# HotFrog Business Directory Scraper (`moving_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-scraper`) Actor

The HotFrog Business Scraper is an Apify Actor that extracts business listings from HotFrog using keywords and locations. It collects details like names, phone numbers, addresses, descriptions, websites, and profile links, and can visit each site to gather email addresses for lead generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/moving\_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jamshaid Arif](https://apify.com/moving_beacon-owner1) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $9.99 / 1,000 results

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/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

## HotFrog Business Directory Scraper

An [Apify actor](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors) that scrapes business
listings from [HotFrog](https://www.hotfrog.com) search results by keyword and
optional location.
For each business it outputs:

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `title` | Business name |
| `phone` | Phone number |
| `address` | Address line (City, ST ...) |
| `description` | Short description / snippet |
| `website` | The business's own site from the card's call-to-action button |
| `emails` | Emails harvested from the website (only when **fetchEmails** is on) |
| `profileUrl` | The HotFrog company profile page |
| `reviewUrl` | "Review now" link |
| `messageUrl` | "Message business" link |
| `keyword`, `location` | Echo of the search inputs |

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `keyword` | string | — | **Required.** e.g. `plumbing` |
| `location` | string | `""` | e.g. `Austin, TX`. Blank = nationwide (US) |
| `maxPages` | integer | `1` | Result pages to walk |
| `maxRecords` | integer | `50` | Hard cap on businesses collected |
| `fetchEmails` | boolean | `false` | Visit each business site to scrape emails (slower) |
| `engine` | string | `auto` | `auto` / `curl_cffi` / `requests` |
| `requestDelaySeconds` | integer | `1` | Politeness delay between requests |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify Proxy | **Use RESIDENTIAL** — HotFrog blocks datacenter IPs |

#### Example input

```json
{
    "keyword": "roofing",
    "location": "Austin, TX",
    "maxPages": 3,
    "maxRecords": 100,
    "fetchEmails": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
    }
}
```

### Output

Every business is pushed to the actor's default dataset. Export as JSON, CSV,
Excel, etc. from the run's **Storage → Dataset** tab, or via the API.

```json
{
    "title": "Acme Plumbing Co",
    "phone": "(512) 555-1234",
    "address": "123 Main St, Austin, TX 78701",
    "description": "Emergency plumbing repairs, 24/7 service.",
    "website": "https://www.acmeplumbing.com",
    "emails": ["info@acmeplumbing.com"],
    "profileUrl": "https://www.hotfrog.com/company/12345/acme-plumbing/",
    "reviewUrl": "https://www.hotfrog.com/review/12345/",
    "messageUrl": "https://www.hotfrog.com/message/12345/",
    "keyword": "plumbing",
    "location": "Austin, TX"
}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

What to search for on HotFrog, e.g. 'plumbing', 'roofing', 'dentist'.

## `location` (type: `string`):

Optional location filter, e.g. 'Austin, TX'. Leave blank for nationwide (US) results.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

How many result pages to walk (each page has multiple listings).

## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many businesses have been collected.

## `fetchEmails` (type: `boolean`):

For each business with an external website, visit it (and its contact/about pages) to scrape email addresses. Slower — adds requests per business.

## `engine` (type: `string`):

'auto' uses curl\_cffi browser-TLS impersonation when available (best for bot protection), else plain requests.

## `requestDelaySeconds` (type: `integer`):

Minimum seconds to wait between requests (politeness / anti-blocking). A small random jitter is added on top.

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

Apify Proxy settings. RESIDENTIAL groups are strongly recommended — HotFrog blocks datacenter IPs frequently.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keyword": "plumbing",
  "maxPages": 1,
  "maxRecords": 50,
  "fetchEmails": false,
  "engine": "auto",
  "requestDelaySeconds": 1,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "keyword": "plumbing",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true,
        "apifyProxyGroups": [
            "RESIDENTIAL"
        ]
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-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 = {
    "keyword": "plumbing",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": True,
        "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keyword": "plumbing",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}' |
apify call moving_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=moving_beacon-owner1/hotfrog-business-directory-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/EaqbXVZM30PEGC67c/builds/K8yF3ImQ4Vj6CZK6z/openapi.json