# Requires additional setup and command-line usage as seen above

```

### Features

Here’s a simple breakdown of key features:

| Feature | BeautifulSoup4 | Scrapy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| JavaScript Support | ❌ | ❌ (needs add-ons) |
| Multiple Requests | ❌ (manual) | ✅ (automatic) |
| Data Processing | ❌ (basic) | ✅ (built-in pipelines) |
| Error Handling | ❌ (manual) | ✅ (automatic retries) |
| Proxy Support | ❌ (manual) | ✅ (built-in) |

### Use Cases

Choose BS4 when:

- You’re new to web scraping
- You need to scrape a few simple pages
- You want to quickly test or prototype
- The website is mostly static HTML
- You’re working within a larger project

Choose Scrapy when:

- You need to scrape thousands of pages
- You want built-in data processing
- You need advanced features like proxy rotation
- You’re building a production scraper
- Performance is critical

## 5\. Common Challenges and Limitations

Web scraping tools face several hurdles that can make data extraction difficult or unreliable. Understanding these challenges helps you choose the right tool and prepare for potential roadblocks.

### Dynamic Content

Modern websites often load content using JavaScript after the initial page load. Neither BS4 nor Scrapy can handle this directly. While you can add tools like Selenium or Playwright to either solution, this makes your scraper more complex and slower. A typical example is an infinite scroll page on social media – the content isn’t in the HTML until you scroll down.

### Anti-Bot Measures

Websites are getting smarter at detecting and blocking scrapers. Common protection methods include:

- CAPTCHAs and reCAPTCHA challenges
- IP-based rate limiting
- Browser fingerprinting
- Dynamic HTML structure changes
- Hidden honeypot elements

While Scrapy offers some built-in tools like proxy support and request delays, both BS4 and Scrapy users often need to implement additional solutions to bypass these protections.

### Maintenance Burden

Perhaps the biggest challenge is keeping scrapers running over time. Websites frequently change their structure, breaking scrapers that rely on specific HTML patterns. Here’s a real-world example:

Before website update:

```python