AlternativeTo Scraper

AlternativeTo Scraper

Scrape AlternativeTo for software alternatives by name, up to a million per run. Get each alternative's title, description, tags, likes, and platform links. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

AlternativeTo's official API is limited and requires registration. This reads the public software listings directly, filtered by software name, and returns each alternative in one fixed schema. Find open-source or commercial replacements for Slack, Notion, Figma, and more.

Who uses it	What they scrape AlternativeTo for
Market researchers	Which alternatives are gaining traction for a given software category
Product managers	Competitive landscape for a specific tool
Sales teams	Prospect lists of companies using a particular software
Developers	Open-source alternatives to proprietary tools

What it does

This Actor collects software alternatives from AlternativeTo by software name, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Software name input: Provide a name or slug like 'slack' or 'notion' to get its alternatives.
• 📊 Flat row output: Each alternative comes as a structured record with title, description, tags, likes, and platform links.
• ⚙️ Max items control: Set a limit from 1 to 1,000,000 alternatives per run.
• 💾 Multiple export formats: Download results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with AlternativeTo data

📈 Track software trends.

A market researcher runs the Actor on 'slack' to see which alternatives are most liked and tagged, informing a report on team communication tools.

🔎 Find open-source replacements.

A developer searches for 'photoshop' alternatives and filters for open-source tags to shortlist free tools for a project.

📋 Build competitive lists.

A product manager scrapes alternatives for 'notion' to compile a feature comparison spreadsheet for stakeholders.

📞 Generate sales leads.

A sales team scrapes alternatives for 'salesforce' to identify potential prospects using competing CRM tools.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key needed	Scrape public AlternativeTo pages without registration or OAuth
Structured data	Get consistent fields for every alternative, ready for analysis
Scalable	Fetch up to a million alternatives per run for paid users
Flexible export	Save results in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML

How it compares

This Actor focuses on scraping AlternativeTo for software alternatives, while Leads Finder targets business contact data from various sources.

Feature	ParseForge	Leads Finder - $1.5/1k leads with Emails [Apollo Alternative]
Scrapes AlternativeTo	Yes	Not listed
Returns software alternatives	Yes	Not listed
Provides business emails	No	Yes
Provides mobile numbers	No	Yes
Provides LinkedIn profiles	No	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a software name, and set a maximum number of alternatives to return. The Actor reads the public AlternativeTo page and returns each match as a flat row. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "softwareName": "slack",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "softwareName": "slack",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the AlternativeTo Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to AlternativeTo through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/alternativeto-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check the software name or slug. Use the exact slug from the AlternativeTo URL, e.g. 'slack' not 'Slack App'. Also ensure the software exists on AlternativeTo.

Why am I only getting 10 items?

Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan to increase the maxItems limit.

The run fails with a timeout.

Reduce the maxItems value or try again later. AlternativeTo may be slow or blocking requests.

Some fields are empty in the output.

Not all alternatives have every field populated. Empty fields are normal when the source page lacks that data.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is AlternativeTo?	AlternativeTo is a website that lists software alternatives and lets users vote and comment on them. This Actor scrapes those public listings.
Do I need an API key?	No, the Actor reads public AlternativeTo pages directly. No registration or key is required.
What input do I need to provide?	You need to provide a software name or slug, like 'slack' or 'notion'. Optionally set a maximum number of alternatives.
What data does the Actor return?	Each alternative is returned as a flat row with fields like title, description, tags, likes, and platform links. The exact fields are shown in the sample output.
How many alternatives can I scrape?	Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid users can set a maximum up to 1,000,000.
Can I export the data?	Yes, you can export results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Is this legal?	You should only scrape public data in accordance with the website's terms of service and applicable laws. This Actor does not bypass any access controls.
How often is the data updated?	The Actor scrapes live data from AlternativeTo at the time of the run. There is no caching.
Can I scrape multiple software names in one run?	No, each run takes one software name. You can run the Actor multiple times with different inputs.
What if the software name is misspelled?	The Actor will try to match the name or slug. If no results are found, you may need to check the spelling or use the slug from the AlternativeTo URL.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AlternativeTo. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.