Similarweb Top Websites Scraper

Returns: one row per ranked website with domain, rank, rankChange, category, avgVisitDuration, avgVisitDurationSeconds, pagesPerVisit, bounceRate. Input: {"countries": ["united-states"], "categories": [], "maxItems": 50} Best for: market research on the biggest sites per country, rank tracking over time, and checking where specific domains rank (Similarweb scraper / Similarweb API alternative for public rankings).

{
  "id": "united-states|all-categories|google.com",
  "domain": "google.com",
  "rank": 1,
  "rankChange": 0,
  "category": "computers_electronics_and_technology",
  "avgVisitDuration": "00:09:54",
  "avgVisitDurationSeconds": 594,
  "bounceRate": 0.2854679742286687
}

What does Similarweb Top Websites Scraper do?

Similarweb Top Websites Scraper reads the public "Top Websites" ranking pages on Similarweb and turns each row into a clean dataset record. For every ranked site you get the domain, its position in the list, how far it moved since the previous period, its category and subcategory, the average visit duration, pages per visit and the bounce rate.

You choose which rankings to read. A ranking can be worldwide, for one country, for one category, or for a country and category together. The Actor visits one page per ranking, so a run is fast and cheap. It needs no login and no browser, and it works with plain HTTP requests through Apify Proxy.

Typical uses:

• Track which sites rise or fall in a country's ranking from one month to the next.
• Build a list of the biggest sites in a niche, such as technology or news, for outreach or market research.
• Compare engagement numbers (visit duration, pages per visit, bounce rate) between the leading sites in a market.
• Feed a dashboard or spreadsheet with a repeatable, scheduled export of the public rankings.
• Optionally label each site with a business type (ecommerce, media, social, SaaS, search, government, other) using an AI step.

This project is independent. It is not made by, endorsed by or connected to Similarweb.

Important limits

Similarweb shows only the first 50 rows of each ranking to visitors who are not signed in. This Actor returns those 50 rows per ranking page. To collect more sites, add more countries or categories: every country and category pair is its own ranking with its own 50 rows. Some country and category pairs list fewer than 50 sites, so the count per page can be lower.

The ranking rows do not contain visit counts, traffic sources, audience geography or keywords. Those live on per-site profile pages that require a login or are blocked for automated access, so this Actor does not return them. The profileUrl field links to the public profile page for each domain so you can open it yourself.

What data can you get?

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Stable unique ID made of country, category filter and domain
domain	string	Website domain, for example google.com
rank	number	Position in the ranking page, 1 is the top
country	string	Country URL code of the ranking, or worldwide
rankChange	number	Change in rank compared with the previous period, positive means the site moved up
isNewRank	boolean	True when the site is new in the ranking
category	string	Top-level Similarweb category of the site
subcategory	string	Similarweb subcategory of the site
avgVisitDuration	string	Average visit duration as HH:MM:SS
pagesPerVisit	number	Average pages viewed per visit
bounceRate	number	Share of single-page visits, from 0 to 1
avgVisitDurationSeconds	number	Average visit duration converted to seconds
categoryPath	string	Category and subcategory in the form accepted by the categories input
faviconUrl	string	Favicon image URL for the site
profileUrl	string	Similarweb profile page URL for the domain
sourceUrl	string	Ranking page the record came from
siteType	string	Optional AI label: ecommerce, media, social, saas, search, government or other

Fields that Similarweb does not publish for a row are returned as null.

How to use Similarweb Top Websites Scraper

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and go to the Input tab.
2. Add one or more country codes, for example united-states or germany. Leave the list empty for the worldwide ranking.
3. Optionally add category paths such as computers-electronics-and-technology. Leave empty for all categories.
4. Set maxItems to the number of records you want in total.
5. Click Start. Results appear in the Output tab as a table you can download as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

Country and category codes are the same words that appear in the Similarweb URL. For example https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/united-kingdom/computers-electronics-and-technology/ uses the country united-kingdom and the category computers-electronics-and-technology. You can also paste whole ranking page URLs into startUrls.

The Actor requests about one page per second and retries with a growing delay when Similarweb answers with a temporary block or an empty response. It stops as soon as maxItems records are saved.

If an input is wrong, for example a country code with spaces, the run fails straight away with a message that explains what to change. If none of the requested pages can be loaded, the run also fails with an explicit error instead of finishing with an empty dataset.

