NPM Registry Scraper — Package Metadata & Downloads Extractor

Extract comprehensive package metadata, download statistics, dependencies, and maintainer information directly from the public NPM Registry. Whether you are researching JavaScript ecosystem trends, auditing dependencies, or building a package directory, this Actor delivers structured, actionable data in seconds.

Use Cases

• Dependency Research — Audit packages before adding them to your project. Review licenses, maintainer activity, and download trends.
• Ecosystem Analysis — Track popularity of frameworks and libraries across the JavaScript ecosystem using real download counts.
• Security Auditing — Identify packages with few maintainers, outdated publish dates, or suspicious download patterns.
• Competitive Intelligence — Compare package metrics (downloads, dependents, scores) across similar libraries.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
searchQueries	Array	Yes	List of search terms (e.g. ["react", "express", "lodash"]). Each term triggers an independent NPM Registry search.
maxResults	Number	No	Maximum packages per query. Range: 1–250. Default: 20.
includeDownloads	Boolean	No	Fetch weekly and monthly download counts. Default: true.
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Apify proxy configuration. Uses Apify proxy by default.

Output

The Actor outputs a dataset where each item represents one NPM package:

{
  "name": "react",
  "version": "19.2.5",
  "description": "React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces.",
  "license": "MIT",
  "authorName": "react-bot",
  "authorEmail": "react-core@meta.com",
  "keywords": ["react"],
  "downloadsMonthly": 524287740,
  "downloadsWeekly": 129865894,
  "dependents": 209803,
  "repoUrl": "git+https://github.com/facebook/react.git",
  "homepage": "https://react.dev/",
  "npmUrl": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/react",
  "maintainers": [
    { "username": "fb", "email": "opensource+npm@fb.com" },
    { "username": "react-bot", "email": "react-core@meta.com" }
  ],
  "scoreDetail": { "popularity": 1, "quality": 1, "maintenance": 1 },
  "lastPublished": "2026-04-08T18:39:24.455Z",
  "searchQuery": "react"
}

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.002 per package extracted.

No hidden fees. You are charged only for successful extractions. Proxy usage is included by default.

Limitations

• Searches are limited to 250 results per query (NPM Registry API limit).
• Download stats require an additional API call per package when enabled.
• Very large result sets may be rate-limited by the NPM Registry. The Actor retries automatically up to 3 times.

FAQ

Q: Can I search by exact package name? A: Yes. Enter the exact package name as a search query and set maxResults to 1.

Q: Do I need an NPM account or API key? A: No. The Actor uses the public NPM Registry API which requires no authentication.

Q: Why are some download counts zero? A: New or rarely-used packages may not have accumulated download statistics yet. The NPM Registry returns zero for packages with no recorded downloads.

Changelog

• v1.0 — Initial release with search, metadata extraction, and download stats.