# AliExpress Search Scraper (`orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search`) Actor

Scrape AliExpress search results: price, discount, exact units sold, rating, Choice and free shipping. Many countries per run, price-change mode. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search.md
- **Developed by:** [Randor Saar](https://apify.com/orbiting_solutions) (community)
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 83.3% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 unique products

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## AliExpress Search Scraper

**AliExpress Search Scraper** turns AliExpress keyword searches into clean, ready-to-use product rows: **price, list price and discount, exact units sold, rating, Choice and free-shipping flags, ships-from country, image and link**. Run the same keywords in **several ship-to countries in one run** to compare markets, and schedule **change-only mode** to get just the price moves.

Try it in one click: the form is pre-filled with one keyword (`wireless earbuds`), one country (US) and 100 products. A test run on Apify with that input returned 100 products in 5.4 seconds and cost $0.07.

- ✅ No AliExpress account, no login, no cookies from you
- ✅ Search pages, search URLs and category URLs
- ✅ Exact units sold (for example `4115`, not just "4,000+ sold") and a flag for first-order "new shopper" prices
- ✅ US, DE, GB and other markets in one run, each in its own currency
- ✅ **Pay only for unique products**: duplicates, filtered rows and unchanged products are free
- ✅ Collects **public data only**: search cards carry no seller names or other personal data

### What can you use it for?

| You are | You use it to |
|---|---|
| Dropshipper | Find winning products by units sold and price band |
| Product researcher or agency | Size a niche and track price moves on a schedule |
| Price-comparison or catalogue builder | Get image, title, price and link in bulk |
| Multi-market seller | Compare the same keyword across US, DE, GB and more in one run |

### What data does it extract?

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `title`, `productUrl`, `imageUrl` | Product title, link and main image |
| `productId` | Global AliExpress product ID, the same in every market |
| `price`, `priceFormatted`, `currency` | Price a logged-out visitor sees in that market |
| `originalPrice`, `discountPercent` | Crossed-out list price and discount |
| `isNewShopperPrice` | `true` when the shown price is a first-order (new shopper) deal |
| `regularOfferPrice` | Price without the new-shopper deal (meaning inferred from AliExpress's own data, not confirmed) |
| `soldCount`, `soldLabel` | Exact units sold when AliExpress provides it (most cards), and the label shown |
| `rating` | Star rating |
| `isChoice`, `freeShipping`, `deliveryNote`, `shipFrom` | Choice badge, free-shipping badge, delivery promise, ships-from country |
| `isPromoted`, `placementType`, `position`, `organicPosition` | Ad flag, card type and rank on the page (with and without ads) |
| `categoryIds`, `launchDate` | AliExpress category IDs and listing date |
| `keyword`, `country`, `sort`, `page`, `scrapedAt` | Where and when the row was found |
| `changeType`, `previousPrice`, `firstSeenAt`, `seenInRuns` | Change-only mode only (see below) |

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free** and keep the pre-filled input, or type your own keywords.
2. Pick ship-to countries (ISO codes such as `US`, `DE`, `GB`) and, if you like, a sort order, price range or filters.
3. Set **Max products per keyword and country** (up to 3,600, the most AliExpress shows) and **Max products per run**.
4. Click **Start**, then download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the Apify API.

#### Input example

```json
{
  "keywords": ["yoga mat", "wireless earbuds"],
  "countries": ["US", "DE", "GB"],
  "sort": "orders",
  "maxItemsPerKeyword": 500,
  "maxItems": 3000
}
```

Other options: `startUrls` (AliExpress `/w/wholesale-*.html` search URLs or `/category/<id>/<name>.html` category URLs), `currency`, `language`, `minPrice` / `maxPrice` (whole numbers), `shipFrom`, `freeShippingOnly`, `choiceOnly`, `minRating`, `minSold`, `includePromoted`. Every field is explained in the input form.

#### Output example

One row per unique product per country. This row is from a real run on 24 October 2026:

```json
{
  "keyword": "phone case",
  "country": "US",
  "currency": "USD",
  "sort": "best_match",
  "page": 1,
  "position": 1,
  "organicPosition": 1,
  "isPromoted": false,
  "placementType": "natural",
  "productId": "1005012594256426",
  "cardId": "3256812407941674",
  "title": "INS Korean Polka Dots Dopamine Soft TPU Phone Case for iPhone 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 Pro Max 16E 17E 18 Pro Silicone Cream Cover",
  "productUrl": "https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005012594256426.html",
  "imageUrl": "https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S34be593b88f0488ca16b517948db9201i.jpg",
  "price": 1.09,
  "priceFormatted": "US $1.09",
  "originalPrice": 4.23,
  "discountPercent": 74,
  "regularOfferPrice": 4.16,
  "isNewShopperPrice": true,
  "rating": 4.9,
  "soldCount": 4115,
  "soldLabel": "4,000+ sold",
  "isChoice": true,
  "freeShipping": false,
  "deliveryNote": "Fastest delivery in 6 days",
  "categoryIds": ["202192403", "202228401", "202229403"],
  "launchDate": "2026-06-25",
  "shipFrom": "CN",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-24T12:58:56Z"
}
```

The dataset has two views: **Products** (image, title, price, units sold, rating, link) and **Prices and deals** (list price, new-shopper flag, change type, previous price). The run's `OUTPUT` record holds a per-keyword summary: pages, cards, rows, duplicates, filtered rows and the reason the run stopped.

