# NPM Download Stats Tracker — Trend by Package (`m_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker`) Actor

Get download counts for one or more npm packages over a chosen period, plus percent change versus the prior period of the same length. For tracking adoption trends, not new releases.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/m\_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$10.00 / 1,000 download stats checks

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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

## NPM Download Stats Tracker — Trend by Package

Get download counts for one or more npm packages over a chosen period,
plus percent change versus the immediately prior period of the same
length.

Built for tracking adoption trends — is a package gaining or losing
ground — rather than watching for new releases (see [NPM Package Update
Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/npm-package-tracker) for that).

### Input

```json
{
  "packages": ["react", "vue", "svelte"],
  "daysBack": 7
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `packages` | array of strings | npm package names to check, e.g. `"react"`, `"@angular/core"`. At least one required. |
| `daysBack` | number | Length of the period to measure, and also the length of the prior period it's compared against. Default `7`, max `365`. |

### Output

One record per package:

```json
{
  "package": "react",
  "currentPeriodDownloads": 163083190,
  "currentPeriodStart": "2026-08-03",
  "currentPeriodEnd": "2026-08-09",
  "previousPeriodDownloads": 158200412,
  "previousPeriodStart": "2026-07-27",
  "previousPeriodEnd": "2026-08-02",
  "percentChange": 3.09
}
```

`currentPeriodDownloads` is `null` for a package name npm doesn't
recognize (typo, unpublished, or scoped name missing its `@scope/`
prefix) — check the package name if you see this.

**Note:** npm's own download-count pipeline occasionally reports `0`
for an isolated day due to upstream CDN log-processing gaps, a known
limitation of the source data itself, not this actor. A single-day dip
to zero within an otherwise normal trend is that artifact, not a real
usage drop.

A request is billed once regardless of how many packages are checked.

### How it works

Direct calls to the official [npm registry downloads
API](https://github.com/npm/registry/blob/main/docs/download-counts.md)
(`api.npmjs.org`) — no proxy, no key, no scraping.

### Pricing note

Billed per **request**, not per package returned — one charge whether
you check 1 package or several.

### Related products

- [NPM Package Update Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/npm-package-tracker) — new versions and deprecation warnings, the release-activity counterpart to this actor's usage-trend data
- [PyPI Download Stats Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/pypi-download-stats-tracker) — the same trend tracking for PyPI/Python packages

# Actor input Schema

## `packages` (type: `array`):

npm package names to check, e.g. "react", "@angular/core". At least one required.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Length of the period to measure, and also the length of the prior period it's compared against.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "packages": [
    "react"
  ],
  "daysBack": 7
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "packages": [
        "react"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("m_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker").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 = { "packages": ["react"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("m_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker").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 '{
  "packages": [
    "react"
  ]
}' |
apify call m_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/npm-download-stats-tracker"
        }
    }
}
```

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/5JnHRefsNckO1shJ4/builds/gLCwfKyzq24yeQwFg/openapi.json