Goodreads Scraper

An Apify Actor that scrapes book data from Goodreads shelf/genre pages. Built with Crawlee CheerioCrawler for fast, efficient HTML parsing.

What it does

This scraper extracts book data from Goodreads shelf pages (e.g., goodreads.com/shelf/show/science-fiction). Each shelf page lists 50 popular books in that genre, ranked by how many users shelved them.

Two modes of operation

1. Shelf mode (default): Scrapes book listings from shelf pages. Fast -- extracts title, author, rating, rating count, published year, shelf count, and cover image directly from the listing.

2. Detail mode (scrapeDetails: true): Also visits each book's individual page to extract rich structured data from Goodreads' JSON-LD schema, including full description, genres, page count, ISBN, book format, language, awards, and review count.

Input

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	string[]	["science-fiction"]	Shelf/genre names to scrape. Maps to goodreads.com/shelf/show/{name}.
maxBooks	integer	100	Maximum books per shelf. Set to 0 for unlimited.
scrapeDetails	boolean	false	Visit each book's detail page for full data (slower).
proxyConfiguration	object	{ useApifyProxy: false }	Proxy settings for large-scale runs.

Popular shelf names

science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, non-fiction, thriller, horror, historical-fiction, young-adult, classics, biography, self-help, poetry, graphic-novels, philosophy, true-crime, dystopian, adventure, humor, manga

Output

Shelf mode fields

Field	Type	Description
title	string	Book title (may include series info)
author	string	Author name
authorUrl	string	Link to author's Goodreads page
rating	number	Average rating (1-5 scale)
ratingCount	number	Total number of ratings
publishedYear	number	Year of first publication
shelfCount	number	Times shelved under this genre
coverImage	string	URL of book cover image
bookId	string	Goodreads book ID
url	string	Full Goodreads URL for the book
searchQuery	string	The shelf/genre name used
scrapedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp

Additional detail mode fields

Field	Type	Description
description	string	Full book description
genres	string[]	List of genres/tags
isbn	string	ISBN number
bookFormat	string	Format (Hardcover, Paperback, etc.)
numberOfPages	number	Page count
language	string	Book language
awards	string	Awards received
reviewCount	number	Total number of text reviews
authors	object[]	Array of author objects with name and URL
publicationInfo	string	Full publication details

Example usage

Basic: Top science fiction books

{
    "searchQueries": ["science-fiction"],
    "maxBooks": 50
}

Multiple genres with details

{
    "searchQueries": ["fantasy", "mystery", "romance"],
    "maxBooks": 100,
    "scrapeDetails": true
}

Large-scale with proxy

{
    "searchQueries": ["science-fiction", "fantasy", "thriller", "horror"],
    "maxBooks": 500,
    "scrapeDetails": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
}

Example output

{
    "title": "Dune (Dune, #1)",
    "author": "Frank Herbert",
    "authorUrl": "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58.Frank_Herbert",
    "rating": 4.29,
    "ratingCount": 1645579,
    "publishedYear": 1965,
    "shelfCount": 21643,
    "coverImage": "https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1555447414l/44767458._SX318_.jpg",
    "bookId": "44767458",
    "url": "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44767458-dune",
    "searchQuery": "science-fiction",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-03-17T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Technical notes

• Uses CheerioCrawler (HTTP-only, no browser) for maximum speed
• Shelf pages (/shelf/show/) and book pages (/book/show/) are allowed by Goodreads robots.txt
• Rate-limited to avoid overloading servers (30-40 requests/minute)
• Shelf pages return 50 books per page, paginated with ?page=N
• Detail pages use Goodreads' JSON-LD @type: Book structured data for reliable extraction
• No Cloudflare or CAPTCHA protection on these endpoints

Running locally

$apify run --purge

Make sure to set your input in storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json.

Deploy to Apify

apify login
apify push

Related Scrapers

More marketplace scrapers and data tools by lulzasaur:

• AbeBooks Scraper — Rare and used books
• Bonanza Scraper — Online marketplace listings
• Contractor License Verifier — Multi-state license verification
• Craigslist Scraper — Classifieds and for-sale posts
• Grailed Scraper — Luxury fashion resale
• Houzz Scraper — Home improvement professionals
• IMDb Scraper — Movie and TV show data
• Nurse License Verifier — State nursing board verification
• OfferUp Scraper — Local marketplace listings
• Poshmark Scraper — Fashion resale marketplace
• PSA Population Report — Card grading data
• Redfin Scraper — Real estate listings and prices
• Reverb Scraper — Music gear marketplace
• StubHub Scraper — Event ticket prices
• Swappa Scraper — Used electronics marketplace
• TCGPlayer Scraper — Trading card prices
• ThriftBooks Scraper — Used book prices
• Thumbtack Scraper — Local service professionals