# Podchaser Scraper (`crawlerbros/podchaser-scraper`) Actor Scrape podcast data from Podchaser via the Apple Podcasts / iTunes API - search podcasts and episodes, browse trending/top charts by category, or get full episode lists for specific podcasts. Returns title, description, categories, episode count, language, RSS feed URL, audio URLs, and more. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/podchaser-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Integrations - **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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Podchaser Scraper Search and discover podcasts and episodes using the Apple Podcasts / iTunes database — the same data source that powers Podchaser and similar podcast directories. No API key or registration required. ### Features - **Search podcasts** by keyword with optional category and language/country filters - **Search episodes** across all podcasts by keyword - **Trending podcasts** — top chart podcasts from Apple Podcasts by category and country - **Podcast episode lists** — fetch all episodes for specific Apple Podcasts URLs - **No auth required** — uses the free public iTunes Search API and Apple Podcasts charts - **Global** — supports 20+ country stores and languages ### Use Cases - Build a podcast recommendation engine or discovery tool - Monitor trending podcasts by category and region - Gather podcast metadata for a database or content aggregator - Research podcast episode schedules and descriptions - Find audio URLs for specific podcast episodes ### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `mode` | select | `searchPodcasts`, `searchEpisodes`, `trending`, `podcastDetails` | | `searchQuery` | string | Search term (modes: searchPodcasts, searchEpisodes) | | `category` | select | Filter by category: True Crime, News, Comedy, Technology, etc. | | `language` | select | Country store / language: us, gb, de, fr, jp, es, etc. | | `podcastUrls` | array | Apple Podcasts URLs for `podcastDetails` mode | | `maxItems` | integer | Max records to return (1–500, default: 50) | ### Output Fields #### Podcast Records | Field | Description | |---|---| | `podcastId` | Apple Podcasts ID | | `title` | Podcast title | | `author` | Publisher / author name | | `authorUrl` | Author's Apple Podcasts page, when available | | `url` | Apple Podcasts URL | | `sourceUrl` | Source URL | | `feedUrl` | RSS feed URL | | `imageUrl` | Cover artwork (600x600) | | `episodeCount` | Total number of episodes | | `latestEpisodeDate` | Date of most recent episode | | `isExplicit` | Whether the podcast is marked explicit | | `primaryGenre` | Primary genre (e.g., True Crime) | | `categories` | All genre categories (array) | | `language` | Language of the podcast | | `country` | Country store | | `contentRating` | Content rating (Clean, Explicit) | | `recordType` | Always `"podcast"` | | `scrapedAt` | UTC timestamp | #### Episode Records | Field | Description | |---|---| | `episodeId` | Apple episode ID | | `episodeTitle` | Episode title | | `podcastTitle` | Parent podcast title | | `podcastId` | Parent podcast ID | | `podcastUrl` | Parent podcast Apple Podcasts URL | | `episodeUrl` | Episode page URL | | `sourceUrl` | Source URL | | `audioUrl` | Direct audio file URL (MP3) | | `imageUrl` | Episode artwork | | `description` | Episode description | | `publishDate` | Publish date (ISO 8601) | | `durationMinutes` | Duration in minutes | | `isExplicit` | Explicit content flag | | `episodeGuid` | Unique episode GUID | | `categories` | Genre categories | | `fileExtension` | Audio file format (e.g. `"mp3"`, `"m4a"`) | | `contentType` | Episode content type: `"audio"` or `"video"` | | `recordType` | Always `"episode"` | | `scrapedAt` | UTC timestamp | ### Example Output ```json { "podcastId": "1322200189", "title": "Crime Junkie", "author": "Audiochuck", "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-junkie/id1322200189", "sourceUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-junkie/id1322200189", "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/qm_9xx0g", "imageUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts126/.../600x600bb.jpg", "episodeCount": 516, "latestEpisodeDate": "2026-06-29T07:00:00Z", "isExplicit": false, "primaryGenre": "True Crime", "categories": ["True Crime"], "language": "English", "country": "USA", "contentRating": "Clean", "recordType": "podcast", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-30T10:00:00+00:00" } ```` ### FAQs **Q: Do I need an API key?** A: No. This actor uses the free iTunes Search API and Apple Podcasts chart API — no keys, no registration. **Q: What data source does it use?** A: The Apple iTunes Search API (`itunes.apple.com/search`) and Apple Podcasts chart API — the same databases used by Podchaser, Spotify, and major podcast apps. **Q: How many results can I get?** A: Up to 500 records per run. The iTunes API returns up to 200 results per page. For trending, it fetches the top 100 chart positions (Apple's chart API caps at 100). **Q: Which countries/languages are supported?