# Craigslist Scraper (Cheap) — Listings, Alerts, Any City (`istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap`) Actor

Low-cost Craigslist scraper with the same input and output fields as the most popular one: title, priceUsd, location, GPS, postedAt, images, plus optional description, attributes, phones and emails. Any city or several at once, new-listing alerts. $0.50 per 1,000 listings.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap.md
- **Developed by:** [Istmobot](https://apify.com/istmobot) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Real estate, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 listings

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## Craigslist Scraper (Cheap) — Listings, New-Listing Alerts, Any City

**A cheaper drop-in alternative with the same input and output fields** as the most popular Craigslist scraper on Apify: `startUrls`, `region`, `category`, `searchTerm`, `priceMin`, `priceMax`, `condition`, `hasImage`, `postedToday`, `sort`, `includeDetails`, `maxResults` in; `url`, `postId`, `title`, `priceUsd`, `currency`, `region`, `categorySlug`, `subcategoryLabel`, `postedAt`, `location`, `latitude`, `longitude`, `imageUrls`, `description`, `attributes`, `phoneNumbers`, `emails`... out, with the same field order and date formats. Switch by changing the Actor ID; your code keeps working.

| | This Actor | Typical Craigslist scraper |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 listings (search fields) | **$1.00** | $1.80 |
| 1,000 listings with full posting details | **$1.20** | $1.80 |
| Any of 700+ Craigslist cities, several per run | ✅ | 50 preset cities, one per run |
| Only new listings since the last run (alerts) | ✅ | ❌ |
| "Posted after" date filter | ✅ | only "posted today" |

### What does it do?

It reads Craigslist's own JSON search API (the one the craigslist.org website uses), not HTML pages, so it is fast and stable: **one request returns up to 360 listings**, and up to 10,000 listings per search. For each listing you get:

- **Title, price, currency** (USD, CAD, ...), **city, neighborhood, GPS coordinates**, **posted date**, **all photo URLs**, category and sub-category.
- **Posting details** (optional, `includeDetails`): full **description**, every **attribute** (year, make/model, condition, VIN, fuel, transmission, paint color, title status, bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry, parking, employment type, compensation...), **phone numbers and emails** found in the text, `contactObfuscated`, `updatedAt`, `replyToken`, `isDeleted`.
- **Alerts**: turn on `onlyNew` and schedule the Actor; each run returns only postings you have not seen in that search.

### Use cases

- **Car dealers and flippers**: get every new car under $10,000 in five cities each hour.
- **Real estate investors**: track rentals, rooms and FSBO listings with price, bedrooms, sqft and GPS.
- **Lead generation**: services, gigs and for-sale posters with phone numbers and emails from the posting text.
- **Price research and AI datasets**: thousands of listings per city with clean, structured fields.

### How to use it

1. **Option A — URLs**: open Craigslist, search with any filters (radius, by-owner, bedrooms, make/model, ...), and paste the URL of the results page. Posting URLs work too.
2. **Option B — fields**: pick a **City** (or several in **Cities**), a **Category**, an optional **Keyword**, and filters (price, condition, has image, posted today).
3. Set **Max results** and, if you need description and attributes, turn on **Include full posting details**.
4. For alerts, turn on **Only new listings** and [schedule](https://docs.apify.com/platform/schedules) the Actor (every hour, every day...). The first run returns everything up to **Max results**; later runs only new postings.

### How much does it cost?

Pay per result, no subscription. Proxy costs are included.

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Actor start | $0.005 per run |
| `listing` (one listing in the output) | **$0.001**, or **$1.00 per 1,000** |
| `listing-details` (only with *Include full posting details*) | $0.0002 per listing ($0.20 per 1,000) |

Errors (bad URL, unknown city, deleted posting) are **never charged**. With `onlyNew` or `postedAfter`, listings you already have are skipped before they are charged.

