedicated scraping APIs for specific websites, Bright Data’s Scraper API remains a strong alternative. With its pre-configured scraping solutions for 100+ websites, Bright Data offers flexibility for large-scale data extraction.
Overall, ZenRows is a good option for web scraping, providing a balance of performance, pricing, and ease of use.

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