How to Scrape Any Website for Free Using AI and File Crawl

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How to Scrape Any Website for Free Using AI and File Crawl

Web scraping has become an essential tool for businesses and individuals who need to collect data from websites. In this guide, we’ll explore a powerful workflow that uses File Crawl and AI to scrape any website and structure the data – all for free.

The Complete Web Scraping Workflow

This workflow demonstrates how to scrape product listings from eBay’s trending deals section for laptops. The data obtained includes product names, prices, original prices, URLs, shipping information, and condition – information that’s valuable for shop owners looking to spot good deals.

Setting Up File Crawl

To get started with this process, you’ll need to:

  1. Go to firecrawl.dev and create an account
  2. Navigate to the dashboard and create an API key
  3. Familiarize yourself with the playground to understand the available functionalities

File Crawl offers 500 free credits, allowing you to scrape 500 pages without any cost – sufficient for several months of moderate usage.

Building the Workflow in N8N

N8N is the automation platform used to create this workflow. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Install the File Crawl Node

Go to Settings → Community Notes and install the N8N nodes by File Crawl. This will add the necessary functionality to your workflow.

2. Configure the File Crawl Node

Add the File Crawl node to your workflow and configure it to scrape the target URL in markdown format. This approach allows future flexibility if you want to create embeddings for a database.

3. Set Up the AI Model

The workflow uses Google’s Gemini model to structure the data:

  • Get an API key from aisstudio.com
  • Create credentials in N8N
  • Choose the Gemini 2.0 Flash model for fast processing
  • Configure auto-fixing outputs and structured data parser

4. Define the Data Structure

Create an edit fields node to define the array of fields you want to extract from the website, such as product name, price, original price, URL, etc.

5. Format the Data with Code

Add a code node to transform the JSON output into rows that can be written to Google Sheets, with headers and properly formatted data.

6. Set Up Google Sheets Integration

To write data to Google Sheets:

  1. Create a new project in Google Cloud Console
  2. Enable the Google Sheets API
  3. Configure OAuth credentials with proper redirect URIs
  4. Add the credentials to N8N
  5. Create a new spreadsheet for the data

7. Write Data to Google Sheets

Use an HTTP request node with the PUT method to write the structured data to Google Sheets. This approach allows writing both headers and data in one operation.

Automating the Process

Once the workflow is set up, you can schedule it to run automatically on a daily, hourly, or weekly basis. This creates an ongoing data collection system that operates without manual intervention.

Cost Considerations

This entire workflow can operate for free:

  • File Crawl provides 500 free credits
  • Gemini offers a generous free tier
  • N8N can be self-hosted without cost
  • Google Sheets is free for basic usage

This makes it an excellent solution for individuals or small businesses looking to gather structured data without investing in expensive scraping tools.

Conclusion

Web scraping with AI has never been more accessible. This workflow demonstrates how to combine File Crawl, Gemini AI, and Google Sheets to create a powerful, automated data collection system without any cost. By following these steps, you can adapt the process to scrape and structure data from virtually any website according to your specific needs.

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