AlternativeTo.net Scraper - Competitor Intelligence & Software Alternatives API

The most reliable AlternativeTo scraper for competitor intelligence and market research | Extract software alternatives, product data, ratings, and GitHub metrics in structured JSON. Filter by license, platform, and more. The ultimate competitive analysis tool for lead generation, market intelligence, and software comparison.

🚀 Why Use This AlternativeTo Scraper?

Extract comprehensive software alternatives data and competitor intelligence from AlternativeTo.net automatically. This market research scraper is perfect for competitive analysis, lead generation, product discovery, and building market intelligence platforms.

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Pay-Per-Event Pricing - Only pay for the product alternatives data you scrape
• ✅ Advanced Filtering - Filter by license type (free, open source, commercial) and platform (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone)
• ✅ Complete Data Extraction - Basic info + detailed software comparison data with 30+ fields
• ✅ GitHub Metrics - Stars, forks, issues for every developer tool alternative
• ✅ Company Intelligence - Developer info, origin country, app store links
• ✅ Structured JSON Output - Clean data ready for your SaaS alternatives finder
• ✅ Platform Powered - Schedule runs, API access, proxy rotation via Apify

📊 What You Get From This Market Intelligence Tool

Every software alternative includes rich metadata for your market research:

📦 Basic Data (Always Included)

• 📝Product Info: Name, slug, URL, description, icon
• 📈Popularity Metrics: Likes count, alternatives count, user ratings
• 🏷️Classification: License type (Free, Open Source, Freemium), platforms, categories
• 📊Quick Stats: Reviews count, comments count
• 💬User Comments: User opinions and feedback from the list page

🔍 Detailed Data (Optional) - Full Competitive Analysis

• 🏢Company Intel: Developer name, origin country, official website, social links
• ⭐GitHub Stats: Stars, forks, open issues - perfect for startup investment research
• 📱App Distribution: App store links for iOS, Android, and desktop downloads
• 💻Technical Details: Programming languages, supported UI languages
• 💬Engagement Metrics: Reviews, comments, news articles counts
• ✨Feature List: Complete list of software features and tags

🎯 Advanced Filtering - License & Platform Filters

Filter alternatives by license type and target platforms for precise market research:

License Filter Options

• free - Free software including freemium and free-to-use tools
• opensource - Open source software (OSS) with GPL, MIT, Apache licenses
• commercial - Commercial/paid proprietary software
• empty (default) - No license filter, show all alternatives

Platform Filter Options

• windows - Windows desktop software
• linux - Linux desktop software
• mac - macOS desktop software
• android - Android mobile apps
• iphone - iOS iPhone apps

Filter up to 3 platforms simultaneously for cross-platform market research.

Filter Examples

Find open source alternatives for Windows + Linux:

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/sublime-text/",
  "license": "opensource",
  "platforms": ["windows", "linux"],
  "maxPages": 2
}

Find commercial alternatives for Mac only:

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/photoshop/",
  "license": "commercial",
  "platforms": ["mac"],
  "maxPages": 1
}

Find free mobile app alternatives for Android:

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/spotify/",
  "license": "free",
  "platforms": ["android"],
  "maxPages": 2
}

💡 Example Output - Real Data From This AlternativeTo Scraper

Basic Output with Filters (Quick Mode - includeDetails: false)

Fast extraction with essential software comparison data and applied filters:

{
  "source": {
    "software": "sublime-text",
    "alternatives_found": 65,
    "alternatives_scraped": 2,
    "description": "Sophisticated text editor for code...",
    "update_date": "Jan 24, 2026"
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "slug": "vim",
      "name": "Vim",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/vim/about/",
      "icon": "https://d4.alternativeto.net/aUO0xqi0DUHHawJEQmvvdd20EglSeYZtbymM1IkTghs/rs:fit:140:140:0/g:ce:0:0/exar:1/YWJzOi8vZGlzdC9pY29ucy92aW1fOTYyNTMucG5n.png",
      "description": "Vim (\"Vi IMproved\") is an advanced text editor...",
      "likes": 1345,
      "alternatives_count": 215,
      "license": "Free, Open Source(GPL-2.0)",
      "platforms": ["Mac", "Windows", "Linux", "BSD"],
      "categories": ["Code Editor", "Text Editor"],
      "origin": "Netherlands",
      "comments": [
        { "text": "Much more options than any other editor." },
        { "text": "terminal-based, open-source, very fast." }
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "vscodium",
      "name": "VSCodium",
      "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/vscodium/about/",
      "icon": "https://d4.alternativeto.net/Xh2B0Zco5paopS6xEQzGCQcLakmDQ-SN8VfmheoACjo/rs:fit:140:140:0/g:ce:0:0/exar:1/YWJzOi8vZGlzdC9pY29ucy92c2NvZGl1bV8yNDIzMzguc3Zn.svg",
      "description": "FLOSS release binaries of Microsoft's VS Code...",
      "likes": 403,
      "license": "Free, Open Source(MIT)",
      "platforms": ["Mac", "Windows", "Linux"],
      "categories": ["Code Editor", "IDE"],
      "comments": [
        { "text": "VS Code, but truly open source." }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Detailed Output with Filters (Full Mode - includeDetails: true)

