DuckDuckGo Scraper

What does DuckDuckGo Scraper do?

DuckDuckGo Scraper extracts search results from DuckDuckGo — the privacy-focused search engine. It supports both web search and news search modes, returning structured data including titles, URLs, descriptions, hostnames, and timestamps.

Unlike the official DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API (which only returns instant answers, not full search results), this scraper extracts actual organic search results — the same results you see when searching on DuckDuckGo.

Try it for free with $5 in Apify credits — no credit card required. The easiest way to start: click "Try for free", enter your search query, and hit "Start".

Key advantages:

• No API key or login needed — works out of the box
• Pure HTTP — no browser overhead, fast and cheap (256 MB memory)
• Web + News — two search modes with structured output
• Pagination — automatically fetches multiple pages to reach your target result count
• Region support — localized results for 50+ countries

Who is DuckDuckGo Scraper for?

SEO professionals and marketers

• Track keyword rankings on DuckDuckGo alongside Google
• Monitor brand mentions and competitor visibility
• Compare SERP landscapes across search engines

Researchers and data analysts

• Collect search result datasets for academic research
• Build training data for NLP models from search snippets
• Study search result diversity and bias

Lead generation teams

• Find companies and websites ranking for specific keywords
• Discover content opportunities in your niche
• Build prospect lists from industry-specific searches

News monitoring teams

• Track breaking news across topics in real time
• Monitor media coverage for PR and communications
• Set up scheduled runs for ongoing news tracking

Why use DuckDuckGo Scraper?

• Actually works — no Cloudflare challenges, no captcha issues. Pure HTTP scraping with smart proxy rotation
• No API key required — DuckDuckGo's official API only returns instant answers. This scraper returns full organic search results
• Fast and cheap — pure HTTP mode uses just 256 MB memory. 50 results in under 10 seconds
• Pay per result — no monthly subscription. You pay only for what you scrape, starting at $0.001 per result
• Two search modes — web search (via DuckDuckGo HTML) and news search (via DuckDuckGo News API)
• Time filters — filter results by past day, week, month, or year
• 50+ regions — localized results with region codes (us-en, uk-en, de-de, fr-fr, jp-jp, etc.)
• Automatic pagination — fetches multiple pages to reach your desired result count
• Export anywhere — JSON, CSV, Excel, XML. Integrate with 5,000+ apps via Zapier, Make, and the Apify API
• Scheduled runs — monitor search results daily or weekly with automated scheduling

What data can you extract?

Each search result includes:

Field	Description
position	Rank position in search results (1, 2, 3...)
title	Page title
url	Direct link to the page
hostname	Domain name (e.g., www.example.com)
description	Search result snippet/description
icon	Favicon URL
time	Publication date (news results) or null (web results)
searchQuery	The search query that produced this result
searchType	web or news

How much does it cost to scrape DuckDuckGo?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing — you pay only for what you scrape. No monthly subscription. All platform costs are included.

	Free	Starter ($29/mo)	Scale ($199/mo)	Business ($999/mo)
Per result	$0.00115	$0.001	$0.00078	$0.0006
1,000 results	$1.15	$1.00	$0.78	$0.60

Higher-tier plans get additional volume discounts (Platinum and Diamond tiers available for Enterprise customers).

A one-time $0.005 start fee is charged per run.

Real-world cost examples:

Query	Results	Duration	Cost (Free tier)
"web scraping tools"	20 results	~3s	~$0.03
"best restaurants in NYC"	50 results	~8s	~$0.06
3 news queries, 10 each	30 results	~6s	~$0.04

With the free plan ($5 credits), you can scrape approximately 4,000 search results.

How to scrape DuckDuckGo search results

1. Go to the DuckDuckGo Scraper page on Apify Store
2. Click "Try for free" to open the Actor in Apify Console
3. Enter your search queries in the Search queries field
4. Choose web or news as the search type
5. Set Max results per query (default: 50)
6. Click "Start" and wait for the run to complete
7. Download your results as JSON, CSV, or Excel

Example: Web search

{
    "queries": ["web scraping tools", "data extraction API"],
    "searchType": "web",
    "maxResults": 30,
    "region": "us-en"
}

Example: News search with time filter

{
    "queries": ["artificial intelligence", "machine learning"],
    "searchType": "news",
    "maxResults": 20,
    "timeRange": "w"
}

Example: Localized search (Germany)

{
    "queries": ["best restaurants berlin"],
    "searchType": "web",
    "maxResults": 20,
    "region": "de-de"
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
queries	string[]	required	Search queries to run. Each query produces its own set of results.
searchType	string	"web"	Type of search: "web" for organic results, "news" for news articles.
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum results per query. DuckDuckGo returns 10-30 per page; pagination is automatic.
region	string	"us-en"	DuckDuckGo region code. Examples: us-en, uk-en, de-de, fr-fr, jp-jp.
timeRange	string	""	Time filter: "" (all time), "d" (past day), "w" (past week), "m" (past month), "y" (past year).

