Microsoft Store Review Scraper

Extract reviews from Windows apps on Microsoft Store using the official API.

What This Actor Does

The Microsoft Store Review Scraper revolutionizes Windows app review extraction by leveraging Microsoft's official API endpoints. This breakthrough approach provides unparalleled performance and unique metadata unavailable through traditional scraping methods, making it the most reliable solution for Microsoft Store review data.

Perfect for:

• 💻 Windows Developers - Monitor desktop and universal Windows app feedback with unprecedented speed and reliability
• 🏢 Enterprise Software Teams - Analyze user feedback for business applications, productivity tools, and enterprise solutions
• 🎮 Game Developers - Track user reviews for Xbox and Windows gaming applications with detailed device and OS insights
• 🔧 System Administrators - Monitor user sentiment for enterprise deployment tools, utilities, and productivity applications
• 📊 Business Intelligence - Access unique Windows-specific metadata like OS versions, device families, and helpfulness metrics

Why Use This Actor:

• Revolutionary Performance: 100x faster than traditional scraping - extract 250 reviews in just 10 seconds
• Official API Access: Direct access to Microsoft's review database with 99.9% reliability and no anti-bot detection
• Unique Metadata: Access Windows-specific data like OS versions, device families, and helpfulness scores unavailable elsewhere
• Enterprise-Grade: Built for production use with linear scaling and predictable performance characteristics
• Zero Authentication: No API keys or complex setup required - ready to use immediately

Quick Start

Using Apify Console

1. Go to Apify Console
2. Configure input parameters and run

Using Apify CLI

npm install -g apify-cli
apify run xuW1LbE80G87ujqSA --input='{"appId": "9nksqgp7f2nh", "limit": 100}'

Key Advantages

🚀 100x Performance Improvement over traditional scraping

• Official API: Direct access to Microsoft's review database
• Speed: 250 reviews in ~10 seconds (vs. 6+ seconds for 0 reviews with DOM scraping)
• Reliability: 99.9% success rate
• Rich Metadata: OS version, helpfulness, device family, etc.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
appId	string	✓	Microsoft Store app ID (e.g., "9nksqgp7f2nh")
limit	number		Maximum reviews to extract (default: 100)
market	string		Market code: "US", "GB", "DE", "FR", etc.
locale	string		Locale code: "en-US", "de-DE", "fr-FR", etc.
ratings	array		Filter by ratings: [4,5] for 4-5 star reviews
startDate	string		Extract reviews after this date: "2024-01-01"
endDate	string		Extract reviews before this date: "2024-12-31"

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

{
  "appId": "9nksqgp7f2nh",
  "limit": 100
}

Advanced Configuration

{
  "appId": "9wzdncrfj3tj",
  "limit": 250,
  "market": "US",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "ratings": [4, 5],
  "startDate": "2024-01-01"
}

Using Apify SDK

JavaScript Example

import { ApifyApi } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyApi({
  token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN',
});

async function getWindowsReviews() {
  const run = await client.actor('xuW1LbE80G87ujqSA').call({
    appId: '9nksqgp7f2nh', // WhatsApp
    limit: 250,
    market: 'US',
    locale: 'en-US'
  });

  const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
  console.log(`Downloaded ${items.length} Windows app reviews`);
  return items;
}

getWindowsReviews();

Python Example

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('xuW1LbE80G87ujqSA').call(run_input={
    'appId': '9ncbcszsjrsb',  # Spotify
    'limit': 100,
    'market': 'US',
    'ratings': [4, 5]
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
for review in items:
    print(f"{review['rating']}⭐ OS: {review.get('osVersion', 'N/A')} - {review['text'][:100]}...")

cURL Examples

Run Actor

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/xuW1LbE80G87ujqSA/runs' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "appId": "9wzdncrfj3tj",
    "limit": 100,
    "market": "US"
  }'

Get Results

curl 'https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?format=json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN'

Output Format

Rich metadata unique to Microsoft Store:

[
  {
    "reviewId": "microsoft-review-123",
    "author": "WindowsUser2024", 
    "rating": 5,
    "title": "Excellent Windows app!",
    "text": "Works perfectly on Windows 11. Great performance.",
    "reviewedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
    "store": "microsoft",
    "osVersion": "10.0.26100.6899",
    "helpfulPositive": 15,
    "helpfulNegative": 2,
    "deviceFamily": "Windows.Desktop",
    "isRevised": false,
    "source": "microsoft-api"
  }
]

💳 Pricing & Cost Control

This Actor uses Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing, so you only pay for the reviews you actually receive.

How Pricing Works

• ✅ First 10 reviews are FREE on every run
• 💵 $0.00005 per additional review
• 📦 Charges are based on the number of reviews returned, not runtime

Example:

Reviews Returned	Free Reviews	Paid Reviews	Total Cost
10	10	0	$0.00
50	10	40	$0.002
100	10	90	$0.0045
1,000	10	990	$0.0495

Finding Microsoft Store App IDs

Method 1: Microsoft Store URL

From https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/whatsapp/9NKSQGP7F2NH, the ID is 9NKSQGP7F2NH

Method 2: Using Web Inspector

1. Open Microsoft Store in browser
2. Right-click → Inspect
3. Look for data-appid or search for app ID pattern

Method 3: PowerShell (Windows)

Get-AppxPackage | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*whatsapp*"} | Select-Object Name, PackageFullName

Popular Apps for Testing

App	Store ID	Category
WhatsApp	9nksqgp7f2nh	Social
Netflix	9wzdncrfj3tj	Entertainment
Spotify	9ncbcszsjrsb	Music
Instagram	9nblggh5l9xt	Social
Disney+	9nxqxxlfst89	Entertainment
TikTok	9nh2gp4jn9rb	Entertainment
Zoom	9wzdncrfj4mv	Business
Adobe Photoshop	9wzdncrfjc5h	Creative

Regional Markets

Supported Markets

• Americas: US, CA, MX, BR
• Europe: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, SE, NO, DK
• Asia-Pacific: AU, JP, KR, SG, HK, IN, CN
• Others: Most global Microsoft Store markets

Example: German Market

{
  "appId": "9nksqgp7f2nh",
  "market": "DE",
  "locale": "de-DE",
  "limit": 100
}

Performance Benchmarks

Reviews	API Calls	Time	Throughput
20	1	~0.6s	33 reviews/sec
50	3	~2.3s	22 reviews/sec
100	5	~4.5s	22 reviews/sec
250	13	~9.6s	26 reviews/sec

Linear scaling: ~700ms per additional 20 reviews

Error Handling

Common error responses:

{
  "error": {
    "type": "APP_NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "App not found in Microsoft Store",
    "appId": "invalid-id"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "MARKET_NOT_SUPPORTED",
    "message": "App not available in specified market",
    "market": "XX"
  }
}

API Details

Official Endpoint

GET https://apps.microsoft.com/api/products/getReviews/{appId}

Query Parameters

• orderBy=5: Sort by newest first
• pgNo={page}: Page number (1-based)
• noItems=20: Items per page (max 20)
• gl={market}: Market code
• hl={locale}: Locale code

No Authentication Required

• No API key needed
• No rate limiting observed
• Simple HTTP GET requests

Support

• Apify Documentation
• Microsoft Store Developer Center
• Community Forum