For most scraping jobs, start with Axios or Got for plain HTML, then use Playwright when the page needs a real browser. Node-fetch is still a familiar choice in Node.js, with npm showing tens of millions of weekly downloads [source: npm], but it is only one piece of the scraping puzzle.
TLDR: If you need a simple Node-fetch replacement, use Axios, Got, or Undici. If the site relies on JavaScript, use Playwright or Puppeteer. For example, a price tracker checking 500 product pages every hour might use Got for 80% of pages and Playwright for the 20% that hide prices behind scripts. That split can cut runtime and hosting costs while still getting complete data.
1. Axios
Axios is one of the easiest Node-fetch alternatives to pick up. It handles HTTP requests, headers, query params, timeouts, and JSON responses with very little code.
It works well when you are pulling data from clean HTML pages, public APIs, product pages, blog posts, or search result pages. The syntax is friendly, and error handling feels less bare-bones than Node-fetch.
- Best for: Simple scraping, APIs, HTML downloads
- Good part: Clean syntax and wide community support
- Annoying part: It will not run browser JavaScript
If the page source already contains the data, Axios is often enough. Pair it with Cheerio, and you can extract titles, prices, links, and tables quickly.
2. Got
Got is a polished HTTP client for Node.js. It feels built for people who scrape often. Retries, redirects, timeouts, hooks, decompression, and pagination support are all handled nicely.
The catch is that Got can feel a bit stricter than Axios at first. Expect to spend a few extra minutes reading the options. Once set up, though, it is fast and tidy.
- Best for: Reliable crawlers and repeated requests
- Good part: Strong retry and timeout controls
- Annoying part: Slight learning curve for advanced settings
3. Undici
Undici is the modern HTTP client behind Node.js fetch. If you want speed and native-style behavior, it is a strong pick. It is especially useful when you control the scraping system and care about performance.
Undici is not as cozy as Axios. It feels lower level. But for high-volume data retrieval, that is often a fair trade.
- Best for: Fast HTTP requests in modern Node.js
- Good part: Strong performance
- Annoying part: Less beginner-friendly
4. Cheerio
Cheerio is not a request tool by itself. It parses HTML after Axios, Got, Node-fetch, or Undici retrieves it. Think of it as jQuery for server-side scraping.
It shines when you need to grab page titles, product prices, article text, image URLs, or links. It is fast because it does not open a browser.
- Best for: Extracting data from static HTML
- Good part: Simple selectors like
$('.price').text() - Annoying part: Useless when content appears only after scripts run
5. Puppeteer
Puppeteer controls a real Chrome browser. That makes it a major step up from Node-fetch when the site builds content in the browser.
Use it for pages with infinite scroll, login flows, popups, client-side rendering, or buttons that reveal data. It can click, type, wait, screenshot, and read rendered HTML.
Honestly, it feels like overkill until you hit a site where every price is missing from the raw HTML. Then Puppeteer suddenly makes sense.
- Best for: JavaScript-heavy pages
- Good part: Real browser control
- Annoying part: Slower and heavier than plain HTTP requests
6. Playwright
Playwright is similar to Puppeteer, but it supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. That helps when sites behave differently across browsers.
It is excellent for scraping pages that need clicks, waiting, scrolling, or session handling. It also has strong tools for testing selectors and recording browser actions.
- Best for: Complex sites and multi-browser scraping
- Good part: Reliable waits and strong automation tools
- Annoying part: Browser installs can make deployments bigger
For many teams, Playwright is the “just make the page behave” option. It costs more CPU, but it saves time when a site refuses to expose clean HTML.
7. Crawlee
Crawlee is a full scraping framework for Node.js. It can use simple HTTP requests, Cheerio, Puppeteer, or Playwright under one roof.
This is useful when your scraper grows from “grab ten pages” to “crawl 50,000 URLs without losing track.” Crawlee includes queues, retries, request routing, storage helpers, and browser support.
- Best for: Bigger scraping projects
- Good part: Combines crawling, parsing, and browser automation
- Annoying part: More setup than a single fetch call
How to choose the right tool
Pick the lightest tool that gets the data. That rule saves money and headaches.
- Use Axios if you want simple requests and clear code.
- Use Got if you need retries, timeouts, and crawler-friendly controls.
- Use Undici if raw speed in Node.js matters.
- Use Cheerio when the HTML already contains the data.
- Use Puppeteer for Chrome-based browser scraping.
- Use Playwright for hard pages or multi-browser needs.
- Use Crawlee when a scraper becomes a full project.
Node-fetch is fine for basic retrieval. But modern scraping usually needs more than a fetch call. Some pages need parsing. Some need retries. Some need a browser. Match the tool to the site, and scraping gets far less painful.