Best Web Scrapers
For any business, it’s vital to generate leads any way you can, which is why it’s important to know how to scrape Facebook profiles and group data.
This may sound like a complicated task, but with the right tools, it couldn’t be any easier.
It doesn’t matter what your industry is; learning how to find potential leads from Facebook data can be highly beneficial.
This article will dive into the best scraping tools you can use to your advantage across numerous social platforms.
How to Scrape Facebook Profiles and Groups Data
Data Scraping Features
- Scrape Facebook profile data
- Collect numerous data points from Facebook groups
- Customize the data you want to collect
- Use automation to your advantage and scrape data with efficiency
- Organize scraped data easily through automated features
The Benefits of Scraping Facebook User Data
Before we take a deep dive into this topic, it’s important to mention that user data shouldn’t be used for any malicious purpose.
Ethical data scraping pertains to any information that’s publicly available.
The tools mentioned in this article should not be used to collect private information.
Aside from that, Facebook users offer a lot of relevant information when it comes to generating leads.
For a business to effectively generate leads on potential customers, you’ll need to collect specific information.
Thankfully, many Facebook profiles and groups alike have plenty of public data available.
This can be utilized to find or market to a target audience. However, generating leads has always been considered a time-consuming task.
Traditional methods of lead generation are quickly becoming outdated, thanks to the help of automation technology.
Of course, automated tools are pretty abundant, and you’ll find one after the other with a simple Google search.
If you’re new to data scraping or automation tools, you might have trouble discerning which is the best choice for your needs.
It’s important to question these tools as not all of them are as reliable as they claim to be.
Sourcing the Best Data Scraping Tools in 2023
Thankfully, you don’t have to go on a deep dive through the internet to find the best data scraping tools.
This article has everything you need to get started, and you’ll learn how to use them for small to large-scale needs.
Using automation services might come with a bit of a learning curve, but it won’t take long until you have a system that works in your favor.
One of the best social media scraping tools on the market is PhantomBuster, and this is due to a long list of reasons.
Not only do they offer a cost-efficient approach, but they provide thorough and consistent results. It isn’t hard to find good reviews about them online.
Although this may be true, it’s always good to have an alternative solution on hand.
That’s why you’re also going to learn about ScraperAPI.
Both companies offer similar services but take a unique approach to data scraping.
One is essentially a fully automated approach, whereas the other offers more customization through coding, proxies, and more.
It doesn’t matter what your preferences might be, both services bring plenty of value to the table.
You’ll also find that there are unique features between the two, which will help you decide which route you want to take.
With tools like these at your disposal, you’ll never struggle to generate leads again.
When you combine their features with the filtering options available on Facebook, you can easily hone in on your target audience.
1. Phantombuster
Features & Specifications
- 14-day free trial available
- Multiple data scraping tools for Facebook
- Reliable customer support
- Different subscription tiers with varying benefits
- Scrape data with full automation
Facebook is just one of many social platforms that Phantombuster is capable of scraping data from.
Better yet, there are multiple phantoms and flows (automations) that you can use to scrape data from different Facebook features.
For example, you can specifically target profiles, groups, or a mixture of the two.
They also have the ability to find the URL of Facebook accounts by inputting full names or company names.
We’re going to focus on Facebook profiles and groups, as they should have all the information you might need for generating leads.
To start, make an account and instantly start testing their tools and features with the provided 14-day free trial.
You can learn a lot about what they’re capable of during that time frame.
It’ll also help you figure out if you want to take the leap and pay for a subscription.
Their subscriptions come with a range of benefits.
In a similar fashion to any multi-level subscription model, the more you pay, the more features you gain access to.
You have the following options to choose from:
- Starter: $59 per month or $48 per month with annual billing
- Pro: $139 per month or $112 per month with annual billing
- Team: $399 per month or $320 per month with annual billing
Taking the annual billing route saves you 20% per month.
The company offers plenty of flexibility when it comes to their subscription tiers.
Even if you go with the Starter option, you’ll have access to 20 hours of execution time per month and five slots for different automations.
For individuals, this is probably the best choice when you’re new.
The Team option would be a better bet if you have an organization with multiple employees involved.
However you look at it, each subscription gains access to the same features but with varying limitations.
Of course, you can change your subscription at any time.
They also throw in 500 to 10,000 email credits each month, depending on your particular subscription.
Once you have your new account made, you can immediately start putting their Facebook data scraping tools to use.
Facebook Profile Scraper
Likely to be the best choice for the most data points, their Facebook profile scraper digs for any public information on any profile.
You can either provide PhantomBuster with session cookies or profile URLs, and it’ll churn out a long list of information.
Some of these data points include:
- Full name
- Relationship status
- Education
- Work
- Interests
- Address
- And much more
Essentially, if anything is publicly available on a Facebook profile, PhantomBuster will scrape it and form it in a data sheet for you.