### How much does it cost to scrape AliExpress?

You pay per result, nothing per minute of compute. Platform usage (compute, proxy, storage) is included in the price.

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Unique product row | **$0.70 per 1,000** ($0.0007 each) |
| Actor start | $0.00005 per run (Apify's standard start event, once per GB of memory; the default 512 MB counts once) |

Worked examples:

- **1,000 products**: 1,000 × $0.0007 + $0.00005 = **$0.70**.
- **The pre-filled run** (1 keyword, 100 products): 100 × $0.0007 + $0.00005 = **$0.07005**. A real run was charged exactly 100 product events and 1 start event.
- **A 20-product test run** on Apify was charged 20 product events and 1 start event: **$0.01405**.
- **Large run**: 4,800 products (5 keywords × 480 products × US and DE) = **$3.36**. On Apify this took 309 seconds with 0 failed pages.

Apify's Free plan includes $5 of monthly usage, which covers about 7,000 products.

You never pay for duplicates (the same product on several pages or keywords is charged once per country), rows removed by your filters (`minRating`, `minSold`, ads off), or unchanged products in change-only mode. The run also stops at **Max products per run** and at the maximum charge you set for the run, so the cost can't run away.

### Change-only mode (price monitoring)

Turn on **Only new products and price changes** and schedule the Actor with the same **State store name**. Each run outputs only:

- `priceChanged`: a product seen before now has a different price (`previousPrice` shows the old one). Changes where only one side is a first-order new-shopper price are ignored, because that price differs per visitor.
- `newInResults`: the product wasn't in any of the last `historyRuns` runs (default 5).

Unchanged products are neither output nor charged. In a real pair of back-to-back runs on the same search, the second run output 43 `newInResults` rows and 1 `priceChanged` row, and skipped 136 unchanged products for free.

**Important limit: AliExpress personalises and reshuffles search rankings.** When we fetched the same search twice a few minutes apart, only about half of the page-1 products came back (30 of 60 in the US). So `newInResults` means "new in the results we scanned", **not** "newly listed on AliExpress". The window reduces this churn but doesn't remove it. Scan deeper (`maxItemsPerKeyword` 300 or more) for steadier results, and use `launchDate` to find recently listed products.

### How reliable is it?

AliExpress shows a slider captcha after bursts of traffic. The scraper never solves captchas. Instead, it rotates browser-like cookie sessions, pauses and slows down when a captcha appears, retries the page in a fresh session, and switches to Apify's datacenter proxy at the first captcha cluster. In our largest test on Apify (101 pages, 4,800 products), 9% of requests met a captcha, all were retried successfully, and **0 pages failed**. If AliExpress keeps blocking, the run stops cleanly, keeps everything already scraped and writes the reason to `OUTPUT`.

Field checks against an independent re-fetch of the same search pages: rating, Choice flag and units sold matched on 20 of 20 rows in both the US and DE. Price matched 18 of 20 in the US (the other 2 were new-shopper prices, which differ by session) and 20 of 20 in DE.

### FAQ

**Is it legal to scrape AliExpress?**
This Actor reads only public search pages that any logged-out visitor can see, and the rows contain no personal data (no seller or buyer names). Check your own use against AliExpress's terms and the law where you work; if you're unsure, ask a lawyer.

**Why is the price often $1.09 or so low?**
Logged-out visitors are often shown a first-order "new shopper" deal. Those rows have `isNewShopperPrice: true`; use `originalPrice` or `regularOfferPrice` for the usual price.

**Why do I get different products in each country?**
AliExpress shows a different product set per market. In our tests US and DE shared 13 of the first 100 products, and US and GB shared 29. Each country is charged separately.

**Why did I get fewer products than my limit?**
AliExpress shows at most 60 pages of 60 products per search, and the scraper stops when a page has no new products. Duplicates and filtered rows aren't counted or charged.

**Can it scrape product detail pages, reviews or stores?**
No. It reads search and category result pages only.

**Do I need a proxy?**
No setup needed. The default uses Apify's datacenter proxy only after AliExpress starts showing captchas. You can turn it off or use it from the first request.

