# SpareRoom Scraper — UK & US Rooms to Rent, Flatshares (`hipersoft/spareroom-scraper`) Actor

Scrape rooms to rent and flatshares from SpareRoom UK & US: rent, monthly rent, room type, availability, neighbourhood, postcode, property type, advertiser type, photos and description. Search any city; big searches split automatically. Export CSV/JSON.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/spareroom-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.00075 / room

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## SpareRoom Scraper: UK & US Rooms to Rent, Flatshares and House Shares

**SpareRoom Scraper** extracts room listings from **SpareRoom**, the UK's biggest flatshare site (**spareroom.co.uk**) and its US version (**spareroom.com**). Every room includes the **title, rent and rent period, normalised monthly rent, room type (double, single, en-suite, studio), availability date, neighbourhood, postcode, property type, number of rooms in the property, advertiser type (agent, live-in landlord, current flatmate), agent name, description, main photo, photo count and verified flag**. Search any **city or area** in the UK or US, filter by **rent** and **availability**, and export to **CSV, Excel or JSON**. Large cities like London are **split automatically by rent band**, so you are not limited to the first 1,000 ads.

### What does SpareRoom Scraper do?

- 🏠 **Rooms to rent and flatshares** in any UK or US location: London, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, New York, Boston, San Francisco…
- 💷 **Rent**: as advertised (per week or per month) plus a **normalised monthly rent** for easy comparison.
- 🛏️ **Room type**: double, single, en-suite, studio, whole property.
- 📅 **Availability**: available-now flag and move-in date.
- 📍 **Location**: neighbourhood, postcode district and location label.
- 🏢 **Property**: property type (flat, house) and number of rooms in the property.
- 👤 **Advertiser type**: agent, live-in landlord, live-out landlord or current flatmate, plus the agent's business name for agency listings.
- 📸 **Main photo**, photo count, video flag, featured and verified flags.
- 🔗 **Paste SpareRoom search links** to reuse any filters you set on the site.
- 📈 **Automatic rent-band splitting** for big cities to collect far more than 1,000 rooms per search.

### What data can you scrape from SpareRoom?

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| ID, title, link | SpareRoom listing ID, title and page |
| Rent | Advertised rent and period (pw/pcm) |
| Monthly rent | Rent normalised to per month |
| Room type | Double, single, en-suite… |
| Availability | Available now / move-in date |
| Location | Neighbourhood, postcode district |
| Property | Property type, rooms in property |
| Advertiser | Agent, landlord or flatmate; agency name |
| Description | Listing summary |
| Photos | Main photo link, photo count, video |
| Flags | Featured, verified, days since posted |

### Use cases for SpareRoom data

- **Rental market research**: average room rents by city, neighbourhood and postcode.
- **Landlords and HMO investors**: benchmark room prices before letting or buying a house share.
- **Letting agents and property managers**: monitor competing room listings and agencies.
- **Proptech and relocation services**: feed room availability into apps and newsletters.
- **Students and young professionals**: track new rooms in your price range every day.
- **Academic and housing-policy research**: analyse shared-housing affordability over time.

### How to scrape SpareRoom

1. Click **Try for free** to open SpareRoom Scraper in Apify Console.
2. Choose **United Kingdom** or **United States** and enter **locations**.
3. Optionally set **minimum/maximum rent** and **available now only**, or paste **SpareRoom search links**.
4. Set **Max rooms** and click **Start**.
5. Download the rooms as **CSV, Excel or JSON**.

### Input

#### Example input

```json
{
  "country": "uk",
  "locations": ["London", "Manchester"],
  "minRent": 500,
  "maxRent": 1000,
  "availableNowOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 2000
}
```

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| **Country** | United Kingdom or United States. |
| **Locations** | Cities or areas, one search each. |
| **Minimum / Maximum rent per month** | Monthly rent range. |
| **Available now only** | Only rooms available immediately. |
| **SpareRoom search links** | Any SpareRoom search-results link. Overrides locations and rent. |
| **Max rooms** | Stop after this many rooms (0 = no limit). |

