Chrome Extension Competitor Analysis Scraper

Chrome Extension Competitor Analysis Scraper

What does this Actor do?

This Actor builds a bounded comparison cohort from public Chrome Web Store listings. It accepts official extension IDs/detail URLs, store search or category URLs, and search terms, then collects listing data. Enable includeDetails explicitly to fetch discovered extensions' public detail pages for richer records. Missing or inaccessible information is left absent; it is never invented.

Why use it?

Compare competitors by public install/user ranges, ratings, review totals, update dates, categories, privacy disclosures, developer information, permission declarations, and cohort-relative ranks or shares. Use the output for product research, category monitoring, and competitor shortlists. Apify runs provide the dataset, run history, scheduling, API access, and integrations; this Actor does not require a browser login.

What data can it extract?

Fields appear when present in the public listing or embedded manifest, or when they can be calculated from the selected comparison group.

Group	Example fields
Identity and availability	extensionId, canonicalUrl, extensionUrl, availability
Listing content	title, name, descriptionText, descriptionHtml, categoryPath, categoryLabel, features
Developer	developer, offeredBy, developerUrl, public contact fields, developerIsTrader, traderStatus
Popularity and updates	rating, ratingCount, reviewCount, userCount, version, updatedAtText, updatedAtPrecision
Manifest and media	permissions, optionalPermissions, hostPermissions, contentScriptMatches, manifestVersion, minimumChromeVersion, iconUrl, screenshotUrls
Privacy and links	privacyDisclosureText, nullable privacy signals, privacyPolicyUrl, websiteUrl, supportUrl, externalLinks
Cohort analysis	comparisonGroup, cohortSize, userRank, ratingRank, userShare, reviewShare, ratingGapToTop, competitivePosition

The complete raw dataset retains all 84 declared properties, even though the Console overview table shows only the most useful columns. Optional values that the source does not expose are omitted.

How to scrape Chrome Web Store competitors

1. Open the Actor input form and choose one or more extension IDs, official store URLs, queries, or a category.
2. Set the result, page, request, and optional filter limits. Detail enrichment is disabled by default; enable it explicitly when fuller discovered-extension rows are required.
3. Run the Actor and review the overview, public metadata, and comparison views. For automation, use the dataset API or schedule the Actor in Apify.

How much does a run cost?

Apify compute pricing depends on your account plan and the resources used by a run. More sources, pages, or detail enrichment can increase runtime. Start with a small cohort, then raise maxItems, maxPages, or maxDetailItems as needed. maxRequests sets an additional cap on page requests.

Scope and access boundary

The Actor reads public pages from official Chrome Web Store hosts. It does not log in, bypass account gates or CAPTCHAs, call private APIs, or infer fields hidden by the source. If a page is redirected, blocked, generic, malformed, or unavailable, the run summary and logs report the issue; it is not added as a competitor record.

Input

Quick-start example

Omitting sources uses the default Chrome Web Store Extensions category.

{
  "maxItems": 5,
  "maxPages": 1
}

Detail targets

{
  "extensionIds": ["aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"],
  "comparisonGroup": "salesforce-tools",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "sortBy": "user_count_desc"
}

Listing search, pagination, and multiple sources

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/search/password+manager?hl=en" },
    { "url": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/search/credential+manager?hl=en" }
  ],
  "mode": "search",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "page": 2,
  "maxPages": 3,
  "maxItems": 40,
  "sortBy": "source_order"
}

Detail enrichment with filters

{
  "queries": ["password manager", "credential manager"],
  "mode": "intelligence",
  "maxItems": 30,
  "maxDetailItems": 10,
  "minRating": 4,
  "minReviewCount": 100,
  "sortBy": "rating_desc"
}

Explicit extension IDs, official startUrls/sourceUrls/urls, queries, query, searchQuery, and category sources are supported. maxItems is the global emitted-row cap; maxDetailItems (default: the maxItems value) and its compatibility alias maxDetailRequests only cap detail-page enrichment. Detail enrichment is opt-in for discovered extensions: set includeDetails to true for fuller rows. Direct detail URLs and extension IDs are always fetched as primary targets. The one-based page start follows public next-page links, and maxPages is the number of listing pages collected from that start page per source.

