Nextdoor Local Business & Recommendations Scraper

Scrape Nextdoor local business recommendations with verified neighbor endorsements, phone numbers, addresses, and recommendation counts. Essential for hyper-local market research and lead generation.

Built by John Rippy (LinkedIn | Portfolio)

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⚠️ IMPORTANT: READ THIS FIRST

Nextdoor keeps ALL business data behind a login wall. There is no way around this.

You MUST have:

1. A Nextdoor account (free to create at nextdoor.com)
2. The special cookie extension installed (link below)
3. Fresh cookies exported RIGHT BEFORE you run the scraper

⏰ COOKIES EXPIRE IN 30 MINUTES - Export cookies, then run IMMEDIATELY. Don't export cookies and come back later.

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Quick Start (5 Minutes)

STEP 1: Install the Cookie Extension

Install this specific Chrome extension (other cookie extensions WON'T work):

👉 Export cookie JSON file for Puppeteer 👈

Click the link → Click "Add to Chrome" → Click "Add extension"

STEP 2: Log Into Nextdoor

1. Open a new tab
2. Go to nextdoor.com
3. Log in with your account
4. STAY ON THIS PAGE - don't close it

STEP 3: Export Your Cookies (Do This IMMEDIATELY Before Step 4)

1. While still on nextdoor.com, look for the puzzle piece icon 🧩 in the top-right of Chrome
2. Click the puzzle piece
3. Find "Export cookie JSON file for Puppeteer" and click it
4. A popup window appears with text that looks like [{"name":"ndbr_at",...
5. Click the "Copy" button in that popup

You now have ~30 minutes before these cookies expire. GO TO STEP 4 NOW.

STEP 4: Run the Scraper (Do This IMMEDIATELY After Step 3)

1. Go to this actor's page on Apify (you're probably already here)
2. Scroll down to find the "Input" section
3. Fill in these fields:

Field	What to Enter
Demo Mode	⚠️ SET TO false ⚠️ (the toggle should be OFF/gray)
Nextdoor Cookies (JSON)	Click in the big text box, then press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac) to paste your cookies
Search Query	Type what you're searching for, like Lawn Care or Plumber
Location	Type city and state, like St. Louis, MO
Max Results	How many businesses you want (start with 10 for testing)

4. Click the big green "Start" button
5. Wait 30-90 seconds for results

STEP 5: Download Your Data

1. When the status changes to "Succeeded" (green), click the "Storage" tab
2. Click "Dataset"
3. Click "Export" and choose your format (CSV works with Excel)

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What Data You'll Get

For each business, you'll receive:

Field	Description	Always Available?
businessName	Name of the business	Yes
hearts	Number of neighbor recommendations	Yes
phone	Business phone number	Usually
address	Business street address	Sometimes*
category	What you searched for	Yes
latestRecommendation	Most recent review text	Sometimes
location	The area you searched	Yes

*Not all businesses display their address on Nextdoor. This is a Nextdoor limitation, not a scraper issue.

Sample Output

{
  "businessName": "Loyalty Lawn Care",
  "hearts": 230,
  "phone": "(636) 498-0100",
  "address": "2070 Exchange Dr, Saint Charles, MO 63303",
  "category": "Lawn Care",
  "location": "St. Louis, MO"
}

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Common Problems & Solutions

Problem: "COOKIE EXPIRED" error message

What it looks like:

⚠️ COOKIE EXPIRED: Your Nextdoor authentication cookie (ndbr_at) expired at...

Why: Nextdoor cookies expire in ~30 minutes. You waited too long between exporting cookies and running the scraper.

Fix:

1. Go to nextdoor.com (make sure you're logged in)
2. Export fresh cookies (Step 3 above)
3. Immediately paste them and run the scraper (Step 4)
4. Don't wait - do this within a few minutes

Problem: "I'm getting generic category names instead of real business names"

Example: You see "Lawn Care" instead of "Bob's Landscaping LLC"

Why: Demo mode is ON, or your cookies are expired/invalid.

Fix:

1. Make sure Demo Mode is set to false (toggle should be OFF/gray)
2. Export fresh cookies and paste them
3. Run immediately

Problem: "Demo data even though I set demoMode to false"

Why: The demo mode toggle might look off but still be on.

Fix:

• Click directly on the toggle to make sure it's OFF
• The toggle should be gray, not green/blue
• Double-check before clicking Start

Problem: "Some businesses don't have addresses"

This is normal and NOT a bug. Nextdoor only shows addresses for businesses that have:

• Claimed their Nextdoor business listing
• Chosen to display their address publicly

Most home service businesses only show their phone number. There's nothing the scraper can do about missing addresses.

Problem: "I can't find the cookie extension icon"

Fix:

1. Click the puzzle piece icon 🧩 in Chrome's top-right corner
2. Look for "Export cookie JSON file for Puppeteer" in the dropdown
3. If you don't see it, you may not have installed the extension yet (go back to Step 1)

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Cookie Expiration Explained

Why do cookies expire so fast? Nextdoor uses short-lived session tokens for security. The ndbr_at token (access token) expires in approximately 30 minutes. The identity token lasts longer, but without a valid access token, you can't scrape.

The workflow:

1. Export cookies from your browser
2. Run the scraper within 30 minutes
3. When you need to scrape again later, export fresh cookies again

What if I want to run this on a schedule? Unfortunately, there's no way to automate cookie refresh. Nextdoor requires manual login, and cookies expire too quickly for scheduled runs. This is a limitation of Nextdoor's security, not the scraper.

Can I make cookies last longer? No. Nextdoor's servers set the expiration. There is no workaround.

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Pricing

This scraper uses pay-per-result pricing:

What You Pay For	Cost
Each time you run the scraper	$0.10
Each business scraped	$0.01

Examples:

• Scraping 10 businesses = $0.10 + $0.10 = $0.20
• Scraping 50 businesses = $0.10 + $0.50 = $0.60
• Running demo mode = FREE

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Input Settings Reference

Setting	What It Does	Default
demoMode	true = fake data, false = real data	true
nextdoorCookies	Your exported cookie JSON	(none)
searchQuery	What to search for	"Lawn Care"
location	City and state	"St. Louis, MO"
scrapeType	Type of content	"businesses"
maxResults	How many results to get	50
minRecommendations	Only get businesses with X+ hearts	0

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is this legal? A: Web scraping of data you can access through normal browsing is generally legal. However, review Nextdoor's terms of service and use responsibly.

Q: Will Nextdoor ban my account? A: The scraper uses stealth technology (Camoufox) to appear as a regular browser. As long as you don't run hundreds of scrapes per day, you should be fine.

Q: Can I scrape businesses in any location? A: Yes, but Nextdoor shows the most data for areas near where your account is registered.

Q: Why don't I see website URLs? A: Nextdoor doesn't display website URLs on their search results page. Only phone and address are shown.

Q: Can I run this on a schedule? A: Not really. Cookies expire in ~30 minutes, so scheduled runs would fail unless you manually refresh cookies right before each run. This is a Nextdoor limitation.

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Alternative: Email/Password Login (Not Recommended)

You can try logging in with email/password instead of cookies, but this usually fails because:

• Nextdoor blocks logins from cloud IP addresses
• You may get CAPTCHA or phone verification challenges
• It's much slower

Just use the cookie method. It's more reliable.

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Need Help?

• Technical issues: Comment on the actor page
• Bug reports: Include your run ID and any error messages
• Questions: LinkedIn

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal