local.ch Scraper - Swiss Business Directory

Scrape business listings from local.ch, the Swiss business directory (Swisscom Directories). Search by keyword and city and get phone numbers, emails, websites, addresses, categories, ratings and opening hours.

What data can you extract?

For each business, the scraper extracts:

• Business name, subtitles and all categories
• Phone, mobile and fax numbers (international format)
• Email address and website URL
• Social media profile links
• Full address with street, postal code, city and canton
• GPS coordinates (latitude/longitude)
• Opening hours and description (detail mode)
• Rating and number of ratings
• Logo image URL
• Detail mode extras: description headline, online booking link, spoken languages, location features, payment methods, all attribute groups, rating distribution per star and the * no-advertising marker

Phone, email, website and social links are available from the search results alone, so they are included even when detail pages are switched off.

Use with AI Agents (MCP)

Connect this actor to any MCP-compatible AI client: Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, Cursor, VS Code, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or custom agents.

Claude Desktop / Cursor config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-ch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=santamaria-automations/local-ch-scraper",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Example prompt: "Use local-ch-scraper to find dentists in Zürich and return a table with name, phone, email and website."

Clients that support dynamic tool discovery (Claude.ai, VS Code) will receive the full input schema automatically via add-actor.

How to use

{
  "searchTerms": ["Zahnarzt", "Bäckerei"],
  "location": "Zürich",
  "maxResults": 40,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "language": "de"
}

An empty input {} also works and runs the defaults (Zahnarzt in Zürich, 20 results).

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchTerms	array	["Zahnarzt"]	Business types or names. Each term is searched separately
location	string	Zürich	Swiss city, region or postal code
maxResults	integer	20	Maximum unique businesses per search term (1-10,000, site limit 180 per search)
includeDetails	boolean	true	Fetch detail pages for opening hours, description and subtitles
language	string	de	Site language: de, fr, it or en

A business that matches several search terms is returned once.

Limit: local.ch serves at most 9 result pages (180 businesses) per search, so one search term and location returns up to 180 businesses even when maxResults is higher. Split large jobs into several search terms or more specific locations.

Output example

{
  "id": "2XCS66MZnVWZKva3NVsOag",
  "name": "Cierny Zahnärzte",
  "description": "Die Praxis Cierny wird mittlerweile in der 3. Generation der Familie Cierny geführt ...",
  "subtitles": ["eidg. dipl. Arzt / eidg. dipl. Zahnarzt"],
  "category": "Zahnarzt",
  "categories": ["Zahnarzt", "Implantologie", "Dentalhygiene"],
  "phone": "+41444318242",
  "phones": ["+41444318242"],
  "mobile": null,
  "fax": null,
  "email": "praxis@cierny-zaz.ch",
  "website": "http://www.cierny-zaz.ch",
  "social_links": ["https://www.facebook.com/Cierny-Zahn%C3%A4rzte-584954974923275"],
  "address": "Segnesstrasse 9, 8048 Zürich",
  "street": "Segnesstrasse 9",
  "postal_code": "8048",
  "city": "Zürich",
  "canton": "ZH",
  "country": "Switzerland",
  "country_code": "CH",
  "latitude": 47.38837,
  "longitude": 8.485818,
  "opening_hours": "Mo 08:00-12:00,13:00-17:00; Tu 07:00-15:00; We 08:00-12:00,13:00-17:00",
  "rating": 4.8,
  "review_count": 1231,
  "logo_url": "https://bin.staticlocal.ch/localplace-logo/5d/example.jpg",
  "description_title": "Wir sind zahnfreundlich. Ihr Zahnarzt in Zürich",
  "refuse_advertising": true,
  "refuse_advertising_contacts": ["+41444318242"],
  "booking_url": "https://oa.zawin.ch/k1144_01",
  "booking_provider": "custom",
  "languages": ["Deutsch", "Englisch", "Französisch"],
  "location_features": ["Im Zentrum", "In Bahnhofsnähe", "Parkmöglichkeit"],
  "payment_methods": ["Barzahlung", "Bezahlung mit EC-Karte", "TWINT", "Visa"],
  "attributes": {
    "Sprachen": ["Deutsch", "Englisch", "Französisch"],
    "Lage": ["Im Zentrum", "In Bahnhofsnähe", "Parkmöglichkeit"],
    "Zahlungskonditionen": ["Barzahlung", "Bezahlung mit EC-Karte", "TWINT", "Visa"]
  },
  "rating_distribution": {"1": 0, "2": 0, "3": 0, "4": 0, "5": 2},
  "entry_type": "BUSINESS",
  "search_query": "Zahnarzt",
  "search_location": "Zürich",
  "source_url": "https://www.local.ch/de/d/zuerich/8048/zahnarzt/cierny-zahnaerzte-2XCS66MZnVWZKva3NVsOag",
  "source_platform": "local.ch",
  "scraped_at": "2026-10-18T12:00:00Z"
}

Fields that local.ch does not publish for an entry are null (or an empty list).

