Udacity Course Scraper

Extract comprehensive course data from Udacity's catalog at scale. Collect course information including titles, descriptions, ratings, difficulty levels, durations, and categories for education research, market analysis, and competitive intelligence.

Features

• Complete Course Data — Extract all available course information including metadata, ratings, and descriptions
• Smart Filtering — Filter courses by keyword search and difficulty level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
• Fast & Efficient — Retrieve hundreds of courses in seconds using optimized data collection
• Structured Output — Get clean, normalized JSON data ready for analysis
• Flexible Configuration — Control the number of results and customize search parameters
• Proxy Support — Built-in proxy configuration for reliable, uninterrupted data collection

Use Cases

Educational Research

Analyze trends in online education offerings, course difficulty distributions, and subject matter coverage. Build comprehensive datasets for academic research on e-learning platforms and skill development programs.

Competitive Analysis

Track Udacity's course catalog to understand market positioning, identify gaps in your own offerings, and monitor pricing strategies. Stay informed about new course launches and program updates.

Career Planning

Research available courses to plan learning paths, compare programs, and identify the most highly-rated courses in specific skill areas. Make data-driven decisions about professional development investments.

Market Intelligence

Monitor trends in tech education, identify emerging skills and technologies, and understand demand patterns. Build dashboards to track the evolution of online learning in specific domains.

Content Aggregation

Create comprehensive course databases, build course comparison platforms, or develop educational content recommendation systems using structured Udacity course data.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
keyword	String	No	""	Search courses by keyword (e.g., "python", "machine learning")
difficulty	String	No	""	Filter by difficulty level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or empty for all
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of courses to collect (1-647)
max_requests	Integer	No	10	Safety limit for API requests (each request fetches up to 100 courses)
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	{"useApifyProxy": true}	Proxy settings for reliable data collection

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Output Data

Each course in the dataset contains:

Field	Type	Description
title	String	Course title
url	String	Direct link to the course page
slug	String	URL-friendly course identifier
summary	String	Brief course description
description	String	Full course description
difficulty	String	Difficulty level (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced)
duration	Number	Course duration in seconds
durationFormatted	String	Human-readable duration (e.g., "7h 56m")
rating	Number	Average user rating (0-5 scale)
isFree	Boolean	Whether the course is free to access
imageUrl	String	Course thumbnail image URL
school	String	Course category or school
programType	String	Type of program (COURSE, NANODEGREE, etc.)
categoryKeys	Array	Course category identifiers
skillNames	Array	Skills covered in the course

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Usage Examples

Basic Course Collection

Extract the first 20 courses from Udacity's catalog:

{
  "results_wanted": 20
}

Search for Python Courses

Find all Python-related courses:

{
  "keyword": "python",
  "results_wanted": 50
}

Beginner-Friendly Courses

Collect beginner-level courses only:

{
  "difficulty": "Beginner",
  "results_wanted": 100
}

Advanced Data Science Courses

Search for advanced data science courses:

{
  "keyword": "data science",
  "difficulty": "Advanced",
  "results_wanted": 30
}

Large-Scale Collection

Collect all available courses (647 total):

{
  "results_wanted": 647,
  "max_requests": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

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Sample Output

{
  "title": "Introduction to Python Programming",
  "url": "https://www.udacity.com/course/introduction-to-python--ud1110",
  "slug": "introduction-to-python--ud1110",
  "summary": "Learn Python programming from scratch with Udacity's beginner-friendly course...",
  "description": "Learn Python programming from scratch with Udacity's beginner-friendly course...",
  "difficulty": "Beginner",
  "duration": 28560,
  "durationFormatted": "7h 56m",
  "rating": 4.7,
  "isFree": true,
  "imageUrl": "https://video.udacity-data.com/topher/2024/October/6709883a_ud1110/ud1110.jpg",
  "school": "Programming & Development",
  "programType": "COURSE",
  "categoryKeys": ["programming", "python"],
  "skillNames": ["Python", "Programming Fundamentals"]
}

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Tips for Best Results

Choose the Right Parameters

• Start with smaller result sets (20-50) for testing and exploration
• Use specific keywords for targeted searches (e.g., "machine learning" vs "AI")
• Combine keyword search with difficulty filters for precise results
• Increase max_requests if collecting large datasets (200+ courses)

Optimize Your Searches

• Use singular keywords for broader results (e.g., "python" instead of "python programming")
• Test different difficulty levels to understand course distribution
• Leave keyword empty to collect all courses in a difficulty category
• Monitor your run statistics to understand collection efficiency

Handle Large Datasets

• For collecting all 647 courses, set results_wanted to 647 and max_requests to 10
• Use Apify's scheduling feature for regular catalog updates
• Enable residential proxies for reliable large-scale collection
• Export data incrementally if processing very large result sets

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Integrations

Connect your Udacity course data with:

• Google Sheets — Export for analysis and visualization
• Airtable — Build searchable course databases
• Make — Create automated workflows and notifications
• Zapier — Trigger actions based on new courses
• Slack — Get notifications about catalog updates
• Webhooks — Send data to custom endpoints
• Power BI — Build comprehensive dashboards

Export Formats

Download your data in multiple formats:

• JSON — For developers and API integrations
• CSV — For spreadsheet analysis in Excel or Google Sheets
• Excel — For business reporting and pivot tables
• XML — For system integrations and data pipelines

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many courses can I collect?

You can collect all available courses on Udacity (currently 647 courses). The actor automatically handles pagination and data collection across multiple requests.

Can I filter courses by price?

Yes, the output includes an isFree field that indicates whether each course is free or paid. You can filter the results after collection based on this field.

How often is the course data updated?

The actor fetches real-time data directly from Udacity's catalog, so you always get the most current information available. Udacity typically updates their catalog periodically with new courses and program changes.

What if I need more than 647 courses?

The current Udacity catalog contains 647 courses. If you need historical data or archived courses, you'll need to schedule regular runs and maintain your own historical database.

Does the scraper handle pagination automatically?

Yes, the actor automatically handles pagination. Simply specify the number of courses you want in results_wanted, and the actor will make the necessary requests to collect that data.

Can I search for specific topics or skills?

Yes, use the keyword parameter to search for specific topics (e.g., "blockchain", "React", "data science"). The search works across course titles and descriptions.

What's the recommended proxy configuration?

For reliable results, especially when collecting large datasets, use Apify Proxy with residential IPs. This is enabled by default in the proxy configuration.

How long does it take to collect courses?

Collection speed depends on the number of courses requested. Typically:

• 20 courses: ~3 seconds
• 100 courses: ~5 seconds
• 647 courses (all): ~10-15 seconds

Can I get course syllabi or detailed content?

This actor collects catalog-level data including summaries and metadata. For detailed syllabi and lesson content, you would need to visit individual course pages.

What happens if a course is unavailable?

The actor gracefully handles missing data. If a field is not available for a particular course, it will be set to null or an empty value depending on the field type.

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Support

For issues, feature requests, or questions, contact support through the Apify Console.

Resources

• Apify Documentation
• API Reference
• Scheduling Runs
• Proxy Configuration
• Dataset Storage

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Legal Notice

This actor is designed for legitimate data collection purposes including research, analysis, and educational use. Users are responsible for ensuring compliance with Udacity's Terms of Service and applicable laws. Use data responsibly and respect rate limits. This tool is intended for publicly available catalog information only.