Supported input controls

Control	Behavior
extensionIds, startUrls, sourceUrls, urls, query, queries, searchQuery, category	Public source targets; all URLs must use an official Chrome Web Store host and supported path. Duplicate sources are removed.
mode, includeDetails, maxDetailItems, maxDetailRequests	Detail enrichment defaults off; includeDetails: true opts search/category candidates in. Explicit IDs/detail URLs are still fetched. The detail limit is separate from maxItems.
maxItems, maxPages, maxRequests, page	Global row limit; per-source listing-page limit; run-wide request ceiling (if omitted, max(25, 3 × maxItems), capped at 250); one-based starting page reached through observed next links.
minRating, minReviewCount, sortBy, comparisonGroup	Minimum-value filters and one of user_count_desc, rating_desc, review_count_desc, or source_order; rankings/shares are calculated on the resulting cohort.
locale, language	Chrome Web Store language and region. language is a compatibility alias for locale.

Dataset contract

The schema exposes 84 supported public/business fields: extension identity, full Overview and description text plus sanitized descriptionHtml, category, developer/legal contact details, rating/review/user counts, version and update precision, required and optional permissions, host permissions, content-script URL patterns, manifest version and minimum Chrome version when those values are present in the public embedded manifest, privacy disclosures, policy/site/support/contact links, related extension IDs, features, size, languages, icon and screenshots, version history, availability, comparison group/query, cohort size, source/user/rating/review ranks, user/review shares, rating gap to the cohort leader, and qualitative competitive position. Each row contains only values the public page actually exposes; manifest values are not inferred and absent fields are omitted.

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel. The run summary is available alongside the dataset in the Output tab.

Example rich record

This anonymized example demonstrates the shape of a detail-enriched business row; optional fields are omitted when the public store page does not provide them.

{
  "canonicalUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/example-helper/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "extensionId": "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "extensionUrl": "https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
  "title": "Example Helper",
  "name": "Example Helper",
  "description": "Organize example web pages across devices.",
  "descriptionText": "Organize example web pages across devices.\n\nCreate searchable collections.",
  "descriptionHtml": "<p>Organize example web pages across devices.</p><p>Create searchable collections.</p>",
  "availability": "available",
  "categoryPath": "Productivity/Tools",
  "categoryLabel": "Tools",
  "developer": "Example Labs",
  "developerUrl": "https://developer.example/",
  "rating": 4.6,
  "ratingScale": 5,
  "ratingCount": 1280,
  "reviewCount": 1280,
  "userCount": 100000,
  "userCountText": "100,000 users",
  "version": "2.4.1",
  "updatedAt": "2025-01-02",
  "updatedAtText": "January 2, 2025",
  "updatedAtPrecision": "day",
  "updatedAtIsEstimated": false,
  "permissions": ["storage", "tabs"],
  "permissionCount": 2,
  "optionalPermissions": ["notifications"],
  "hostPermissions": ["https://example.com/*"],
  "manifestVersion": 3,
  "minimumChromeVersion": "110",
  "privacyPolicyUrl": "https://developer.example/privacy",
  "privacyDataSold": false,
  "websiteUrl": "https://product.example/",
  "supportUrl": "https://support.example/",
  "iconUrl": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/example-icon",
  "languages": ["English", "French"],
  "languageCount": 2,
  "comparisonGroup": "productivity-tools",
  "comparisonQuery": "bookmark manager",
  "cohortSize": 8,
  "sourceRank": 1,
  "userRank": 1,
  "ratingRank": 2,
  "reviewRank": 3,
  "userShare": 0.25,
  "reviewShare": 0.18,
  "ratingGapToTop": 0.2,
  "competitivePosition": "leader"
}

user_count_desc is the default comparison order. rating_desc, review_count_desc, and source_order are also supported. Missing values are left unranked and sorted after populated values. Filters apply before cohort metrics are calculated.

Tips and responsible use

Use the search inputs to define a comparison cohort, or provide extension IDs for exact targets. Increase maxItems and maxDetailItems together when you need more fully enriched results; set includeDetails: false to reduce requests at the cost of narrower listing fields. Results with missing ratings or user counts sort after records with values and are left unranked for that metric. If a detail page is unavailable, the listing information already collected can still be returned; check the run summary and logs for details.

This Actor is not affiliated with Google or the Chrome Web Store. It requests public pages only and does not access private user data, log in, or bypass access controls. Users must comply with Chrome Web Store terms, applicable laws, and reasonable request rates. Public developer contact details may be personal data; use them only with a legitimate purpose and consult qualified counsel when needed. Report bugs through the Actor's Issues tab with a run ID and short description; use the API tab for programmatic runs.