Input

Field	Type	Description
countries	array of strings	Country URL codes, for example united-states. Empty means worldwide.
categories	array of strings	Category paths, for example computers-electronics-and-technology. Empty means all categories.
startUrls	array of strings	Optional explicit ranking page URLs. When set, countries and categories are ignored.
maxItems	integer	Maximum records to save, 1 to 10000, default 50.
domains	array of strings	Optional filter: keep only these domains (for example google.com) from the fetched rankings. Empty keeps all.
enrichWithAI	boolean	Add a siteType label to each record, default false.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy settings. Datacenter proxy is the default.

Example input:

{
  "countries": ["united-states", "united-kingdom"],
  "categories": ["computers-electronics-and-technology"],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "enrichWithAI": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

The Actor reads every country and category combination in order, so the example above reads two ranking pages. The same site can appear under several combinations; each record has its own id, so there are no duplicates inside one ranking and records from different rankings stay distinct.

Output

Each record is one row of one ranking. Example from a real run on the United States ranking:

{
  "id": "united-states|all-categories|google.com",
  "domain": "google.com",
  "rank": 1,
  "country": "united-states",
  "rankChange": 0,
  "isNewRank": false,
  "category": "computers_electronics_and_technology",
  "subcategory": "search_engines",
  "avgVisitDuration": "00:09:54",
  "avgVisitDurationSeconds": 594,
  "categoryPath": "computers-electronics-and-technology/search-engines",
  "pagesPerVisit": 8.704421225101038,
  "bounceRate": 0.2854679742286687,
  "profileUrl": "https://www.similarweb.com/website/google.com/",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/united-states/"
}

The rank value is the position on the ranking page you requested. When you filter by category, rank is the position inside that category's list.

How much does it cost?

The Actor uses pay per event pricing. You are charged once for each record saved (the result event). When you turn on enrichWithAI and a site is successfully labelled, one additional enriched-result event is charged for that record. Records whose AI label failed are not charged for enrichment. See the Pricing tab of the Actor for the current rates. Platform usage such as proxy traffic is small because each ranking is a single page request.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

You can call this Actor from any MCP-compatible assistant through the Apify MCP server. Add this to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=axiomworks/similarweb-top-websites-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "List the top 20 websites in Germany by Similarweb rank with their bounce rates."
• "Get the United Kingdom technology ranking and tell me which sites are new this period."
• "Compare average visit duration for the top 10 sites in the United States and Canada."

Integrations and API

You can start the Actor from code, schedule it, or connect it to other tools with Apify integrations and webhooks.

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("axiomworks/similarweb-top-websites-scraper").call(
    run_input={"countries": ["united-states"], "maxItems": 50}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["rank"], item["domain"])

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('axiomworks/similarweb-top-websites-scraper').call({
    countries: ['united-states'],
    maxItems: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((i) => `${i.rank} ${i.domain}`));

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/axiomworks~similarweb-top-websites-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"countries": ["united-states"], "maxItems": 50}'

FAQ

How many sites can I get per ranking? Up to 50. That is the number of rows Similarweb shows publicly. Combine several countries and categories to collect more.

Why are some country and category pairs short? Similarweb lists fewer rows for some narrow pairs. The Actor returns what the page lists.

Does it return monthly visits or traffic sources? No. Those numbers are not part of the public ranking rows, so the Actor does not invent or estimate them.

What does enrichWithAI do? It sends the domain and its category to a third-party AI processor, which picks one of seven site types. The label is optional, off by default, and limited to a fixed number of calls per run. If the AI service is unavailable, records are still saved without siteType and without the extra charge.

The run failed with "No ranking page could be loaded". What now? The site answered every attempt with a block or an empty page, or the country or category code does not exist. Check the code against the Similarweb URL, then retry. Switching the proxy group to residential in proxyConfiguration can help.

How fresh is the data? Whatever Similarweb currently publishes on the page. The Actor reads the page live on every run.

Is it legal to scrape Similarweb?

This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Similarweb; it is an independent tool. It reads only publicly visible ranking pages that load without an account. It does not sign in, solve CAPTCHAs or read private data. The rankings describe websites, not individuals. Laws and site terms differ by country and use case, and the site's terms may restrict automated access, so review them and get legal advice if you plan commercial or large-scale use. You are responsible for how you use the data.

Feedback

If a field is missing, a ranking fails to load or you need another field, open an issue from the Actor page in Apify Console with the input you used and the run link.