Python Is Overrated? The REAL Best Language for Web Scraping

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

“Is there any library which won’t suck when I’m deploying?”

Setting up undetected‑chromedriver on macOS used to be pure pain for me. Many clients didn’t really understand how all of this worked, and they wanted a GUI to interact with. Of course, Python has libraries to build GUIs… but most of them look like they’re straight out of the early 2000s.

Python’s Limitations

• GUI libraries feel outdated.
• Deployment can be cumbersome.
• Data cleaning capabilities aren’t great for large‑scale scraping pipelines.

Switching to JavaScript

I started looking for alternatives and eventually landed on JavaScript.

• Better scraping libraries such as Puppeteer.
• Smoother deployment experience.
• Already the primary language for web applications, so everything fits together more naturally.

Discovering Go

That’s when I discovered Golang. Its community is small but growing, and it absolutely wins when it comes to:

• Speed, reliability, and concurrency.
• Simple deployment: create a single binary and that’s it.

Go excels at networking and has solid support for web automation through libraries like chromedp and rod. When it comes to scaling, Go outperforms Python, especially in CPU‑bound and high‑concurrency workloads. Additional advantages:

• Predictable memory footprint.
• Faster startup times.
• Ability to handle thousands of concurrent connections without exhausting resources.

Comparing the Ecosystems

You can argue that Python has more libraries and that TypeScript makes JavaScript more reliable. I agree—each language has strengths. However, the raw performance, simplicity of deployment, and consistency that Go provides are hard to match.

• Go can build IPC‑based communication layers and integrate easily with other languages for front‑ends or specialized tooling.
• The Go ecosystem is comparatively smaller, but it’s improving rapidly.

Conclusion

If Go continues to receive strong support and broader adoption, it can seriously challenge Python’s dominance in web scraping—especially for large‑scale, production‑grade systems where performance, stability, and deployment matter most.