# WhatsApp Number Extractor: from Google Maps & Websites (`sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor`) Actor

Find businesses' WhatsApp numbers: search Google Maps by trade and city, or give a list of websites, and get each business's WhatsApp number from its own website's chat links, in E.164. Share buttons and group links are left out. Pay only per business with a WhatsApp number.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Rafal Sav](https://apify.com/sandy_yclept) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.40 / 1,000 whatsapp numbers

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

### What does WhatsApp Number Extractor do?

**WhatsApp Number Extractor** finds the **WhatsApp numbers of businesses**: search Google Maps by trade and city ("dentista" in São Paulo, "real estate agency" in Dubai), or give a list of websites, and get each business's WhatsApp number in international **E.164** format - read from the chat links on its own website (`wa.me/...`, `api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=...`). One row per business, with its name, address, phone and website.

A WhatsApp **share button** carries no number, a **group invite** is not a business's chat, and a short link hides the number: none of them is returned as a number. You pay **only per business with a WhatsApp number**.

Run it from the Apify Console, through the API, on a schedule, or from an AI agent through Apify's MCP server.

### Why use it?

- **WhatsApp outreach** to local businesses in the countries where WhatsApp is how businesses talk: Brazil, Mexico, Spain, India, the UAE and many more.
- **A number Google Maps does not show**: in our test 171 of 293 businesses with a WhatsApp number had one other than the phone on their Google Maps listing.
- **From the business itself**: the number its own website asks customers to write to.

### How to use it

1. Open the **Input** tab and type what you would search on Google Maps ("dentista", "inmobiliaria") and the **location** ("São Paulo, Brasil").
2. Or leave the search empty and give a **list of websites** further down.
3. Click **Start**, then download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML from the **Output** tab.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search terms (Google Maps) | What you would type into Google Maps. Every term is searched in the location; each business's website is read. |
| Location | A city and country, as free text. One per run. |
| Places per search term | How many Google Maps places to take for each term. Only the ones with a WhatsApp number are returned and billed. |
| Also return businesses without a WhatsApp number | Every place found - never charged. |
| Or: websites | A list of websites, used when no search terms are given. |
| Max contact subpages | Pages read on each website on top of the homepage (default 3). |

### Output

Odentz, from the prefill's search "dentista" in São Paulo, as read on October 10, 2026 (some fields left out):

```json
{
  "name": "Odentz 24h Clínica Odontológica - Unidade Pamplona",
  "best_whatsapp": "+5511966382272",
  "whatsapp": ["+5511966382272", "+5511970592208"],
  "phone": "+551123067787",
  "website": "https://odentz.com.br/",
  "category": "Dentist",
  "address": "R. Pamplona, 1348 - Jardim Paulista, São Paulo - SP, 01405-002",
  "city": "São Paulo",
  "country_code": "BR",
  "rating": 4.8,
  "reviews_count": 155,
  "google_maps_url": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJleiA8ClZzpQRZ962SiRfG9Q",
  "search_string": "dentista in São Paulo, Brasil",
  "website_status": "ok",
  "billed": true
}
```

In the prefill's run, 15 of the 20 dentists had a WhatsApp number on their website, 8 of them one other than the phone on Google Maps.

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `best_whatsapp` | The first WhatsApp number on the business's website, in E.164. |
| `whatsapp` | Every WhatsApp number its chat links open - a portal of agents lists many. |
| `phone` | The phone on Google Maps, for comparison. |
| `website_status` | `ok`, `no_contacts`, `unreachable`, `no_website` or `closed`. |
| `billed` | Whether this row was charged. |

Given a list of websites, a row is `domain`, `website`, `best_whatsapp`, `whatsapp`, `whatsapp_count`, `status` (`found`, `not_found`, `unreachable`) and `billed`.

### How often does a business have one?

Measured on October 10, 2026: 600 businesses from Google Maps searches for dentists and estate agents in five countries, 533 with a website, 484 of those read.

| Country | Websites read | With a WhatsApp number |
|---|---|---|
| UAE | 111 | 81 (73%) |
| Brazil | 88 | 61 (69%) |
| India | 85 | 52 (61%) |
| Spain | 117 | 61 (52%) |
| Mexico | 82 | 38 (46%) |
| All | 484 | 293 (61%) |

No number was found on two different businesses' websites, and 7 of the 465 numbers belong to another country than the business - an international branch or a foreign agent. In the US, the UK and Germany far fewer websites carry one: about 5% of local businesses in our samples.

