Chrome Extension Category Rankings Scraper

What does Chrome Extension Category Rankings Scraper do?

This Actor collects public listing order from Chrome Web Store category, search, and Top Charts pages, then optionally enriches selected extensions from their public detail pages. It emits stable extension IDs, canonical URLs, category-only ranks, source positions for category/search/chart listings, chart type, source contexts across multiple listings, and public product, publisher, policy, and media attributes when those values are exposed.

rankingPosition is the one-based order observed in the requested public page. Top Charts pages are displayed with numbered entries, while category/search positions are source order; categoryRank is emitted only for category sources. This is source context, not a separate score. The Actor does not log in, call private APIs, solve CAPTCHAs, bypass access controls, or fabricate results when the site returns a generic shell or challenge.

Why use Chrome Extension Category Rankings Scraper?

• Capture a reproducible category/search sample or Popular, Trending, and New and notable Top Charts positions.
• Compare public ratings, review counts, user counts, versions, publishers, and permission names.
• Follow observed public next links for bounded pagination.
• Combine several category/search sources, deduplicate by extension ID, and apply global client-side sorting.
• Keep media tied to the extension card or detail page; blocked or empty sources are logged and counted without polluting the dataset.

The Actor processes pages sequentially to preserve source order. When a listing response exposes an extension manifest, the Actor retains its public version, compatibility, permission, content-script, command, and action-label fields without making extra requests. includeDetails is opt-in for additional detail-page fields. Requests use direct public HTTPS; proxyConfiguration is accepted for compatibility but does not change the connection.

What data can Chrome Extension Category Rankings Scraper extract?

Group	Fields
Identity	extensionId, extensionUrl, canonicalUrl, title, name
Ranking context	rankingSourceType, recordSourceType, rankingChartType (Top Charts only), rankingPosition, categoryRank (category pages only), sourcePageNumber, rankingContexts, categoryPath, categoryLabel, categoryUrl, rankBasis, rankingSourceUrl, rankingPageUrl, rankingQuery
Public listing details	shortDescription, description, descriptionText, descriptionHtml, overviewText, rating, ratingText, ratingScale, ratingCount, ratingCountText, reviewCount, reviewCountText, userCount, userCountText, version, versionName, updatedAt, updatedAtText, updatedAtPrecision, updatedAtIsEstimated
Publisher and policy	developer, offeredBy, developerUrl, publisherUrl, developerEmail, developerPhone, developerAddress, developerPostalCode, developerCity, developerCountryCode, developerDunsNumber, developerIsTrader, traderStatus, traderStatusText, privacyPolicyUrl, privacyDisclosureText, privacyDataSold, privacyDataUsedForUnrelatedPurposes, privacyDataUsedForCreditworthiness, supportUrl, reviewUrl, websiteUrl
Store details	features, featuresText, offersInAppPurchases, sizeText, sizeBytes, languages, languageCount, permissions, requiredPermissions, optionalPermissions, hostPermissions, optionalHostPermissions, manifestVersion, minimumChromeVersion, defaultLocale, shortName, contentScriptMatches, contentScriptExcludeMatches, contentScriptCount, commandNames, actionTitle, optionsPagePath, isFeatured, followsRecommendedPractices, publisherGoodRecord
Media and optional text	iconUrl, thumbnail, imageUrls, imageCount, screenshotUrls, screenshotCount, listingText

Each dataset row represents an extension found on a public listing. If a source is empty or unavailable, the run summary and logs explain the result; an error page is never presented as an extension record.

How to scrape Chrome Web Store categories

1. Open the Actor Input tab.
2. Enter official category/search/Top Charts URLs in startUrls, or supply queries/category to generate public source URLs.
3. Choose page/item limits, filters, sort order, detail enrichment, and media settings.
4. Run the Actor, then review the dataset and the run summary.

