How to Bypass and Scrape Akamai Bot Protected Sites with Python

What is Akamai?

Akamai is one of the world’s leading content delivery and cloud service providers. They don’t just host and distribute content – they also act as a security layer for many major websites. Think of sites like USA Today, Reddit, and even e-commerce giants; many of them rely on Akamai’s bot protection to keep their platforms safe from unwanted automated access.

Understanding Akamai Bot Protection

Akamai is known for its tough bot protection, making it a real challenge for web scrapers. They use a mix of techniques to spot and block automated traffic, which means traditional scraping methods just won’t cut it here. To get past Akamai, it’s crucial to understand how their defenses work and what they’re looking for.

In this section, I’ll break down the main ways Akamai detects bots. They don’t rely on just one method; they use a combination of JavaScript challenges, device fingerprinting, behavior analysis, and IP monitoring. Sounds complicated? Don’t worry! I’ll explain each one in simple terms so you’ll know exactly what you’re up against.

1. Advanced JavaScript Challenges

Akamai employs complex JavaScript challenges that run directly in the user’s browser. These challenges are far more advanced than simple CAPTCHAs. When you visit a site protected by Akamai, it injects JavaScript into the page that performs a series of checks:

• Browser capabilities: It tests how your browser handles JavaScript functions, HTML5 elements, and specific tasks that real browsers perform. Many bots, especially headless ones, don’t fully support these capabilities, triggering suspicion.
• Timing analysis: Akamai measures the exact time it takes for your browser to process certain JavaScript code. Human browsers typically have slight variations in processing speed due to things like network latency and device performance. Bots, on the other hand, often execute these scripts too quickly or too uniformly, setting off red flags.
• Dynamic updates: The JavaScript challenges can change dynamically with each visit, making it nearly impossible for a bot to create a hardcoded solution. Akamai’s stealthy defenses don’t just block suspicious behavior outright; they may instead inject additional challenges, making it difficult for bots to recognize they’re being tested.

2. Device Fingerprinting

Akamai collects detailed data from each visitor’s device and creates a unique “fingerprint.” It uses a highly detailed method of device fingerprinting to uniquely identify every visitor. It collects a wide array of information about your device and browser, including:

• Browser details: This involves gathering data on the browser version, installed plugins, screen resolution, time zone, language, and more. This information helps Akamai create a unique “fingerprint” for each session. If your scraper doesn’t mimic a typical device configuration, it stands out as suspicious.
• Continuous monitoring: It’s not a one-and-done check. Akamai updates its device fingerprint throughout the session, looking for inconsistencies. For example, if your scraper changes user agents or browser settings mid-session, Akamai will notice the discrepancy and flag the request.
• Database of bots: Akamai maintains an ever-expanding database of over 1,700+ known bots. This directory is continuously updated based on billions of bot requests logged daily across its network. It cross-references your fingerprint against this extensive list, and if there’s a match or even a partial similarity, your scraper is flagged.

3. Behavior Analysis Using AI Models

One of Akamai’s most powerful tools is its use of AI models to monitor user behavior in real-time. This isn’t your typical mouse-movement check – it’s a comprehensive analysis designed to spot even the most subtle automated activity:

• Mouse movements and scrolling patterns: Human interactions on a website have natural variability. We hesitate, move the mouse in small jerks, scroll at varying speeds, and sometimes even make mistakes. Akamai’s AI models learn these patterns from real user data and use them as a baseline to detect automated scripts. Bots often fail to replicate this randomness, making their actions stand out.
• Keystroke Dynamics: Akamai goes a step further by monitoring the timing between keystrokes. When filling out forms or searching, humans have inconsistent delays between key presses. Bots, however, tend to operate at a consistent mechanical speed. The AI analyzes these patterns in real time, and if they don’t match expected human behavior, the request is flagged.
• Adaptability: These AI models are not static. Akamai constantly feeds them with new data from billions of requests every day. This means that the models evolve, adapting to new bot behaviors and becoming more accurate over time. It’s a moving target that makes bypassing Akamai a real challenge.