** A: 22 country stores: US, GB, DE, FR, ES, PT, JP, KR, CN, IT, NL, SE, DK, FI, NO, PL, RU, BR, MX, IN, AU, CA. **Q: Can I get episodes for a specific podcast?** A: Yes — use `mode=podcastDetails` with Apple Podcasts URLs like `https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-junkie/id1322200189`. **Q: Can I filter by category?** A: Yes — all modes support `category` filtering by: True Crime, News, Comedy, Society & Culture, Business, Science, Sports, Technology, Fiction, History, Health & Fitness, Kids & Family, Religion & Spirituality, Music, Arts, Government. **Q: Does this return audio URLs?** A: Yes — episode records include `audioUrl` with the direct MP3 link. **Q: Can I find non-English podcasts?** A: Yes — set `language` to a non-US country code (e.g., `de` for German, `jp` for Japanese) to get podcasts from that store. ### Data Source Data is retrieved from the [iTunes Search API](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AudioVideo/Conceptual/iTuneSearchAPI/) and [Apple Podcasts Charts API](https://rss.applemarketingtools.com/) — publicly accessible, free APIs with no authentication required. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to scrape. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Keyword to search for (modes: searchPodcasts, searchEpisodes). ## `category` (type: `string`): Filter to a specific podcast category (all modes). ## `language` (type: `string`): Filter to a specific language by country store (modes: searchPodcasts, trending). ## `podcastUrls` (type: `array`): List of Apple Podcasts URLs to fetch episode lists for, e.g. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-junkie/id1322200189. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on records emitted. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "searchPodcasts", "searchQuery": "true crime", "category": "", "language": "us", "podcastUrls": [], "maxItems": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `records` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped podcast and episode records. # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "searchPodcasts", "searchQuery": "true crime", "language": "us", "podcastUrls": [], "maxItems": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/podchaser-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "searchPodcasts", "searchQuery": "true crime", "language": "us", "podcastUrls": [], "maxItems": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/podchaser-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "searchPodcasts", "searchQuery": "true crime", "language": "us", "podcastUrls": [], "maxItems": 20 }' | apify call crawlerbros/podchaser-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/podchaser-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Podchaser Scraper", "description": "Scrape podcast data from Podchaser via the Apple Podcasts / iTunes API - search podcasts and episodes, browse trending/top charts by category, or get full episode lists for specific podcasts. Returns title, description, categories, episode count, language, RSS feed URL, audio URLs, and more.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "3dJgcLa0Z4NQLZm4N" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~podchaser-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-podchaser-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~podchaser-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-podchaser-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~podchaser-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-podchaser-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "searchPodcasts", "searchEpisodes", "trending", "podcastDetails" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to scrape.", "default": "searchPodcasts" }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search query", "type": "string", "description": "Keyword to search for (modes: searchPodcasts, searchEpisodes)." }, "category": { "title": "Category", "enum": [ "", "1488", "1489", "1303", "1324", "1321", "1533", "1545", "1318", "1483", "1462", "1512", "1304", "1314", "1310", "1301", "1513" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter to a specific podcast category (all modes).", "default": "" }, "language": { "title": "Language", "enum": [ "us", "gb", "de", "fr", "es", "pt", "jp", "kr", "cn", "it", "nl", "se", "dk", "fi", "no", "pl", "ru", "br", "mx", "in", "au", "ca" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter to a specific language by country store (modes: searchPodcasts, trending).", "default": "us" }, "podcastUrls": { "title": "Podcast URLs (mode=podcastDetails)", "type": "array", "description": "List of Apple Podcasts URLs to fetch episode lists for, e.g. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-junkie/id1322200189.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on records emitted.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```