VK Groups Scraper

Scrape public VK (VKontakte) groups and communities by URL, handle, numeric group ID, or keyword search. The actor returns one clean JSON row per community with its name, VK URL, public member count, activity/category, website, city/country, avatar, verification/access status, source input, and scrape timestamp.

When To Use It

Use this actor when you need a structured list of VK communities for CIS market research, social listening, lead mapping, competitor monitoring, or community discovery.

Do not use it for VK member lists, wall posts, videos, private groups, user profiles, login-only content, or messages. This actor does not bypass authentication and does not collect private member data.

Output

One record represents one public VK group or community.

Field	Description
groupId, screenName, groupUrl	VK identifiers and canonical community URL
name, description, status, activity, type	Public identity and category/profile text
membersCount	Public member/follower/subscriber count when exposed
isClosed, accessStatus, isVerified	Public access and verification signals
photoUrl, coverUrl, website	Public media and website links
city, country, contacts, links	API-exposed public profile details when available
sourceInput, sourceType, sourceRoute, searchQuery	Provenance for API/MCP workflows
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp for freshness

{
  "groupId": 22822305,
  "screenName": "vk",
  "groupUrl": "https://vk.com/vk",
  "name": "ВКонтакте",
  "description": "Это главное сообщество Команды ВКонтакте.",
  "activity": null,
  "type": null,
  "isClosed": true,
  "accessStatus": "login_required_preview",
  "isVerified": true,
  "membersCount": 14100000,
  "photoUrl": "http://sun9-8.userapi.com/example.jpg",
  "website": null,
  "sourceInput": "vk",
  "sourceType": "target",
  "sourceRoute": "browser-profile",
  "searchQuery": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-15T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Pricing

Pay per event + usage: $0.0055 per group record + a $0.00005 actor-start fee. A 50-group run has at most $0.275 in group event charges. Skipped, invalid, blocked, or duplicate targets are not billed as group rows. Apify compute and proxy usage are passed through separately.

Input

Field	Required	Description
targets	no	Known VK community handles, URLs, numeric IDs, club123, public123, or -123 owner IDs
searchQueries	no	Keywords for discovering communities; best with vkAccessToken, browser fallback is best effort
maxGroups	no	Total billable group cap across all targets and searches
maxGroupsPerSearch	no	Per-keyword cap before moving to the next search query
vkAccessToken	no	Optional VK API token for structured groups.getById and groups.search routes
proxyCountry	no	Residential proxy country, default RU
includeRawData	no	Include raw VK API group object for debugging
saveHtmlSnapshot	no	Save public VK HTML snapshots to the key-value store for troubleshooting

Direct Targets

{
  "targets": ["vk", "https://vk.com/vkvideo", "club1"],
  "maxGroups": 25
}

Keyword Search With VK API Token

{
  "searchQueries": ["gaming", "маркетинг"],
  "vkAccessToken": "<your VK service token>",
  "maxGroups": 50,
  "maxGroupsPerSearch": 25
}

How It Works

1. VK API route: When vkAccessToken is supplied, the actor uses groups.getById for direct targets and groups.search for keyword discovery. This is the most structured and reliable route.
2. Tokenless public routes: Without a token, the actor first tries mobile public HTML over Apify Residential proxy. If VK serves a shell or challenge, it falls back to Camoufox and parses the unauthenticated public preview when VK exposes one. Keyword search without a token uses VK public search as a best-effort fallback.

Both routes normalize into the same dataset schema, so you can start tokenless and add a token later without changing downstream code.

Reliability Notes

VK has aggressive IP reputation and login/redirect challenges. Tokenless mode works best for small, public community lookups over a CIS Residential proxy. If VK challenges every route and zero useful records are saved, the run fails honestly as UPSTREAM_FAILED; if some groups are saved and others fail, the run finishes as PARTIAL.

For dependable high-volume keyword discovery and exact group metadata, use a VK API token. The actor never asks for a VK password or cookie.

Every run writes:

• OUTPUT — compact terminal outcome, result count, charge count, warnings, and dataset ID.
• RUN_SUMMARY — route attempts, skipped inputs, validation errors, cost-cap state, storage IDs, billing counters, and timestamps.

MCP / AI Agents

Use this actor when an agent needs public VK community metadata from known handles/URLs or keyword discovery. It returns one flat record per group with stable keys and provenance fields. It is not the right tool for VK posts, private communities, user profiles, member extraction, or login-only data.

Legal

Use this actor only for publicly accessible data and in compliance with VK's Terms of Service, applicable laws, and data-protection regulations. You are responsible for how you collect and use the data. Do not use it to scrape private content, collect members from closed groups, or harm individuals.