# πŸ“Š Tranco Rank Lookup β€” Alexa Rank Alternative (`nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup`) Actor Free domain ranking API. Replaces defunct Alexa Rank using Tranco academic research list. Bulk lookup, 30-day history, similar domains, trend detection. - **URL**: https://apify.com/nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup.md - **Developed by:** [Stephan Corbeil](https://apify.com/nexgendata) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Marketing, Business - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $10.00 / 1,000 tranco rank lookup per domains 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Tranco Rank Lookup β€” The Free Alexa Rank Alternative That Actually Works > **Bulk website ranking API. Academic-grade domain popularity data. No sign-up, no paywall, no dead endpoints.** Amazon retired Alexa.com rankings on **May 1, 2022**, leaving thousands of SEO pros, investors, security researchers, and journalists stranded without a public traffic-popularity signal. Every replacement since has been either (a) locked behind a $499/month SimilarWeb seat, (b) a sketchy "Alexa rank checker" site scraping stale Wayback data, or (c) hidden inside Semrush's 7-day trial funnel. **This actor fixes that.** It queries [Tranco](https://tranco-list.eu/) β€” the academic, peer-reviewed domain ranking list published by **DistriNet at KU Leuven** β€” and returns clean JSON for bulk lookups, rank history, trend detection, similar-rank peer domains, and side-by-side baseline comparison. Free academic backend. Predictable pay-per-event pricing. Works at 1 domain or 10,000. --- ### Why Alexa Died, and Why Tranco Is the Credible Replacement Alexa Rank was based on the Alexa Toolbar β€” a browser extension that hemorrhaged users after 2010 and was effectively data-dead long before Amazon pulled the plug. Its rankings for anything outside the top 100,000 were statistical noise by the end. **Tranco** was built in 2018 by researchers Victor Le Pochat, Tom Van Goethem, Samaneh Tajalizadehkhoob, Maciej KorczyΕ„ski, and Wouter Joosen specifically to address the reproducibility crisis in web-measurement research. It is: - **Academic and transparent.** The methodology is published ([NDSS 2019 paper](https://tranco-list.eu/assets/tranco-ndss19.pdf)) and the list is regenerated daily from a weighted combination of Cisco Umbrella, Majestic, Farsight DNSDB, Cloudflare Radar, and Chrome UX Report. - **Peer-reviewed.** Used by over 1,000 published security and web-measurement papers. You can cite it in a whitepaper without getting laughed at. - **Daily.** New list every 24 hours, with a stable list-ID you can reference for reproducibility. - **Manipulation-resistant.** Combines multiple independent sources so it's much harder to game than any single-source ranking. - **Free for research and reasonable automated use.** No API key required for small-scale queries. Tranco is the list security researchers, browser vendors, and academics already use. This actor just wraps it in a clean, bulk-friendly, SEO-grade interface. --- ### Input Parameters | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `domains` | `string[]` | `["github.com","stackoverflow.com","news.ycombinator.com"]` | Domains to look up. URLs, www-prefixed hosts, and apex domains are all accepted β€” they're normalized automatically. | | `include_history` | `boolean` | `true` | Return daily rank history (within the `history_days` window). Disable for faster bulk-only lookups. | | `baseline_domains` | `string[]` | `["google.com","wikipedia.org"]` | Reference domains every result is compared against. Use your own site + competitors. | | `history_days` | `integer (7–90)` | `30` | How many days of historical rank data to include per domain. | --- ### Output Example Every result is pushed to the default dataset as a single JSON record: ```json { "domain": "github.com", "tranco_rank_current": 68, "tranco_rank_best_30d": 63, "tranco_rank_history": [ {"date": "2026-03-20", "rank": 71}, {"date": "2026-03-21", "rank": 70}, {"date": "2026-04-16", "rank": 68} ], "trend": "up", "category_inferred": "Developer & Tech", "similar_domains": ["stackoverflow.com", "reddit.com", "netflix.com"], "comparison": { "google.com": {"baseline_rank": 1, "delta_vs_baseline": 67, "relative": "less_popular"}, "wikipedia.org": {"baseline_rank": 12, "delta_vs_baseline": 56, "relative": "less_popular"} }, "whois": { "source": "stub", "note": "See domain-whois-lookup actor for live data.", "domain": "github.com" }, "list_source": "Tranco (tranco-list.eu) β€” DistriNet/KU Leuven", "fetched_at": "2026-04-17T14:22:03+00:00" } ```` Domains outside the Tranco top 1M return a gracefully-handled record with `tranco_rank_current: null` and `note: "not in top 1M"` β€” this is the normal case for small sites, not an error. *** ### 5 Real Use Cases #### 1. SEO Competitor Research Drop your top 20 competitors into `domains`, put your own site in `baseline_domains`, and export to Google Sheets. Instantly see who's trending up, who's slipping, and which competitors share your popularity tier. Pairs well with a content audit β€” if a competitor jumped 15,000 ranks in 30 days, go look at what they published. #### 2. Investor & M\&A Due Diligence VCs and search-fund buyers routinely need to sanity-check a target company's traffic claims. Tranco gives you an independent, academically-credible datapoint