**Can I use it through the API or with integrations?**
Yes. Run it with the Apify API, the JavaScript or Python client, schedules, webhooks, or integrations such as Make, Zapier and Google Sheets.

### Limits

- Search and category result pages only: no product details, reviews, store pages or shipping quotes.
- At most 60 pages of 60 cards per search (AliExpress's own limit).
- Titles and rankings vary a little between sessions because AliExpress personalises and tests them. `productId` is stable.
- `regularOfferPrice` is read from AliExpress's tracking data, and its meaning isn't confirmed.

### Feedback

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab and include the run ID.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Search terms, 1 to 100, as you would type them on AliExpress. Each keyword runs once per ship-to country. Either keywords or start URLs are needed.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional. AliExpress search URLs (/w/wholesale-\*.html) or category list URLs (/category/<id>/<name>.html). Product URLs (/item/...) are rejected: this Actor reads result lists only.

## `countries` (type: `array`):

ISO-2 markets, e.g. US, DE, GB. Prices, currency and the product set differ per market.

## `currency` (type: `string`):

Leave empty for each market's own currency (USD for US, EUR for DE, GBP for GB...).

## `language` (type: `string`):

Title language (AliExpress machine-translates titles).

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Order of AliExpress results.

## `minPrice` (type: `integer`):

In the run's currency. Sent to AliExpress and re-checked on output.

## `maxPrice` (type: `integer`):

In the run's currency. Sent to AliExpress and re-checked on output.

## `shipFrom` (type: `string`):

AliExpress shipFromCountry filter, e.g. US or CN.

## `freeShippingOnly` (type: `boolean`):

AliExpress free-shipping filter.

## `choiceOnly` (type: `boolean`):

AliExpress Choice filter.

## `minRating` (type: `string`):

Output filter, e.g. 4.5. Products without a rating are dropped when set. Filtered rows are free.

## `minSold` (type: `integer`):

Output filter. Filtered rows are free.

## `includePromoted` (type: `boolean`):

Ads are always flagged with isPromoted. Turn off to drop them (free).

## `maxItemsPerKeyword` (type: `integer`):

Unique products, 1 to 3,600 (AliExpress shows at most 60 pages of 60).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap for the whole run. Your max charge per run is respected too.

## `onlyChangedSinceLastRun` (type: `boolean`):

Output only products that are new in the scanned results (changeType newInResults, absent from the last N runs) and price changes on products already seen (priceChanged). Unchanged products are not output and not charged. AliExpress personalises rankings, so newInResults does not mean newly listed.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Named key-value store that keeps a compact per-product history (last price, first and last seen, runs seen in). Use one name per watchlist.

## `historyRuns` (type: `integer`):

Change-only mode: a product is output as newInResults only if it was absent from all of the last N runs with this state store. Higher means fewer false 'new' alerts from AliExpress's personalised ranking.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel cookie sessions, 1 to 6. Higher is not always faster: AliExpress throttles per IP.

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

Default: Apify datacenter proxy as a fallback. The Actor starts direct and switches to this proxy at the first captcha cluster (measured on Apify: direct runs from Apify IPs hit captchas at about 27%, datacenter proxy about 10% with 0 failed pages). Turn off to stay direct.

## `useProxyFromStart` (type: `boolean`):

Use the proxy above for every request instead of only after the first captcha cluster.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keywords": [
    "wireless earbuds"
  ],
  "startUrls": [],
  "countries": [
    "US"
  ],
  "currency": "",
  "language": "en",
  "sort": "best_match",
  "freeShippingOnly": false,
  "choiceOnly": false,
  "minSold": 0,
  "includePromoted": true,
  "maxItemsPerKeyword": 100,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "onlyChangedSinceLastRun": false,
  "stateStoreName": "aliexpress-monitor",
  "historyRuns": 5,
  "maxConcurrency": 3,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "useProxyFromStart": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

All product rows (one per unique product per ship-to country). Opens on the Products view; switch to Prices and deals with the view selector.

## `pricing` (type: `string`):

Same rows, Prices and deals view: price, list price, regular offer price, new-shopper flag, discount, change type and previous price.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

OUTPUT record: per-keyword and per-country pages, cards, rows, duplicates, filtered counts, empty or unreadable keywords, captcha and request statistics, stop reason.

# 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 = {
    "keywords": [
        "wireless earbuds"
    ],
    "countries": [
        "US"
    ],
    "maxItemsPerKeyword": 100,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search").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 = {
    "keywords": ["wireless earbuds"],
    "countries": ["US"],
    "maxItemsPerKeyword": 100,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search").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 '{
  "keywords": [
    "wireless earbuds"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "US"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerKeyword": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,orbiting_solutions/aliexpress-search"
        }
    }
}
```

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/3ELz5DBKEqCDUJUDE/builds/ZKUragcTCvZ5ZKm6b/openapi.json