Let's be honest — after the launch of ChatGPT and other AI tools, we finally realized how important data really is.
You may have heard that:
- DeepSeek is scraping OpenAI's data to build their own AI chatbot
- Reddit is suing Anthropic for unauthorized use of the site's data
- Reddit has struck a $60 million deal with Google to use its content for training AI models
- …and much more.
But you can't simply scrape data illegally.
Also, when you're building a new AI tool or need a large amount of data for your business, scraping the internet and finding the exact data you need is hard too.
That's why I tried 15+ web scraping tools to find the best one that can actually help you get the data you want.
And I finally found one.
I'm talking about Bright Data, and today I'll show you exactly how to try it, what makes it insanely good, and why it's the only web scraping tool you'll ever need.
Note: This post contains a few affiliate links. If you choose to become a paid member through them, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
Most importantly, I only recommend products I’ve personally used and trust.
Here's what I'll cover:
- The problem with most web scraping tools
- Why Bright Data crushes every competitor
- How to get started?
- How I'm using Bright Data
- Do you really need Bright Data?
- FAQs
The problem with most web scraping tools
Let me be honest - most web scraping tools suck.
I've tried over 15 of them, and here's what I found:
- Many of them break on complex websites or fail to bypass anti-bot systems like CAPTCHAs, Cloudflare, or JavaScript-heavy pages.
- Most of them are so complicated, you can't use them without spending weeks learning about them.
- Some advertise themselves as "no-code" but crash the moment you try to scrape anything dynamic.
So I made a checklist to find the best web scraping tool while researching. Here's what I was looking for in a serious web scraping tool:
- Even if you're not technical, you should be able to run scrapers without writing a single line of code. Just click, set it up, and get your data.
- Everything should work - crawling, parsing, proxy setup - and ideally, it should also have a free plan so you can test it first.
- Whether you're scraping 100 pages or 10 million, it should just work. No constant fixing or manual checks.
- It should be smart enough to handle CAPTCHAs, blocked IPs, headless browsers, and other anti-scraping roadblocks.
- If you're a developer, it should also give you full control - APIs, custom scripts, advanced options, and more.
And after testing several web scraping platforms, I found "Bright Data" to be one of the best. Yes, it checks all the boxes.
Why Bright Data crushes every competitor
First off, Bright Data is one of the best web scraping tools out there with all the features one needs & is recommended by everyone in the web scraping niche.
The best part? With Bright Data you can "Discover, access, extract, and interact with any public website".
And that's what makes it easy to extract data to help your eCommerce business, SERP tracking, data for AI models, market research, and more.
Now, let's talk about what services it provides:
- Web Access APIs like Unlocker API, SERP API, Crawl API, and more to access data from the web. They claim that you can crawl and interact with the web without ever getting blocked.
- Proxy services like Residential proxies, ISP proxies, Datacenter proxies, and more
- Dataset marketplace of ready-made, clean, and enriched datasets to empower your business
- Ready-to-train data even for your AI models, and other products for AI
- And much more
In short, it provides all the functionalities and features one needs to scrape data and get what's needed.
How to get started?
Now, after seeing all the insane features it provides, you may be interested in trying it out.
So, here's the getting started process:
First of all, visit their website and click on the button "Get started for free" to sign up using Google or through your work email.
Then write your name and accept their license agreement and privacy policy.
That's all - you will be redirected to your dashboard page from where you can use the features it provides.
If you want to learn the process of how to scrape data and more, they provide documentation and have resources like webinars, masterclasses, videos, blogs, and more.
Talking about the pricing - you can get started for free. They provide some free credits to get started, and then you need to add funds to use more of their services.
How I'm using Bright Data
If you follow me, you probably know that I used to be a web developer. Now, I'm a content writer working with several AI companies in the tech space.
And that's where I've been using Bright Data for a lot of tasks.
For example, when I'm working with an AI company, I'm helping them with real, filtered data - all thanks to Bright Data.
To be more precise, I've been using their Web Scraper API library to scrape high-volume specific data from popular platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Amazon, and more.
I've also been using a Bright Data product called "Agent Browser", which lets you run and control browsers online. It comes with built-in features that make it easy to unblock websites.
And the best part is that this tool handles things like solving CAPTCHAs, avoiding detection, retrying when needed, choosing the right headers and cookies, running JavaScript, and more - all automatically.
Other than that, I've seen that Bright Data keeps updating their ready-to-train data over time, which makes it ideal for customers like me. And I use a lot of ready-to-train data for my side-hustle projects.
Do you really need Bright Data?
If you're building an AI tool, scaling a startup, running market research, collecting leads, tracking SERPs, or just need high-quality web data - you should definitely use Bright Data.
And to be honest, I've tried multiple free scrapers and even paid ones that break on dynamic websites, fail on CAPTCHAs, and get your IP blocked within minutes.
In contrast to that, Bright Data is built for professionals, auto-solves the issues, and has been used by Fortune 500 companies.
And as we know:
- You can scrape any public website - even those protected by anti-bot systems like Cloudflare or JavaScript-heavy UIs.
- It auto-solves CAPTCHAs, rotates proxies, mimics real browsers, and retries failed requests on its own.
- You can use it without coding or even automate content extraction from any domain - so it's useful for both beginners and developers.
- You can even access clean, ready-made datasets or create custom pipelines for AI training.
- The best part? You can try it for free. They give you some credits to test things out, and then you only pay for what you use.
So if you're serious about using data to grow your business or train your AI models - yes, you really need Bright Data.
FAQs:
1. Can I really scrape data from any website using Bright Data?
⟹ Yes, Bright Data lets you scrape even the toughest websites. It handles CAPTCHAs, blocks, and failed requests automatically - so you don't have to worry about getting stuck.
2. Can I use Bright Data even if I don't know how to code?
⟹ Yes, you don't need to be a developer to start using Bright Data. They offer easy-to-use tools, visual dashboards, and even no-code solutions. You can literally just follow their documentation, and you're good to go.
3. Is Bright Data legal and safe to use?
⟹ Totally. Bright Data only lets you scrape publicly available data, and it follows strict compliance rules. Also, even Fortune 500 companies use this web scraping tool, so it's legal and safe as long as you use it responsibly.
4. What if I only need data for a one-time project?
⟹ No problem. You can sign up, use the free credits, test it out, and only pay for what you use. You don't need to commit to a long-term subscription unless you want to.
5. Can I use it to collect data for training my AI model?
⟹ Absolutely. That's actually one of the best use-cases. Bright Data even has ready-to-train datasets, and you can customize your own data pipeline to feed your AI or ML models with fresh, real-time data.
6. What if I run into issues while scraping?
⟹ Well, they've got a solid support team, 24/7 chat, and tons of helpful resources so you don't need to worry.
Hope you like it.
That's it - thanks.
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