Custom startUrls, sourceUrls, urls, and extensionIds take precedence over generated queries/category sources. Duplicate source URLs are removed before collection. Only official HTTPS Chrome Web Store hosts and specific category/search/Top Charts/detail routes are accepted. The broad /category/extensions page mixes editorial shelves, so it is not treated as one ranked category. The default category is productivity/tools. Top Charts routes are /top-charts/popular, /top-charts/trending, and /top-charts/notable; rankingChartType preserves which tab supplied each record. categoryRank is present only for specific category listings. Deduplicated results retain each observed position and chart type in rankingContexts.

How much will it cost to scrape Chrome Web Store?

Keep costs manageable by limiting maxItems and maxPages, or leaving optional detail enrichment off.

Input

See the Input tab for the complete configuration. The main fields are:

• Sources: startUrls, sourceUrls, urls, queries, query, searchQuery, category, and extensionIds.
• Legacy input compatibility: mode (search/details), language (locale alias), and maxDetailRequests (detail-limit alias) are accepted and normalized.
• Pagination and limits: page (one-based starting page, default 1), maxItems (1–100, default 25), maxPages (1–10 pages per source from the selected start page, default 1), maxRequests (1–200, default 75), and deduplicate (default true). To reach a later page, the Actor follows observed same-host rel="next"/“load more” URLs while preserving source order; it does not invent URL offsets.
• Filters and sorting: minRating (0–5, default 0), minReviewCount (default 0), and sortBy (source_order, rating_desc, review_count_desc, or user_count_desc; default source_order). Missing numeric values fail a positive minimum and sort after populated values.
• Dataset fields: includeDetails (default false), maxDetailItems (0–50, default 10), includeMedia (default true), and includePageText (default true). Detail enrichment is explicitly opt-in; when enabled, it retains the full available Overview text and public publisher/policy/store fields. Manifest fields found in the already-fetched listing response do not require this toggle or additional requests. Detail failures retain the valid listing record and are counted outside the dataset. Diagnostics never become dataset rows.
• locale sets the Chrome Web Store language and region. proxyConfiguration is accepted for users who need to route permitted public requests through Apify Proxy. Unknown fields, conflicting aliases, invalid ranges, unrelated hosts, and malformed routes are rejected. Use an official Chrome Web Store category, search, Top Charts, or detail URL.

Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Example record shape (illustrative values only; runtime output is populated only from observed source data):

