# Freelancer Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/freelancer-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Freelancer project listings by keyword search or skill category. Extract project title, description, budget, bid count, days left, required skills, and project URL — no account or API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/freelancer-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Freelancer Scraper

Scrape active project listings from [Freelancer.com](https://www.freelancer.com) via the platform's public REST API. Extract project titles, descriptions, budgets, bid counts, required skills, and more — no account or API key required.

### What does this actor do?

The Freelancer Scraper queries Freelancer's public API to collect active freelance project listings. It supports three input modes:

1. **Keyword search** — search projects by keyword (e.g., "python", "web design", "logo design")
2. **Skill filter** — filter by skill category slug (e.g., `python`, `javascript`, `graphic-design`)
3. **Latest active** — fetch the most recently posted active projects (no filter)

Results include the full project description, budget range, currency, current bid count, average bid, required skills, project type (fixed-price or hourly), and a direct link to the project page.

### Use cases

- **Freelancer market research** — track demand and pricing for specific skills over time
- **Lead generation** — identify new project postings in your area of expertise
- **Competitive analysis** — monitor which project types are trending on the platform
- **Business intelligence** — analyze budget distributions, popular skills, and employer patterns

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `query` | string | Keyword to search for projects. Leave empty to fetch latest active projects. |
| `skills` | string[] | List of Freelancer skill SEO slugs (e.g. `["python", "javascript"]`). Overrides `query`. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum number of project records to collect. Default: 10. |

#### Example inputs

**Search by keyword:**
```json
{
  "query": "machine learning",
  "maxItems": 50
}
````

**Filter by skills:**

```json
{
  "skills": ["python", "data-analytics"],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

**Latest active projects:**

```json
{
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Output

Each result record contains:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `project_id` | integer | Freelancer's internal project ID |
| `title` | string | Project title |
| `url` | string | Direct link to the project page |
| `description` | string | Full project description |
| `preview_description` | string | Short preview (first ~100 characters) |
| `status` | string | Project status (`active`, etc.) |
| `project_type` | string | `fixed` or `hourly` |
| `budget_min` | number | Minimum budget |
| `budget_max` | number | Maximum budget |
| `currency_code` | string | Currency code (e.g., `USD`, `EUR`, `INR`) |
| `bid_count` | integer | Number of bids placed |
| `avg_bid` | number | Average bid amount |
| `bid_end_date` | string | ISO date when bidding closes |
| `time_submitted` | string | ISO date when the project was posted |
| `skills` | string | Comma-separated list of required skill names |
| `skills_list` | string | JSON array of skill objects with `id`, `name`, and `seo_url` |
| `is_featured` | boolean | Whether the project is a featured listing |
| `is_urgent` | boolean | Whether the project is marked urgent |
| `employer_id` | integer | Freelancer user ID of the employer |
| `scraped_at` | string | ISO timestamp when the record was scraped |

#### Example output

```json
{
  "project_id": 40491017,
  "title": "OpenAI-Powered Python Code Generation",
  "url": "https://www.freelancer.com/projects/openai/OpenAI-Powered-Python-Code-Generation",
  "description": "I need assistance in generating Python code snippets using OpenAI for assessment purposes...",
  "preview_description": "I need assistance in generating Python code snippets using OpenAI for assessment purposes.",
  "status": "active",
  "project_type": "hourly",
  "budget_min": 750,
  "budget_max": 1250,
  "currency_code": "INR",
  "bid_count": 28,
  "avg_bid": 1535.54,
  "bid_end_date": "2026-06-11T11:05:41.000Z",
  "time_submitted": "2026-06-04T11:05:41.000Z",
  "skills": "Python, Software Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, API Development, OpenAI",
  "skills_list": "[{\"id\":13,\"name\":\"Python\",\"seo_url\":\"python\"}]",
  "is_featured": false,
  "is_urgent": false,
  "employer_id": null,
  "scraped_at": "2026-06-04T11:47:39.377Z"
}
```

### Notes

- **No authentication required** — Freelancer's public API is open and does not require login
- **No proxy needed** — the API responds without blocking to standard requests
- **Rate limits** — no rate limiting observed; the actor uses a polite 200ms inter-page delay
- **Active projects only** — the API endpoint returns currently active projects; closed and archived projects are not included
- **Project count** — Freelancer typically has 6,000–8,000 active projects at any given time

# Actor input Schema

## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`):

Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler.

## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`):

Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements.

## `sp_contact` (type: `string`):

Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you.

## `query` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search for projects (e.g. "python", "web design"). Leave empty to fetch latest active projects.

## `skills` (type: `array`):

List of Freelancer skill/category SEO slugs to filter by (e.g. "python", "javascript"). If provided, each slug is resolved to a skill ID and used as a filter. Overrides the query field.

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

Maximum number of project records to collect across all queries

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "query": "python",
  "skills": [
    "python"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# 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 = {
    "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
    "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "query": "python",
    "skills": [
        "python"
    ],
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/freelancer-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 = {
    "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
    "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "query": "python",
    "skills": ["python"],
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/freelancer-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "query": "python",
  "skills": [
    "python"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call jungle_synthesizer/freelancer-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/freelancer-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Freelancer Scraper",
        "description": "Scrape Freelancer project listings by keyword search or skill category. Extract project title, description, budget, bid count, days left, required skills, and project URL — no account or API key required.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "CSBELQyoV0pK6qHgk"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~freelancer-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-freelancer-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~freelancer-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-freelancer-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~freelancer-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-freelancer-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "maxItems"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "sp_intended_usage": {
                        "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler."
                    },
                    "sp_improvement_suggestions": {
                        "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements."
                    },
                    "sp_contact": {
                        "title": "Contact Email",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you."
                    },
                    "query": {
                        "title": "Search Query",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Keyword to search for projects (e.g. \"python\", \"web design\"). Leave empty to fetch latest active projects."
                    },
                    "skills": {
                        "title": "Skill Category Slugs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "List of Freelancer skill/category SEO slugs to filter by (e.g. \"python\", \"javascript\"). If provided, each slug is resolved to a skill ID and used as a filter. Overrides the query field.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max Items",
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of project records to collect across all queries",
                        "default": 10
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```