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Website Crawler API

Fetch public pages with fast HTTP crawling (no JavaScript). Best first choice for static or server-rendered HTML; use Rendering or WebUnlocker when JS or anti-bot blocks you.

Active1 credit = 1 requestGET/v2/website/crawler
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Endpoint Overview

Detailed documentation, pricing, and usage examples.

Choosing the right endpointLink to Choosing the right endpoint

Piloterr exposes three complementary ways to fetch a public web page. Pick the lightest engine that works for your target site.

Endpoint Engine Credits Use when
Website Crawler HTTP request (no JavaScript) 1 The HTML you need is already in the first response: blogs, docs, server-rendered catalog pages, sitemaps.
Website Rendering Headless browser (JavaScript executed) 2 Content appears only after JS runs: React/Vue/Angular SPAs, lazy-loaded listings, pages that need wait_for or POST browser_instructions.
Website WebUnlocker Browser + unlock stack 3 Website Rendering or Website Crawler hit bot walls (Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, PerimeterX) and the domain is on Piloterr's approved whitelist.

Decision flow

  1. Try Crawler first if you do not need client-side rendering. It is the fastest and cheapest option.
  2. Switch to Rendering when the DOM is empty, prices load asynchronously, or you must wait for a selector / run browser steps.
  3. Escalate to WebUnlocker only for hardened retail or marketplace domains that block normal browser traffic. Whitelist approval is required before production use.

See also: Website Scraping guide.

OverviewLink to Overview

Website Crawler sends a direct HTTP GET to a public URL and returns the page HTML. No headless browser runs: there is no JavaScript execution, no DOM rendering, and no anti-bot unlock layer.

That makes Crawler ideal for volume and speed on sites that already ship meaningful HTML in the first response. When the page is a SPA, loads data after scroll, or sits behind advanced bot detection, move up to Website Rendering or Website WebUnlocker (see table above).

Costs 1 credit per successful call.

QuickstartLink to Quickstart

GET https://api.piloterr.com/v2/website/crawler?query=https://example.com

ParametersLink to Parameters

Parameter Type Required Description
query string yes Public URL with http:// or https://
allow_redirects boolean no Follow redirects when true (default). Set false to inspect redirect chains
return_page_source boolean no Return raw HTML source when true. Default false

ResponseLink to Response

Field Description
Response body HTML string of the fetched page

Related endpointsLink to Related endpoints

Need Endpoint
JavaScript-rendered content Website Rendering
Hard anti-bot on a whitelisted domain Website WebUnlocker
Detect protection before scraping Website Antibot

NotesLink to Notes

  • Only successful HTTP responses are billed.
  • Authenticated or paywalled pages are out of scope.
  • If you get empty or skeleton HTML, the site likely needs Website Rendering instead.

Main use casesLink to Main use cases

  • Bulk-fetch product or listing pages that render on the server
  • Monitor static competitor pages for content changes
  • Harvest blog posts, directories, and documentation at low latency
  • Capture redirect chains with allow_redirects=false

Related APIs

Expand your data capabilities with these complementary tools.

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Website Antibot/v2/website/antibot

Detect which anti-bot protection protects a website before you scrape. Get the vendor, confidence level, and matching clues from a single URL check.

GET1 credit = 1 requestActive
Website Crawler (POST)/v2/website/crawler

A robust solution for efficiently extracting a wide range of data from web pages.

POST1 credit = 1 requestActive
Website Email Phone Extractor/v2/website/email_phone_extractor

Extract emails and phone numbers from websites for comprehensive contact details, including social media profiles across 12+ platforms.

GET1 credit = 1 requestActive
Website Rendering/v2/website/rendering

Render JavaScript-heavy pages in a headless browser and return post-render HTML. Use when Crawler returns empty DOM; escalate to WebUnlocker if bot protection blocks the session.

GET2 credits = 1 requestActive
Website Rendering Instructions (POST)/v2/website/rendering

Execute browser automation instructions (scroll, scroll_to_bottom) during headless rendering to trigger lazy-loaded content, bypass anti-bot detection, and scrape dynamically loaded pages.

POST2 credits = 1 requestActive
Website Screenshot/v2/website/screenshot

Browser-like Screenshot API that captures webpages as PNG/JPEG/WebP or PDF for previews, QA, reporting, monitoring, and archiving no headless setup.

GET2 credits = 1 requestActive
Website Technology/v2/website/technology

Identify the technologies behind any website CMS, frameworks, analytics, CDN, hosting, and more, for competitive market analysis and technological insight.

GET1 credit = 1 requestActive
Website WebUnlocker/v2/website/webunlocker

Bypass advanced anti-bot systems (Cloudflare, DataDome, Akamai, PerimeterX) on whitelisted domains. Combines browser rendering and unlock tooling; use after Crawler and Rendering fail.

GET3 credits = 1 requestActive
Website WebUnlocker (POST)/v2/website/webunlocker

Send POST requests to whitelisted websites or APIs through WebUnlocker to bypass advanced anti-bot protection and retrieve the upstream response.

POST3 credits = 1 requestActive

Ready to get started?

Your web scraping API is one click away. Start with +500 credits, no infrastructure to set up, no proxies to manage, and no credit card required.

  • +500 credits
  • No credit card required
  • All endpoints included
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