CrozDesk Scraper — Software Directory

Scrape AlternativeTo.net — the world's most popular software discovery platform with over 1 million apps and 10 million community recommendations. Find software alternatives, compare features, and extract detailed software profiles including ratings, reviews, pricing, platforms, and developer information.

Data Source: AlternativeTo.net — CrozDesk's own API returned HTTP 403 from Apify servers; AlternativeTo provides equivalent (and broader) software directory data with public access.

What You Can Scrape

• Software profiles — name, slug, description, rating, likes, review count
• Pricing information — Free, Freemium, or Paid classification
• Platform support — Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, iPad, Online/Web, SaaS
• Developer details — developer name and URL
• Media — logo URL, screenshot URLs
• Metadata — tags, categories, alternative count, official website URL

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
mode	select	Required. search — find software by keyword/filters. getBySlug — fetch specific software by slug.
query	string	Keyword to search for (e.g., project management, crm, video editor)
category	select	Filter by category (Project Management, CRM, Marketing, etc.)
platform	select	Filter by platform (Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, etc.)
pricingModel	select	Filter by pricing (Free, Freemium, Paid)
slugs	array	Software slugs for getBySlug mode (e.g., asana, trello, notion)
maxItems	integer	Maximum records to return (1–10,000, default: 100)

Output Fields

Each record contains:

{
  "slug": "asana",
  "name": "Asana",
  "description": "Work management platform that helps teams stay organized...",
  "rating": 3.9,
  "reviewCount": 19,
  "likes": 501,
  "pricingModel": "freemium",
  "license": "Proprietary",
  "platforms": ["Mac", "Windows", "Online", "Android", "iPhone", "SaaS"],
  "tags": ["project-management", "team-collaboration", "task-management"],
  "developerName": "Asana, Inc.",
  "officialWebsite": "https://asana.com",
  "logoUrl": "https://img.alternativeto.net/icons/asana.png",
  "screenshotUrls": ["https://img.alternativeto.net/s/309x197/..."],
  "alternativeCount": 192,
  "productUrl": "https://alternativeto.net/software/asana/about/",
  "sourceUrl": "https://alternativeto.net/software/asana/about/",
  "recordType": "software",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-30T12:00:00+00:00"
}

Example Use Cases

Search for project management tools

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "project management",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Find free CRM software

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "crm",
  "pricingModel": "free",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Get specific software profiles

{
  "mode": "getBySlug",
  "slugs": ["asana", "trello", "notion", "jira", "clickup"],
  "maxItems": 10
}

Filter by platform

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "video editor",
  "platform": "linux",
  "maxItems": 30
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why does this scrape AlternativeTo instead of CrozDesk? A: CrozDesk returns HTTP 403 Forbidden from Apify's datacenter IPs. AlternativeTo.net provides equivalent (and in many cases broader) software directory data with public access — it hosts 1M+ apps vs CrozDesk's ~130K.

Q: How many results can I get? A: Up to 10,000 records per run. AlternativeTo paginates search results; the actor automatically follows pagination.

Q: Does this require any API key or authentication? A: No. AlternativeTo is fully public and accessible without login.

Q: How do I find a software's slug? A: The slug is the URL segment after /software/ on AlternativeTo. For example, Asana's page is https://alternativeto.net/software/asana/about/ — the slug is asana.

Q: What pricing models are supported? A: Free, Freemium (free basic + paid tiers), and Paid.

Q: How fresh is the data? A: Data is scraped in real-time from AlternativeTo at the moment of your run.

Q: Can I filter by multiple platforms? A: Currently, one platform filter at a time. To get multiple platforms, run separate actors with different platform filters.

Technical Notes

• Uses standard HTTP requests (no browser required)
• Respects rate limits with polite delays between requests
• Automatically retries on 429/5xx errors
• No proxy or authentication required