Metacritic Scraper: Metascores, User Scores & Reviews API

Scrape Metacritic data for games, movies and TV shows: Metascore, user score, review counts and sentiment, release date, platforms, genres, developer, publisher, plus critic reviews and user reviews. Use this Metacritic scraper as an unofficial Metacritic API: browse the catalog with filters or scrape the exact titles you need, then export the data to JSON, CSV or Excel.

What is Metacritic Scraper?

Metacritic Scraper is an Apify Actor that pulls structured review-score data from metacritic.com. Metacritic has no public API, so this Actor works as a ready-made Metacritic API alternative. It reads the same JSON backend the metacritic.com website uses, so it needs no browser, no login and no API key.

• Browse mode works like metacritic.com/browse. Pick games, movies or TV and sort by Metascore, user score or release date. Filter by release year range, genres and (for games) platforms.
• Titles mode takes metacritic.com URLs (/game/…, /movie/…, /tv/…) or slugs. Add ?platform=pc to a game URL to get that platform's Metascore, user score and reviews.
• Platform-aware scores. Metacritic scores each game platform separately. When you filter by platform, or pass ?platform= in a URL, the scores and reviews you get are for that platform.
• Critic and user reviews can be nested inside each title, up to a cap you set per review type.
• Robust. Rate limits (HTTP 429) and server errors are retried with exponential backoff. A bad URL or missing title produces an error item and the run keeps going.

Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, XML or RSS, or fetch it through the Apify API.

What data can I extract with Metacritic Scraper?

Field	Description
title, slug, url	Title name, Metacritic slug and canonical page URL
productType	games, movies or tv
metaScore	Critic Metascore (0–100)
metaScoreReviewCount, metaScoreSentiment	Number of critic reviews and their sentiment label (e.g. "Universal acclaim")
userScore	User score (0–10)
userScoreReviewCount, userScoreSentiment	Number of user ratings and their sentiment label
platform	Platform the scores refer to (games)
platforms	Every platform with its own Metascore and critic review count
releaseDate	Release date (YYYY-MM-DD)
genres	Metacritic genres
developer, publisher	Developer and publisher (games)
rating	Age rating (e.g. "M")
description	Summary text
image	Cover image URL
reviews	Optional critic and user reviews: author or publication, score, quote, date, link, platform, spoiler flag
scrapedAt	Timestamp of the scrape

How can I use Metacritic data?

• Game studios and publishers: track review scores and sentiment for your launches and your competitors', per platform.
• Market research: see which genres and platforms score best, year over year.
• Recommendation systems and data science: build training data from scores, genres and review text.
• Journalists and content creators: build lists like "best games of 2025 on Switch" or top horror films by user score.
• Review monitoring: schedule daily runs on your titles to pull the newest user reviews.

How to scrape Metacritic data

1. Click Try for free to open Metacritic Scraper in Apify Console. A free Apify account is enough.
2. Choose a Mode. Use Browse with product type, sort order, year range, genres and platforms, or Specific titles with Metacritic URLs or slugs.
3. Optionally turn on critic reviews and/or user reviews and set Max reviews per title.
4. Set Max titles and click Start.
5. When the run finishes, open the Output tab and download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read it via the API.

How much does it cost to scrape Metacritic?

Metacritic Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing, so you only pay for the titles you get:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.005 per run
title-result	$0.002 per title ($2 per 1,000 titles)

Critic and user reviews nested in a title are included in the title price. They are not charged separately.

Example: 1 run that scrapes 1,000 titles costs $0.005 + 1,000 × $0.002 = $2.005.

The Apify free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which covers about 2,500 titles a month. You can set a maximum cost per run: when the limit is reached, the Actor stops cleanly and keeps everything scraped so far. Error items are never charged.

⬇️ Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	browse | titles	browse	Browse the catalog, or scrape specific titles
productType	games | movies | tv	games	What to browse (also the type used for bare slugs)
sortBy	string	-metaScore	-metaScore, -userScore, -releaseDate (newest), releaseDate (oldest)
yearFrom / yearTo	integer	—	Release year range (1900–2100)
genres	list of strings	—	Metacritic genre names, e.g. Action RPG, JRPG, Horror, Drama
platforms	list of strings	—	Games only: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Mobile, Meta Quest, retro consoles…
startUrls	list of URLs	—	Titles mode: metacritic.com title URLs
slugs	list of strings	—	Titles mode: slugs like baldurs-gate-3
includeCriticReviews	boolean	false	Add critic reviews
includeUserReviews	boolean	false	Add user reviews
maxReviewsPerTitle	integer	20	Cap per review type (critic and user each), up to 10,000
maxItems	integer	100	Max titles in the output

Browse example: top PC games released 2023–2025, with 10 critic reviews each.

