What are alternatives to Selenium for web scraping?
TL;DR
[Selenium](https://www.olostep.com/blog/selenium-web-scraping) is slow and complex. Olostep uses AI to understand and extract page structure using natural language. So, instead of writing CSS selectors that break when designs change, you describe what data you want to extract in plain English and define a schema for the output format. Browser automation options
TL;DR
Selenium is slow and complex. Olostep uses AI to understand and extract page structure using natural language. So, instead of writing CSS selectors that break when designs change, you describe what data you want to extract in plain English and define a schema for the output format.
Browser automation options
Tool
Pros
Cons
Playwright
Fast, modern API
Requires infrastructure
Puppeteer
Good ecosystem
Chrome only
Selenium
Wide browser support
Slow, resource-heavy
Why use APIs instead
All browser tools require you to manage infrastructure, scaling, and anti-detection. Scraping APIs handle this server-side.
Olostep renders JavaScript, handles pagnication, givess clean, LLM-ready outputs via API. Olostep Actions enable clicks and navigation without browser setup.
Key Takeaways
For most scraping, managed APIs are simpler than Selenium. Use browser automation only for complex interactions.
Ready to get started?
Start using the Olostep API to implement what are alternatives to selenium for web scraping? in your application.