to triangulate against whatever the seller is pitching. "Your deck says 2M monthly visits but your Tranco rank dropped from 45K to 310K" is a useful conversation. #### 3. Security & Threat-Intel Triangulation Tranco is the gold standard for measuring domain prevalence in security research. Use this actor alongside VirusTotal scores, Cloudflare Radar signals, and passive DNS to score whether a suspicious domain is a legitimate high-traffic site or a fresh phishing lure. A domain that's not in the top 1M *and* has a 2-week-old cert is a very different risk profile than alexa-rank-450 with a 10-year WHOIS history. #### 4. Website Valuation / Flippa-Style Appraisal When valuing a content site for acquisition, analysts want traffic rank trajectory, not just a single snapshot. The 30-day history + trend field gives you an instant "is this site growing, stable, or dying?" signal to feed into your valuation model. #### 5. Marketing Agency Client Reporting Stop paying SimilarWeb $500/month just to include one chart in a monthly client deck. Schedule this actor weekly, pipe the output to Google Sheets via Apify integration, and generate rank-over-time charts for every client site for roughly the cost of lunch. *** ### Alexa vs Tranco vs SimilarWeb vs Semrush | Capability | Alexa Rank | **Tranco Rank Lookup (this actor)** | SimilarWeb | Semrush | |---|---|---|---|---| | Status in 2026 | **Dead since May 2022** | Active, daily updates | Active | Active | | Data source credibility | Toolbar-based, degraded | **Academic, peer-reviewed, multi-source** | Proprietary panel | Proprietary clickstream | | Free tier | N/A (dead) | **Unlimited lookups, PPE pricing** | 3 results/day | Trial only | | Bulk API | Never existed cleanly | **Yes β€” up to 10K domains/run** | Enterprise only | Enterprise only | | Price for 1,000 domain lookups | N/A | **~$0.30 via PPE** | $499+/month seat | $449+/month seat | | Sign-up / credit card required | N/A | **No (via Apify)** | Yes | Yes | | Academic citability | No | **Yes β€” NDSS 2019 methodology** | No | No | | Output format | HTML scrape | **Clean JSON, dataset, CSV, Excel** | Dashboard | Dashboard | If you need panel-based traffic estimates (bounce rate, session duration, exact visit counts), SimilarWeb and Semrush still have their place. If you need a **free, bulk-friendly, reproducible popularity rank** β€” which is what 90% of "Alexa rank alternative" searches are actually looking for β€” Tranco is objectively the right tool, and this actor is the cleanest way to consume it. *** ### Why Run This on NexGenData / Apify? - **Zero infra.** No Python environment, no rate-limit retry logic, no CSV stitching. Paste domains, click Run. - **Bulk-first.** Built for lists of 100–10,000 domains, not one-off curl requests. - **Pay-per-event pricing.** No monthly minimum. If you need 50 lookups, you pay for 50 lookups. - **Polite by default.** 10 req/sec rate limit keeps Tranco's academic infrastructure happy β€” we want this list to stay free. - **Clean data contract.** Stable JSON shape, graceful null handling for unranked domains, ISO-8601 timestamps. - **Fully integrated.** Pipe directly to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n, or your own webhook via standard Apify integrations. *** ### Related Actors in the NexGenData Suite - **[company-tech-stack-detector](https://apify.com/nexgendata)** β€” reveal the CMS, framework, CDN, and analytics stack behind any domain. Pair with rank data for competitive intel. - **[domain-whois-lookup](https://apify.com/nexgendata)** β€” real WHOIS + RDAP domain-age and registrar lookup. Combine with rank for full domain profile. - **[website-content-crawler](https://apify.com/nexgendata)** β€” bulk-extract and clean page content from any rank-tier of domains you identify here. - **[page-speed-analyzer](https://apify.com/nexgendata)** β€” Core Web Vitals + Lighthouse scores. A high Tranco rank with bad CWV is a huge SEO opportunity. *** ### FAQ **Q: Is Tranco actually accurate?** Honest answer: Tranco measures **domain prevalence across multiple independent signals (DNS resolvers, CDN logs, Chrome UX data, managed DNS telemetry)** β€” not direct human visitor counts. It's an excellent *relative-popularity* signal (much better than old Alexa) and it's manipulation-resistant, but it is *not* a substitute for panel-based traffic estimates like SimilarWeb if you need "1.2M monthly uniques" numbers. Use it the way the security and academic communities use it: as the best available public proxy for "how widely is this domain actually used on the open internet." **Q: Why do some domains return `tranco_rank_current: null`?** Tranco only ranks the top ~1,000,000 domains globally. Anything smaller β€” which is the vast majority of the web β€” won't appear. This is normal and expected; we return a clean `null` with `"note": "not in top 1M"` rather than throwing an error. **Q: How fresh is the data?** Tranco regenerates the list **daily**. This actor pulls the latest available ranking on each run. Daily history goes back years on the Tranco side; we expose the last 7–90 days per-domain. **Q: Can I use this commercially?** Yes. Tranco is freely usable, and publishing a commercial lookup wrapper is within their stated terms. If you build something that hammers their API at high volume, consider using an authenticated Tranco account or downloading the full daily list (~20MB CSV) directly. **Q: Does this replace my Semrush / Ahrefs / SimilarWeb subscription?