AI Search Scraper — ChatGPT, Perplexity & Google AI Overviews

Send any query and get back the AI-generated answer, its cited sources and the source URLs — from ChatGPT Search, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews in a single run. One consistent schema across every engine. No API keys, no login. JSON / CSV / Excel out.

Why use the AI Search Scraper?

• Three AI engines, one run. ChatGPT Search, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews for the same query in a single call — not three separate actors, three datasets, three schemas.
• The full answer, not just a snippet. Complete AI answer text, and every cited source with its URL — plus title, date and the snippet the engine grounded on, where it gives them.
• One unified schema. Every engine returns the same row shape — answer, sources, sourceUrls — so downstream code doesn't branch per engine.
• No keys, no login. All three engines run out of the box on a paid Apify plan. On a free plan ChatGPT Search and Google AI Overviews still run; Perplexity calls a paid API per query, so it needs a paid plan or your own Perplexity key.
• Built for scale. Bulk queries, parallel workers, and success-gated billing — you only pay for answers that actually come back.

Overview

AI assistants are the new search box. When a buyer asks ChatGPT "what's the best CRM?", or reads Google's AI Overview, the answer they see — and the sources it cites — decides who gets discovered. This actor captures that answer layer at scale: give it any query and it returns exactly what each AI engine said and which web pages it drew from, ready for GEO/AEO monitoring, competitive research, or feeding a RAG pipeline.

It is a raw per-query search scraper — the actual answer and sources for any query — not a brand-visibility score. (If you want an aggregated citation-share metric across engines, see the AI Visibility Tracker.)

Supported inputs

• Queries — any prompts, one per line. Bulk-friendly.
• Engines — pick any of ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity. ChatGPT Search + Google AI Overviews are on by default.
• Perplexity options — recency filter (day/week/month/year), related questions, images. Requires your own Perplexity API key.
• Google options — country (gl) and language (hl) for the AI Overview engine.
• Proxy — advanced override for the exit used by the scrape engines (sensible defaults are built in).

Use cases

• GEO / AEO monitoring — track what ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview answer for your category queries, and which domains they cite, over time.
• Competitive answer tracking — see whether you or a rival shows up in the AI answer for high-intent prompts.
• Source / citation mining — harvest the third-party pages (Reddit, review sites, docs) that feed AI answers, so you know where to earn mentions.
• Content & PR strategy — compare which sources each engine cites for the same question and cover the gaps.
• RAG & datasets — build a clean, per-engine answer+sources dataset to ground your own LLM app.

How it works

1. Input — provide queries (one per line) and choose your engines.
2. Engines — each (query × engine) task runs on its own worker; answers are pushed the instant they land. None of the three needs any setup from you; if you supply your own Perplexity key it is used instead of ours.
3. Output — every answer becomes one flat row in the same shape, tagged by engine, ready to export.

Input configuration

Field	Type	Description
queries	string	Prompts to send, one per line.
engines	array	Which engines to query: chatgpt, perplexity, google-ai-overview. Default ["chatgpt","google-ai-overview"].
perplexityApiKey	string	Optional. Bill Perplexity usage to your own account instead — and enable the engine on a free Apify plan.
perplexityModel	string	Perplexity depth: fast (default), low, medium, high, xhigh.
googleCountryCode	string	Google country for AI Overview, e.g. us.
googleLanguageCode	string	Google language for AI Overview, e.g. en.
maxItems	integer	Hard cap on total answer rows.
maxConcurrency	integer	Parallel (query × engine) workers.
proxy	object	Advanced: override the exit for the scrape engines.

Example input

{
  "queries": "best CRM tools\nbest project management software",
  "engines": ["chatgpt", "google-ai-overview"]
}

Output overview

One row per query per engine, identical shape across engines, discriminated by engine (chatgpt · google-ai-overview · perplexity).

