Email marketing is far from dead. In fact, the global email marketing industry is expected to grow by $17.9 billion between 2020 to 20271. Email continues to have higher conversion rates compared to other channels. However, building an engaged email subscriber list from scratch is challenging.
This is where email scraping, also known as email extraction, proves useful. Email scraping tools automatically collect publicly available email addresses from the web, social media, and other online sources. The scraped emails can then be used for sales prospecting, marketing campaigns, market research, and more.
With so many email scrapers available today, how do you pick the right one for your needs?
In this comprehensive guide, we evaluate some of the top email scraping tools to consider in 2024 based on key criteria such as features, pricing, reviews, and more.
The Best Email Scraping Tools At a Glance
| Email Scraper | Average Rating | Number of Reviews | Starting Price/Month | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bright Data | 4.7 | 180 | $500 | ✅ |
| Smartproxy | 4.4 | 38 | $50 | ✅ |
| Finder.io | 4.2 | 8 | $14.99 | ✅ |
| GrowMeOrganic | 4.4 | 23 | $49 | ✅ |
| FindThatLead | 4.1 | 149 | $49 | ✅ |
| UpLead | 4.7 | 800 | $99 | ✅ |
We filtered vendors based on the following verifiable criteria:
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Number of B2B reviews: 5+ reviews on sites like G2, TrustRadius, Capterra, etc. B2B reviews provide key insights into real user experiences.
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Number of employees on LinkedIn: We focused on established email scraping providers with 10+ employees listed on LinkedIn.
The table displays the average customer rating and total number of B2B reviews received from review platforms such as G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius for each tool. Except for the products of this post‘s sponsors, Bright Data and Smartproxy, the table is arranged in descending order of average rating.
Now let‘s look at what email scrapers are, how they work, and dive deeper into the top tools in 2024.
What is an Email Scraper?
An email scraper is an automated web scraping tool that extracts email addresses from websites, social media platforms, directories, and other online sources.
Key capabilities of email scrapers include:
- Crawl specified websites or URLs to detect email patterns
- Extract only publicly available email IDs
- Remove duplicate emails
- Export the scraped emails in a structured data format like CSV/XLS/JSON
- Offer solutions to bypass anti-scraping measures like CAPTCHAs
- Provide advanced features like proxies, browsers, and auto-retry mechanisms
The scraped email lists can be used for various business purposes like sales prospecting, marketing campaigns, market research, and more.
Now let‘s look at the top email scraping tools for 2024 in more detail.
Top 6 Email Scraping Tools for Businesses
1. Bright Data
Bright Data is a leading web data gathering platform used by over 35,000 businesses worldwide. Their proprietary web scraper allows extracting valid business email addresses from websites, directories, social media, and more.
Key Features
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Automatically handles anti-scraping measures like CAPTCHAs, IP blocks, etc. using proxy networks and other evasion techniques.
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Supports JavaScript rendering through headless browsers to access dynamic content.
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Offers auto-retry mechanisms in case of errors or blocks.
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Provides real-time logs and analytics to track jobs.
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Easy integrations with data pipelines, BI tools, etc.
Pricing
- Starts at $500/month with annual billing
- Usage-based "Pay as you go" plans available
- 7-day free trial
Bright Data is purpose-built for large-scale, reliable web data extraction with advanced anti-blocking technologies. The tool‘s ease of use, speed, and output quality make it our top recommendation for serious email scraping needs.
2. Smartproxy
Smartproxy offers an easy-to-use web scraping solution to collect publicly available business contact information like emails, phone numbers, social media profiles, and more.
Key Features
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Pre-made data extraction templates for quick scraping
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Automatically handles CAPTCHAs and blocks
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Options to store extracted data in the cloud
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Support for proxies, browsers, etc.
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Data exports in CSV, JSON
Pricing
- Starts at $50/month
- 3-day free trial
Smartproxy strikes a great balance between ease of use and advanced capabilities for medium to large-scale web data extraction projects. It‘s a cost-effective option suitable for non-technical users.
3. Finder.io
Finder.io is a lead generation automation platform that offers easy email scraping capabilities. Users can extract emails from websites as well as verify email deliverability.
Key Features:
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Chrome extension for simplified scraping
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Tools to verify domain and deliverability of scraped emails
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Option for bulk email searches
Pricing
- Starts at $14.99/month
- 14-day free trial
For simple email harvesting needs, Finder.io provides an easy-to-use and affordable solution.
4. GrowMeOrganic
GrowMeOrganic is a lead generation and email outreach platform. Their email scraper extracts business email IDs, phone numbers, social profiles, and more from websites.
Key Features
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Scrapes emails from home and contact pages
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Exports data in CSV/XLS formats
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Integrated LinkedIn email scraping capabilities
Pricing
- Starts at $49/month
- 14-day free trial
For users specifically looking to scrape emails and LinkedIn data, GrowMeOrganic provides a purpose-built solution at a reasonable price point.
5. FindThatLead
FindThatLead enables extracting professional email addresses from Twitter, Instagram, and especially LinkedIn.
Key Features
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Bulk email search on LinkedIn
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Verified email addresses from social profiles
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Chrome extension for simplified use
Pricing
- Starts at $49/month
- Free trial available
For social media-based email scraping, FindThatLead is a leading choice trusted by thousands of sales teams worldwide.
6. UpLead
UpLead provides an AI-powered platform for finding and verifying B2B leads. Their email scraper extracts addresses from websites by company name or URL.
Key Features
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Bulk email searches by company
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Exports to CRMs or Excel
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Real-time email verification
Pricing
- Starts at $99/month
- 7-day free trial
UpLead offers robust tools tailored to sales prospecting needs. For lead qualification beyond just email finding, it is a top choice.
Is Email Scraping Legal?
The legality of email scraping depends on how it is done:
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It should only extract publicly available data, not requiring login credentials or payments.
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The website‘s terms of service, robots.txt, etc. should be respected.
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The scraped data should only be used for legitimate business needs, not spamming or harassment.
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Relevant data protection regulations like GDPR should be followed.
You should consult a legal expert to ensure your email scraping practices comply with applicable laws and ethical standards. Overall, email scraping done correctly within guidelines can provide immense business value.
How Do Email Scrapers Work?
Email scrapers follow these key steps to extract emails from websites:
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The user specifies the target URL(s) to scrape.
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The tool scans the website‘s content and HTML to identify text matching common email patterns like [email protected].
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Matching emails are extracted and duplicates removed.
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The scraped emails are exported into a structured format like CSV for download and use.
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For sites with pagination, the scraper automatically navigates through all pages to extract emails.
Advanced email scrapers can also integrate proxies, browsers, CAPTCHA solvers, and retries to overcome anti-scraping measures. This enables reliable extraction even from complex, dynamically-loaded websites.
Final Thoughts
Email scraping can provide invaluable business benefits when done properly. The key is choosing a tool that fits your budget, use case, and experience level.
For large-scale email harvesting, Bright Data is our top recommendation thanks to robust anti-blocking capabilities, speed, and reliability. Smartproxy also offers a cost-effective solution suitable for non-technical teams.
Besides these, tools like Finder.io, GrowMeOrganic, FindThatLead, and UpLead excel for specific applications like verifying email validity, LinkedIn scraping, or sales prospecting.
Evaluate your needs, shortlist tools that can address them, and take advantage of free trials to test options out. With the right email scraper, you can unlock new opportunities and supercharge your marketing in 2024.
For guidance to choose the right tool, check out our data-driven list of web scrapers, and reach out to us{:target="_blank"}