Meetup Events Scraper

Scrape Meetup.com events from search results. Get event titles, dates, venues, group names, RSVP counts, descriptions, and ticket details as structured JSON data.

What does Meetup Events Scraper do?

This actor searches Meetup.com and extracts event data from search results, including:

• Event details — title, date/time, type (in-person/online), full description
• Venue info — name, address, city, state, country
• Group info — group name, URL, rating, total ratings
• Attendance — RSVP count, max tickets
• Pricing — free/paid status, fee amount and currency
• Media — event cover image URL

The actor uses Meetup's built-in location geocoding, so you can search by city name (e.g., "New York", "London", "Tokyo") without needing exact coordinates.

Why use Meetup Events Scraper?

• No API key needed — extracts data directly from Meetup's public search pages
• Automatic geocoding — converts city names to Meetup's location format
• Clean, structured output — all fields are normalized and ready for analysis
• Fast and lightweight — no browser needed, runs on minimal memory
• Filter support — narrow results by event type (in-person/online) and date range

How to scrape Meetup events

1. Go to Meetup Events Scraper on Apify Store.
2. Enter a search keyword in the searchQuery field (e.g., "python", "startup networking").
3. Optionally set a location (e.g., "New York"), eventType, and dateRange to filter results.
4. Set maxResults to control how many events to extract.
5. Click Start and wait for the run to finish.
6. Download event data as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Dataset tab.

How much does it cost to scrape Meetup events?

Meetup Events Scraper uses the pay-per-event pricing model:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.001
Per event extracted	$0.005

Cost examples:

Scenario	Events	Estimated cost
Quick search	10	~$0.051
Full page	25	~$0.126

Platform costs (compute and memory) are additional but minimal — a typical run uses under $0.003 in platform costs.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
searchQuery	string	Search term (e.g., "python", "hiking", "startup networking")	Required
location	string	City name (e.g., "New York", "London"). Leave empty for global	Empty
eventType	string	Filter: inPerson, online, or empty for all	All types
dateRange	string	Filter: today, tomorrow, this-week, this-weekend, next-week	Any time
maxResults	integer	Maximum events to extract (1–30)	25

Output example

Each event in the dataset looks like this:

{
  "eventId": "313520522",
  "title": "AgentCon NYC",
  "dateTime": "2026-03-09T09:00:00-04:00",
  "eventType": "PHYSICAL",
  "eventUrl": "https://www.meetup.com/nycneo4j/events/313520522/",
  "description": "Join us for the AI Agents World Tour, a global series of one-day conferences...",
  "rsvpCount": 85,
  "maxTickets": 0,
  "venueName": "Nasdaq",
  "venueAddress": "151 W 42nd St",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "NY",
  "country": "us",
  "groupName": "Graph Database New York",
  "groupUrlname": "nycneo4j",
  "groupRating": 4.6,
  "groupTotalRatings": 121,
  "imageUrl": "https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/highres_532911297.jpeg",
  "isFree": true,
  "feeAmount": null,
  "feeCurrency": "",
  "searchQuery": "AI agents",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-03T07:14:10.790Z"
}

How to use the API

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

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

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/meetup-scraper').call({
    searchQuery: 'python programming',
    location: 'New York',
    maxResults: 20,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((event) => {
    console.log(`${event.title} — ${event.dateTime} (${event.rsvpCount} RSVPs)`);
});

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("automation-lab/meetup-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQuery": "python programming",
    "location": "New York",
    "maxResults": 20,
})

for event in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{event['title']} — {event['dateTime']} ({event['rsvpCount']} RSVPs)")

Use cases

• Event discovery — find relevant meetups and conferences in any city by keyword
• Community research — analyze the tech/startup scene in different locations
• Competitive intelligence — monitor events from specific groups or industries
• Content planning — find speaking opportunities and networking events
• Market research — track trends in event topics and attendance patterns
• Lead generation — identify events where your target audience gathers

Event types

Value	Description
PHYSICAL	In-person events with a physical venue
ONLINE	Virtual events (video/audio)

Integrations

Connect Meetup Events Scraper with other tools using Apify integrations:

• Google Sheets — export event data for tracking and planning
• Slack/Email — get notified when new events match your criteria
• Webhooks — trigger workflows when new events are found
• Zapier/Make — connect event data to 5,000+ apps
• API — schedule regular event monitoring runs

Tips for best results

1. Use specific keywords — "python machine learning" returns more relevant results than "tech"
2. Specify a location — location-based searches return more targeted results
3. Try different date ranges — "this-week" gives immediate events, no filter gives broader results
4. Combine with other scrapers — pair with Eventbrite Scraper for comprehensive event coverage
5. Online vs in-person — filter by event type to focus on your preferred format

Data source

All data comes from Meetup.com's public search pages. The actor extracts structured data from the page's embedded Apollo GraphQL state, which contains complete event information including descriptions, venues, groups, and RSVP counts.

Use with AI agents via MCP

Meetup Scraper is available as a tool for AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

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"
        }
    }
}

Example prompts

• "Find Python meetups in New York City"
• "Search Meetup for tech events near me"
• "What AI and machine learning meetups are happening in San Francisco this week?"

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~meetup-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchQuery": "python programming",
    "location": "New York",
    "maxResults": 20
  }'

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

The scraper returns events from unexpected locations. Meetup's search uses geocoding to convert city names to coordinates and then searches a radius around that point. If your city name is ambiguous (e.g., "Portland" could be Oregon or Maine), try being more specific (e.g., "Portland, OR"). Leaving the location empty searches globally.

Why am I only getting ~25 results maximum? Meetup's server-side search caps results at approximately 25 events per query. This is a Meetup platform limitation, not a scraper limitation. To get more events, try different search keywords or date range filters.

Limitations

• Returns up to ~25 events per search (Meetup's server-side search result limit)
• Event descriptions may be truncated to 2,000 characters
• Location search uses Meetup's built-in geocoding — use common city names for best results
• Some online events may not have venue/city information

Other event scrapers

• Eventbrite Scraper -- scrape events, venues, and ticket details from Eventbrite