Although Facebook profiles come with a wide variety of data points, Facebook groups can also be highly beneficial.
Facebook Group Members Export
This feature work in a similar fashion. It allows users to extract up to 5,000 members from any Facebook group automatically.
The one downside is that you have to be a member of this group for it to work.
Once 5,000 members are extracted, PhantomBuster will compile the data into an organized CSV file for easy access.
All that’s required on your end is to provide either Facebook cookies or group URLs, and PhantomBuster will scrape over ten different data points.
Some of these include image URLs, full names, friendship status, the name of the group, and much more.
The data scraping tools PhantomBuster provides can generate a lot of data, but if you’re looking for a more customized approach, it doesn’t hurt to have an alternative available.
ScraperAPI provides a similar service, but they aren’t as point-and-click as PhantomBuster.
However, they can be extremely helpful when you’re looking for specific data points.
2. ScraperAPI
Features & Specifications
- 7-day free trial
- Customize your data scraping approach
- Built for developers and those who need more customization
- Proxies, geotargeting, and anti-bot bypassing
- Save 10% on the yearly custom subscription plan
Although ScraperAPI takes a more technical approach to data scraping, they offer all the information you need to get started.
A few key benefits make them stand out, such as 40 million IPs worldwide, over 50 geolocations, a nearly 100% uptime guarantee, and more.
If you’re looking to scrape more specific data points on Facebook, ScraperAPI can easily do that.
They also guarantee that your actions will never get blocked, and their services are built to be scalable.
Many of their users enjoy the fact that their services are fast and reliable, as you get web crawling speeds of 100Mb/s.
When you get started, you’ll want to take a look at either their API or proxy mode.
Both come with a unique approach to data scraping, which can be customized in numerous ways.
The step-by-step process to using their tools will look something like this:
- GET requests
- Javascript rendering
- IP geotargeting
- Residential proxies
- Custom headers
- Custom sessions
- JSON auto parsing
This may sound entirely confusing to some people, but their website can help guide you in the right direction, regardless of your expertise.
Make sure to visit the resources tab on their website, and you can find multiple developer guides.
If you’re interested in testing the waters, the company provides new users with 5,000 API credits during their 7-day free trial.
After the free trial ends, you have five different subscription tiers to choose from.
You can get a comprehensive look at what they offer below.
| Hobby | Startup | Business | Professional | Enterprise |
| $49/mo | $149/mo | $299/mo | $999/mo | Custom |
| 100k API credits | 1m API credits | 3m API credits | 14m API credits | Custom |
| 20 concurrent threads | 50 concurrent threads | 100 concurrent threads | 400 concurrent threads | Custom |
| U.S. and EU geotargeting | U.S. and EU geotargeting | All geotargeting | All geotargeting | Custom |
They also offer a continuous free plan, but this only comes with 1,000 API credits and 5 concurrent threads.
It’s evident that regardless of the subscription tier you choose, ScraperAPI offers more than enough to scrape an enormous amount of data.
The plans vary to some degree, primarily with API credits, but there are a few features that are included with every plan they offer.
These features include:
- JS rendering
- Premium proxies
- JSON auto parsing
- Smart proxy rotation
- Custom header support
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Automatic retries
- Desktop and mobile user agents
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Custom session support
- CAPTCHA and anti-bot support
- Professional customer support
When you take a look at ScraperAPIs’ services from every angle, signing up quickly becomes a no-brainer.
This isn’t to say PhantomBuster isn’t a viable solution in comparison; they simply target different types of users.
If you’re looking for an approach that allows you to customize your needs, then ScraperAPI is for you.
However, if you’re someone who needs simpler automation and less manual work, then PhantomBuster is the way to go.
By using ScraperAPI, you can target more specific data points on Facebook if that’s more suitable for your needs in lead generation.
Even if PhantomBuster takes a more simplistic approach, they’re a very efficient and cost-effective solution in comparison.
Each Facebook automation they offer is able to scrape 10+ data points on any given profile.
Of course, it’ll only gather public data, but there’s plenty of that to go around.
In the event you aren’t sure which service is right for you, consider trying both free trials simultaneously.
This will let you run tests without making a financial commitment.
It’s also advised to run as many tests as possible so you can see what both services are capable of and what their limits are.
You can definitely find similar automation tools online, but PhantomBuster and ScraperAPI deliver the best of both worlds.
This is especially true with varying levels of customization and efficiency.
There’s no doubt some of their pricing plans can be rather expensive, but their starting tiers are more than enough to get the ball rolling.
Final Notes
Whether it’s for personal or business use, both data scraping services are entirely catered toward simple and effective lead generation.
It’s up to you to find out which one fits your needs and whether you prefer simple automation or fully customizable data scraping.
Both services are highly regarded in their own right and come with an impressive track record with previous customers.
If you’re looking to learn how to scrape Facebook profiles and groups data, this article has everything you need to get started.
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Written by Jason Wise
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