4. IP Address and Proxy Detection

Akamai takes a multi-layered approach to IP monitoring. It doesn’t just block known bad IP addresses; it uses a combination of techniques to identify potentially malicious behavior:

• IP reputation: Akamai maintains a real-time database of IP addresses associated with bots, proxy services, VPNs, and other suspicious activities. Your bot’s IP is cross-referenced with this database. If it matches or even shows a pattern similar to known malicious IPs, access is denied.
• Geolocation analysis: By examining the IP address, Akamai identifies the geographic location of the visitor. It then correlates this information with typical user behavior on the protected site. For instance, if your IP jumps from one country to another within seconds, or if it originates from a region not associated with the website’s usual traffic, Akamai flags it as suspicious.
• Rate limiting: Akamai tracks the number of requests coming from a single IP over a period of time. If the volume of requests surpasses normal user activity, it triggers rate limits. However, Akamai’s limits are not fixed – they adapt based on real-time traffic analysis. This makes it hard for bots to predict and avoid detection by simply slowing down requests.
• Stealthy defenses: Unlike simpler protections that outright block bots, Akamai employs stealth tactics. It might allow some initial access to monitor the bot’s behavior before gradually introducing more challenges. This “play along” strategy tricks bots into believing they’re operating normally, only to trap them as they continue their activity.

How to Know You’re Being Blocked by Akamai

Now that you have an idea of how Akamai works let’s talk about how to spot when it’s blocking your scraping attempts. Knowing you’re up against Akamai is the first step in planning how to bypass it.

Signs You’re Being Blocked by Akamai:

1. HTTP error codes: The most common sign is when you receive a 403 Forbidden or 503 Service Unavailable error. These status codes often indicate that Akamai has flagged your request as suspicious and is blocking your access.
2. JavaScript challenges: If you’re getting redirected to a page that includes JavaScript with a lot of obfuscated code (random characters and functions), Akamai is likely testing if you’re a real user. You might see responses filled with encoded JavaScript instead of the actual content you’re trying to scrape.
3. Strange Cookies and Headers: Akamai injects unique cookies and custom headers into the response to track your session. If your scraper isn’t handling these cookies correctly, Akamai will block your subsequent requests.
4. CAPTCHAs and verification pages: In some cases, Akamai will present you with a CAPTCHA or a “verify you are human” page. This is an unmistakable sign that you’ve triggered its bot detection mechanisms.

Popular Websites Protected by Akamai

Akamai’s security is used by a wide range of high-traffic websites, including:

• News Websites: Sites like USA Today, CNBC, and BBC often use Akamai to protect their content.
• Ecommerce Platforms: Many major online stores rely on Akamai to safeguard their checkout pages, product listings, and user data.
• Social Media & Forums: Platforms like Reddit and LinkedIn also leverage Akamai’s defenses to handle large amounts of user-generated content and traffic.

If you’re trying to scrape data from any of these types of sites and running into the issues we just mentioned, you’re probably up against Akamai.

Now that you know how to spot Akamai and understand the defenses it uses, it’s time to get into how we can work around these challenges. In the next section, we’ll dive into how to bypass Akamai using Python and ScraperAPI.

How to Bypass Akamai with ScraperAPI

ScraperAPI simplifies bypassing Akamai’s defenses by handling some of the most complex aspects of scraping, such as proxy rotation, JavaScript rendering, and cookie management. Let’s walk through how to use ScraperAPI to scrape top headlines from the USA Today website using Python.

