Overall, if you are looking to develop a web scraper for the Windows operating system that automatically pulls data from a website, then VBA-based web scraping will be a good choice. Steep learning curve - VBA programming language is less beginner-friendly and a bit harder than other modern programming languages, such as Python or Javascript. Third-party useful scraping tools are hard to integrate with it. Tightly coupled with MS Office – VBA scrapers are highly dependent on MS Office tools. The library supports are also limited, for example, you will be unable to use Microsoft Edge. While MS Office does have support for Mac, it is way harder to write a working VBA scraper on it. Only works in Windows – VBA scrapers are not cross-platform. Everything will be taken care of by the VBA script including log-in, scrolling, button clicks, etc. Out-of-the-box support for browser – VBA web scrapers can take advantage of Microsoft’s latest browser Microsoft Edge which makes scraping dynamic websites pretty convenient.Ĭomplete automation – When running the VBA script, you don’t have to perform any additional tasks or interact with the browser. Unlike other development environments, these tools can be upgraded together to the latest version without much hassle. Reliable – Both Microsoft Excel & VBA are developed and maintained by Microsoft. You can use VBA right away in all the Microsoft Office tools. Ready to use – VBA is bundled with Microsoft Office which basically means that if you already have MS Office installed, you don’t have to worry about installing anything else. Pros and cons of using VBA for scrapingīefore we move on to the tutorial part it is essential to highlight some advantages and disadvantages of web scraping to Excel with VBA. VBA can also be used to write macros to pull data from websites into Excel. VBA extends the capabilities of Microsoft Office tools and allows users to develop advanced functions and complex automation. It is a programming language of Microsoft Corporation.
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