Proxycurl Alternatives for LinkedIn Scraping in 2025: A Complete Guide

Jenny Avery

Last updated on

2025-10-21

11 min read

The need for reliable LinkedIn data has never been greater for sales, recruiting, and market intelligence. For years, Proxycurl was a go-to API for this task. But with the evolving legal landscape and your projects to consider, is it still the best choice? If you’re looking for a Proxycurl alternative in 2025, you’ve come to the right place. With Proxycurl shut down by LinkedIn, find the best legally compliant alternatives for your data needs.

Here’s a quick overview of what we’ll cover:

● What Proxycurl was and how it operated as a scraping company.

● The top reasons you might need a Proxycurl alternative.

● In-depth reviews of the best specialized tools for LinkedIn scraping in 2025.

● Our top recommendation for a secure and powerful alternative.

Understanding Proxycurl 

First, let’s be clear about what Proxycurl offered. It was a specialized API that provided structured data from LinkedIn profiles, company pages, and job postings, bypassing the need for you to manage your own infrastructure.

What Was the Proxycurl Lawsuit About?

In 2022, LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) filed a lawsuit against Proxycurl, alleging violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and breaches of its User Agreement. The core accusation was that Proxycurl was mass-scraping data from LinkedIn without permission.

Key Takeaways from the Lawsuit:

● Settled Out of Court: The case was settled, so no legal precedent was set, but the message was clear.

● Increased Scrutiny: It placed all data enrichment providers under a microscope, emphasizing the legal risks of scraping data from platforms with strict Terms of Service.

● Service Impact: While Proxycurl’s services continued, the event caused uncertainty for many users about long-term reliability and data sourcing ethics.

Legal Aspects to Consider When Evaluating Proxycurl Alternatives

When evaluating scraping tools, it is critical to look beyond features and pricing and closely consider the legal and ethical practices of any provider, especially in light of recent enforcement actions in the space.

Several court rulings in recent years, such as the hiQ Labs vs. LinkedIn case, have found that scraping publicly available, non-authenticated data may in some cases be legitimate, especially where there is a strong public interest in data access. Legal interpretations in this space continue to evolve and may vary by jurisdiction and situation.

Given this climate, it is essential to ensure that any Proxycurl alternative you consider is transparent about its compliance approach and practices. You should be cautious of providers that require you to use real or fake LinkedIn accounts, or that encourage practices which clearly violate platform policies. At the same time, remember that even logged-out scraping of publicly available data may still carry risks.

Neglecting proper legal due diligence is not just risky. It can have operational, reputational, and financial consequences. A solution that does not prioritize compliance can result in forced disruptions, wasted integration efforts, and potential legal exposure. Make sure any LinkedIn data provider you work with understands these nuances and operates within a clear, well-documented legal framework.

Top 3 Reasons to Seek a Proxycurl Alternative in 2025

Even putting the lawsuit aside, there are compelling practical reasons to evaluate other options this year.

1. Enhanced Compliance and Ethical Data Sourcing: Post-lawsuit, the leading alternatives have doubled down on transparent, legally-compliant data acquisition methods, which is crucial for enterprise risk management.

2. Broader Feature Sets: Many competitors now offer more than just LinkedIn data, providing all-in-one platforms for email enrichment, company databases, and scraping other websites.

3. Cost-Effectiveness and Scalability: As your needs grow, the pricing models of some alternatives may be more advantageous for high-volume LinkedIn data extraction.

Top Proxycurl Alternatives for LinkedIn Data in 2025

We’ve evaluated the market to bring you the most robust and reliable alternatives specifically for sourcing data from LinkedIn.

1. Thordata

Thordata emerges as our top pick for 2025. It’s not just an API; it’s a full-scale data intelligence platform built with compliance and scalability at its core. Its dedicated LinkedIn scraping API is powerful, but it’s the surrounding infrastructure—a massive, ethically sourced proxy network and a strict adherence to data regulations—that makes it the most reliable Proxycurl alternative for businesses.

Why Thordata Is a Superior Choice:

● Compliance-First Approach: Thordata places a strong emphasis on legal and ethical data sourcing, a critical factor post-Proxycurl lawsuit.

● All-in-One Data Solution: Beyond LinkedIn, it offers a vast database of company and contact information, reducing your reliance on multiple tools.

● High Reliability & Success Rates: Advanced IP rotation and browser fingerprinting mimic human behavior, ensuring consistent data delivery from LinkedIn.

● Powerful API & No-Code Options: Offers flexibility for both developers and non-technical users through a user-friendly Scraper IDE.

2. ScraperApi

As a well-established player, ScraperAPI remains a solid ScraperAPI alternative for those who need a hands-off approach to fetching data. While it’s a general-purpose scraper, it can be configured to handle LinkedIn when used carefully. You send a URL, and it returns the HTML, managing proxies and browsers for you.

Key Strengths:

● Incredible Ease of Use: Its simple API can be integrated with just a few lines of code, making it a quick solution for developers.

● Automatic Rendering: Handles JavaScript-heavy sites like LinkedIn without requiring you to manage headless browsers.

3. Bright Data

Bright Data (formerly Luminati) is an industry titan known for its massive, compliant proxy network and robust Web Scraper API. Its solution for scraping public LinkedIn data is designed for enterprises that cannot afford downtime and require the highest level of data quality and legal assurance.

What Makes Bright Data Stand Out:

● Unmatched Network Quality: Arguably the largest and most reliable proxy network, sourced ethically.

● Strong Legal Compliance: A clear focus on GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations provides peace of mind.

● Hybrid Solution: Can be used as a managed scraping API or as a raw proxy network for custom-built scrapers.

Head-to-Head Comparison: LinkedIn Scraping APIs

This structured table provides a clear, at-a-glance comparison of the top Proxycurl alternatives.

How to Choose the Right Alternative for Your Needs

Your choice ultimately depends on your specific priorities. Ask yourself:

● Is compliance your top concern? If yes, Thordata or Bright Data are your safest bets.

● Do you need more than just LinkedIn data? An all-in-one platform like Thordata provides more value and simplifies your tech stack.

Why Only Providers Offering LinkedIn Scraping APIs Were Considered

1. Proxycurl itself was based on APIs, so it makes the most sense to replace it with a similar solution. By switching to another API provider, you can more easily swap out Proxycurl API calls for those of Thordata or any other alternative. This is far simpler than setting up a completely different type of tool, such as browser extensions or desktop automation software.

2. LinkedIn-specific browser extensions and desktop/cloud automation tools typically require you to log in with your personal LinkedIn account. These solutions control your browser session to automate actions and extract data. This seems to be directly violating LinkedIn’s policies against members using extensions to automate their behavior.

In summary, LinkedIn scraping API providers that have a clear track record of targeting only public data and not using fake accounts (unlike how Proxycurl used to operate) are by far the safest, most reliable, trusted Proxycurl replacements for long-term use.

Conclusion

The Proxycurl lawsuit was a watershed moment, highlighting the critical importance of compliance in the data extraction industry. While Proxycurl remains an option, the landscape in 2025 offers more robust and legally conscious alternatives. For most businesses seeking a reliable, scalable, and low-risk solution for LinkedIn data extraction, Thordata stands out as the premier choice. Its commitment to ethical data sourcing, combined with a powerful and versatile platform, makes it the most future-proof Proxycurl alternative available today.

We hope the information provided is helpful. However, if you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at support@thordata.com or via online chat.