Contra Scraper

Scrape detailed freelance profiles from contra.com — the commission-free freelance marketplace — for talent research, rate benchmarking and lead generation. Extract hourly rates, skills, client ratings, availability, portfolio projects and contact-ready social links in clean JSON.

This is the only dedicated Contra.com profile scraper in the Apify Store. It runs entirely over plain HTTP (no browser): it reads the server-rendered Relay data embedded in each profile page and enriches it with Contra's internal GraphQL API — fast, cheap and no API key required.

Freelance Talent Use Cases

• Freelance rate benchmarking — compare hourly rates and rates-per-project across disciplines, roles and locations (design, development, writing, marketing, video and more)
• Talent research & recruiting — screen independents by skill, role, rating, availability and location before outreach
• Freelance talent database building — assemble a structured dataset of independents with skills, rates, ratings and portfolio links for staffing or reselling
• Market research on the freelance economy — analyze headcount, rates and in-demand skills on a commission-free platform
• Competitor / agency intelligence — monitor independent worker profiles for agencies and hiring platforms

How It Works

Provide profileUrls (direct profile links), or let the actor discover profiles automatically via searchQuery / searchRoles / searchTools. Every profile page embeds a server-rendered Relay data blob (the same JSON the site's own frontend hydrates from); the actor parses it and replays Contra's internal GraphQL persisted queries to fill in the fields that are only loaded client-side (bio, minimum hourly rate, productized services, work experience). Everything is written to your Apify dataset as clean JSON.

Build a Freelance Talent Database Without API Keys

Contra's public read-only API (X-API-Key) exists but is limited. This actor doesn't need it: it reads the embedded Relay profile store plus the internal GraphQL persisted queries directly, so you get profile details, availability, ratings, portfolio and productized services out of the box — no API keys, no browser, no CAPTCHAs.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Notes
profileUrls	array	–	[]	Direct Contra profile URLs, e.g. https://contra.com/username. Mutually exclusive with discovery params.
searchQuery	string	–	—	Keyword search over profiles: title, role, skills, tools.
searchRoles	array	–	[]	Filter by role names, e.g. ["Web Developer", "Product Designer"]. Use individual role names (comma-separated text supported).
searchTools	array	–	[]	Filter by tools, e.g. ["Figma", "React"] (comma-separated text also supported).
minRateUsd	integer	–	–	Minimum hourly rate filter.
maxRateUsd	integer	–	–	Maximum hourly rate filter.
availableOnly	boolean	–	false	Only profiles marked as available for work (requires searchQuery).
maxItems	integer	–	50	Maximum number of profiles to export (max 1000).
proxy	object	–	off	Optional; usually not needed.

Example Input

{
    "searchQuery": "React developer",
    "maxRateUsd": 100,
    "availableOnly": true,
    "maxItems": 200
}

Output

One dataset row per freelancer profile, with profile details where exposed by Contra's Public API.

Field	Description
username / url	Profile handle and URL
name	Display name
headline / professionalTitle	Profile headline
hourlyRate	Rate (per hour or per project)
skills	Skills list
location	Location string
bio	Profile bio
availability	Availability status
rating / reviewCount	Client rating and number of reviews
followerCount / hiredCount	Social proof counts
platformEarningsBadge	Earnings badge ($1+ … $10K+ etc.)
portfolioProjects	Portfolio items (title, description, media)
productizedServices	Services with price points
workExperience	Work history
socialLinks	GitHub/LinkedIn/etc. links
avatarUrl	Avatar image URL

Example Output

{
    "username": "janedoe",
    "url": "https://contra.com/janedoe",
    "name": "Jane Doe",
    "headline": "Senior Product Designer",
    "hourlyRate": 85,
    "skills": ["Figma", "UI Design", "Design Systems"],
    "location": "Lisbon, Portugal",
    "bio": "I design SaaS products for early-stage startups.",
    "availability": true,
    "rating": 4.9,
    "reviewCount": 23,
    "platformEarningsBadge": "$5K+",
    "portfolioProjects": [{ "title": "Fintech dashboard", "media": ["https://…"] }],
    "socialLinks": ["https://linkedin.com/in/janedoe"]
}

Download the dataset as JSON, HTML, CSV or Excel, or pull it via the Apify API.

