Data Collection Tools from Digital
Sources
By
Dr. Sunitha G.P. Mr. Aruna Kumar P.
Associate Professor Assistant Professor
Dept. of MCA Dept. of ISE
JNNCE, Shivamogga JNNCE, Shivamogga
Web Scraping Tools
• Scrapy:
Open-source, Python-based, customizable
(Free, Moderate)
• Beautiful Soup:
Python library for parsing HTML/XML (Free,
Moderate)
• Octoparse:
Visual scraping, cloud-based ($75+/month, Easy)
• Mozenda:
Structured data extraction (Contact, Easy)
Surveys & Forms
• Google Forms:
Simple surveys, integrates with Sheets (Free,
Very Easy)
• Jotform:
Drag-and-drop builder, customizable
($39+/month, Very Easy)
• SurveyMonkey:
Logic branching, analytics ($25+/month, Easy)
Web Analytics Tools
• Google Analytics:
Tracks user behavior (Free, Easy)
• Hotjar:
Heatmaps, session recordings ($39+/month,
Easy)
• Mixpanel:
Event tracking, funnels ($89+/month,Moderate)
API-Based Data Collection
• Tweepy:
Twitter API, streaming & RESTful endpoints
(Free, Moderate)
• Reddit API:
Access posts, comments (Free, Moderate)
• Google Places API:
Location-based data ($5/1000 requests,
Moderate)
Automation & ETL Tools
• Zapier:
Connect apps, automate tasks
($19.99+/month, Easy)
• Integromat/Make:
Complex workflows ($9+/month, Easy)
• Talend:
Data integration, open-source ($1,170+/year,
Moderate)
Choosing the Right Tool
• Developers: Scrapy, Beautiful Soup
• Non-Developers: Octoparse, Mozenda
• Surveys: Google Forms, Jotform, SurveyMonkey
• Web Analytics: Google Analytics, Hotjar,
Mixpanel
• API Collection: Tweepy, Reddit API, Google Places
API
• Automation/ETL: Zapier, Make, Talend
