How to Use Tor For Web Scraping
In this article, we'll explain web scraping using Tor. For this, we'll use Tor as a proxy server to change the IP address randomly in either HTTP or SOCKS, as well as using it as a rotating proxy server.
Most web scrapers need proxies to scrape without being blocked. However, proxies can be expensive and out of reach for many small web scrapers. One alternative to proxies is to use personal VPN services as proxy clients.
Some VPN services directly support SOCKS or HTTP proxies while others that don't can be converted as proxies through additional tools like wireproxy.
So, what to look for in a VPN service if you want to use it as a proxy client?
Using VPNs proxies is a good budget option but it can be a very complex setup and IP quality can be lacking for many popular web scraping targets.
For more on proxies in web scraping see our introduction guide to proxies in web scraping