### Output

#### Room example

```json
{
  "id": "18452657",
  "url": "https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/london/brixton/18452657",
  "title": "Looking for a Weekday Lodger - 2-4 days per week",
  "rent": 600,
  "rentPeriod": "pcm",
  "rentMonthly": 600,
  "currency": "GBP",
  "rooms": ["Double room"],
  "availability": "Available 19th Oct 2026",
  "availableNow": false,
  "neighbourhood": "Brixton",
  "postcode": "SW9",
  "location": "Brixton (SW9)",
  "propertyType": "flat",
  "roomsInProperty": 2,
  "advertiserType": "current flatmate",
  "agentName": null,
  "description": "I am looking for a weekday lodger who needs a place to stay in London for work in my modern, secure and well located apartment in...",
  "photoCount": 6,
  "hasVideo": false,
  "imageUrl": "https://photos2.spareroom.co.uk/images/flatshare/listings/unmodified/10/17/101771426.jpg",
  "featured": false,
  "verified": true,
  "daysOld": 0,
  "site": "spareroom.co.uk",
  "search": "London"
}
```

#### Output schema

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `id`, `url`, `title` | string | Listing. |
| `rent`, `rentPeriod` | number, string | Advertised rent and period. |
| `rentMonthly` | number | Monthly rent. |
| `currency` | string | GBP or USD. |
| `rooms` | array | Room types offered. |
| `availability`, `availableNow` | string, boolean | Move-in date. |
| `neighbourhood`, `postcode`, `location` | string | Location. |
| `propertyType`, `roomsInProperty` | string, number | Property. |
| `advertiserType`, `agentName` | string | Advertiser. |
| `description` | string | Listing summary. |
| `photoCount`, `hasVideo`, `imageUrl` | mixed | Media. |
| `featured`, `verified`, `daysOld` | mixed | Flags. |
| `site`, `search`, `scrapedAt` | string | Source info. |

### How much does it cost to scrape SpareRoom?

SpareRoom Scraper uses **pay-per-room** pricing: a small fixed price per room, with automatic discounts on higher Apify plans. See the **Pricing** tab for the exact price.

### More property data

- [Rightmove Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/rightmove-scraper): UK property for sale and to rent.
- [Airbnb Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/airbnb-scraper): short-term rentals worldwide.

### FAQ

**Does it work for SpareRoom US?**
Yes. Choose **United States** and enter US cities, or paste spareroom.com search links.

**How many rooms can I get?**
SpareRoom shows up to 1,000 ads per search. For bigger searches without a rent filter, the scraper automatically splits by rent band to go past that limit.

**Are weekly rents converted?**
Yes. `rentMonthly` gives every room's rent per month, alongside the advertised rent and period.

**Can I monitor new rooms?**
Yes. Schedule the scraper daily; `daysOld` shows how recently each room was posted.

**What formats can I export?**
CSV, Excel, JSON, XML, HTML and RSS, or read the results through the Apify API.

**Can I integrate SpareRoom Scraper with other apps?**
SpareRoom Scraper can be connected with almost any cloud service or web app thanks to [integrations on the Apify platform](https://apify.com/integrations). It works with [Make](https://apify.com/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://apify.com/integrations/zapier), [Slack](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/slack), [Airbyte](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/airbyte), [GitHub](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/github), [Google Drive](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/drive) and [many more](https://apify.com/integrations), plus the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2), JS/Python clients and MCP. Or use [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks) to trigger an action whenever a run finishes.

**Is it legal to scrape SpareRoom?**
The scraper only collects publicly listed room offers and does not collect "room wanted" profiles. You are responsible for using the data in line with SpareRoom's terms and the UK GDPR.

### Related Actors

- [Rightmove Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/rightmove-scraper)
- [Airbnb Scraper](https://apify.com/hipersoft/airbnb-scraper)

### Notes

Original clean-room implementation. Returns only public data. Not affiliated with SpareRoom.

# Actor input Schema

## `country` (type: `string`):

SpareRoom UK (spareroom.co.uk) or SpareRoom US (spareroom.com).

## `locations` (type: `array`):

Cities or areas, e.g. London, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh (UK) or New York, Boston, San Francisco (US). Each location is a separate search.

## `minRent` (type: `integer`):

Only rooms at or above this monthly rent (GBP or USD).

## `maxRent` (type: `integer`):

Only rooms at or below this monthly rent (GBP or USD).

## `availableNowOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only rooms available immediately.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional. Paste SpareRoom search-results links with your own filters. When set, locations and rent are ignored.

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

Stop after this many rooms. 0 means no limit.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Not required for normal use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "country": "uk",
  "locations": [
    "London"
  ],
  "availableNowOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The results as dataset items.

# 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 = {
    "locations": [
        "London"
    ],
    "maxItems": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hipersoft/spareroom-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 = {
    "locations": ["London"],
    "maxItems": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hipersoft/spareroom-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 '{
  "locations": [
    "London"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}' |
apify call hipersoft/spareroom-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/spareroom-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/anMWy9p7ZvMTtktYX/builds/77puV5BJrMjBgzm13/openapi.json