Output example

Web search result

{
    "position": 1,
    "title": "Best Web Scraping Tools Tested & Ranked for 2026",
    "url": "https://www.scrapingbee.com/blog/web-scraping-tools/",
    "hostname": "www.scrapingbee.com",
    "description": "I have tested & compared the best web scraping tools for 2026, so you don't have to. See pros and cons, pricing, and features.",
    "icon": "//external-content.duckduckgo.com/ip3/www.scrapingbee.com.ico",
    "time": null,
    "searchQuery": "web scraping tools",
    "searchType": "web"
}

News search result

{
    "position": 1,
    "title": "How Artificial Intelligence Platforms Are Changing Auto Dealership Sales",
    "url": "https://www.usatoday.com/press-release/story/28422/...",
    "hostname": "www.usatoday.com",
    "description": "As car buyers increasingly begin their purchasing journey online, automotive dealerships are turning to AI platforms.",
    "icon": "https://dashboard.kingnewswire.com/uploads/press-release/...",
    "time": "2026-03-16T22:19:00.000Z",
    "searchQuery": "artificial intelligence",
    "searchType": "news"
}

Tips for best results

• Start small — run with 10-20 results first to verify the data matches your needs, then scale up
• Use specific queries — more specific queries yield more relevant results. "best Italian restaurants in Manhattan" beats "restaurants NYC"
• Combine web + news — run the same query in both modes to get comprehensive coverage
• Time filters for freshness — use timeRange: "w" or "d" for recent content in competitive niches
• Schedule regular runs — set up daily or weekly schedules for ongoing monitoring
• Multiple queries per run — batch your queries into a single run to minimize start fees
• Region codes — use the right region for localized results. Full list: us-en, uk-en, au-en, ca-en, de-de, fr-fr, es-es, it-it, jp-jp, kr-kr, br-pt, in-en

Integrations

• DuckDuckGo Scraper → Google Sheets — export search results directly to a spreadsheet for keyword tracking and SEO analysis
• DuckDuckGo Scraper → Slack/Discord — get notified when new results appear for monitored keywords
• DuckDuckGo Scraper → Make/Zapier — trigger workflows when search results change, e.g., alert when a competitor enters the top 10
• Scheduled runs — monitor DuckDuckGo rankings daily or weekly with Apify's built-in scheduler
• Webhooks — process results in real time with webhook notifications after each run

Using the Apify API

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

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

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/duckduckgo-scraper').call({
    queries: ['web scraping tools'],
    searchType: 'web',
    maxResults: 30,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('automation-lab/duckduckgo-scraper').call(run_input={
    'queries': ['web scraping tools'],
    'searchType': 'web',
    'maxResults': 30,
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~duckduckgo-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "queries": ["web scraping tools"],
    "searchType": "web",
    "maxResults": 30
  }'

Use with AI agents via MCP

DuckDuckGo 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:

• "Search DuckDuckGo for 'best project management tools' and give me the top 20 results (use automation-lab/duckduckgo-scraper)"
• "Find recent news about Tesla stock on DuckDuckGo from the past week"
• "Compare DuckDuckGo search results for 'CRM software' across US and UK regions"

Learn more in the Apify MCP documentation.

Is it legal to scrape DuckDuckGo?

Web scraping of publicly available data is generally considered legal based on multiple legal precedents. DuckDuckGo search results are publicly accessible information that anyone can view in their browser. This scraper only extracts publicly displayed search result data — it does not access private user data, bypass authentication, or violate DuckDuckGo's rate limits.

When using this scraper, you should:

• Respect DuckDuckGo's terms of service
• Use reasonable request rates (the scraper includes built-in delays)
• Comply with GDPR and other applicable data protection regulations
• Not use scraped data for spam, harassment, or other malicious purposes

For more information, see Apify's guide to ethical web scraping.

Legality

Scraping publicly available data is generally legal according to the US Court of Appeals ruling (HiQ Labs v. LinkedIn). This actor only accesses publicly available information and does not require authentication. Always review and comply with the target website's Terms of Service before scraping. For personal data, ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable privacy regulations.

FAQ

How fast is DuckDuckGo Scraper? Very fast. Since it uses pure HTTP requests (no browser), it typically returns 20 results in 2-3 seconds and 50 results in 5-8 seconds. News search is even faster because it uses DuckDuckGo's JSON API directly.

How much does it cost to scrape 1,000 results? On the free plan: $1.15. On the Starter plan: $1.00. On Scale: $0.78. On Business: $0.60. See the pricing section above for details.

How is this different from the DuckDuckGo Instant Answer API? The official DuckDuckGo API only returns instant answers (definitions, calculations, etc.) — not actual search results. This scraper returns the same organic search results you see when searching DuckDuckGo in your browser.

Why are results empty for some queries? If DuckDuckGo's anomaly detection triggers, the scraper may not return results. This is rare on Apify cloud thanks to proxy rotation, but can happen with very frequent requests. Try again or reduce the number of queries per run.

Can I search in different languages? Yes. Use the region parameter to get localized results. For example, de-de for German, fr-fr for French, jp-jp for Japanese. The region affects both result language and geographic relevance.

Does this scraper support image or video search? Currently, the scraper supports web and news search. Image and video search modes may be added in future updates.

Other search scrapers

• Google News Scraper — scrape Google News articles by topic, query, or location
• Apple App Store Scraper — search and extract app data from the App Store
• Pinterest Scraper — scrape pins, boards, and profiles
• LinkedIn Jobs Scraper — search and extract job listings
• Zillow Scraper — scrape real estate listings and property data