SaaS Marketplace Directory Scraper (Generic)

TL;DR

Discover SaaS and software products from public software directories by keyword, category, or seed URL.
Each dataset item represents one software product and can be exported as CSV, XLSX, or JSON.
Ideal for market research, competitive analysis, and company-level lead discovery (non-personal).

---

Quick Start (3 steps)

1. Start small – run with maxListings: 5 to verify output structure
2. Scale up – increase maxListings (e.g. 50–200) and enable query expansion if needed
3. Export & analyze – download CSV/XLSX and use in Excel, Sheets, or BI tools

---

What this Actor does

This Actor automatically discovers SaaS and software products from public software directories based on user-defined inputs such as keywords, categories, or seed URLs.

Each run produces a clean, structured dataset suitable for:

• Market research
• Competitive landscape analysis
• Product discovery
• Startup benchmarking
• Non-personal, company-level lead discovery

Only publicly available, non-personal data is collected.

---

Typical use cases

• Identify competitors in a specific SaaS niche
• Build SaaS market landscapes by category
• Discover tools in FinTech, AI, HR, CRM, etc.
• Prepare datasets for analytics, reports, or dashboards
• Support investment, consulting, or research workflows

---

Input overview

You control what appears in the output dataset via input parameters:

• query – keyword or category (e.g. CRM, AI tools, HR software)
• seedUrls – restrict scraping to specific directory pages
• maxListings – maximum number of products to collect
• expandQueries – broaden discovery using related queries
• useProxy – improve stability and reduce blocking
• mode – directory extraction mode
• debug – verbose logging (recommended false)

Changing inputs changes which products are collected, while the dataset schema stays stable.

---

Industry presets (copy & paste)

FinTech software

{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "FinTech",
  "maxListings": 50,
  "expandQueries": true,
  "useProxy": true,
  "debug": false
}
AI tools
json
Copy code
{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "AI tools",
  "maxListings": 50,
  "expandQueries": true,
  "useProxy": true,
  "debug": false
}
HR software
json
Copy code
{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "HR software",
  "maxListings": 50,
  "expandQueries": true,
  "useProxy": true,
  "debug": false
}
CRM & Sales tools
json
Copy code
{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "CRM",
  "maxListings": 50,
  "expandQueries": false,
  "useProxy": false,
  "debug": false
}
Input examples
Quick test run
json
Copy code
{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "CRM",
  "maxListings": 5,
  "expandQueries": false,
  "useProxy": false,
  "debug": false
}
Market research run
json
Copy code
{
  "mode": "saas_directories",
  "query": "Accounting",
  "maxListings": 100,
  "expandQueries": true,
  "useProxy": true,
  "debug": false
}
Output
Each dataset item represents one SaaS or software product.

The default dataset can be exported as:

CSV

XLSX

JSON

Sample output item
json
Copy code
{
  "name": "Example CRM",
  "website": "https://www.examplecrm.com",
  "description": "Cloud-based CRM software for sales and customer management.",
  "category": "Customer Relationship Management",
  "pricing": "Freemium",
  "rating": 4.5,
  "reviews_count": 1200,
  "source": "AlternativeTo",
  "listing_url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/example-crm/",
  "country": "United States"
}
Data quality notes
Each row = one software product

Some fields may be empty if not publicly available

Ratings, pricing, and reviews may change over time

No personal or private data is collected

Legal & compliance
This Actor:

Uses no authentication

Accesses only public pages

Collects no personal data

Users are responsible for complying with applicable laws and website terms of service.

Pricing model
This Actor uses Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing.

1 event = 1 dataset item (one software product collected).

yaml
Copy code

---

# ✅ SEO & Store Settings (copy exactly)

### **SEO Actor name**
SaaS Marketplace Directory Scraper

markdown
Copy code

### **SEO Description (≤200 chars)**
Discover SaaS and software products from public directories by category or keyword. Export clean datasets for market research, competitive analysis, and company-level insights.

yaml
Copy code

---

# ✅ Recommended Categories (pick up to 3)

Best-performing for your Actor:

- **Data Extraction**
- **Market Research**
- **Business Intelligence**

(These match Apify search intent and Creator Challenge expectations.)
# 2️⃣ PRICING JUSTIFICATION TEXT (VERY IMPORTANT)

👉 Use this in **Pricing / Event description** or README.

### Pricing explanation (buyer-friendly)
> Pricing is based on the number of software products collected.  
> Each dataset item represents one complete SaaS product record, making costs predictable and easy to control.  
> Small test runs are inexpensive, while larger market studies scale efficiently.

### Short version (for Store UI)
> You only pay for results. Each event equals one software product collected.