{
  "mode": "browse",
  "productType": "games",
  "sortBy": "-metaScore",
  "yearFrom": 2023,
  "yearTo": 2025,
  "platforms": ["PC"],
  "includeCriticReviews": true,
  "maxReviewsPerTitle": 10,
  "maxItems": 100
}

Titles example:

{
  "mode": "titles",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.metacritic.com/game/elden-ring/",
    "https://www.metacritic.com/game/elden-ring/critic-reviews/?platform=pc",
    "https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-godfather/",
    "https://www.metacritic.com/tv/breaking-bad/"
  ],
  "includeUserReviews": true,
  "maxReviewsPerTitle": 50
}

⬆️ Output

The Actor outputs one item per title. The Overview table view in the Output tab shows the cover, title, type, platform, Metascore, user score, review counts, release date, genres, developer and URL. The full item looks like this:

{
  "title": "Elden Ring",
  "slug": "elden-ring",
  "url": "https://www.metacritic.com/game/elden-ring/",
  "productType": "games",
  "platform": "PC",
  "metaScore": 94,
  "metaScoreReviewCount": 60,
  "metaScoreSentiment": "Universal acclaim",
  "userScore": 7.6,
  "userScoreReviewCount": 6895,
  "userScoreSentiment": "Generally favorable",
  "releaseDate": "2022-02-25",
  "platforms": [
    { "name": "PC", "slug": "pc", "metaScore": 94, "reviewCount": 63 },
    { "name": "PlayStation 5", "slug": "playstation-5", "metaScore": 96, "reviewCount": 93 }
  ],
  "genres": ["Action RPG"],
  "developer": "From Software",
  "publisher": "Bandai Namco Games, From Software",
  "rating": "M",
  "description": "A New World Created By Hidetaka Miyazaki And George R. R. Martin…",
  "image": "https://www.metacritic.com/a/img/catalog/provider/6/12/6-1-824956-52.jpg",
  "reviews": [
    {
      "type": "critic",
      "author": null,
      "publication": "Areajugones",
      "score": 100,
      "quote": "Elden Ring is the real next step for souls-like standards…",
      "date": "2022-02-23",
      "url": "https://areajugones.sport.es/videojuegos/analisis-elden-ring-la-mesa-redonda-tiene-nuevo-rey-arturo/",
      "platform": "PC"
    },
    {
      "type": "user",
      "author": "MaleProtagonist",
      "publication": null,
      "score": 9,
      "quote": "Liked it better than Dark Souls 3…",
      "date": "2026-09-30",
      "url": null,
      "platform": "PC",
      "spoiler": false
    }
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-01T01:38:56.434Z"
}

• metaScore ranges from 0 to 100 and userScore from 0 to 10. Both are null when Metacritic has not published a score yet (too few reviews).
• platform is the platform the scores refer to (games only). Without a platform filter it is Metacritic's default ("lead") platform for the title. platforms[] lists every platform with its own Metascore.
• developer and publisher are filled for games. Movies and TV have null there.
• reviews is present only when a review option is on.

Error items

When a title can't be scraped, the Actor outputs an error item instead of failing the run:

{ "url": "https://www.metacritic.com/game/this-game-does-not-exist/", "slug": "this-game-does-not-exist", "productType": "games", "errorType": "NOT_FOUND", "error": "Title not found (no product data in page response)" }

errorType is NOT_FOUND, FETCH_FAILED, INVALID_INPUT or BROWSE_FAILED. Error items are never charged.

Integrations and API

You can run Metacritic Scraper and read its results programmatically through the Apify API. The Actor ID is istmobot/metacritic-scraper.

Python (apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("istmobot/metacritic-scraper").call(run_input={
    "mode": "titles",
    "startUrls": ["https://www.metacritic.com/game/elden-ring/"],
    "includeCriticReviews": True,
    "maxReviewsPerTitle": 10,
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["title"], item.get("metaScore"), item.get("userScore"))

Node.js (apify-client):

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('istmobot/metacritic-scraper').call({
    mode: 'browse',
    productType: 'movies',
    sortBy: '-userScore',
    genres: ['Horror'],
    maxItems: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

You can also:

• Schedule runs (daily, weekly, or any cron expression) to track Metacritic scores and new reviews over time.
• Use webhooks to get notified or trigger your own pipeline when a run finishes.
• Connect the Actor to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack and other tools through Apify integrations.
• Use it from AI agents through the Apify MCP server.

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape Metacritic? This Actor only reads publicly visible data. It does not log in, and it collects no personal data beyond public review usernames. Review text and usernames can still count as personal data under GDPR and similar laws, so only collect what you need and have a legitimate reason for it. You are responsible for using the data in line with applicable laws and Metacritic's terms of use. If you're unsure, consult a lawyer.

This is an unofficial tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Metacritic or Fandom, Inc.

Do I need a Metacritic API key or account? No. The Actor reads the same public JSON data the metacritic.com website loads, without logging in.

Which genre names can I use? Use the exact names Metacritic shows in its browse page filters. For games, that includes Action RPG, JRPG, Western RPG, Open-World Action, 3D Platformer, Survival and Roguelike. For movies and TV, it includes Action, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller and Documentary. If you list several genres, a title matches when it has any of them.

Why does the Metascore differ from the one on the title's main page? Metacritic scores every game platform separately. With a platform filter (browse mode) or ?platform= (in a URL), you get that platform's numbers. Otherwise you get the default platform, the same one shown on the main page.

How many reviews can I get? Up to 10,000 per review type per title. Critic reviews arrive in pages of 10 and user reviews in pages of 50, so large caps on popular titles (thousands of user reviews) take longer.

How fast is it? The Actor makes a few lightweight JSON requests per title and processes 3 titles in parallel. Browse results are fetched in pages of 50 titles. Turning on reviews adds requests for each title.

Can I scrape TV seasons? Season URLs are accepted, but they resolve to the show. Season-level scores are not extracted yet.

Do I need proxies? Usually not. The Actor backs off and retries automatically when Metacritic rate-limits requests.

Can I schedule it? Yes. Create a schedule in Apify Console (or via the API) to run the Actor daily or weekly, for example to monitor new user reviews for your titles.

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• Steam Game Intelligence
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Your feedback

Found a bug or need a field that's missing? Open an issue in the Issues tab and we'll take a look.