** For *rank and popularity* β€” yes, almost certainly. For keyword-level search volume, backlink graphs, and panel-based traffic estimates β€” no, those products have their own moats. Think of this as the "rank checker" tab of those tools, carved out and made free. **Q: Why 10 requests/second rate limit?** Tranco's infrastructure is academic. Being polite keeps the list free and public. 10 req/sec still gets you through 10,000 domains in ~17 minutes, which is plenty for almost every real use case. *** #### Built by NexGenData β€” more SEO and domain-intel actors at [apify.com/nexgendata](https://apify.com/nexgendata?fpr=2ayu9b) ### Related tools - [🏒 Company Data Aggregator β€” Crunchbase Free API Alternative](https://apify.com/nexgendata/company-data-aggregator?fpr=2ayu9b) - [🧱 Company Tech Stack Detector β€” BuiltWith Alternative](https://apify.com/nexgendata/company-tech-stack-detector?fpr=2ayu9b) - [πŸ” Google Search Scraper β€” SERP Results API](https://apify.com/nexgendata/google-search-scraper?fpr=2ayu9b) - [πŸ“§ Website Email Extractor β€” Contact Scraper](https://apify.com/nexgendata/website-email-extractor?fpr=2ayu9b) # Actor input Schema ## `domains` (type: `array`): List of domains to query against the Tranco top-1M list. Accepts raw URLs, www-prefixed hosts, or apex domains β€” input is normalized automatically. ## `include_history` (type: `boolean`): When true, returns up to `history_days` of daily Tranco ranks so you can plot trends. Disable for faster bulk lookups. ## `baseline_domains` (type: `array`): Up to 3 reference domains every result will be compared to (e.g. your site + two competitors). Leave default for generic industry baselines. ## `history_days` (type: `integer`): How many days of historical Tranco rank data to include per domain. Range 7–90. Tranco publishes daily; more days means bigger output and slightly longer runs. ## Actor input object example ```json { "domains": [ "github.com", "stackoverflow.com", "news.ycombinator.com" ], "include_history": true, "baseline_domains": [ "google.com", "wikipedia.org" ], "history_days": 30 } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "domains": [ "github.com", "stackoverflow.com", "news.ycombinator.com" ], "include_history": true, "baseline_domains": [ "google.com", "wikipedia.org" ], "history_days": 30 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`πŸ’Ύ 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); }); // πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ 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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "domains": [ "github.com", "stackoverflow.com", "news.ycombinator.com", ], "include_history": True, "baseline_domains": [ "google.com", "wikipedia.org", ], "history_days": 30, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("πŸ’Ύ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "domains": [ "github.com", "stackoverflow.com", "news.ycombinator.com" ], "include_history": true, "baseline_domains": [ "google.com", "wikipedia.org" ], "history_days": 30 }' | apify call nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=nexgendata/tranco-rank-lookup", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "πŸ“Š Tranco Rank Lookup β€” Alexa Rank Alternative", "description": "Free domain ranking API. Replaces defunct Alexa Rank using Tranco academic research list. Bulk lookup, 30-day history, similar domains, trend detection.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "2RR9sqhhyN7KuPSmu" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/nexgendata~tranco-rank-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-nexgendata-tranco-rank-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/nexgendata~tranco-rank-lookup/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-nexgendata-tranco-rank-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/nexgendata~tranco-rank-lookup/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-nexgendata-tranco-rank-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "domains" ], "properties": { "domains": { "title": "Domains to look up", "type": "array", "description": "List of domains to query against the Tranco top-1M list. Accepts raw URLs, www-prefixed hosts, or apex domains β€” input is normalized automatically.", "default": [ "github.com", "stackoverflow.com", "news.ycombinator.com" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "include_history": { "title": "Include daily rank history", "type": "boolean", "description": "When true, returns up to `history_days` of daily Tranco ranks so you can plot trends. Disable for faster bulk lookups.", "default": true }, "baseline_domains": { "title": "Baseline / competitor domains", "type": "array", "description": "Up to 3 reference domains every result will be compared to (e.g. your site + two competitors). Leave default for generic industry baselines.", "default": [ "google.com", "wikipedia.org" ], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "history_days": { "title": "History window (days)", "minimum": 7, "maximum": 90, "type": "integer", "description": "How many days of historical Tranco rank data to include per domain. Range 7–90. Tranco publishes daily; more days means bigger output and slightly longer runs.", "default": 30 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```