SaaS Tools Directory Scraper

Scrape structured product data from SaaS tool directories for competitive intelligence and market research. Extract tool names, descriptions, pricing models, categories, ratings, feature lists, pros/cons, and social links — ready for spreadsheets, dashboards, and competitive analysis workflows.

What does the SaaS Tools Directory Scraper do?

This scraper crawls Futurepedia.io and Toolify.ai — two of the largest SaaS product directories covering thousands of software tools — and extracts structured data from every listing.

For each product you can extract:

• 📝 Name, description, and full long-form description
• 🏷️ Category and all associated tags
• 💰 Pricing model (free, freemium, paid)
• ⭐ User ratings and review counts
• 🌐 Product website URL
• 🔗 Directory listing URL
• 📋 Key features list, pros, and cons (with detail mode)
• 🔗 Social media links (Twitter, LinkedIn, GitHub, YouTube, Discord)
• 📅 Launch/added date

Browse by category, run a keyword search, or filter by pricing model. No API key or login required.

Who is it for? — SaaS Tools Directory Scraper

Product managers and competitive intelligence teams Track competitors across an entire product category. Monitor which tools launch, what features they promote, how they price, and how users rate them. Build competitive landscape spreadsheets that update automatically on a weekly schedule.

Marketing agencies and consultants Build SaaS market maps for client pitches. Export a complete category of tools — names, pricing tiers, feature lists, ratings — and deliver a competitive audit in hours instead of weeks.

Market researchers and analysts Study SaaS pricing trends, adoption patterns, and market saturation across product categories. Compare freemium vs. paid ratios, track new entrants, and identify underserved niches with quantitative data.

VC analysts and investors Build deal flow databases. Export the full landscape of tools in any vertical — chatbots, productivity, sales automation — to spot emerging players and market trends before they appear in press coverage.

Growth teams and content marketers Power "best tools for X" content with real data. Automate competitor roundups, track pricing changes, and detect when competitors shift from free to paid — a common scaling signal.

Why use this scraper?

• No API key needed — these directories don't have public APIs; this scraper does the work
• Cloudflare-bypassing Playwright — both sites use Cloudflare protection; the actor handles it reliably
• Structured, flat output — every field is a primitive value, ready for Google Sheets or Excel export
• Category + search + pricing filters — target exactly the tools you care about
• Detail enrichment mode — optionally visit each tool page for features, pros/cons, and social links
• Pagination handled automatically — scrapes beyond the first page to reach your target count
• Deduplicated results — no duplicate tools even when running across multiple categories

What data can you extract?

Field	Description	Example
name	Product name	"Notion"
source	Directory source	"futurepedia"
description	Short description	"All-in-one workspace for notes, tasks, wikis..."
fullDescription	Long description (detail mode)	Full paragraph about the product
category	Primary category	"Productivity"
categories	All tags/categories	["Productivity", "Project Management", "Collaboration"]
pricingModel	Pricing type	"freemium" / "free" / "paid" / "unknown"
pricingDetails	Raw pricing text	"Freemium" / "Contact for Pricing"
url	Product website URL	"https://notion.so/"
directoryUrl	Listing page URL	"https://www.futurepedia.io/tool/notion"
rating	Average user rating (0-5)	4.3
reviewCount	Number of ratings	9
monthlyVisitors	Monthly visits (Toolify)	6303
features	Key features list (detail mode)	["Real-time collaboration: ...", "Templates: ..."]
pros	Pros list (detail mode)	["Flexible workspace: ...", ...]
cons	Cons list (detail mode)	["Steep learning curve", ...]
logoUrl	Product logo image URL	CDN URL
launchDate	Date added to directory	"2024-01-15"
socialLinks	Social media URLs (detail mode)	{twitter, linkedin, github, ...}
isVerified	Verified badge	true / false
isFeatured	Featured/Editor's Pick status	true / false
scrapedAt	Extraction timestamp	"2026-04-05T10:30:00Z"

How much does it cost?

This actor uses Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing — you pay per tool scraped, not per compute minute.

Volume	Cost
1–100 tools	$0.003/tool (max $0.30)
100–1,000 tools	$0.0027/tool
1,000–5,000 tools	$0.0024/tool
5,000+ tools (Enterprise)	$0.0012/tool

Plus a one-time $0.03 start fee per run.

Real-world cost examples:

• Competitive audit of 100 tools in a category (listing mode): ~$0.33
• Deep dive on 100 tools (detail mode with features/pros/cons): ~$0.33 + extra Playwright time
• Full category export (~200 tools): ~$0.63
• Large market map (1,000 tools): ~$2.73

Free plan estimate: Apify's free plan includes $5 in monthly credits. At $0.003/tool, you can scrape ~1,600 products per month on the free plan (listing mode).

