# Perplexity AI Scraper — Answers, Sources & Brand Mentions (`korado_labs/perplexity-search-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Perplexity AI answers at scale, no API key: answer text + markdown with inline citations, cited sources with dates & trust levels, related questions, images, and brand-mention analysis for GEO/AEO. Pay only for queries that return an answer.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/korado\_labs/perplexity-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Korado Labs](https://apify.com/korado_labs) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, AI, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $150.00 / 1,000 perplexity answers

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 web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## Perplexity AI Scraper — Answers, Sources & Brand Mentions

Scrape **Perplexity AI** search results at scale — no Perplexity API key needed. For every query you get the AI-generated answer (plain text **and** markdown with inline `[n]` citation markers), the full list of cited sources with rich metadata, related follow-up questions, and optional **brand-mention analysis** for GEO/AEO monitoring.

**You pay only for queries that return an answer.** Failed or blocked queries cost nothing — no per-start fee.

### What you get per query

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `answerText` | Clean plain-text AI answer |
| `answerMarkdown` | Answer with inline `[n]` citation markers that map to `sources` positions |
| `sources` | Ordered cited sources: `position`, `title`, `url`, `domain`, `snippet`, `publishedDate`, `trustLevel`, `thumbnails` |
| `citedDomains` | Deduplicated list of cited domains |
| `relatedQuestions` | Perplexity's suggested follow-up questions |
| `images` | Image URLs from cited sources (optional) |
| `brandMentions` | Per brand: `mentionCount`, `mentionedInAnswer`, `citedAsSource` (optional) |
| `model`, `threadUrl`, `wordCount`, `recencyFilter`, `error` | Run metadata |

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": "best CRM tools\nbest web scraping platform",
  "searchRecency": "month",
  "returnRelatedQuestions": true,
  "checkBrands": ["HubSpot", "Salesforce"]
}
```

- **queries** — one query per line.
- **searchRecency** — restrict web sources to the last `day`, `week`, `month`, or `year`.
- **checkBrands** — brand names to track. For each, the output reports whether it is mentioned in the answer, how many times, and whether it is cited as a source domain. Ideal for tracking your brand's visibility in AI search.
- **maxRetriesPerQuery** — automatic retries with fresh sessions (default 3).

### Example output item (shortened)

```json
{
  "query": "best CRM tools",
  "answerText": "Here are top CRM tools for 2026: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM...",
  "answerMarkdown": "Here are top CRM tools for 2026: Salesforce[1], HubSpot[2]...",
  "sources": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "The 11 best CRM software in 2026 - Zapier",
      "url": "https://zapier.com/blog/best-crm-app/",
      "domain": "zapier.com",
      "snippet": "We put dozens of Salesforce alternatives through the wringer...",
      "publishedDate": "2026-08-18T19:00:16",
      "trustLevel": "trusted",
      "thumbnails": ["https://..."]
    }
  ],
  "citedDomains": ["zapier.com", "salesforce.com"],
  "relatedQuestions": ["Which CRM offers best workflow automation features"],
  "brandMentions": {
    "HubSpot": { "mentionCount": 2, "mentionedInAnswer": true, "citedAsSource": true }
  },
  "error": null
}
```

### Pricing

**$0.15 per answered query.** No actor-start fee, no charge for failed queries. Example: monitoring 10 brand queries daily for a month = 300 answers = **$45**, plus standard Apify platform usage.

### Why this scraper

| | This Actor | Typical alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Price per answer | **$0.15** | $0.20 + start fee |
| Inline `[n]` citation mapping | ✅ markdown + positions | ❌ plain text only |
| Source metadata | title, snippet, date, **trust level**, thumbnails | title + URL |
| Related questions | ✅ | varies |
| Brand-mention analysis (GEO/AEO) | ✅ built in | ❌ |
| Charged on failure | Never | varies |

### Use cases

- **GEO/AEO brand monitoring** — track how Perplexity describes your brand and whether you're cited; schedule daily runs and diff `brandMentions` over time.
- **Competitive analysis** — compare answers for your product vs competitors.
- **Content & SEO research** — find which sources and domains Perplexity trusts and cites for your target topics, including publication dates.
- **LLM ground-truth collection** — collect answer + citations pairs at scale.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Perplexity account or API key?** No.

**Is this legal?** Scraping publicly available data is generally permitted; you are responsible for how you use the output. This Actor does not access any content behind a login.

**A query returned `error` — was I charged?** No. Only items with an extracted answer are charged.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `string`):

The prompts/queries to send to Perplexity AI. Enter one query per line.

## `searchRecency` (type: `string`):

Only use web sources from this time window.

## `returnRelatedQuestions` (type: `boolean`):

Return Perplexity's follow-up question suggestions for each query.

## `returnImages` (type: `boolean`):

Return image URLs collected from the answer's cited sources.

## `checkBrands` (type: `array`):

Optional list of brand or product names. For each one, the output reports whether and how often it is mentioned in the answer and whether it appears among cited source domains.

## `maxRetriesPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

How many times to retry a failed query with a fresh session before reporting it as failed.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxies used to reach Perplexity. Default Apify proxy works well.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": "best SEO tools\nbest web scraping platform",
  "returnRelatedQuestions": true,
  "returnImages": false,
  "maxRetriesPerQuery": 3,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All scraped Perplexity answers with cited sources, related questions and brand-mention analysis, one item per query.

# 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 = {
    "queries": "What are the top 5 CRM tools"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("korado_labs/perplexity-search-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 = { "queries": "What are the top 5 CRM tools" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("korado_labs/perplexity-search-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 '{
  "queries": "What are the top 5 CRM tools"
}' |
apify call korado_labs/perplexity-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,korado_labs/perplexity-search-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/wV9RLDYxyxY8nKQXN/builds/PWuJkBNrnT12vTjOI/openapi.json