# 99designs Scraper | Designers & Contests (`ahmed_jasarevic/99designs-scraper`) Actor

Extract designer profiles, contests, and gallery data from 99designs.com

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ahmed\_jasarevic/99designs-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ahmed Jasarevic](https://apify.com/ahmed_jasarevic) (community)
- **Categories:**
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## 99designs Scraper

Extract designer profiles and contest listings from 99designs.com.

### Features

- **Designer Profiles**: Name, level, ratings, reviews, skills/categories, portfolio designs
- **Contest Listings**: Title, category, price, design count, status, tags, description
- **Free/Paid Usage Gate**: Free users get capped preview, paid users get full runs

### Strategy

This actor uses a **hybrid approach** based on reverse-engineering:

1. **Designers**: GraphQL API at `/app/graphql` with CSRF token authentication
   - Discovered by inspecting the find-designers page JavaScript
   - Requires fetching a CSRF token from cookies first
   - Returns structured JSON with designer data

2. **Contests**: HTML endpoint at `/contests/browse/listings` parsed with CheerioCrawler
   - Standard HTML scraping with pagination support
   - Returns contest listings with all required fields

### Why No Browser?

Both data sources work with plain HTTP requests:

- The GraphQL API accepts JSON payloads with proper CSRF token
- The contests endpoint returns server-rendered HTML

No JavaScript rendering or browser automation needed, making this actor fast and cheap to run.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `mode` | string | `designers` | `designers` or `contests` |
| `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Max items to scrape (1-1000) |
| `designerCategory` | string | `logo-design` | Filter designers by category |
| `contestCategory` | string | `all` | Filter contests by category |
| `useApifyProxy` | boolean | `true` | Route through Apify proxy |

### Output

#### Designer Profiles

```json
{
  "userId": 387481,
  "displayName": "ludibes",
  "designerLevel": "top-level",
  "reviewCount": 311,
  "reviewRating": 4.97,
  "expertiseCategories": ["logo-design", "web-design", ...],
  "designs": [...],
  "profileUrl": "https://99designs.com/profiles/ludibes",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-01T..."
}
```

#### Contest Listings

```json
{
  "title": "Salt Creek Epoxy",
  "url": "https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/salt-creek-epoxy-1360221",
  "category": "logo design",
  "price": "$769",
  "designsCount": 213,
  "status": "Finished",
  "tags": ["Logo design", "Construction"],
  "description": "We specialize in ultra-durable...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-01T..."
}
```

### Usage

#### For Design Agencies

Search for top-rated designers by specialty to build a talent pool.

#### For Creative Directors

Find contest examples and winning designs for inspiration.

#### For Recruiters

Identify available designers with specific skills and rating thresholds.

#### For Brand Managers

Review contest pricing and design volume in your industry.

### Rate Limiting

The actor includes built-in delays (500ms between API calls) and respects the site's rate limits. Using Apify proxy is recommended for production use.

### Related Actors

Verified related actors on Apify that pair well with this one. All links point to real, publicly available actors.

- [Indeed Job Scraper](https://apify.com/misceres/indeed-scraper)
- [LinkedIn Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/curious_coder/linkedin-jobs-scraper)
- [Pinterest Search Scraper](https://apify.com/fatihtahta/pinterest-scraper-search)

### SEO Keywords

99designs scraper, 99designs contests data, designer profiles data, 99designs api alternative, freelance design contests, 99designs portfolio data, design contest listings, graphic designer data, 99designs ratings data, scrape 99designs, brand manager design data, creative recruiter data, 99designs design skills, 99designs export, freelance designer leads, logo design contests, 99designs market data, design agency data, 99designs search scraper, 99designs contest monitoring

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose what to scrape

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of items to scrape (capped for safety)

## `designerCategory` (type: `string`):

Filter designers by category (only for designers mode)

## `contestCategory` (type: `string`):

Filter contests by category (only for contests mode)

## `useApifyProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Route requests through Apify proxy for better success rate

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "designers",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "designerCategory": "logo-design",
  "contestCategory": "all",
  "useApifyProxy": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ahmed_jasarevic/99designs-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ahmed_jasarevic/99designs-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call ahmed_jasarevic/99designs-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ahmed_jasarevic/99designs-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/yoB0QBzfIX9t7wQym/builds/WwLHbarbFqbrul492/openapi.json