### Input example

```json
{
    "regions": ["sfbay", "losangeles", "sandiego"],
    "category": "cta",
    "searchTerm": "tacoma",
    "priceMax": 20000,
    "sort": "date",
    "maxResults": 500,
    "includeDetails": true,
    "onlyNew": true
}
```

| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `startUrls` | | Craigslist search or posting URLs. When set, City/Category/filters are ignored |
| `region` | `newyork` | One city (50 most popular in the list) |
| `regions` | | Several cities: any Craigslist subdomain (`raleigh`, `halifax`, `london`...). Overrides `region` |
| `category` | `sss` | `sss` for sale, `cta` cars & trucks, `ela` electronics, `fua` furniture, `apa` apartments, `roo` rooms, `sub` sublets, `jjj` jobs, `ggg` gigs, `bbb` services, `ccc` community, `rrr` resumes, `eee` events (any Craigslist category code works) |
| `searchTerm` | | Keyword; use `"a b"\|"c d"` for OR |
| `priceMin`, `priceMax` | | Price range |
| `condition` | `any` | `new`, `like-new`, `excellent`, `good`, `fair`, `salvage` |
| `hasImage`, `postedToday` | `false` | Only with photos / only last 24 hours |
| `sort` | `date` | `date`, `rel`, `priceasc`, `pricedsc` |
| `includeDetails` | `false` | Open each posting for description, attributes, contacts (extra $0.0002) |
| `maxResults` | `200` | Total listings across all searches; `0` = no limit |
| `onlyNew` | `false` | Only postings newer than the previous run of the same search |
| `postedAfter` | | `2026-10-01`, or `24 hours`, `3 days`, `2 weeks`. Uses Craigslist's listing date, which includes renewals; `postedAt` in the output is the original posting date |

### Output example

```json
{
    "url": "https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/union-city-2017-hino-ft-box-liftgate/tu7JEfaUTfzaJwT1xf1sHQ",
    "postId": "7992830895",
    "title": "2017 Hino 268 | 26 ft Box w/ Liftgate",
    "priceUsd": 29995,
    "currency": "USD",
    "region": "sfbay",
    "categorySlug": "cta",
    "categoryLabel": "Cars & Trucks",
    "subcategorySlug": "ctd",
    "subcategoryLabel": "Cars & Trucks - by dealer",
    "postedAt": "2026-10-31T00:04:22-0700",
    "updatedAt": "2026-10-31T00:04:23-0700",
    "location": "hayward / castro valley",
    "latitude": 37.606334,
    "longitude": -122.061773,
    "attributes": { "year": "2017", "make_model": "Hino 268", "make": "Hino", "model": "268", "vin": "5PVNJ8JV1H4S63761", "condition": "excellent", "odometer": "199,987", "transmission": "automatic", "type": "truck" },
    "description": "Contact us for more details.\nABC Auto Brokers\n2456 Whipple Rd #A\nHayward, CA 94544\n(510)579-6766\n...",
    "imageUrls": ["https://images.craigslist.org/00j0j_ajqk6xctlWq_0zE0k2_600x450.jpg"],
    "hasImages": true,
    "contactObfuscated": false,
    "replyToken": "sfo/ctd/7992830895",
    "phoneNumbers": ["(510) 579-6766"],
    "emails": [],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-31T07:08:58Z",
    "isDeleted": false
}
```

Dates are in the city's local time with its UTC offset. `description`, `attributes`, `updatedAt`, `contactObfuscated`, `replyToken`, `phoneNumbers`, `emails` and `isDeleted` are only present with `includeDetails`. Failed searches and URLs appear as free rows with `errorType` and `error`.

### Notes

- Craigslist returns at most **10,000 listings per search**. For more, split by sub-area, category or price range.
- Craigslist hides most phone numbers behind a "show contact info" button; `phoneNumbers` and `emails` contain only what the poster wrote in the text.
- `onlyNew` remembers the highest posting ID per search in the key-value store `craigslist-scraper-cheap-state`. Delete that store to start over.
- Results from "nearby areas" that Craigslist appends to small searches are left out, except for `/search/city/...` radius URLs.

### Is it legal?

This Actor collects only publicly available listing data. Do not use personal data (phone numbers, emails) for spam, and follow Craigslist's terms and the privacy laws that apply to you (GDPR, CCPA).

