Diffbot
Web ScrapingAI-powered web data extraction and knowledge graph construction
Overview
Diffbot positions itself as the "AI-powered web extraction platform" that eliminates the complexity of traditional web scraping. Founded in 2008 by Mike Tung, the company has evolved from a simple article extraction tool into a comprehensive data intelligence platform that powers knowledge graphs for enterprises and developers. Unlike CSS selector-based scrapers that break when sites change, Diffbot uses computer vision and natural language processing to understand web page structure and meaning.
The platform's core strength lies in its automatic extraction APIs that can parse articles, products, discussions, and images without site-specific configuration. Diffbot has processed over 10 billion web pages to build what it calls the world's largest commercial knowledge graph, containing structured information about people, organizations, locations, and their relationships. Major companies including eBay, Microsoft, and Adobe use Diffbot for competitive intelligence, content analysis, and data enrichment workflows.
What sets Diffbot apart from traditional scrapers like ScrapingBee or Apify is its focus on understanding rather than just extracting. While those tools require you to write selectors for each site, Diffbot's APIs work across thousands of sites automatically. The tradeoff is less granular control over exactly what gets extracted and higher costs per request.
Score breakdown
Composite Score
39.9Our review
Diffbot is an AI-powered web data extraction and knowledge graph platform. Its automatic web scraping and entity extraction APIs power many SEO tools and enable custom competitive intelligence, content analysis, and structured data extraction at scale.
Pros
- ✓AI-powered automatic web data extraction
- ✓Knowledge Graph with billions of entities
- ✓Entity extraction and classification
- ✓Natural Language API for content analysis
Cons
- —Developer-focused — requires API integration
- —Premium pricing for high-volume usage
- —Not a traditional SEO tool
Best for
Key features
Automatic Article Extraction
Extracts clean article text, author, publish date, and images from news sites and blogs without CSS selectors or custom rules.
Product Data Extraction
Pulls structured product information including prices, descriptions, reviews, and specifications from e-commerce sites.
Knowledge Graph API
Accesses Diffbot's pre-built knowledge graph of 10+ billion entities and their relationships for entity enrichment.
Discussion Thread Analysis
Extracts threaded conversations, user sentiment, and discussion metrics from forums, Reddit, and social platforms.
Image and Video Processing
Identifies faces, objects, and text within images and videos using computer vision APIs.
Bulk Processing
Processes thousands of URLs simultaneously through batch API endpoints and crawling infrastructure.
Natural Language Processing
Applies sentiment analysis, entity recognition, and content classification to extracted text data.
Custom Extraction Rules
Creates site-specific extraction patterns for complex layouts that automatic extraction can't handle.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Free | 1,000 API calls/month, basic extraction, community support |
| Starter | $299/mo | 100K API calls/month, all extraction types, email support |
| Professional | $799/mo | 500K API calls/month, bulk processing, phone support |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited calls, dedicated infrastructure, custom integrations |
FAQ
How accurate is Diffbot's automatic extraction compared to manual scraping?
Diffbot achieves 85-95% accuracy on mainstream sites without custom rules, which is significantly higher than generic scrapers. Complex or non-standard layouts may require custom extraction rules for optimal results.
Can Diffbot handle JavaScript-heavy sites and SPAs?
Yes, Diffbot renders JavaScript and handles single-page applications, but response times are slower (3-10 seconds vs sub-second for static content). The rendering is reliable but not as fast as headless browser solutions.
What's the difference between Diffbot and traditional web scraping tools?
Diffbot uses machine learning to understand page structure and content meaning, eliminating the need to write CSS selectors or XPath expressions. Traditional scrapers require manual rule creation for each site and break when layouts change.
How does Diffbot's knowledge graph compare to Google's Knowledge Graph?
Diffbot's knowledge graph contains over 10 billion entities with focus on business, people, and organizations. It's more accessible via API than Google's data but less comprehensive for general world knowledge and local entities.
Does Diffbot respect robots.txt and rate limiting?
Diffbot respects robots.txt by default and implements intelligent rate limiting to avoid overwhelming target servers. Enterprise plans offer custom crawling policies and can work with site owners on access agreements.
Capabilities
AI Visibility Metrics
Entity SEO
Technical & Integrations
Integrations
Social Proof
Over 400 Companies
Notable Customers
aiseo.is Score
#1 of 3 in Web Scraping
Review Sentiment
33 reviews across 2 sources
People love
- +Exceptionally high data structuring quality — 9.7/10 on G2 for turning unstructured web data into usable formats
- +Superb customer support with responses typically within 24 hours and a perfect 5.0 Capterra support rating
- +Powerful Knowledge Graph API that reduces time-to-market for data-driven products significantly
Common complaints
- –Steep learning curve — API-first platform requires coding knowledge for API calls and JSON handling
- –No crawler monitoring or failure notifications makes it hard to track extraction job status
- –Premium pricing starting at $299/month puts it out of reach for individual users and small teams
🟠Reddit sentiment
mixed10 threads in webscraping, WebDataDiggers, howtoworkonlinenow
“Unlike Apify which relies partly on code selectors, Diffbot uses computer vision and machine learning to 'look' at a page like a human does. It ... a significantly higher price tag.”
r/WebDataDiggers
“Diffbot is an AI-powered web scraping tool that can automatically extract structured data from web pages, including business information, products, and reviews.”
r/howtoworkonlinenow
🔵𝕏 sentiment
mixed8 posts
“Hey guys how am I suppose to sign up on @diffbot? It keep asking for a valid work email. Is there no way to sign up using personal email?”
@devanshu_twt
“UPDATES TO THE RSPV READER ! PASTE ANY URL ! Should work on effectively any url but works best on Substack and other places with articles. It uses the diffbot api and Gemini flash to try a cleanup the start and end of the article so there's no noise in there either.”
@dirtman
Last updated Feb 2026
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