### How much does it cost?

**$0.003 per business with a WhatsApp number** on the Free and Starter plans, $0.0027 on Scale, $0.0024 from Business up, plus Apify's start fee of $0.00005 a run. A business without one costs nothing, and branches sharing a number are billed once. The Google Maps search itself is included.

### FAQ

**Is it legal to message these numbers?** They are numbers businesses publish for customers to write to. WhatsApp's Business and Commerce policies and anti-spam law apply to what you send; you are responsible for complying with them and with the GDPR.

**Does it read WhatsApp itself?** No. It reads the business's own website and never logs in to WhatsApp, so it cannot tell whether a number is active on WhatsApp today.

**Why no number for a site that shows a WhatsApp button?** Some buttons are drawn by a script after the page loads, or open a short link without the number in it.

### Related Actors

- [Google Maps Email Extractor](https://apify.com/sandy_yclept/google-maps-email-extractor) - the same businesses, each with the email from its own website.
- [Google Maps Phone Number Scraper](https://apify.com/sandy_yclept/google-maps-phone-number-scraper) - the phone numbers Google Maps lists, $1 per 1,000.
- [Website Contact & Email Scraper](https://apify.com/sandy_yclept/website-contact-email-scraper) - emails, phones and social profiles from any list of websites.

### Support

A number that is not the business's, or one that was missed? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab with the website.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchStringsArray` (type: `array`):

What you would type into Google Maps, one term per line: "dentista", "inmobiliaria", "real estate agency". Every term is searched in the location below, and each business's website is read for its WhatsApp number. Leave empty to give a list of websites instead.

## `locationQuery` (type: `string`):

Where to search, as free text: a city and country work best ("São Paulo, Brasil", "Dubai, UAE"). One location per run.

## `maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

How many Google Maps places to take for each search term. Only the ones whose website carries a WhatsApp number are returned and billed. Reading the websites takes about 3 seconds a place.

## `includeAllPlaces` (type: `boolean`):

Return every place found, the ones whose website has no WhatsApp number too. Only businesses with a number are ever charged.

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

Language of the place names, categories and addresses Google Maps returns. WhatsApp numbers are the same in any language.

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

Company websites to read for their WhatsApp numbers, one per row - used when no search terms are given. Paste them, upload or link a text or CSV file, or link a Google Sheet shared with "anyone with the link". A URL listed twice is read once.

## `maxContactPages` (type: `integer`):

How many contact-like subpages (/contact, /about) to read on each website, on top of the homepage. The WhatsApp button is usually on every page; 3 is enough.

## `phoneRegion` (type: `string`):

ISO country code (BR, MX, ES, IN, AE) used to read a chat link written with a national number instead of an international one. Leave empty: the country of each Google Maps place, or of each website, is used.

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

Optional proxy for fetching pages. Apify Proxy's datacenter IPs are included in every Apify plan, the Free plan too; residential proxies are billed separately. Left disabled, the Actor connects directly, and retries sites that refuse it through Apify Proxy (see below).

## `proxyFallback` (type: `boolean`):

Every cloud run has a datacenter IP address, and some sites turn those away. A site that refuses or drops the direct connection is retried once through Apify Proxy's datacenter IPs (included in every Apify plan, the Free plan too), then once more directly. Sites that answer directly never go through the proxy, and robots.txt is respected either way. Has no effect when a proxy is configured above.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchStringsArray": [
    "dentista",
    "imobiliária"
  ],
  "locationQuery": "Madrid, España",
  "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 20,
  "includeAllPlaces": false,
  "language": "en",
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxContactPages": 3,
  "phoneRegion": "PL",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "proxyFallback": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "searchStringsArray": [
        "dentista"
    ],
    "locationQuery": "São Paulo, Brasil",
    "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 20,
    "startUrls": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor").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 = {
    "searchStringsArray": ["dentista"],
    "locationQuery": "São Paulo, Brasil",
    "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 20,
    "startUrls": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor").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 '{
  "searchStringsArray": [
    "dentista"
  ],
  "locationQuery": "São Paulo, Brasil",
  "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 20,
  "startUrls": []
}' |
apify call sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,sandy_yclept/whatsapp-number-extractor"
        }
    }
}
```

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/pnDFdrxjbTYvXpFd1/builds/leba5JzOlMWvLN1ig/openapi.json