How to run a competitive analysis

1. Go to the SaaS Tools Directory Scraper page on Apify Store
2. Click Try for free
3. In Source directory, select your target directory
4. Optionally set a Category filter (e.g., "chatbots", "productivity", "code-assistant")
5. Set Max tools to scrape (start with 20 for a test run)
6. Toggle Scrape detail pages on to get features, pros/cons, and social links (slower but richer data for competitive deep dives)
7. Click Save & Run
8. When the run completes, download results as JSON, CSV, or Excel

Example inputs for different use cases:

// Competitive landscape scan (fast listing mode)
{
  "source": "futurepedia",
  "category": "chatbots",
  "maxTools": 100,
  "includeDetails": false
}

// Deep competitive analysis with feature extraction
{
  "source": "futurepedia",
  "searchQuery": "customer support automation",
  "maxTools": 50,
  "includeDetails": true
}

// Pricing intelligence — free tools in a category
{
  "source": "futurepedia",
  "category": "image-generators",
  "maxTools": 200,
  "pricingFilter": "free",
  "includeDetails": false
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
source	Select	"futurepedia"	Source directory to scrape. Options: "futurepedia", "toolify", "all"
category	String	—	Filter by category slug (e.g., "chatbots", "image-generators", "code-assistant")
searchQuery	String	—	Keyword search for tools by name or description
maxTools	Integer	100	Maximum number of tools to extract
includeDetails	Boolean	true	Visit each tool's detail page for features, pros/cons, and social links
pricingFilter	Select	"all"	Filter by pricing model: "all", "free", "freemium", "paid"
proxyConfiguration	Object	Residential US	Proxy configuration. Residential proxies recommended for Cloudflare bypass

Category slugs (use in category field):

• chatbots — Chatbot and virtual assistant tools
• image-generators — Image creation tools
• text-generators — Writing assistant tools
• code-assistant — Coding and developer tools
• video — Video generation and editing tools
• productivity — Productivity and workflow tools
• research-assistant — Research and analysis tools
• ai-agents — Autonomous agent platforms

Output examples

Listing mode output (fast competitive scan):

{
  "name": "ChatGPT",
  "source": "futurepedia",
  "description": "Research, create, and automate tasks with the leader in AI.",
  "category": "Ai Chatbots",
  "categories": ["Ai Chatbots", "Research", "Ai Agents"],
  "pricingModel": "freemium",
  "pricingDetails": "Freemium",
  "url": "https://chatgpt.com/",
  "directoryUrl": "https://www.futurepedia.io/tool/chatgpt",
  "rating": 4.3,
  "reviewCount": 9,
  "logoUrl": "https://cdn2.futurepedia.io/...",
  "launchDate": null,
  "isVerified": false,
  "isFeatured": true,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-05T10:30:00.000Z"
}

Detail mode output (full competitive deep dive):

{
  "name": "ChatGPT",
  "source": "futurepedia",
  "description": "Research, create, and automate tasks with the leader in AI.",
  "fullDescription": "ChatGPT is a conversational AI platform that combines advanced language capabilities...",
  "category": "Ai Chatbots",
  "categories": ["Ai Chatbots", "Research", "Ai Agents"],
  "pricingModel": "freemium",
  "url": "https://chatgpt.com/",
  "directoryUrl": "https://www.futurepedia.io/tool/chatgpt",
  "rating": 4.3,
  "reviewCount": 9,
  "features": [
    "GPT-5 Integration: Deeper reasoning capabilities and improved performance...",
    "Agent Mode: Executes multi-step tasks in a virtual environment...",
    "Deep Research: Conducts autonomous online investigations..."
  ],
  "pros": [
    "Enhanced intelligence: GPT-5 improves reasoning and adaptability.",
    "Extensive functionality: Combines conversational AI with research and automation."
  ],
  "cons": [
    "Occasional inaccuracies: Output may still require fact-checking.",
    "Usage limits: Higher-tier tools are capped by subscription plan."
  ],
  "socialLinks": {
    "twitter": "https://x.com/OpenAI",
    "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/openai",
    "github": "https://github.com/openai",
    "youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/OpenAI",
    "discord": "https://discord.gg/openai"
  },
  "isVerified": false,
  "isFeatured": true,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-05T10:30:00.000Z"
}

Tips for best results

• Start small: Run with maxTools: 20 first to verify the output format before scaling up
• Use listing mode for broad scans: includeDetails: false is 3-5x faster and sufficient for competitive overviews and market sizing
• Use detail mode for targeted analysis: Enable includeDetails: true when you need features, pros/cons, and social links for a shortlist of competitors
• Filter by pricing: Set pricingFilter: "freemium" to find tools with free tiers, or "paid" for premium-only products
• Schedule weekly runs: Set up a scheduled run to track new product launches and category changes every week
• Combine category + pricing: Use both filters for precise targeting (e.g., free productivity tools)
• Export to Google Sheets: Use Apify's built-in Google Sheets integration for live-updating competitive dashboards

Integrations

Competitive dashboard in Google Sheets Run weekly on a product category to maintain a live competitive landscape spreadsheet. New tools automatically appear in Sheets via the Apify + Google Sheets integration.