Complete competitor intelligence with 30+ fields per alternative, filtered results:

{
  "source": {
    "software": "sublime-text",
    "alternatives_found": 193,
    "alternatives_scraped": 1,
    "description": "Sophisticated text editor for code with sleek interface...",
    "update_date": "Jan 24, 2026"
  },
  "software_details": [
    {
      "identifier": {
        "name": "Visual Studio Code",
        "slug": "visual-studio-code",
        "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/visual-studio-code/about/",
        "icon": "https://d4.alternativeto.net/WWGJRWCLXAaenAVy-zGNLzdJGAxNMFo8zkxptjKgbH0/rs:fit:140:140:0/g:ce:0:0/exar:1/YWJzOi8vZGlzdC9pY29ucy92aXN1YWwtc3R1ZGlvLWNvZGVfMjQ0NTgwLnN2Zw.svg",
        "description": "Free and extensible code editor with built-in Git support...",
        "license": "Free, Proprietary(MIT)"
      },
      "engagement": {
        "reviews_count": 80,
        "comments_count": 74,
        "news_articles_count": 39,
        "alternatives_count": 204,
        "likes": 1377,
        "rating": 4.2
      },
      "comments": [
        { "text": "Faster then atom. Fresher then notepad++. Freer then sublime text." },
        { "text": "It's one of the finest software out there, a necessity for every developer." },
        { "text": "Its great, but as its not really opensource and has trackers i prefer VScodium." }
      ],
      "platforms_categories": {
        "platforms": ["Mac", "Windows", "Linux  64-bit only", "Snapcraft"],
        "categories": ["Development", "Office & Productivity", "Code Editor", "IDE", "OS & Utilities"],
        "features": ["Customizable", "Support for Themes", "Extensible by Plugins/Extensions", "Autocompletion", "Built-in terminal emulation", "Syntax Highlighting", "Code Completion", "Multiple languages", "GitHub Integration", "Git Support", "Supports Python", "Dark Mode", "Multiple Cursors", "Auto Update", "Graphical User Interface", "Support for MarkDown", "WYSIWYG HTML Editor", "Plug-ins", "Support for Javascript", "Support for Node.js", "Theme Customization", "PHP IDE", "Minimap", "Remote Debugging", "Git integration", "C# Scripting", "Works Offline", "Ad-free", "Live Preview", "WYSIWYG Support", "No registration required", "Code Formatting", "C support", "Ruby support", "Lint support", "Code navigation", "Embedded debugger", "Specific for 64-Bit", "Support for 64 bit", "Custom Plugins", "GitHub Copilot Integration", "Electron based", "Run Android Apps on Desktop", "Mercurial support", "Objective-c"],
        "tags": ["Bugs", "CSS / Stylesheets", "ASP.NET", "Node.js", "Javascript"]
      },
      "developer_info": {
        "developer": "Microsoft",
        "origin": "United States",
        "official_website": "https://code.visualstudio.com",
        "written_in": ["TypeScript"],
        "supported_languages": ["English"]
      },
      "links": {
        "app_store_links": [
          "https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/xp9khm4bk9fz7q",
          "https://snapcraft.io/code"
        ],
        "social_links": {
          "facebook": "https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft",
          "twitter": "https://x.com/code"
        }
      },
      "github": {
        "stars": 167636,
        "forks": 30663,
        "issues": 9178
      }
    }
  ]
}

Data Fields Include: Product descriptions, ratings, pricing, platforms, tags, features, official websites, app store links, developer info, licensing, supported languages, GitHub metrics (stars, forks, issues), engagement counts, and user comments.

🎯 Use Cases - How to Use This Competitive Analysis Tool

• Competitive Intelligence - Track software alternatives, ratings, and features for any product
• Market Research - Map complete software market landscapes by license type and platform
• Open Source Discovery - Find open source alternatives to commercial tools
• Mobile App Research - Discover Android alternatives and iPhone alternatives for any app
• Lead Generation - Find potential customers actively searching for product alternatives
• Product Discovery - Research categories and emerging developer tools
• Sales Intelligence - Extract pricing strategies and market positioning data
• Investment Research - Analyze GitHub stars, engagement, and market traction for startups
• Content Creation - Generate "Top 10 Software Alternatives" articles with accurate data

⚙️ How to Use This Software Alternatives API

Option 1: Quick Start - Fast Market Research

Get essential software comparison data fast - perfect for testing and quick scans.

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/notion/"
}

Gets you: Name, description, likes, license, platforms, categories

Option 2: Filtered Intelligence - Targeted Competitor Analysis

Get filtered alternatives by license type and platform for precise market segmentation.

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/slack/",
  "license": "opensource",
  "platforms": ["windows", "linux"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 2
}

Gets you: Open source alternatives for Windows/Linux with full competitive analysis data

Option 3: Full Intelligence - Complete Competitor Data

Get comprehensive competitor intelligence with 30+ data fields per alternative.