Integrations & Automation

Use the actor's API endpoint from your CRM or scripts, trigger webhooks when a run finishes, or wire it into Zapier / Make via Apify integrations. For periodic market research, schedule a weekly "top freelancers by skill" run — recurring runs keep your talent dataset current.

Related Actors

• Upwork Freelancers Scraper — Upwork's largest freelancer-profile actor, same use cases
• Upwork Talent Scraper — Freelancers, Rates & Earnings — Upwork rates and lifetime earnings
• Upwork Freelancer & Talent Scraper — Upwork profile export

FAQ

Why use this actor instead of Contra's official API?

Contra does have a Public API (X-API-Key) and even a hosted MCP server (https://contra.com/mcp) for AI agents — but access requires requesting a free API key, and the API is read-only and limited (programs, filters, expert profiles). This actor needs no API key: it reads the server-rendered Relay data embedded in each profile page and enriches it via Contra's internal GraphQL persisted queries, so you get more profiles per run, headlessly, with no setup on Apify.

Is Contra commission-free?

Yes — that's Contra's core differentiator: it takes 0% commission, billing flat plans instead (typically €9–25/month for clients). Freelancers keep 100% of what they earn. Rate data scraped from profiles therefore reflects full rates, not commission-adjusted ones.

What are alternatives to this actor for freelance data?

The main alternatives are Upwork scrapers (see Related Actors). For Contra specifically, no other dedicated scraper exists in the Apify Store at the time of writing — this is the only one.

Can the actor find profiles automatically without URLs?

Yes. Use searchQuery (e.g. "React developer") and optionally filter by searchRoles, searchTools, minRateUsd/maxRateUsd, or availableOnly. Direct profileUrls are preferred when you have a specific target list.

Does the actor return profile details or only search results?

The output profile data comes in two tiers: basic profile fields (name, headline, skills, hourly rate, location, rating, counts) are always present; details (bio, portfolio projects, productized services, work experience) are fetched via Contra's internal GraphQL persisted queries, which return them for profiles that expose them. Profiles that are "under construction" may have mostly null fields; discover search additionally returns only the first page of results (8 profiles) per query.

Is scraping contra.com legal?

Web scraping operates in a legal gray area. This actor reads only publicly available profile pages/API responses. You are responsible for complying with contra.com's Terms of Service and applicable law (including GDPR when storing personal data such as names, bios and rates).

For AI Agents & LLM Apps

Purpose: Returns structured freelance profiles from contra.com — headline, hourly rate, skills, location, rating, availability, portfolio, social links — from direct URLs or keyword search.

Minimal input (search mode):

{ "searchQuery": "React developer", "maxItems": 50 }

Minimal input (direct URLs):

{ "profileUrls": [{ "url": "https://contra.com/username" }] }

Output fields: username, url, name, headline, professionalTitle, skills, hourlyRate, location, bio, availability, rating, reviewCount, followerCount, hiredCount, platformEarningsBadge, canReceiveInquiries, portfolioProjects, productizedServices, workExperience, socialLinks, avatarUrl.

Behaviors an agent should know:

• profileUrls and discovery params (searchQuery, searchRoles, searchTools) are mutually exclusive — supplying URLs takes precedence.
• availableOnly requires searchQuery to be set; it is ignored otherwise.
• searchRoles/searchTools accept either arrays of names or a comma-separated string per field.
• maxItems caps billing (default 50, max 1000).
• Discover search returns only the first page of results (8 profiles) per query; for full coverage, re-run with the collected profile URLs.
• Profile details (bio, portfolio, services) come from Contra's internal GraphQL API — profiles "under construction" may return mostly null fields.
• Billing (pay-per-result): $0.005 per profile + $0.00005 actor start.

SEO Keywords

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Legal & Compliance Disclaimer

This actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Contra (contra.com).

It accesses only publicly available profile pages and Contra's public API endpoints — no login bypass, no CAPTCHA solving, no credentials.

Users are responsible for their own compliance with contra.com's Terms of Service and applicable data-protection law (GDPR applies to profiles of private individuals). Output includes personal data (names, bios, rates, locations) that should not be used for unsolicited commercial outreach in violation of applicable law (e.g. GDPR, CAN-SPAM). This section is informational, not legal advice.