# RentCafe Apartment Listings Scraper (`crawlerbros/rentcafe-scraper`) Actor

Scrape RentCafe.com apartment listings by city - bed/price tiers, amenities, ratings, contact/management company, coordinates and photos.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/rentcafe-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Lead generation, Automation
- **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 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

## RentCafe Scraper

Scrape apartment listings from [RentCafe.com](https://www.rentcafe.com) for any US city — bedroom/price tiers, ratings, amenities, management company, coordinates and photos. No login, no API key, no proxy required.

### What this actor does

- **36 listing filters** — bedroom count (studio/1-4 BR), price tiers (under $500-$2,000), and amenity feeds (pet friendly, pool, fitness center, garage, hardwood floors, furnished, luxury, and more)
- **Client-side refinement** — minimum rating, min/max price, pet-friendly-only, stacked on top of the site filter
- **Full listing detail** — name, address, coordinates, star rating + review count, bedroom/price pairs, amenity summary, management company, verified-listing flag, promo badges, photo
- **Automatic pagination** up to your `maxItems` cap
- **Empty fields are omitted** — every record only contains data actually present on the listing

### Output per listing

- `propertyId`, `name`, `url`
- `street`, `city`, `state`, `zip`, `fullAddress`
- `latitude`, `longitude`
- `rating`, `reviewCount`
- `bedPricePairs[]` — `{beds, startingPrice}` per unit type advertised
- `minPrice`, `maxPrice`, `minBeds`, `maxBeds`
- `amenitySummary[]`, `badges[]` (e.g. "Rent specials", "New Units Available")
- `verifiedListing`
- `photoUrl`
- `managementCompany`
- `locationSlug`, `filterApplied`, `scrapedAt`

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `location` | string | `austin-tx` | City, e.g. `austin-tx`, `Austin, TX`, `new-york-city-ny` |
| `filter` | select | None | One RentCafe site filter (bedroom count / price tier / amenity) — 36 options |
| `minRating` | integer | – | Drop listings rated below this (0-5) |
| `minPrice` / `maxPrice` | integer | – | Monthly starting-price range |
| `petFriendlyOnly` | boolean | `false` | Only listings whose amenity summary mentions "Pet friendly" |
| `maxItems` | integer | `25` | Hard cap on emitted records (1-2000). RentCafe itself typically surfaces at most ~500 listings per single location/filter combination, even for the largest cities. |

#### Example: 2-bedroom listings in Austin rated 4+ under $2,000/mo

```json
{
  "location": "austin-tx",
  "filter": "2-bedroom",
  "minRating": 4,
  "maxPrice": 2000,
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

### How to find a location slug

Browse RentCafe.com for your target city — the URL path segment right after `/apartments-for-rent/` is the slug to use here (e.g. `rentcafe.com/apartments-for-rent/austin-tx/` → `austin-tx`). Multi-word cities usually append the state abbreviation directly, e.g. `new-york-city-ny`, `los-angeles-ca`. You can also just type `City, ST` and the actor will normalize it for you (results depend on RentCafe recognizing the generated slug).

### Data source & reliability

RentCafe server-renders listing cards directly into the page HTML (schema.org `ApartmentComplex` microdata); this actor parses that HTML using a Chrome-TLS-fingerprint HTTP client to pass RentCafe's bot-protection layer. No residential proxy, cookies or login are used or required.

**Note on the `url` field:** RentCafe's bot-protection blocks requests whose TLS fingerprint doesn't match a real browser — a plain `curl` or non-browser HTTP client will get a 403 even though the URL itself is valid and opens normally in any real web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

### FAQs

**Does this require a proxy or login?** No — it runs entirely on Apify's free datacenter access, no credentials needed.

**Can I combine two site filters, e.g. 2-bedroom + pet-friendly?** RentCafe's search only supports one filter segment per page. Use the `filter` input for the axis that matters most, then use `minPrice`/`maxPrice`/`minRating`/`petFriendlyOnly` for additional client-side narrowing.

**Why do some listings have fewer fields than others?** RentCafe only shows what the property manager provided (e.g. not every listing has a star rating yet). Fields with no real data are omitted rather than emitted as null/empty.

# Actor input Schema

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

City as it appears on RentCafe, e.g. `austin-tx`, `Austin, TX`, or `new-york-city-ny`. Spaces/commas are auto-converted to the RentCafe URL slug.

## `filter` (type: `string`):

RentCafe supports one filter segment per search page. Pick the axis that matters most; use Min/Max price and Pet-friendly only below for extra client-side refinement on top of it.

## `minRating` (type: `integer`):

Drop listings whose review rating is below this (client-side; RentCafe has no rating filter of its own).

## `minPrice` (type: `integer`):

Drop listings whose lowest advertised starting price is below this.

## `maxPrice` (type: `integer`):

Drop listings whose highest advertised starting price is above this.

## `petFriendlyOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only emit listings whose amenity summary mentions "Pet friendly".

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

Hard cap on emitted records. Note: RentCafe itself only surfaces up to roughly 500 listings per location/filter combination (even for the largest cities); very large values are safe to set but a single location will rarely return more than ~500.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "location": "austin-tx",
  "filter": "",
  "petFriendlyOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `listings` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped RentCafe apartment listings.

# 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 = {
    "location": "austin-tx",
    "filter": "",
    "petFriendlyOnly": false,
    "maxItems": 25
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/rentcafe-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 = {
    "location": "austin-tx",
    "filter": "",
    "petFriendlyOnly": False,
    "maxItems": 25,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("crawlerbros/rentcafe-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 '{
  "location": "austin-tx",
  "filter": "",
  "petFriendlyOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 25
}' |
apify call crawlerbros/rentcafe-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,crawlerbros/rentcafe-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/yoWaKCnhMH4FF8G04/builds/IMC3ReT4QsbEyFghK/openapi.json