Competitor alert in Slack/Discord Use an Apify webhook + Zapier/Make to post notifications when new high-rated products (rating > 4.5) appear in your target category. Stay ahead of competitors launching in your space.

Market research in Airtable Build a competitive intelligence CRM. Export structured product data to Airtable, then track your evaluation notes, feature comparisons, and differentiation strategy alongside the raw data.

Pricing intelligence monitoring Run daily/weekly with pricingFilter: "freemium" to detect when competitors shift from free to paid — a key signal they're scaling monetization.

Strategic analysis with AI assistants Export a category to CSV, then feed it to Claude or GPT with a prompt like "Analyze this dataset of productivity tools and identify the top 3 underserved niches based on feature gaps." Great for product strategy and positioning work.

API usage — Using the Apify API

You can trigger this actor programmatically using the Apify API.

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/ai-tools-directory-scraper').call({
  source: 'futurepedia',
  category: 'chatbots',
  maxTools: 100,
  includeDetails: false,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Scraped ${items.length} tools`);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("automation-lab/ai-tools-directory-scraper").call(run_input={
    "source": "futurepedia",
    "category": "image-generators",
    "maxTools": 200,
    "includeDetails": False,
    "pricingFilter": "freemium",
})

dataset_items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(f"Found {len(dataset_items)} tools")

cURL

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~ai-tools-directory-scraper/runs" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "source": "futurepedia",
    "category": "code-assistant",
    "maxTools": 50,
    "includeDetails": true
  }'

Use with AI agents via MCP

SaaS Tools Directory Scraper is available as a tool for AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Add the Apify MCP server to your AI client — this gives you access to all Apify actors, including this one:

Setup for Claude Code

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com"

Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

Add this to your MCP config file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
        }
    }
}

Your AI assistant will use OAuth to authenticate with your Apify account on first use.

Example prompts

Once connected, try asking your AI assistant:

• "Use automation-lab/ai-tools-directory-scraper to scrape 100 productivity tools and compare their pricing models"
• "Get 50 chatbot tools with their features and pros/cons — I need a competitive feature matrix for my product brief"
• "Scrape all freemium tools in the code-assistant category and identify which ones compete with GitHub Copilot"

Learn more in the Apify MCP documentation.

Legality — Is it legal to scrape SaaS tool directories?

This actor collects publicly available information from Futurepedia.io and Toolify.ai — the same data any visitor can see in their browser. No authentication is required or bypassed. These directories display product data publicly to drive tool discovery.

Web scraping of publicly available data is generally considered legal in most jurisdictions, as confirmed by the hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn (9th Circuit) ruling and similar EU case law. Apify operates under ethical scraping principles.

Best practices we recommend:

• Use scraped data for research, analysis, and product development — not for republishing without attribution
• Respect each product's own website terms when visiting their URLs
• Don't use this data to spam or cold-contact product developers

FAQ

How fast does the scraper work? In listing mode (no detail pages), the actor scrapes approximately 12-24 tools per page visit. With Playwright and residential proxies, each page takes 4-8 seconds. You can expect ~100 tools in under 2 minutes in listing mode.

With includeDetails: true, each tool requires an additional page visit (~5-10 seconds), so 100 tools takes roughly 15-25 minutes. For large competitive scans, use listing mode first to identify key competitors, then re-scrape those specific tools with detail mode.

How much does it cost to scrape 1,000 products? At $0.003/tool for the first 100 and $0.0027/tool for the next 900, plus a $0.03 start fee: approximately $2.73 for 1,000 tools in listing mode.

Why do some tools show pricingModel: "unknown"? Some products list custom pricing like "Contact for Pricing" or "Free Trial". These don't fit the free/freemium/paid model cleanly, so they're classified as "unknown". The raw pricingDetails field always contains the original text from the directory.

Why are results empty or fewer than expected?

• Check that your category slug matches a real category (e.g., chatbots, not Chatbots)
• Some category pages load slowly — try increasing the actor timeout
• If using pricingFilter, the category may have fewer tools matching that filter than maxTools

Does it work for Toolify.ai? Yes, Toolify is supported with source "toolify" or "all". Toolify uses Cloudflare protection similar to Futurepedia. Toolify provides monthly visitor data (monthlyVisitors) that Futurepedia doesn't offer. Note: Toolify's DOM structure is more dynamic and may occasionally require proxy rotation.

Can I scrape both directories at once? Yes — set source: "all" to scrape both Futurepedia and Toolify in a single run. The source field in each output record identifies which directory it came from. Set maxTools to the combined total you want.

Related scrapers

Looking for more competitive intelligence tools? Check out these other automation-lab actors:

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• Product Hunt Scraper — Extract product launches and upvotes from Product Hunt
• AppSumo Scraper — Scrape lifetime software deals and reviews
• Apify Store Analyzer — Analyze actors and pricing in the Apify Store
• Amazon Product Scraper — Extract Amazon product listings and reviews