Here’s the script you can use:

  import requests
  from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
  
  API_KEY = "YOUR_SCRAPER_API_KEY"
  URL = "https://www.usatoday.com/"
  
  params = {
      'api_key': API_KEY,
      'url': URL,
      'render': 'true'  # Ensures that JavaScript is rendered, crucial for Akamai-protected sites
  }
  
  response = requests.get("http://api.scraperapi.com", params=params)
  
  if response.status_code == 200:
      print("Successfully bypassed Akamai!")
      soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, 'html.parser')
      
      # Extract headlines from the page
      headline_section = soup.find("div", class_="gnt_m_th")
      headlines = headline_section.find_all("a") if headline_section else []
      
      for headline in headlines:
          print({"headline": headline.text, "link": headline["href"]})
  else:
      print(f"Failed to bypass Akamai. Status code: {response.status_code}")

How This Works:

1. Set Up Your API Key: Replace "YOUR_SCRAPER_API_KEY" with your actual ScraperAPI key. This key allows you to access ScraperAPI’s services, including proxy rotation and JavaScript rendering.
2. Configure Parameters for the Request:
   • api_key: This authenticates your request to ScraperAPI.
   • url: This is the target website you want to scrape – in this case, USA Today.
   • render='true': This parameter tells ScraperAPI to render JavaScript, which is essential for bypassing Akamai’s JavaScript challenges. Akamai often injects JavaScript code into the page to detect bots, so rendering it makes your request look more like a genuine human visitor.
3. Send the Request:
   • Using requests.get(), send a GET request to ScraperAPI’s endpoint with the parameters we set up. ScraperAPI handles the complexities, including executing JavaScript and managing cookies, on its end.
4. Check the Response:
   • Check if the response status code is 200. If it is, it means you’ve successfully bypassed Akamai! If you encounter other status codes like 403 or 503, it indicates that the bypass wasn’t successful, and you may need to tweak your approach (e.g., rotating user agents or refining request intervals).
5. Parse the Content:
   • Use BeautifulSoup to parse the HTML response and extract the data you need. Here, we’re looking for a div with the class "gnt_m_th" that contains the top headlines on USA Today.
   • The script finds all the a tags within this section, printing out the text (headline) and href (link) for each one.

Now that you have the code and know how ScraperAPI makes a difference, it’s time to run the script and scrape those headlines successfully!

Wrapping Up: Why Choose ScraperAPI to Bypass Akamai?

Akamai’s bot protection is one of the toughest out there, and while there are many scraping tools available, not all can effectively bypass Akamai’s sophisticated defenses. Here’s why ScraperAPI stands out as the best choice for the job:

1. Complete Solution for Advanced Bot Protections

ScraperAPI isn’t just a simple proxy service. It combines IP rotation, JavaScript rendering, and automatic handling of cookies and headers, all in one package. When dealing with Akamai’s advanced detection techniques – like behavior analysis, device fingerprinting, and JavaScript challenges – you need a tool that can tackle them all. ScraperAPI handles these complexities, so you don’t have to worry about piecing together multiple tools for the task.

2. User-Friendly Integration

Adding ScraperAPI to your existing Python script is straightforward. Just a few lines of code, and you’re ready to go. This ease of use makes it simple to bypass Akamai’s protections without getting bogged down in endless configurations. You can focus on the data you need rather than fighting with Akamai’s defenses.

3. High Success Rate and Reliability

Akamai is constantly evolving its defenses, but ScraperAPI keeps up with these changes to ensure a high success rate. Whether you’re scraping small-scale data or running large-scale operations, ScraperAPI provides consistent, reliable performance. This means fewer blocks, fewer errors, and more time spent on productive tasks rather than troubleshooting.

4. Scalability for All Needs

As your scraping needs grow, ScraperAPI scales effortlessly. Whether you’re scraping a handful of pages or millions of them, ScraperAPI manages the workload without compromising on speed or reliability. Its automatic proxy rotation and robust infrastructure are built to handle the demands of scraping Akamai-protected sites, no matter the scale.

5. Comprehensive Support and Resources

ScraperAPI doesn’t just provide the tool; it backs it up with extensive documentation, scraping tutorials, and a responsive support team. When dealing with something as challenging as Akamai, having access to helpful resources and support can make all the difference. ScraperAPI’s support ensures you have the guidance needed to overcome any hurdles you encounter.

When it comes to bypassing Akamai, choosing the right tool is crucial. ScraperAPI simplifies the process, making it the go-to choice for bypassing even the toughest bot protection systems.

Ready to get started? Create a free ScraperAPI account and get 5,000 API credits to test all our tools for seven days.