# Actor input Schema

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

Craigslist search URLs (https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=bike, https://newyork.craigslist.org/search/brk/cta, https://www.craigslist.org/search/city/west-wendover-nv?cat=rea\&radius=50) or posting URLs. Every filter in the link is kept. When provided, these replace the City + Category fields below.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Craigslist city to search. Any Craigslist city works: pick one from the list, or use "Cities" below to type any subdomain (raleigh, halifax, london...).

## `regions` (type: `array`):

Search several cities in one run: Craigslist subdomains such as "newyork", "sfbay", "raleigh", "toronto" (the part before .craigslist.org). Overrides "City" when set.

## `category` (type: `string`):

What kind of listings to collect. "For sale (all)" returns the full for-sale catalogue; the more specific subcategories (Cars & Trucks, Electronics, Furniture, Housing) narrow Craigslist's own search.

## `searchTerm` (type: `string`):

Optional search keyword. Matches against both the title and the description body of postings (e.g. "honda civic", "two bedroom"). Craigslist requires EVERY word you type to appear in the posting, so long phrases usually return nothing. To match ANY of several words or phrases, separate them with "|" and put multi-word phrases in quotes — for example: "my house"|"our home"|"selling my home". Leave empty to return every listing in the selected category.

## `priceMin` (type: `integer`):

Only include postings priced at or above this amount. Leave empty for no minimum. Ignored on categories that don't have prices (Jobs, Community, Resumes).

## `priceMax` (type: `integer`):

Only include postings priced at or below this amount. Leave empty for no maximum.

## `condition` (type: `string`):

Restrict to a specific condition (For Sale categories only). Most posters tag this honestly; some leave it blank, which means the row is excluded when this filter is set.

## `hasImage` (type: `boolean`):

When on, only return postings that have at least one photo.

## `postedToday` (type: `boolean`):

When on, only return postings published in the last 24 hours.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

How Craigslist orders the results. Keep "Newest first" for recurring alerts. Also applied to pasted URLs that have no sort.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also open every posting to add the full description, attributes (year, make/model, odometer, bedrooms, sqft, compensation...), full image gallery, phone numbers and emails from the text, updated date and reply token. Charged as a separate small event per listing. Off: rows have the search fields only (title, price, location, GPS, date, images, odometer, bedrooms, sqft).

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum listings in total across all cities and URLs. 0 = no limit (each search returns at most 10,000, Craigslist's own limit).

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

For scheduled runs: output only postings that were not there on the previous run of the same search (remembered per search in a named key-value store). The first run outputs everything up to "Max results".

## `postedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only postings published after this date ("2026-10-01") or within this period ("24 hours", "3 days", "2 weeks"). Filtered before fetching, so older listings cost nothing.

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

Apify Proxy (datacenter) is enough for Craigslist. The Actor switches to a fresh IP when a request is blocked.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [],
  "region": "newyork",
  "regions": [],
  "category": "sss",
  "condition": "any",
  "hasImage": false,
  "postedToday": false,
  "sort": "date",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxResults": 200,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "startUrls": [],
    "region": "newyork",
    "regions": [],
    "category": "sss",
    "condition": "any",
    "hasImage": false,
    "postedToday": false,
    "sort": "date",
    "includeDetails": false,
    "maxResults": 200,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap").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 = {
    "startUrls": [],
    "region": "newyork",
    "regions": [],
    "category": "sss",
    "condition": "any",
    "hasImage": False,
    "postedToday": False,
    "sort": "date",
    "includeDetails": False,
    "maxResults": 200,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap").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 '{
  "startUrls": [],
  "region": "newyork",
  "regions": [],
  "category": "sss",
  "condition": "any",
  "hasImage": false,
  "postedToday": false,
  "sort": "date",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxResults": 200,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,istmobot/craigslist-scraper-cheap"
        }
    }
}
```

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/17Kg0CfWHioBRCEew/builds/BZ8MDggBgncjVNAvL/openapi.json