Unsplash Image Scraper

Unsplash Image Scraper

Extract high-quality image data from Unsplash — the internet's largest source of freely-usable photos, with over 5 million images contributed by a global community of photographers.

Search multiple keywords at once, filter by orientation, color, and sort order — get structured image data with URLs in 5 resolutions, photographer attribution, tags, and engagement metrics ready for download or integration.

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parsebird/unsplash-image-scraper on Apify. Call: ApifyClient("TOKEN").actor("parsebird/unsplash-image-scraper").call(run_input={...}), then client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items for results. Key inputs: queries (array of strings, e.g. ["nature", "coffee shop"]), maxItemsPerQuery (integer, default 20), maxTotalItems (integer, default 100), sortBy (string: "relevant"/"latest", default "relevant"), orientation (string: "any"/"landscape"/"portrait"/"squarish", default "any"), color (string: "any"/"black_and_white"/"black"/"white"/"yellow"/"orange"/"red"/"purple"/"magenta"/"green"/"teal"/"blue", default "any"). Output fields: imageId, title, description, altDescription, urls (raw/full/regular/small/thumb), photographer (name/username/profileUrl), tags, engagement (likes), color, blurHash, sourceUrl, unsplashUrl. Full actor spec: fetch via GET https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parsebird~unsplash-image-scraper (Bearer TOKEN). Get token: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations

What is Unsplash Image Scraper?

Unsplash Image Scraper extracts structured image data from Unsplash search results. It collects image URLs in multiple resolutions, photographer attribution, descriptions, tags, dimensions, and engagement metrics — all without requiring an Unsplash API key.

Use it as an Unsplash API alternative to get image data in JSON, CSV, or Excel. No coding required — enter your search terms, set your filters, click Start, and download the results. Or integrate via the Apify API to automate image data collection for your workflows.

What can Unsplash Image Scraper do?

• 🔍 Search by keyword — enter one or more search terms like "nature", "coffee shop", "minimal workspace", or "SaaS dashboard"
• 🖼️ Five image resolutions — get URLs for raw, full (2000px), regular (1080px), small (400px), and thumbnail (200px) versions
• 🎨 Color filtering — narrow results by dominant color: black & white, black, white, yellow, orange, red, purple, magenta, green, teal, or blue
• 📐 Orientation filtering — restrict to landscape, portrait, or squarish images
• 📊 Sort by relevance or date — get the most relevant images or the latest uploads first
• 👤 Photographer data — collect name, username, profile URL, and portfolio link for attribution
• 🏷️ Tags and metadata — extract image tags, dimensions, alt descriptions, and blur hashes
• 🔄 Schedule recurring runs — monitor new uploads and build image datasets over time with Apify scheduling
• 🔗 API access and integrations — connect to Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, webhooks, or any workflow via the Apify API

What data can you extract from Unsplash?

Field	Description
imageId	Unique Unsplash photo identifier
title / description	Photo title and description set by the photographer
altDescription	Machine-generated alt text for the image
urls.raw	Original unprocessed image URL
urls.full	High-quality JPEG (2000px width)
urls.regular	Standard JPEG (1080px width)
urls.small	Small JPEG (400px width)
urls.thumb	Thumbnail JPEG (200px width)
photographer.name	Photographer's display name
photographer.username	Unsplash username
photographer.profileUrl	Link to the photographer's Unsplash profile
photographer.portfolioUrl	External portfolio link
tags	Array of image tags
engagement.likes	Number of likes on Unsplash
color	Dominant hex color of the image
blurHash	BlurHash placeholder string
width / height	Image dimensions in pixels
createdAt / updatedAt	Upload and last update timestamps
unsplashUrl	Direct link to the photo on Unsplash

How to scrape Unsplash images

1. Go to the Unsplash Image Scraper page on Apify Store
2. Click Try for free to open the Actor console
3. Enter one or more search queries (e.g. nature, coffee shop, minimal workspace)
4. Set Max Images per Query to control how many images to collect per search term (default: 20)
5. Optionally set Sort By, Orientation, and Color filters
6. Click Start and wait for the run to finish
7. Download your data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect via the Apify API

Python API example

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("parsebird/unsplash-image-scraper").call(run_input={
    "queries": ["nature", "coffee shop"],
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
    "maxTotalItems": 50,
    "sortBy": "relevant",
    "orientation": "landscape",
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['imageId']} — {item['photographer']['name']} — {item['urls']['regular']}")

JavaScript API example

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: "YOUR_API_TOKEN" });

const run = await client.actor("parsebird/unsplash-image-scraper").call({
    queries: ["nature", "coffee shop"],
    maxItemsPerQuery: 20,
    maxTotalItems: 50,
    sortBy: "relevant",
    orientation: "landscape",
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.log(`${item.imageId} — ${item.photographer.name} — ${item.urls.regular}`);
});

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
queries	array	Yes	—	Search terms (e.g. ["nature", "coffee shop"]). Each term runs as a separate search.
maxItemsPerQuery	integer	No	20	Maximum images to collect per search term
maxTotalItems	integer	No	100	Maximum images to collect across all search terms
sortBy	string	No	"relevant"	Sort order: relevant or latest
orientation	string	No	"any"	Image orientation: any, landscape, portrait, squarish
color	string	No	"any"	Dominant color filter: any, black_and_white, black, white, yellow, orange, red, purple, magenta, green, teal, blue
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify Proxy	Proxy settings for the scraper