Output samples

ChatGPT Search (engine: "chatgpt")

{
  "query": "best CRM tools",
  "engine": "chatgpt",
  "answer": "# Best CRM tools in 2026\n\nThe best CRM depends on your team size and workflow. Top picks: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive…",
  "sources": [
    { "url": "https://www.techradar.com/best/the-best-crm-software", "domain": "techradar.com", "title": "The best CRM software" },
    { "url": "https://www.capterra.com/resources/best-crm-software-reviews-analysis/", "domain": "capterra.com", "title": "Best CRM Software 2026" }
  ],
  "sourceUrls": ["https://www.techradar.com/best/the-best-crm-software", "https://www.capterra.com/resources/best-crm-software-reviews-analysis/"],
  "followUpQuestions": [],
  "model": "gpt-6",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-31T06:00:00.000Z"
}

Google AI Overview (engine: "google-ai-overview")

{
  "query": "best CRM tools",
  "engine": "google-ai-overview",
  "answer": "Here are the top CRM software platforms for different business needs: Salesforce (best for large enterprises), HubSpot (best all-in-one), Zoho CRM, Pipedrive…",
  "sources": [
    { "url": "https://www.salesforce.com/crm/best-crm/", "domain": "salesforce.com", "title": "Salesforce CRM Overview" },
    { "url": "https://zapier.com/blog/best-crm-app/", "domain": "zapier.com", "title": "The 11 best CRM software in 2026 | Zapier" }
  ],
  "sourceUrls": ["https://www.salesforce.com/crm/best-crm/", "https://zapier.com/blog/best-crm-app/"],
  "followUpQuestions": [],
  "model": "google-ai-overview",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-31T06:00:00.000Z"
}

Perplexity (engine: "perplexity", requires your API key)

{
  "query": "best CRM tools",
  "engine": "perplexity",
  "answer": "The top CRMs are Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive…",
  "sources": [
    { "title": "Salesforce CRM", "url": "https://www.salesforce.com/crm/", "domain": "salesforce.com", "date": "2025-02-01" }
  ],
  "sourceUrls": ["https://www.salesforce.com/crm/"],
  "followUpQuestions": [],
  "model": "openai/gpt-6-luna",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-31T06:00:00.000Z"
}

Key output fields

Field	Type	Description
query	string	The query that was sent.
engine	string	chatgpt · google-ai-overview · perplexity.
answer	string | null	The AI answer text. null only when an engine returned sources but no prose for that query.
sources	array	Cited sources: url + domain, plus title / snippet / date where available.
sourceUrls	array	Flat, ordered list of the cited source URLs.
followUpQuestions	array	Reserved. The engines no longer publish related questions, so this is currently always empty; the field stays so the row shape does not change under you.
images	array	Images returned alongside the answer (Perplexity, when requested).
model	string	The model / engine version that produced the answer.
scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 timestamp.

FAQ

Do I need a ChatGPT / OpenAI / Google API key? No. All three engines run with no key and no login on a paid Apify plan. On a free plan, Perplexity is the one engine that needs either a paid plan or your own Perplexity key, because it calls a paid API for every query.

What does the ChatGPT answer look like? The same public web-search answer you'd read in the browser — the full answer text plus the web pages it cited — returned as clean, structured data.

Does Google AI Overview return the answer text? Yes — both the AI Overview answer and its cited sources. Not every query triggers an AI Overview on Google; when one isn't shown for a query, that query simply returns no row for this engine.

How am I billed? Pay-per-result: a small actor-start fee plus a per-answer charge for each engine, only when an answer is actually returned. Failed or empty calls are not charged.

Can I run many queries at once? Yes — paste as many as you like, one per line, and raise maxConcurrency for throughput.

Are answers deterministic? No — AI engines vary their wording between runs. The cited sources are generally more stable than the exact prose.

Support

Found a bug or want a field added? Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab and it gets picked up.

Additional services

Need lead data, SERPs, or brand visibility too? See Google Search Results Scraper, AI Visibility Tracker, and the rest of the portfolio on the Apify Store.

Explore more scrapers

• Google Search Results Scraper — organic, ads, People Also Ask, knowledge panel, AI Overviews.
• AI Visibility Tracker — brand citation share across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok & Google AI.

🤖 For AI agents & LLM apps

This actor is agent-ready. It takes a plain list of queries and returns clean, typed JSON (answer, sources, sourceUrls) with one consistent schema across engines — ideal as a web-grounded answer tool for an agent, or as a retrieval source for a RAG pipeline. Call it over the Apify API or via Apify MCP and let your agent run and schedule it.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This actor collects publicly accessible AI-generated answers and their cited sources for research, monitoring, and analysis. It does not access private accounts or bypass logins. AI answers are probabilistic and vary between runs; verify anything you rely on. You are responsible for using the output in compliance with the source services' terms and with applicable law (including copyright and data-protection rules). No affiliation with OpenAI, Google, or Perplexity is implied.

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