# ITFirms Scraper (`crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper`) Actor

Scrape curated "top IT companies" rankings from ITFirms.co across 53 categories - web/mobile development, AI, blockchain, digital marketing and more. Get website, description, services, key clients, location, employees, founded year, hourly rate and contact info. No login or API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## ITFirms Scraper

Scrape curated "top IT companies" rankings from [ITFirms.co](https://www.itfirms.co/) — a B2B research and review platform for technology-service providers. Covers 53 categories spanning web/mobile development, AI, blockchain, digital marketing, cybersecurity, and more. No login, no API key, no cookies required.

> **Data source note:** This actor replaces a directory site that could not be reliably scraped from the Apify cloud (Cloudflare blocked every request from Apify's datacenter IP ranges, including the free AUTO proxy group, with a JS challenge). ITFirms.co serves the same category of business data (curated IT/marketing agency rankings) as plain, unprotected HTML.

### What this actor does

- **53 ranking categories** — from Web Development and SEO to Blockchain, Generative AI, and Salesforce Consulting
- **Multi-category runs** — scrape several rankings in a single run
- **Keyword and location filters** — best-effort client-side match
- **Rich per-company data**: real website URL, description, services provided, key clients, location, employee count, founded year, hourly rate, phone, and decoded email address
- Automatically engages the free Apify AUTO datacenter proxy if ITFirms.co temporarily rate-limits direct requests
- Empty fields are always omitted — every field in the output is backed by real scraped data

### Output per company

- `rank`, `name`, `websiteUrl`
- `description`, `servicesProvided[]`, `keyClients[]`
- `location`, `employees`, `foundedYear`, `hourlyRate`, `phone`, `email`
- `category`, `categoryLabel`
- `scrapedAt`

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `categories` | array (select) | `["top-web-development-companies"]` | One or more of 53 ranking categories |
| `keyword` | string | – | Best-effort keyword filter |
| `location` | string | – | Filter by listed location text (e.g. `India`, `USA`) |
| `maxItems` | int | `40` | Hard cap on emitted records (1-1000) |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | AUTO | Only engaged automatically if ITFirms.co rate-limits |

#### Example: top web development companies

```json
{
  "categories": ["top-web-development-companies"],
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

#### Example: multiple categories with a location filter

```json
{
  "categories": ["top-seo-companies", "top-digital-marketing-companies"],
  "location": "USA",
  "maxItems": 40
}
```

### Data source & reliability notes

Each ITFirms category page is a single, non-paginated, server-rendered ranking of up to 20 companies (WordPress-based, no login wall), so this actor works entirely without cookies, sessions, or paid proxies. Selecting more categories increases the total number of possible results (up to 20 per category).

### FAQs

**Do I need an ITFirms account?** No. All data is scraped from public ranking pages.

**Why did I get 0 results?** Your keyword/location filters likely didn't match anything on the selected category's page — try a broader term or a different category.

**Is the email address real?** Yes — ITFirms hides company emails behind a client-side Cloudflare obfuscation trick; this actor decodes it back to the original address.

**Is this reliable long-term?** Yes — the actor uses realistic browser fingerprinting and automatically retries through the free Apify AUTO proxy if ITFirms.co temporarily rate-limits a request.

# Actor input Schema

## `categories` (type: `array`):

One or more ITFirms ranking categories to scrape. Each category page lists up to 20 ranked companies.

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Best-effort client-side filter: only keep companies whose name, description, location or services contain this keyword (case-insensitive).

## `location` (type: `string`):

Only keep companies whose listed location contains this text (e.g. `India`, `USA`, `UK`).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on emitted records (up to 20 companies per category).

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Only used if ITFirms.co temporarily blocks direct requests. Defaults to the free Apify AUTO datacenter group.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "categories": [
    "top-web-development-companies"
  ],
  "maxItems": 40,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `companies` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped ITFirms company rankings.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "categories": [
        "top-web-development-companies"
    ],
    "maxItems": 40,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "categories": ["top-web-development-companies"],
    "maxItems": 40,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "categories": [
    "top-web-development-companies"
  ],
  "maxItems": 40,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,crawlerbros/itfirms-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/r7ZkbTyWuVrTdHaeL/builds/56ElMdT8CtsB4N9br/openapi.json