iTunes Podcast Search & Lookup

Search and lookup podcasts from the iTunes/Apple Podcasts directory via the official Apple API. Returns typed, flat JSON with collection metadata, feed URLs, and optional recent episodes.

No API key required. The iTunes Search API is public, unauthenticated, and datacenter-open.

Use cases

• Podcast discovery: Search by keyword, browse by country
• Podcast enrichment: Look up metadata by iTunes collection/artist ID
• RSS feed discovery: Get the feedUrl for RSS enrichment in your pipeline
• LLM/MCP integration: Typed, documented output schema designed for AI consumers
• Competitive research: Analyze podcast metadata across markets

Features

• Two modes:
  • Search by term, with country filter, explicit content filter, and result limit
  • Lookup by collection ID, track ID, or artist ID — with optional recent episodes
• 175+ iTunes Store countries supported (ISO 2-letter codes)
• Flat, typed JSON output — no nested body/contentType wrapping
• Feed URL included when available in Apple's response — enables RSS enrichment
• Error items are free — invalid IDs or empty results don't count against your usage
• 256MB, ~5s per run — fast and cheap

Input

{
  "searchTerms": ["technology", "comedy"],
  "lookupIds": ["863897795"],
  "country": "US",
  "maxResults": 25,
  "includeEpisodes": false,
  "episodeLimit": 10
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchTerms	string[]	—	Search terms (leave empty for lookup-only)
lookupIds	string[]	—	iTunes collection/track/artist IDs (leave empty for search-only)
country	string	"US"	ISO 2-letter iTunes Store country
maxResults	integer	25	Results per search (1–100)
includeEpisodes	boolean	false	Include recent episodes in lookup results
episodeLimit	integer	10	Max episodes when includeEpisodes is true

Output

One dataset row per podcast — a search for 25 results gives you 25 rows, ready to filter, sort and export as-is.

{
  "type": "podcast",
  "searchTerm": "technology",
  "lookupId": null,
  "rank": 1,
  "error": null,
  "collectionId": 863897795,
  "trackId": 863897795,
  "artistName": "Tim Ferriss",
  "collectionName": "The Tim Ferriss Show",
  "feedUrl": "https://rss.art19.com/tim-ferriss-show",
  "primaryGenreName": "Technology",
  "genres": ["Technology", "Podcasts"],
  "trackCount": 700,
  "artworkUrl600": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/...",
  "releaseDate": "2014-04-23T00:00:00Z",
  "country": "US",
  "scraped_at": "2026-07-26T12:00:00.000Z"
}

A lookup with includeEpisodes adds an episodes array to the podcast's row; the Episodes dataset view expands it to one row per episode.

An input that matches nothing still produces exactly one row (type "search" or "lookup", resultCount 0), so every term you send is accounted for in the output. Those rows are never charged.

Tips

• Use lookupIds for metadata about known podcasts
• Use searchTerms for discovery by keyword
• Combine both modes in one call to batch research + enrichment
• The feedUrl field (when present) can be piped into an RSS reader or parser

Pricing

Pay per event, and the platform usage is on us — the price you see is the price you pay, with no compute bill on top.

Event	Price	What one charge buys
Podcast result	$0.0006	One podcast row — a single podcast returned by a search or lookup, with its title, author, genres, episode count, artwork and RSS feed. Rows for inputs that returned nothing (no match, invalid ID) are never charged.
Episode result	$0.0003	One episode row, returned only when a lookup asks for episodes. Priced below a podcast row because the episodes arrive inside the same lookup request, not one request each.
Actor Start	$0.002	One run, whatever it returns.

Higher Apify subscription tiers pay less on every event (Silver −20%, Gold −35%).