{
  "extensionUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/example-tab-helper/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "extensionId": "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "title": "Example Tab Helper",
  "name": "Example Tab Helper",
  "description": "Organize browser tabs with a simple public extension.",
  "shortDescription": "Organize browser tabs and restore saved sessions.",
  "descriptionText": "Organize browser tabs with a simple public extension.",
  "overviewText": "Organize browser tabs with a simple public extension.",
  "categoryPath": "productivity/tools",
  "categoryLabel": "Tools",
  "rankingSourceType": "category",
  "recordSourceType": "category",
  "rankingPosition": 3,
  "categoryRank": 3,
  "sourcePageNumber": 1,
  "rankBasis": "source_order",
  "rankingSourceUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/category/extensions/productivity/tools?hl=en-US",
  "rankingPageUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/category/extensions/productivity/tools?hl=en-US",
  "rankingContexts": [{ "rankingSourceType": "category", "rankingPosition": 3, "categoryRank": 3, "sourcePageNumber": 1, "rankBasis": "source_order", "rankingSourceUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/category/extensions/productivity/tools?hl=en-US", "rankingPageUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/category/extensions/productivity/tools?hl=en-US" }],
  "rating": 4.7,
  "ratingText": "4.7 out of 5",
  "ratingScale": 5,
  "ratingCount": 1200,
  "ratingCountText": "1.2K ratings",
  "reviewCount": 1200,
  "reviewCountText": "1.2K ratings",
  "userCount": 10000,
  "userCountText": "10K",
  "version": "2.1.0",
  "versionName": "Spring release",
  "manifestVersion": 3,
  "minimumChromeVersion": "114",
  "defaultLocale": "en",
  "updatedAt": "2026-08-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "updatedAtText": "Aug 1, 2026",
  "updatedAtPrecision": "day",
  "updatedAtIsEstimated": false,
  "developer": "Example Labs",
  "offeredBy": "Example Labs",
  "developerEmail": "hello@example.test",
  "developerIsTrader": null,
  "privacyPolicyUrl": "https://example.test/privacy",
  "privacyDataSold": null,
  "privacyDataUsedForUnrelatedPurposes": null,
  "privacyDataUsedForCreditworthiness": null,
  "supportUrl": "https://example.test/support",
  "websiteUrl": "https://example.test/",
  "features": ["Offers in-app purchases"],
  "offersInAppPurchases": true,
  "sizeText": "2.5MiB",
  "sizeBytes": 2621440,
  "languages": ["English"],
  "languageCount": 1,
  "permissions": ["storage", "tabs"],
  "requiredPermissions": ["storage", "tabs"],
  "optionalPermissions": ["bookmarks"],
  "hostPermissions": ["https://example.test/*"],
  "contentScriptMatches": ["https://example.test/*"],
  "contentScriptCount": 1,
  "commandNames": ["_execute_action"],
  "actionTitle": "Open tab manager",
  "optionsPagePath": "options.html",
  "iconUrl": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/example-icon",
  "thumbnail": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/example-image",
  "imageUrls": ["https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/example-image"],
  "imageCount": 1,
  "screenshotUrls": ["https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/example-screenshot"],
  "screenshotCount": 1
}

Source coverage and verification

Listing-card values (name, card summary, rating/count labels, user labels, and card imagery) are retained only when present in the public card markup or matching source-identified structured data. The card summary is available as shortDescription; it may equal description when only that summary was fetched, while detail enrichment can populate description/descriptionText with the full Overview. The Developer-section website, a product website, and a distinct structured publisher profile remain separate fields and are not substituted for one another. When the public listing embeds a manifest, the Actor also captures its version name, manifest version, minimum Chrome version, locale, permission groups, content-script URL patterns, command names, action label, and settings page path. Detail-page enrichment adds the public Overview, publisher/contact details, update information, privacy disclosures, languages, store attributes, links, and media when actually exposed. Missing values remain absent rather than receiving guessed defaults. If the Store returns a sign-in page, challenge, generic shell, or other access boundary, the run summary and logs report it, and it does not produce a dataset row.

Tips and advanced options

Use sortBy: "source_order" when you want the observed website order. Other sort choices are global only across the bounded pages actually fetched; they are not claims about the entire Store. Set includeDetails: true to opt into bounded detail-page enrichment, or maxDetailItems: 0 to disable it. includeMedia: false removes image fields from normal output. includePageText retains a bounded text preview and defaults to true; set it to false to omit listingText.

Default input:

{ "category": "productivity/tools", "maxItems": 5, "maxPages": 1 }

Filters and sorting:

{ "queries": ["tab manager"], "minRating": 4, "minReviewCount": 100, "sortBy": "rating_desc", "maxItems": 10 }

Multiple sources and pagination:

{ "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/category/extensions/productivity/tools?hl=en-US" }, { "url": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/search/tab%20manager?hl=en-US" }], "maxPages": 2, "deduplicate": true, "maxItems": 20 }

FAQ, support, and responsible use

If a run contains no records, check that the source URL is a supported public Chrome Web Store page, then review the run summary and logs. Public source availability can vary; access challenges and generic shells are reported outside the dataset. This Actor never solves CAPTCHAs or bypasses login walls.

Use only public data and respect Google/Chrome Web Store terms, privacy laws, and publisher rights. Do not use the Actor to collect private content or evade access controls. This Actor is not affiliated with Google or the Chrome Web Store. Report reproducible issues in the Issues tab with a run ID and the input you used.