Google Patents Scraper

Export Google Patents search results, patent URLs, abstracts, claims, assignees, inventors, classifications, citations, PDFs, and priority dates into a structured Apify dataset.

Use it to turn Google Patents searches into repeatable patent landscape exports for prior-art research, competitor monitoring, IP due diligence, and R&D intelligence workflows.

What does Google Patents Scraper do?

Google Patents Scraper searches the public Google Patents index and saves one dataset item per patent publication.

It can run broad patent searches, extract specific publication numbers, or enrich Google Patents URLs with detail-page fields.

The actor is HTTP-first and uses the public Google Patents pages and XHR endpoint.

No Google account, API key, or browser automation is required for the normal workflow.

Who is it for?

• ⚖️ IP attorneys building prior-art review lists.
• 🔬 Patent researchers exporting citation and family context.
• 🏭 R&D teams monitoring competitor patent activity.
• 🎓 University tech-transfer teams tracking licensing opportunities.
• 📊 Competitive-intelligence analysts building patent landscape dashboards.
• 🤖 Developers who need a simple Google Patents API-like export.

Why use this scraper?

Manual Google Patents research is useful but hard to operationalize.

This actor makes it repeatable.

You can schedule the same query, keep a consistent dataset schema, connect results to dashboards, and compare new exports over time.

It is designed for practical patent workflows rather than one-off page screenshots.

What data can it extract?

The default search mode extracts bibliographic and search-result fields.

Detail mode adds richer fields from each public patent page.

Field	Description
query	Search query that produced the result
rank	Rank in Google Patents search results
title	Patent title
snippet	Search result snippet
publicationNumber	Publication number such as US20230000001A1
resultUrl	Google Patents detail page URL
pdfUrl	Public PDF URL when available
thumbnailUrl	Thumbnail or figure URL when available
inventor	Inventor names from Google Patents
assignee	Assignee names from Google Patents
priorityDate	Priority date
filingDate	Filing date
publicationDate	Publication date
grantDate	Grant date when available
language	Result language
countryStatus	Country/status signals from family metadata
abstract	Detail-page abstract when enabled
claims	Claim text snippets when enabled
classifications	Classification/meta subject values when enabled
citations	Citation publication numbers when enabled
sourceType	search or patent
scrapedAt	Extraction timestamp

How much does it cost to scrape Google Patents?

The actor uses pay-per-event pricing.

There is a small start event and a per-patent result event.

Current calibrated prices are:

• Start event: $0.005 per run.
• Patent result event: tiered, with Bronze at $0.000048409 per saved patent.

Higher-volume tiers receive automatic per-item discounts on Apify.

How to search Google Patents

Add one or more strings to queries.

The actor passes query syntax through to Google Patents.

Examples:

• battery assignee:tesla
• "solid state battery"
• inventor:"John Smith"
• solar cell before:priority:2022
• (machine learning) assignee:google

How to extract specific patents

Use publicationNumbers when you already know the target publications.

Examples:

• US20230000001A1
• EP1234567A2
• CN113650574B

You can also paste Google Patents URLs into patentUrls.

Input fields

Input	Type	Description
queries	array of strings	Google Patents search queries
patentUrls	array of URLs	Direct Google Patents pages
publicationNumbers	array of strings	Direct publication numbers
maxItems	integer	Maximum records to save
includeDetails	boolean	Fetch abstracts, claims, classifications, and citations
language	string	Detail-page language path, usually en
requestDelayMs	integer	Delay between requests
proxyConfiguration	object	Optional Apify Proxy settings for reliable Google Patents access

Recommended input

{
  "queries": ["battery assignee:tesla"],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "language": "en",
  "requestDelayMs": 250,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Deep research input

{
  "queries": ["\"solid state battery\" before:priority:2023"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "language": "en",
  "requestDelayMs": 500,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Output example

{
  "query": "battery assignee:tesla",
  "rank": 1,
  "title": "Battery pack thermal management system",
  "publicationNumber": "US20230000001A1",
  "assignee": "Tesla Inc",
  "inventor": "Example Inventor",
  "priorityDate": "2021-01-01",
  "filingDate": "2022-01-01",
  "publicationDate": "2023-01-05",
  "resultUrl": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US20230000001A1/en",
  "sourceType": "search",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-30T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Tips for better patent exports

• Keep includeDetails disabled for fast watchlist searches.
• Enable includeDetails when you need abstract, claims, classifications, or citation snippets.
• Use Google Patents operators directly in queries.
• Start with maxItems around 25 or 100 before running large landscapes.
• Increase requestDelayMs for high-volume detail-mode runs.

Integrations

Use the dataset output in:

• 📈 patent landscape dashboards
• 🧾 prior-art review spreadsheets
• 🔔 scheduled competitor monitoring alerts
• 🧠 R&D intelligence pipelines
• 🗃️ internal patent knowledge bases
• ⚙️ enrichment workflows with other Apify actors

API usage with Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/google-patents-scraper').call({
  queries: ['battery assignee:tesla'],
  maxItems: 100,
  includeDetails: false
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0]);

API usage with Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('MY-APIFY-TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/google-patents-scraper').call(run_input={
    'queries': ['battery assignee:tesla'],
    'maxItems': 100,
    'includeDetails': False,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items[0])

API usage with cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~google-patents-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"queries":["battery assignee:tesla"],"maxItems":100,"includeDetails":false}'

MCP usage

Use the Apify MCP server with tools scoped to this actor.

Claude Code setup:

$claude mcp add apify-google-patents "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/google-patents-scraper"

Claude Desktop JSON setup:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-google-patents": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/google-patents-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Direct MCP URL:

$https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/google-patents-scraper

Example prompts:

• "Run Google Patents Scraper for battery assignee:tesla and summarize the top assignees."
• "Extract 50 Google Patents results for solid state battery and return publication numbers."
• "Fetch details for CN113650574B and show the abstract and first claims."

Scheduling patent monitoring

Create an Apify schedule with the same query each week or month.

Export the dataset to a spreadsheet, database, webhook, or BI tool.

Compare new publication numbers between runs to identify fresh patent activity.

Detail mode notes

Detail mode visits each patent page after the search result is found.

It is slower because it performs more requests.

It is useful when the dataset needs abstracts, claims, classifications, and citations.

For large landscapes, run search mode first and detail mode on a narrower list.

Legality and responsible use

This actor extracts publicly available Google Patents pages.

Make sure your use case complies with applicable laws, contracts, and Apify terms.

Do not use scraped data for unlawful surveillance, spam, or rights-infringing activity.

Use conservative limits and avoid unnecessary repeated requests.

FAQ

Why did I get fewer results than expected?

Google Patents can group similar documents, return fewer results for narrow queries, or change results by language and query syntax.

Try a broader query or raise maxItems.

Why is detail mode slower?

Detail mode fetches one extra public patent page per output item.

Lower maxItems or disable detail mode for high-volume monitoring.

Can I use Google Patents operators?

Yes.

The actor passes the query string through, so Google Patents syntax can be used directly.

Related scrapers

Other automation-lab actors can help with adjacent research workflows:

• https://apify.com/automation-lab/google-search-results-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/website-contact-finder
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/company-employee-scraper

Changelog

• 0.1 — Initial Google Patents search and detail extraction.

Support

Open an issue on Apify if you need a new field, a search syntax example, or help with patent-monitoring workflows.