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
id	string	local.ch entry id
name	string	Business name
description	string / null	Business description (detail mode)
subtitles	array	Subtitle lines under the name (titles, specialities)
category	string / null	Main category
categories	array	All categories
phone	string / null	Main phone number (international format)
phones	array	All phone numbers
mobile	string / null	Mobile number
fax	string / null	Fax number
email	string / null	Contact email
website	string / null	Website URL
social_links	array	Social media profile URLs
address	string / null	Full address
street	string / null	Street and number
postal_code	string / null	Postal code
city	string / null	City
canton	string / null	Canton code
country	string	Country name
country_code	string	ISO country code
latitude	number / null	Latitude
longitude	number / null	Longitude
opening_hours	string / null	Weekly opening hours (detail mode)
rating	number / null	Average rating
review_count	integer / null	Number of ratings
logo_url	string / null	Logo image URL
entry_type	string	Entry type (BUSINESS or PERSON)
search_query	string	Search term that produced the row
search_location	string	Location of the search
source_url	string	local.ch detail page URL
source_platform	string	Always local.ch
scraped_at	string	Scrape timestamp (UTC)
description_title	string / null	Headline of the business description (detail mode)
refuse_advertising	boolean / null	Detail mode. true when the entry is marked with * on local.ch (the owner does not want advertising calls); null without detail data
refuse_advertising_contacts	array	Detail mode. Contact values (phone, fax, ...) that carry the * marker
booking_url	string / null	Online booking link (detail mode, if the entry has an external booking channel)
booking_provider	string / null	Booking provider of the online booking channel (detail mode)
languages	array	Spoken languages (detail mode)
location_features	array	Location features such as 'Im Zentrum' or 'Parkmöglichkeit' (detail mode)
payment_methods	array	Accepted payment methods (detail mode)
attributes	object	Detail mode. All attribute groups as {group name: [attribute names]}, e.g. treatments or practice type
rating_distribution	object / null	Detail mode. Number of ratings per star, e.g. {"5": 2, "4": 0}; null when not published

Detail fields

These fields are filled when includeDetails is on and the detail page was loaded. On search-only rows the lists are empty, attributes is {} and the other fields are null.

Field	Type	Description
description_title	string / null	Headline of the business description
refuse_advertising	boolean / null	true when the entry is marked with * on local.ch: the owner does not want advertising calls. false when no contact is marked
refuse_advertising_contacts	array	The contact values (phone, fax, ...) that carry the * marker, [] if none
booking_url	string / null	Online booking link, if the entry has one
booking_provider	string / null	Booking provider of that link
languages	array	Spoken languages
location_features	array	Location features, e.g. "Im Zentrum", "Parkmöglichkeit"
payment_methods	array	Accepted payment methods
attributes	object	Every attribute group as {group name: [attribute names]}, e.g. treatments or practice type
rating_distribution	object / null	Number of ratings per star ("1" to "5"), when published

Pricing

Pay per result. You are charged one result event for every row saved to the dataset, plus a one-time start event per run.

Event	Price	When
directory-start	$0.005 per run	Charged once, right before the first row is saved
directory-serp-result	$0.0015 per business	Business saved from search results only
directory-detail-result	$0.0025 per business	Business saved with full detail data

Duplicates are never saved or charged twice, and a restarted run does not charge rows it already saved.

Performance

• Speed: 20 businesses per search page; detail pages add a little time per business
• Search only: set includeDetails to false for the fastest and cheapest run

Tips

• Use the language of your terms: German terms work best with de, French terms with fr
• Use a narrow location or several specific search terms to reach more businesses
• Pair the website field with the actors below to find more contacts per company

Related Actors

Swiss business data

• search.ch Scraper -- Swiss business directory
• Moneyhouse.ch Scraper -- Swiss company registry with management and financials
• Zefix.ch Scraper -- Official Swiss commercial register

Enrich your leads

• Website Email & Phone Scraper -- Extract emails and phones from company websites
• Website Contact Extractor -- Extract team members and decision-makers

Data protection

This actor returns only data that is publicly visible on the source pages. Results can include personal data, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and addresses of private persons, sole traders or contact persons. Where the source labels an entry type, it is included so you can filter the results yourself.

You are responsible for using the data lawfully, including the GDPR/DSGVO, national data-protection laws and unfair-competition rules (e.g. UWG) for marketing and outreach.