AlternativeTo.com Scraper - Extract Competitor Intelligence & Alternatives Data

Professional web scraper for AlternativeTo.com | Extract alternatives, competitor data, pricing, ratings, and detailed product information at scale. Built for market research, competitive analysis, and business intelligence.

🚀 Why Use This Scraper?

Extract comprehensive competitor and alternative product data from AlternativeTo.com automatically. Perfect for market research, competitive analysis, lead generation, and business intelligence.

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Pay-Per-Event Pricing - Only pay for what you scrape
• ✅ Complete Data Extraction - Basic info + optional detailed data
• ✅ High Performance - Fast and efficient scraping
• ✅ Pagination Support - Automatically scrapes all pages
• ✅ Structured Output - Clean JSON data ready for analysis

📊 Example Output

Here's what you get from a single alternative product:

{
  "alternativeName": "IFTTT",
  "alternativeUrl": "https://alternativeto.net/software/ifttt/about/",
  "sourceUrl": "https://alternativeto.net/software/zapier/",
  "description": "IFTTT automates over 1000 apps, devices, and services with no coding needed, supports 27 million users, partners with 900+ brands, and offers powerful automation features like filter codes, queries, multiple actions, connections, habit tracking, and location-triggered events.",
  "detailedDescription": "IFTTT automates over 1000 apps, devices, and services with no coding needed, supports 27 million users, partners with 900+ brands, and offers powerful automation features like filter codes, queries, multiple actions, connections, habit tracking, and location-triggered events.",
  "pricing": "Freemium•Proprietary",
  "detailedPricing": "Subscription ranging between $4 and $10 per month + free version with limited functionality.",
  "rating": 5,
  "likes": 436,
  "platforms": [
    "Online",
    "Android",
    "iPhone",
    "Android Tablet",
    "iPad",
    "Apple Watch",
    "Android Wear"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "Task Automation App"
  ],
  "features": [
    "Lightweight",
    "Workflow Automation",
    "Customizable triggers",
    "Task Automation",
    "Service Integration",
    "Home Automation",
    "No Coding Required",
    "Live Push Notifications",
    "Facebook integration"
  ],
  "officialWebsite": "https://ifttt.com",
  "appStores": [
    {
      "name": "Download from Google Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ifttt.ifttt)",
      "url": "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ifttt.ifttt"
    },
    {
      "name": "Download from iPhone App Store (https://apps.apple.com/app/ifttt-automate-work-and-home/id660944635)",
      "url": "https://apps.apple.com/app/ifttt-automate-work-and-home/id660944635"
    }
  ],
  "developedBy": "IFTTT",
  "licensing": "Freemium•Proprietary",
  "popularAlternatives": [
    {
      "name": "Zapier",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/zapier/about/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Huginn",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/huginn/about/"
    },
    {
      "name": "n8n.io",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/n8n-io/about/"
    },
    {
      "name": "View all",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/ifttt/"
    }
  ],
  "hasDetailedData": true
}

Data Fields Include: Product descriptions, ratings, pricing, platforms, tags, features, official websites, app stores, developer info, licensing, supported languages, and more.

🎯 Use Cases

• Competitive Intelligence: Track alternatives, pricing, and features
• Market Research: Discover complete market landscapes
• Lead Generation: Find potential customers searching for alternatives
• Product Discovery: Research categories and emerging tools
• Sales Intelligence: Extract pricing strategies and market positioning

⚙️ Input Parameters

Required

• start_urls (array): List of AlternativeTo.com product page URLs
  • Example: https://alternativeto.net/software/zapier/

Optional

• fetchDetailedData (boolean, default: false): Enable detailed data extraction

  • ⚠️ Charged event - each alternative's detail page is a separate charge
  • When true: Extracts features, official website, app stores, developer info, licensing, detailed pricing
  • When false: Only extracts basic information (name, description, rating, platforms, tags)
  • ⚠️ Free users: Detailed data fetching is automatically disabled to prevent abuse

• maxAlternativesPerProduct (integer, default: 0 = unlimited): Maximum number of alternatives to extract per product

  • Limits alternatives across all paginated pages for each product URL
  • Useful for cost control during testing
  • Set to 0 for unlimited extraction
  • ⚠️ Free users: Automatically limited to 10 alternatives per product (prevents abuse)

Example Input

{
  "start_urls": [
    { "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/zapier/" }
  ],
  "fetchDetailedData": true,
  "maxAlternativesPerProduct": 50
}

📤 Output Data Structure

Basic Fields (Always Included)

• sourceUrl, alternativeName, alternativeUrl, description
• tags, platforms, pricing, rating, likes
• hasDetailedData

Detailed Fields (When fetchDetailedData: true)

• detailedDescription, features, officialWebsite
• appStores, otherLinks, developedBy, licensing
• detailedPricing, alternativesCount, supportedLanguages
• alternativeToCategories, popularAlternatives

💰 Pricing Model

Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing - you only pay for what you use:

1. ACTOR_RUN - Charged once per Actor execution
2. LISTING_BASIC_SCRAPED - Charged per alternative extracted
3. LISTING_DETAIL_SCRAPED - Charged per detail page scraped (only if fetchDetailedData: true)

🔧 Features

• ✅ High Performance: Fast and efficient scraping
• ✅ Multi-Page Support: Automatically handles pagination across all pages
• ✅ Comprehensive Extraction: 20+ data fields per alternative
• ✅ Batch Processing: Process multiple product URLs in one run
• ✅ Automatic Deduplication: Removes duplicate alternatives automatically
• ✅ Reliable Operation: Robust error handling and retry logic

🚀 Getting Started

1. Open this Actor on Apify Platform
2. Configure input parameters (add URLs, choose basic/detailed data)
3. Click Start and monitor progress
4. Download results from the Dataset tab

Minimal Configuration:

{
  "start_urls": [
    { "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/zapier/" }
  ]
}

📈 Output Access

Data is stored in the dataset with two views:

• Overview - Basic alternative information
• Detailed - Complete data with all detailed fields

🔍 SEO Keywords

AlternativeTo scraper, competitor intelligence, market research tool, alternative products scraper, competitive analysis, product alternatives data, software alternatives API, competitor monitoring, market intelligence, product research, alternative discovery, competitor tracking, software comparison data, product alternatives API, market analysis tool, competitive intelligence platform

🆘 Support

• Issues: Report bugs or request features via Apify Platform
• Documentation: Check the Apify Docs

Built with ❤️ using Apify and Crawlee