Output example

{
    "query": "nature",
    "queryIndex": 0,
    "rank": 1,
    "imageId": "cssvEZacHvQ",
    "title": null,
    "description": null,
    "altDescription": "gray concrete bridge and waterfalls during daytime",
    "createdAt": null,
    "updatedAt": null,
    "width": null,
    "height": null,
    "urls": {
        "raw": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format",
        "full": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format&fit=crop&q=85&w=2000",
        "regular": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format&fit=crop&q=80&w=1080",
        "small": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format&fit=crop&q=80&w=400",
        "thumb": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format&fit=crop&q=80&w=200"
    },
    "links": {
        "html": "https://unsplash.com/photos/gray-concrete-bridge-and-waterfalls-during-daytime-cssvEZacHvQ",
        "download": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1433086966358-54859d0ed716?auto=format&fit=crop&q=85&w=2000",
        "downloadLocation": null
    },
    "photographer": {
        "id": null,
        "username": "blakeverdoorn",
        "name": null,
        "profileUrl": "https://unsplash.com/@blakeverdoorn",
        "portfolioUrl": null
    },
    "tags": [],
    "engagement": {
        "likes": null,
        "downloads": null
    },
    "color": null,
    "blurHash": null,
    "sourceUrl": "https://unsplash.com/s/photos/nature",
    "unsplashUrl": "https://unsplash.com/photos/gray-concrete-bridge-and-waterfalls-during-daytime-cssvEZacHvQ",
    "downloadLocationUrl": null,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-23T02:24:44.000Z"
}

Download results in JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Use cases

• 🎨 Design and branding — Build mood boards, source hero images, and find on-brand visuals by color and orientation
• 📝 Content creation — Find high-quality stock photos for blog posts, social media, newsletters, and presentations
• 🤖 AI and machine learning — Collect labeled image datasets for training computer vision models, classifiers, or generative AI
• 📊 Market research — Analyze visual trends, popular photography styles, and content patterns across categories
• 🖥️ Web development — Source placeholder images, populate design prototypes, and generate image galleries programmatically
• 🔄 Automated pipelines — Schedule recurring runs to collect fresh images and feed them into content management systems or design tools

How much does it cost to scrape Unsplash?

Event	Price per event	Price per 1,000
image-scraped	$0.002	$2.00

One event is charged each time an image is successfully scraped and saved to the dataset. You only pay for images actually returned.

Cost examples:

Images	Cost
20 (default run)	$0.04
100	$0.20
1,000	$2.00
10,000	$20.00

Apify offers a free trial with $5 of platform credits — enough to scrape ~2,500 Unsplash images at no cost.

How it works

1. Accepts your search queries and filter settings (orientation, color, sort order)
2. For each query, opens the Unsplash search page in a headless Chromium browser
3. Intercepts internal API responses or extracts structured data from the rendered page
4. Maps each photo to a clean output schema with URLs, photographer info, and metadata
5. Paginates through results until the per-query or total limit is reached
6. Pushes all results to the Apify dataset for download or API access

FAQ

What search terms can I use? Any keyword or phrase that works on unsplash.com — single words like "mountain" or "coffee", multi-word phrases like "minimal workspace" or "SaaS dashboard", and category terms like "architecture" or "food photography".

Can I search for multiple topics in one run? Yes. Add multiple search terms to the queries array. Each term is searched separately, and you can control both the per-query limit and the total limit across all queries.

Why are some fields null in the output? Unsplash's public search results do not always expose every metadata field. Fields like title, description, downloads, and downloadLocation may be null depending on what the photographer provided and what Unsplash returns for that search. The image URLs, photographer info, and core metadata are reliably present.

Does this scraper download the actual image files? No. The scraper returns image URLs in five resolutions (raw, full, regular, small, thumb). You can download the images yourself using the URLs provided, or use them directly in your application.

Is this an official Unsplash API client? No. This Actor scrapes publicly available data from Unsplash's search functionality. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Unsplash Inc. For official API access, see the Unsplash API documentation.

Can I filter images by color? Yes. Use the color input to filter by dominant color: black & white, black, white, yellow, orange, red, purple, magenta, green, teal, or blue. This is useful for brand guidelines, mood boards, and design research.

Can I schedule recurring scrapes? Yes. Use Apify scheduling to run daily, weekly, or at any custom interval. Combine with webhooks or integrations to automate your image data pipeline.

Can I access the data via API? Yes. Every run produces a dataset accessible via the Apify API. Integrate with Python, JavaScript, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, or any HTTP-capable tool.

What are the result limits? Results depend on what Unsplash returns for the public search at run time. The number of available images varies by search term and filter combination. Very specific or niche queries may return fewer results.

Is it legal to scrape Unsplash?

This Actor extracts publicly available data from Unsplash. Scraping public data is generally considered legal based on recent court rulings, including the US Ninth Circuit's decision in hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn. However, this Actor does not provide legal advice about how you may use the images or data. Users are responsible for reviewing the Unsplash License and individual image-owner terms for their specific use case. Do not use extracted data for purposes incompatible with applicable terms of service. For more information, read Apify's blog post on web scraping legality.

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