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/zoom/",
  "license": "free",
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 2
}

Gets you: Everything in basic mode PLUS developer info, GitHub stats, app store links, programming languages, feature lists, and engagement metrics.

Option 4: Complete Market Map - Full Software Market Research

Scrape ALL software alternatives across all pages for comprehensive market intelligence.

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/salesforce/",
  "license": "commercial",
  "platforms": ["windows"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 5
}

📋 Input Parameters

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
url	✅ Yes	-	Full AlternativeTo.net URL (e.g., "https://alternativeto.net/software/sublime-text/")
includeDetails	❌ No	false	Enable detailed extraction for competitive analysis (30+ fields)
license	❌ No	""	Filter by license: "" (all), "free", "opensource", "commercial"
platforms	❌ No	[]	Filter by platforms (max 3): ["windows"], ["linux"], ["mac"], ["android"], ["iphone"]
maxPages	❌ No	1	Maximum list pages to scrape (1-5, ~12 items per page). Paid users can use up to 5 pages.
proxyConfiguration	❌ No	{useApifyProxy: true}	Apify proxy configuration with dropdown menu for selection

Minimal Configuration - Test Your AlternativeTo Scraper

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/sublime-text/"
}

Open Source Research - Find OSS Alternatives

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/visual-studio-code/",
  "license": "opensource",
  "platforms": ["windows", "linux", "mac"],
  "maxPages": 3
}

Mobile App Intelligence - Android Alternatives

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/spotify/",
  "license": "free",
  "platforms": ["android"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 2
}

📤 Output Structure - Software Comparison Data

Basic Fields (Always Included) - List Mode Output

• Identifier: name, slug, url, icon (image URL)
• Overview: description, likes, alternatives_count
• Classification: license (Free, Open Source, Commercial), platforms[], categories[]
• Metadata: origin (country code)
• User Comments: comments[] - Array of user opinions with text field

Detailed Fields (When includeDetails: true) - Full Competitor Intelligence

The detailed mode outputs data in grouped sections for better organization:

identifier - Product identification

• name, slug, url, icon, description, license

engagement - User activity metrics

• likes, rating (0-10 scale), reviews_count, comments_count, news_articles_count, alternatives_count

comments[] - User opinions and feedback (same as basic mode, from list page)

• Array of user comments with text field

platforms_categories - Classification data

• platforms[] - All supported platforms
• categories[] - Software categories
• features[] - Complete list of features (40+ items)
• tags[] - User-assigned tags

developer_info - Company/developer data

• developer - Name/company
• origin - Country of origin
• official_website - Website URL
• written_in[] - Programming languages used
• supported_languages[] - UI language support

links - External links

• app_store_links[] - Download/store URLs (Microsoft Store, Snapcraft, Flathub, GitHub, etc.)
• social_links{} - Social media URLs by platform (Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, etc.)

github - Repository statistics

• stars - GitHub stars count
• forks - GitHub forks count
• issues - Open GitHub issues

💰 Pricing - Cost-Effective Market Intelligence Platform

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

1. Actor Start - Charged once per run
2. Per Alternative - Charged for each software alternative extracted
3. Detail Pages - Additional charge only when using includeDetails: true
4. Filters Reduce Costs - Filtered results = fewer items = lower cost

💡 Pro Tip: Use license filters and platform filters to get targeted results and reduce costs. Start with includeDetails: false and maxPages: 1 to test your market research scraper, then scale up as needed.

🌟 Why Choose This Software Alternatives API?

Complete Data Extraction:

• ✅ 30+ software comparison data fields per alternative
• ✅ License filtering - Free, open source, commercial
• ✅ Platform filtering - Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone
• ✅ GitHub stars scraper - Stars, forks, issues for every alternative
• ✅ Programming languages extracted for developer tools
• ✅ Company origin and app store links

Powered by Apify Platform:

• ✅ Schedule runs - Set up daily/weekly competitor monitoring
• ✅ API access - Integrate software alternatives data into your applications
• ✅ Proxy rotation - Built-in residential proxies for reliable market research
• ✅ Monitoring - Track runs, costs, and performance
• ✅ Integrations - Connect to Zapier, Make, Slack, and more

Developer Friendly:

• ✅ Use on Apify platform or run locally as Python library
• ✅ Clean, validated JSON output for your SaaS alternatives finder
• ✅ Three output formats: Grouped, Flat, Summary

📈 Sample Workflows - Market Research Scraper in Action

Open Source Alternative Finder

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/photoshop/",
  "license": "opensource",
  "platforms": ["windows", "linux"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 2
}

Mobile App Competitor Analysis

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/instagram/",
  "license": "free",
  "platforms": ["android", "iphone"],
  "maxPages": 2
}

SaaS Market Research

{
  "url": "https://alternativeto.net/software/salesforce/",
  "license": "commercial",
  "platforms": ["windows"],
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxPages": 5
}

🆘 Support for Your Market Intelligence Platform

• Issues: Report bugs via Apify Platform or GitHub
• Documentation: View detailed docs in CLAUDE.md
• Platform Help: Visit docs.apify.com

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