Perplexity Search Answers Scraper

Scrapes AI-generated answer content from Perplexity (perplexity.ai/search). Extracts the full canonical answer-vertical schema: query, full answer text, answer HTML, model used, citation count, related questions, answer sections, and timestamp.

What this Actor collects

The Actor converts AI-generated answers with their supporting metadata into clean JSON records that can be downloaded, queried through the Apify API, or sent to downstream workflows.

• Uses the input limits and filters below to control the crawl.
• Stores source-backed fields defined by the 29-field dataset schema.
• Omits optional fields when the source does not expose a value instead of writing nulls or fabricated placeholders.

Use cases

• Answer-engine monitoring
• Citation and source research
• Generative-search analysis

Input

Provide input in JSON. Fields marked required must be supplied; source-specific alternatives and constraints are described in the field text.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	Yes	"What is the capital of France?"	The question to ask Perplexity. Perplexity returns one AI-generated answer per query.
maxItems	integer	No	1	Maximum number of answer records to push (typically 1 per query; allow higher for batch multi-query mode).
queries	array	No	[]	Optional array of additional queries to ask in batch mode. Each query produces a separate answer record.
focusMode	string	No	"web"	Perplexity's focus mode (search scope). 'web' searches the whole web, 'academic' uses scholarly sources, 'social' uses social media, 'youtube' uses YouTube, etc.
model	string	No	""	Optional model override. Leave empty to use Perplexity's default. 'pplx-pro' selects the Pro search model.
language	string	No	"en-US"	Language code for the answer locale (e.g. 'en-US', 'en-GB', 'de-DE', 'fr-FR').
proxyConfiguration	object	No	{"useApifyProxy":true}	Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended — Perplexity aggressively blocks datacenter IPs.

Example input

{
  "query": "What are the main causes of climate change and what solutions are being proposed?",
  "maxItems": 1,
  "language": "en-US",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "focusMode": "web"
}

Output

The default dataset contains one AI-answer item per processed query. The following are the most useful fields; availability can vary by model, focus mode, and source response.

Field	Type	Description
position	integer	Position
query	string	Query
answerText	string	Answer Text
model	string	Model
focusMode	string	Focus Mode
citationCount	integer	Citation Count
sourceCount	integer	Source Count
sectionCount	integer	Section Count
wordCount	integer	Word Count
searchUrl	string	Search URL
scrapedAt	string	Scraped At
type	string	Type
searchQuery	string	Search Query
resultType	string	Result Type
page	integer	Page
answerHtml	string	Answer HTML

Example dataset item

This compact example is taken from local Actor storage. Long text and nested collections are shortened for documentation only.

{
  "position": 1,
  "query": "What are the main causes of climate change and what solutions are being proposed?",
  "answerText": "Climate change is mainly caused by human activities that increase greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially burning fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture, and industrial p…",
  "model": "Best",
  "focusMode": "search",
  "citationCount": 2,
  "sourceCount": 10,
  "sectionCount": 3,
  "wordCount": 200,
  "searchUrl": "https://www.perplexity.ai/search/e89b39a6-4790-4525-abc9-1d481ac98d57",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-23T12:22:41.983Z",
  "type": "answer"
}

Related Actors

• Perplexity Discover Scraper
• Perplexity Related Questions Scraper
• Perplexity Search Images Scraper