# Goodreads Scraper — Books, Ratings, Genres, Series & Reviews (`jeffev/goodreads-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Goodreads books by URL, ID, ISBN or keyword search: average rating, star distribution, ratings and reviews count, genres, series, pages, publisher, publication dates, awards, description and reader reviews. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jeffev/goodreads-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jefferson Valandro](https://apify.com/jeffev) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.40 / 1,000 books

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

## Goodreads Scraper — books, ratings, genres, series & reviews

Scrape **Goodreads books** by URL, Goodreads ID, **ISBN** or keyword search, without login. For each book: average rating, **star distribution**, number of ratings and reviews, genres, series and position, pages, format, publisher, edition and first publication dates, ISBN/ASIN, **awards**, description and cover. Optionally, the top reader reviews with rating, text, likes and date.

Use it for **book market research, publishing and author analytics, recommendation datasets, price-comparison catalogs or review sentiment analysis**.

### Why this one

- **ISBN lookup**: paste ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 numbers and get the Goodreads data.
- **Full rating picture**: average, total ratings and the 1-to-5 star distribution.
- **Clean metadata**: genres, series with position, awards, original title and first publication date (including classics before 1970).
- **Reliable at volume**: rotates IPs automatically when Goodreads starts rate limiting.

### Input

```json
{
  "books": ["https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit", "9780593135204", "41865"],
  "searchQueries": ["cozy mystery", "stephen king"],
  "maxBooksPerSearch": 50,
  "reviewsPerBook": 10
}
```

### Output (field `type`)

| type | Main fields |
|---|---|
| `book` | `bookId`, `title`, `originalTitle`, `url`, `author`, `averageRating`, `ratingsCount`, `reviewsCount`, `ratingDistribution`, `genres`, `series`, `pages`, `format`, `publisher`, `firstPublishedAt`, `editionPublishedAt`, `language`, `isbn`, `isbn13`, `asin`, `awards`, `description`, `image` |
| `review` | `bookId`, `bookTitle`, `rating`, `text`, `likes`, `comments`, `spoiler`, `createdAt`, `reviewer`, `reviewerUrl`, `reviewerFollowers` |

### Example output

One real item from a test run (long texts and lists shortened):

```json
{
  "type": "book",
  "bookId": 11588,
  "workId": "849585",
  "title": "The Shining",
  "titleComplete": "The Shining (The Shining, #1)",
  "originalTitle": "The Shining",
  "url": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11588.The_Shining",
  "author": "Stephen  King",
  "authorUrl": "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King",
  "otherContributors": [],
  "averageRating": 4.29,
  "ratingsCount": 1776947,
  "reviewsCount": 55089,
  "ratingDistribution": {
    "1": 29318,
    "2": 48540,
    "3": 217852,
    "4": 572230,
    "5": 909007
  },
  "genres": [
    "Horror",
    "Fiction",
    "Thriller"
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "name": "The Shining",
      "position": "1"
    }
  ],
  "pages": 497,
  "format": "Mass Market Paperback",
  "publisher": "New English Library",
  "editionPublishedAt": "1980-07-01",
  "firstPublishedAt": "1977-01-28",
  "language": "English",
  "isbn": "0450040186",
  "isbn13": "9780450040184",
  "asin": "0450040186"
}
```

### Notes

- Each book page shows up to 30 top reviews; that's the maximum per book.

### How much does it cost?

You pay only for results delivered, at a fixed price per item. **Apify platform usage is included** in that price, so there are no compute costs on top. Errors and items that couldn't be found are free.

| What you get | Price | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Book | $0.002 each | 1,000 books = $2.00 |
| Review | $0.0005 each | 1,000 reviews = $0.50 |

The Apify **Free plan includes $5 of monthly credit**, enough for about **2,500 books** per month at no cost. You can also set a maximum spend per run.

On paid Apify plans it gets cheaper automatically: **10% off on Starter, 20% on Scale and 30% on Business**.

# Actor input Schema

## `books` (type: `array`):

Goodreads book URLs, Goodreads book IDs, or ISBN-10/ISBN-13 numbers.

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords, titles or author names to search on Goodreads (e.g. 'dune', 'stephen king', 'cozy mystery').

## `maxBooksPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

How many books to return per search (Goodreads shows 20 per page).

## `reviewsPerBook` (type: `integer`):

How many top reviews to return per book, up to 30 (0 = none). Each has rating, text, likes, date and reviewer.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "books": [
    "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit",
    "9780593135204"
  ],
  "maxBooksPerSearch": 20,
  "reviewsPerBook": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `books` (type: `string`):

Books and, if requested, reviews (field 'type').

# 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 = {
    "books": [
        "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit",
        "9780593135204"
    ],
    "maxBooksPerSearch": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jeffev/goodreads-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 = {
    "books": [
        "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit",
        "9780593135204",
    ],
    "maxBooksPerSearch": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jeffev/goodreads-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 '{
  "books": [
    "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5907.The_Hobbit",
    "9780593135204"
  ],
  "maxBooksPerSearch": 20
}' |
apify call jeffev/goodreads-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,jeffev/goodreads-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/ryB3gnehxz4o1PiMJ/builds/WGAPeYHq9is2c3Xdo/openapi.json